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Go to Editorial ManagerPoly(vinyl chloride) photodecomposition films that contains melamine Schiff base (0.5% by weight) as photostabilizers upon preservation with an ultraviolet light (UV) was investigated. The photodecomposition rate constant was reduced significantly in existence of melamine Schiff base compared to PVC (blank). The Schiff base 1 was found to most effective additive in PVC photostabilization films. Photodecomposition rate content for PVC films containing Schiff base 1 was found to be 5 × 10-3 sec-1 compared to 8.7 × 10-3 sec-1 for blank film. Ultraviolet radiation aging behaviors of PVC films were studied through leaching test by measuring the degree of migration. The surface morphology of PVC films was inspected by scanning electron microscope.
Historical records (1901–2021) of Iraq's air temperature and precipitation were studied and compared. A climatic multi-model ensemble and four emission scenarios with representative concentration pathways (RCP2.6, RCP4.5, RCP6.0, and RCP8.5) are used in this research to explain the changes in future climate indicators in Iraq. The results showed a rise and decline in temperatures and precipitation over the past century, with an average of 1.3 °C and 57mm since 1901. A remarkable rise and decline in temperatures and precipitation occurred at 0.36 °C and 4mm per decade over the past thirty years (1990–2020). A greater increase in temperatures occurred in the southern regions than in the northern regions during summer. A temperature increase of 1.5 °C was observed in Basra City and 1.3 °C in Duhok City. The projected temperature over Iraq is higher than historical temperatures in all scenarios, with a rise of about 0.6°C every ten years. Days in June and September with temperatures exceeding 40 ºC have a greater probability of experiencing temperature increases. Iraq is expected to have a decrease in annual precipitation under the high emission scenarios of RCP8.5. The predictions of the medium emission scenarios RCP4.5 and RCP6.0 are noticeably different from the measurements of Iraqi weather stations, especially in 2006. Precipitation decreases from November to May from the historical period in high emission scenarios (RCP8.5) for the foreseeable future. Increased air temperatures and a lack of precipitation have significant effects on the ecosystem because of droughts and frequent dust storms. Therefore, the most important decision that senior management must make is the formulation of policies and procedures for water routing and storage.
After long eras of socialism, wars and economic embargo when Iraqi people were severely exhausted, Iraq finally adopts free market economy. Its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased rapidly.The fortune was to flow in a proper frame of legislations to Iraqis.Since wealth needs time to grow for a person, and housing commodity is of high costs, then legislation were to be issued to organize flow of the national wealth to support private sector in housing finance.In respond, the Law of Iraqi Housing Bank (IHB) No. 32 was issued in 2011.This research is to solve the conflicts of the (IHB) Law and to support Iraqi legislators regarding this aspect. This research claims that this law should be revised by the Iraq Parliament. The research comes to help in this mission. The law of (IHB) should not conflict with The Iraqi Constitution.The range of this research is the “Status-in-force” Iraqi legislations only.It discusses the housing finance relations in various Iraqi legislations.
Planning standards in most countries especially in Iraq have become old and inadequate and do not fulfill the growing needs of people in the meanwhile. Also, it does not provide solutions for the society problems since it does not came from deep and modern study of the society needs and problems. In Iraq, there is a clear neglect of the urban spaces in residential buildings. As the challenges of 21st century, climate change, pollution and health crises requires infrastructure which is capable of keeping up with people needs and capable of providing healthy life, wellbeing and economic recovery. The study explores the efficiency of urban spaces in one of the Iraqi new residential complexes which is Alamal residential complex to determine the factors that affect urban spaces in vertical residential buildings in Iraq. The evaluation of the spaces was done by using direct observation method and questionnaire method. Results revealed that the spaces in such residential complex were active and efficient but it needs more spaces to be available since vertical residential buildings have high density of people. Also, there was a good care of urban spaces that fulfill the needs of children to play and also spaces which are friendly to old people. Most participants in the questionnaire have declared that the public urban space (space 3) was the most used, most favored space since it has many activities and facilities which support social activities between people living in the residential complex.
The Unified Power Flow Controller (UPFC) is a most complex power electronic device, which can simultaneously control a local bus voltage and optimize power flows in the electrical power transmission system. This paper presents the effect of installing the UPFC on the Iraqi (400 kV) grid transmission system to control the active and reactive power flow by choosing the optimal location and parameters of Unified Power Flow Controllers (UPFCs), which were specified based on the Genetic Algorithm (GA) optimization method. The objectives are improving voltage profile, reducing power losses, treating power flow in overloaded transmission lines, and reducing power generation. The steady state model of UPFC has been adopted on (400 kV) Iraq transmission lines and simulated using the MATLAB programming language. The Newton-Raphson (NR) numerical analysis method has been used for solving the load flow of the system. The practical part has been solved through Power System Simulation for Engineers (PSS\E) software Version 32.0. The Comparative results between the experimental and practical parts obtained from adopting the UPFC were too close and almost the same under different loading conditions, which are (5%, 10%, 15% and 20%) of the total load.
The evaluation of the behavior of bridge piers with soils surrounding them during earthquakes became necessary in Iraq especially after the influential earthquakes hit middle and south of Iraq during the last few years. A three dimensional finite element model for the bridge substructure and soil surrounding the bored piles with the actual dimensions and actual properties corresponding to "Sheikh Sa'ad Bridge" in Sheikh Sa'ad district at Wasit Governorate 37km south east of Kut city is presented. The model loaded with earthquake ground motion applied as lateral forces at one side of piles cap. The Earthquake hit 11 km from Ali-Al Gharbee in Maysan Province in 2012 with a magnitude of ML = 4.9 is used as the input ground motion. The response of the pier was investigated and the performance of piles and the soil surrounding them was examined. Then these typical piers and surrounding soils were checked weather they can bear the stresses induced due to these earthquake forces. From this work, it was found that typical piers used in bridges in Iraq can sustain earthquakes up to those with a magnitude of ML = 6.8 maximum.
This study evaluates the performance of bridge projects in Iraq using international performance evaluation standards set by USAID. The assessment focuses on two major bridge projects in Baghdad: the Bridge Project over the Army Canal and the Design and Implementation Project for developing the Shaljia and Tobji Intersection. The evaluation standards include relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact, and sustainability. Data collected from these projects were analyzed to measure performance against these standards. The results revealed significant gaps between both projects' expected and actual performance. The Bridge Project over the Army Canal showed moderate performance in relevance and sustainability but had substantial weaknesses in effectiveness. The Shaljia and Tobji, Intersection Development project, exhibited major weaknesses across all standards. The study concludes a critical need for better planning, improved resource utilization, enhanced stakeholder communication, and more effective monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to address these performance gaps and achieve desired project outcomes. These findings highlight the importance of adopting comprehensive and adaptable evaluation standards to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of infrastructure projects in Iraq. The research provides valuable insights for stakeholders involved in bridge projects, emphasizing the need for ongoing improvement in project management practices to ensure infrastructure reliability and safety.
Both surface extension and nanofluid methods were used to enhance the heat transfer in a double pipe heat exchanger under turbulent flow conditions. Aluminum oxide nanoparticles were used with different concentrations(0.6-3 g/l)in hot water to increase the heat transfer rate on smooth tube and circular fins tube for a range of Reynolds number4240-19790. The simulation was also performed to predict the heat transfer coefficient and temperature profile for selected conditions in which COMSOL Multiphysics is used. The experimental results revealed that the heat transfer enhancement by both circular fin and nanofluid exhibited an increasing trend with Reynolds number and nanofluid concentration. The conjoint effect of Al2O3 of 3 g/l concentration and circular fin provided largest heat transfer enhancement of 53% for the highest Re investigated. Simulation results showed reasonable agreement with the experimental values of heat transfer coefficient. The simulation showed that the presence of nanofluid on finned surface influenced the temperature profile indicating the increased heat transfer rate.
In this vast world after an earthquake lessons are learned; many strategies have been considered in order to achieve a proper seismic strength capacity.The aim of this paper is studying the seismic behavior of a typical reinforced concrete bridge pier in Iraq and implementing a proper technique of strengthening in order to fix any damage that had happened.Structure of a full scale three-dimensional finite element model was used in order to simulate a reinforced concrete pier via the computer software ABAQUS/CAE 2017 using concrete plasticity damage model (CDP).Under the action of Halabja earthquake, which was recorded at city of Halabja in Iraq on 12 November 2017, the behavior of model was traced, analyzed and the resulted damages were managed.The finite element analysis results indicated that the proposed configuration of carbon fiber reinforced polymers laminates substantially increases the lateral load strength and deformation capacity of the bridge pier
Many mobile applications use infrared (IR) and Ultrasonic sensors for distance measurements. In this paper, these two types of sensors have been used in building obstacle detection system and the attributes of each sensor has been tested, the system consists of transmitter and receiver circuit, furthermore, Arduino UNO card has been used for transmitting and receiving signal for each type of sensor based on the Arduino software. The test was performed through distributing these sensors on the road then analyze the reflected signal. Neural network trained and used for monitoring the street and producing the number of cars in each line of street and the total number of cars in the same street.
This paper provides a theoretical framework for analysis of consensus algorithm for multi-agent networked systems considering the role of directed information flow. Improvement of the performance of the implemented consensus algorithm has been achieved by using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). Concepts of information consensus in networks and methods of convergence are applied as well. Our analysis framework is based on tools algebraic Graph Theory (GT). Simulation of multi-agent system and the performance of a consensus algorithm have been discussed. Acceleration the network while approaching the required goal has been accomplished and elimination of undesired swing that appears during the acceleration was proved.
Due to the Kurdistan regional government-KRG district mission potential towards huge solar energy power generation plant investments by global investors, a genuine study is required to explore the impact of PV-panels installation angles on power generation gain within all seasons duration as the KRG located in four season area which, affect the annual total power gain due to daylight duration effect in each season. The proposed study was conducted within a duration of “513” days utilizing three PV tilt installation angle tests of “ 30⁰, 35⁰, and 40⁰ ” with “ 545 watts single side PV plates” selecting the Erbil district area gaining a crucial role in maximizing energy output for comparison, Results presented a significant variation in power gain due to deviations in annual effective daylight duration effectively mostly a reduction in cold seasons within 25%-37.7% drops compared to the hot season, while the sunset and sunrise duration presented a significant influence of 5%-10% drops in power generated. The season change shows a significant influence of weather variation in each calendar on power gain annually. The installation orientation angle impact presented divergence in production within the cold season only. Process output can potentially unlock a novelty awareness of the investors toward innovative yield project optimization in the area as it will affect the annual power purchasing influence and production divergence with interest.
This paper tests the effect of noise on digital images. Since Gaussian noise can affect almost all computer and communication systems and therefore can come from various natural sources, it was interesting to measure the effect of such noise on features of the image. To generate the noisy images, a few images were used with Gaussian noise, and a data set was applied to this purpose. The wide variety of noise parameters was measured using the same input image with different mean and variance values each time. Gaussian noise was then removed with enhancement filters. In all fields of online communication, multimedia systems, medical imaging, and military communications, digital images have important roles to play. Internet and cellular networks are storing and delivering colored images. A lot of data needs to be protected from unwanted access. In cryptography, messages are encoded to render them unintelligible. Security of data is always essential. There are different cryptographic algorithms for encrypting and decrypting images. Our purpose of this study is to encrypt and decrypt the images with the help of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm for authentication. This paper guarantees that after processing, the quality of the image is maintained and no corruption was occurred
Improving the ability of asphalt pavement to survive the heavily repeated axle loads and weathering challenges in Iraq has been the subject of research for many years. The critical need for such data in the design and construction of more durable flexible pavement in bridge deck material is paramount. One of new possible steps is the epoxy asphalt concrete, which is classified as a superior asphalt concrete in roads and greatly imparts the level of design and construction. This paper describes a study on 40-50 penetration graded asphalt cement mixed with epoxy to produce asphalt concrete mixtures. The tests carried out are the Marshall properties, permanent deformation, flexural fatigue cracking and moisture damage. Epoxy asphalt mixes performed better on resistance to fatigue and permanent deformation. They also performed significantly better on low-temperature properties and resistance to moisture damage. The addition of 30 percent of epoxy (by weight of asphalt cement) resulted in increase of Marshall stability by 39.8 percent, improve the tensile strength ratio by 22.9 percent, lowering both the rate of permanent deformation by 26.8 percent and the fatigue accumulation coefficient by 53.5 percent, in comparison with control HMA. Based on the above findings, it is recommended to use epoxy asphalt mixes as an optimal material for paving bridges deck in Iraq since it showed good prospects for this application due to the valuable performance and durability improvement.
Battery life is the hard constraint for massive Internet-of-Things (IoT) at 6G scale. Wake-up radios (WuRs)—ultra-low-power auxiliary receivers that “listen” for short wake-up signals while the main transceiver sleeps—offer orders-of-magnitude energy savings, but suffer from false wake-ups, long tail latency under bursty traffic, and sensitivity/coverage limits. This paper proposes an end-to-end AI-optimized WuR stack that combines (i) a TinyML classifier embedded in the WuR path to suppress false triggers and adapt detection thresholds, and (ii) a reinforcement-learning (RL) scheduler at the base station or gateway that co-optimizes wake-up signaling with 3GPP NR DRX/C-DRX timers. The proposed method, tested using a trace-driven simulator calibrated with published WuR power/latency figures, the approach reduces node-average energy by 41–72% versus strong baselines, while meeting 99% latency targets and cutting false wake-ups by >80%.
The purpose of this study is to reduce weight and improve the mechanical properties of aircraft wing using Hybrid materials known as fiber metal laminates (FMLs). In this study, seven layers were used to produce the FMLs that consist of aluminum alloy2024-T3 reinforced by carbon and glass fibers bonded with blend of epoxy-resole. The Carbon Glass Reinforced Aluminum Laminates (CAGRALLs) was used as FMLs. The results showed that The CAGRALLs gave good mechanical properties because of increasing in tensile strength, elongation at fracture and impact toughness except flexural strength by comparing with other FMLs using commercial epoxy. The increasing in layers led to weaken adhesion force between layers of FMLs caused decreasing almost mechanical properties. The FMLs has good mechanical properties by using carbon and glass fibers by comparing with carbon and jute fibers. The CAGRALLs have higher numbers of cycles at failure under cyclic loadings than Aramid Reinforced Aluminum Laminates (ARALLs). The CAGRALLs have lower density by comparing with aluminum alloy 2024-T3 that used in manufacturing of aircraft wing.
Prosthetic is an artificial tool that replaces part of the human frame absent because of ailment, damage, or distortion. The current activities in Iraq draw interest to the upper limb discipline because of the growth in variety of amputees and. It is necessary to do extensive researches in this subject to help lessen the struggling of patients. This paper describes the design and development of low-cost prosthesis for people with transradial amputations. The presented design involves a hand with five fingers moving by means of a gear box mechanism. The design of this artificial hand allows five degrees of freedom(5DOF), one degree of freedom for each finger. The artificial hand works by an actuation system (6V) Polou motor with gear ratio equal to 50:1 due to its compactness and cheapness. The designed hand was manufactured by a 3D printing process using polylacticacid material (PLA). Some experimental were accomplished using the designed hand for gripping objects. Initially the EMG signal was recorded when the muscle contracted in one second, two seconds, three seconds. The synthetic hand was able to produce range of gesture and grasping moves separately just like the actual hand by using KNN classification which are complete hand Pinch, fist, and jack chuck. The simulation of the fingers movements was achieved using ANSYS software to analysis the movement (pinch, fist, and jack chuck), obtain bested of stress influencer at each finger, and maximum deformation at each movement.
The effects of the repeated solution heat treatment on hardness, tensile strength and microstructure of aluminum were investigated. For this purpose, an alloy of AA6061-T6 was undergo to cyclic solution heat treatment process which is composed of repeated period (10 min) held at 520 °C for 1, 4, 8 and 12 cycles. The hardness was tested for five aging times (as quenching, one week, three weeks, one month and five months) to all cycles (1, 4, 8 and 12) firstly and it is found that the hardness of five months as aging time for all cycles has the best results (90Hv) as compared with others (as quenching, one week, three weeks, and one month), so it was adopted for all cycles to implement the tensile test and the microstructure. Hardness results were improved to Vickers hardness of (90Hv) with increasing of cycles up to 8 cycles then decreasing after that to (45Hv). Tensile results were showed an increment (34%) also for the same group of 8 cycles compared with (17%) and (9%) for 4 and 12 cycles, respectively. Microstructure is revealed that whenever cycles are increased, the precipitate phase in alloy is increased also, thus, it is improved the hardness and tensile strength.
The hydraulic characteristics of dams can be predicted with high precision and reliability of physical and numerical models depending on accurate hydraulic data. The model is operated and simulated to get a more efficient, optimized utilization of the dam. This research included a comprehensive overview and literature examination of the Makhool Dam which is considered one of the most important dams under construction in Iraq. Previous studies of the dam focused on different topics in the operation of the dam and analyses of its properties, part of which focused on the dam ability to manage flood and how it works best with other dams in critical times, and another part studied the properties of the stilling basin, velocity in the dam reservoir, pressure, seepage and other characteristics that affect the operating the dam. Despite this research and the variety of topics discussed, there is no well-established research on the operation of the bottom and emergency spillway of the dam by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation software. CFD is considered an essential tech because it has an important influence in determining the hydraulic properties of a spillway and studying its effectiveness under different operating conditions. Because the spillway is an important element in the dam body, the research highlighted the necessity of performing a simulation using appropriate CFD software for this part. This research has also reviewed previous research on CFD software and their ability to simulate previously constructed or under-construction dams to analysis of its hydraulic properties.
This work covers mixing of unsaturated polyester (un- polyester) with starch powders as polymer blends and study the effects of irradiation by UV-acceleration on mechanical properties of its. The unsaturated polyester was mixing by starch powders at particle size less than (45 µm) at selected weight fraction of (0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5 and 3%). These properties involve ultimate tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, elongation percentage, flexural modulus, flexural strength, fracture toughness, impact strength and hardness. The results illustrate decrease in the ultimate tensile strength at and elongation percentage, while increasing modulus of elasticity, with increasing the weight ratio of starch powder to 3 % weight fraction, whereas the maximum value of hardness and flexural, impact properties happened at 1 % weight fraction for types of polymer blends.
Functionally graded materials (FGM) are a category of composite materials distinguished by specific design attributes that allow them to serve various purposes and applications. This study used FGM samples made from carbon particles and a polyester matrix to manufacture micro-shapes and study the changes in vibration characteristics at different parameters. The manufactured samples contained different weight percentages, ranging from 0% to 20%, and a subsequent step involved manufacturing two different grades of FGM samples: one consisting of five layers and the other of eleven layers. The free vibration characteristics of the FGM structure were determined experimentally and numerically. The effect of varying several parameters on the natural frequency was monitored, including the number of FGM layers, thickness, and gradient coefficient. The Ansys Workbench (version 2022 R1) was used to analyze free vibration to verify the experimental results. Vibration testing of square FGM panels showed that the natural frequency increased with the number of layers. Improving the thickness of the panels also resulted in increased natural frequency values, when changing the thickness from 5mm to 10mm increases the natural frequency by an amount of 173.34 Hz at 11 layers. Model analysis using finite element analysis (FEA) tools confirmed the validity of the experimental solution, with a maximum discrepancy of 9.72%. Based on numerical calculations, the natural frequency coefficient decreased with increasing power law index under different boundary conditions and increased with increasing number of constraints in the sample.
There are many patients who face a lot of things that hurt the knee joint. Knee replacement is the best solution to these problems. This research was based on reducing the vibrations of daily activities as measured by the frequency of foot and knee for the patient for three cases when the bare foot, sports shoes with ground air and sports shoes with ground air with silicon damping. Patient information for this work was of age, weight, height and leg length 48 years, 90 kg, 160 cm, 84 cm, respectively. The results was shown that the decline in acceleration results was in the case of sport shoes with ground air with silicon damping with 22.57%, while the decline in vibration results was in the case of sports shoes with ground air with -54.9%.
The transportation cost problem of solid waste presents the biggest part of the budget allocated by municipalities for SWM. So, there is no comprehensive plan to address transport routes optimization problems in SWM that including the transfer of solid waste from transfer stations to final landfill sites. Therefore, the aim of the study finding a scientific method to solve the transportation problem of solid waste transport suitable Baghdad city that tries to find feasible solutions that ensure reducing total transport costs and leads to an effective solid waste management system. In this research, a new methodology has been developed to select the optimal transport routs of SWM in Baghdad city which involves determining the best-supposed scenario. the proposed methodology includes integration of Global Positioning System (GPS) technologies with Network Analysis model (NA). Therefore, this work provides an advanced framework of decision-makers for analysis and simulation of the optimal transport routs problem related to SWM. Applying these modeling tools to select the scenario that can provide economic benefits by minimizing travel time, travel distance and reduction of total transportation costs. The Results of work implementation show that all solutions that include current state S1 and suggested scenarios have been evaluated. The scenarios generated include (S2, S3) by applying the proposed technique for analyzed and identified the optimal routes. The solutions of scenario S2, specified with two landfill sites while scenarios S3 specified with four landfill sites. Finally, this work shows the Scenario S3 is the best scenario of the solution, that include applied GPS and Network Analysis for four landfill sites.
Concrete is considered the most important and widely used building material in the world of construction and building due to its durability, high efficiency in shaping, and relatively reasonable cost. The main component of concrete is cement, and one of the most important problems related to cement is the environmental problems associated with cement manufacturing, as the cement manufacturing process releases a large amount of carbon dioxide. Despite the essential role of concrete in construction, we cannot ignore its environmental impact. Some claim that exploring alternative materials or innovative building techniques would reduce the carbon footprint and enhance sustainability in the industry. Partial cement replacement with pozzolanic materials like zeolite is a key technique to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Zeolite, which reduces permeability, is a typical concrete ingredient that strengthens and lasts. Recently, natural zeolite has become a prominent concrete pozzolanic component. For environmental preservation and sustainable development, various experiments were done on concrete with pozzolanic components partially substituting cement and compared to ordinary concrete. A partial replacement of cement with zeolite improves the properties of concrete up to a certain age and mixing ratio. More than 44 relevant articles from 2004–2024 were selected from 762 papers evaluated for this paper. This paper reviews natural zeolite research in real applications. Additionally, it provided a cutting-edge review of natural zeolite literature through a critical analysis of various previous investigations. It also helped to understand how zeolite influences concrete mixture workability, strength, and durability. Since zeolite is a major concrete ingredient, it should be promoted as a sustainable resource.
It is essential to review and develop a system of water control structures and canals that can be used to manage high-flow discharges and the flood control plan requirement to modify the system's capacity. Al-Ramadi Project System is considered one of the main flood control projects on the Euphrates River within Anbar Governorate, Western Iraq. This study will focus on Al-Majjarah Canal and Regulator, which is part of Al-Ramadi Project and has the function of a link canal between Al-Habbaniyah and Al-Razazza lakes, and describe the capacity of the canal under typical operating conditions and during floods. The study used HEC-RAS 6.1 software to run a numerical model to simulate this canal. According to previous research studies near the research region on the Euphrates River, for the main canal, the roughness coefficient was taken at 0.026, and for the flood plain, it was taken at 0.03. The same parameter value was applied to Al-Majjarah Canal. Due to the study region's similar geology and nature. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis was made of the roughness coefficient and its influence on the water surface elevation for the canal. The model result indicated in the current situation of Al-Majjarah Canal can pass a flow rate of 1300 m3/s when Al-Razazza Lake is at an average water level that has been approved by the Ministry of Water Resources at 32.02 m.a.m.s.l.. If the water level in Al-Razazza Lake is in the semi-filled position of 40 m.a.m.s.l., it causes floods for the canal because the water level rises above the banks of the canal at the last kilometer from the canal, even when passing a few discharges through the canal. Accordingly, it is not possible to safely pass the flow rate for a flood wave with a 500-year return period predicted by the "Study of Strategy for Water and Land Resources in Iraq (2014)", which is 2000 m3/s for this canal, without making modifications to the expansion of Al-Majjarah Regulator by adding additional gates, expanding the entrance and exit of the Regulator, reshaping and expanding some cross-sections, and raising some of the banks for the canal. The above-mentioned modification were applied for the purpose of passing the expected discharge from the canal, while maintaining a freeboard of 1 m between the water surface and the canal banks.
Polymer composites reinforced with clay have garnered substantial academic and industrial interest owing to their environmental and mechanical benefits. This research focuses on the effectiveness of metakaolin-unsaturated polyester composites for sequestering Ni2+ ions from Ni(NO3)2 aqueous solutions and on their tribological performance. The composite materials were synthesized with varying metakaolin concentrations (1, 1.5, 3, and 5 wt.%) to evaluate the influence of clay content on nickel ion recovery and wear resistance. The experimental results show a direct correlation between the reinforcement percentage and the functional properties of the composites. The highest value (61.415%) of Ni+2 recovery efficiency was achieved at a metakaolin concentration of 5 wt.%, which is due to the increased density of active adsorption sites on the composite surface. Conversely, composites with lower metakaolin content exhibited diminished recovery rates due to a limited number of available sites for ion adsorption. Wear resistance results show the same trend, wherein the composite with 5 wt.% metakaolin exhibited maximum wear resistance, characterized by minimal material loss at the applied loads (5, 10, 15, and 20 N). Furthermore, Shore-D hardness measurements indicated a gradual enhancement in the material's hardness with increasing metakaolin content, which confirms the reinforcing role of the clay in enhancing the mechanical properties. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) micrographs showed the formation of wear grooves aligned with the sliding direction during wear testing. In addition, agglomerates and surface deposits were formed that are correlated with the adsorption of metal ions onto the composite surface. These results prove that the incorporation of metakaolin as a reinforcing agent confers dual advantages: it significantly enhances the adsorptive capacity for Ni+2 ion recovery and improves the tribological and mechanical properties of the composite. This positions the material for use in environmental remediation, especially wastewater treatment, and in engineering applications requiring enhanced durability.
This paper presents a comparison of using different techniques for stir spot welding of Aluminum 2024-T3, which are refill friction stir spot welding (RFSSW), edited (RFSSW-pin) and conventional friction stir spot welding (FSSW), depending on the obtained tensile shear strength property. Specimens were prepared from AA2024-T3 sheet for chemical analysis and mechanical tests. Workpieces were stir spot welded utilizing the above mentioned techniques at four rotational speeds (2000, 2500, 3000 and 4000 rpm) using tool pin diameters (5 and 7 mm) for conducting the tensile shear tests. The microhardness along the cross section of the welded specimens was conducted at the best conditions as well as the microstructure examination. The comparison results revealed that at the rotational speeds (2000 and 4000 rpm) in both cases of tool pin (5 and 7 mm), the ultimate tensile shear force was slightly higher than that for other speeds. However, the ultimate tensile shear force was found higher at 3000 rpm speed with a tool pin 7 mm. The microhardness results manifested a W-shape at the best conditions. Finally, the microstructure examination depicted the morphology of the main zones of the weld joint.
In recent decades, Iraq has witnessed several military operations. This has led to huge damages to the infrastructure of some main cities. The traditional construction methods seem not to be able to fulfill the rapid reconstruction works needed, while prefabricated building systems seem to be promising. This paper aims at evaluating the possibilities of using prefabrication systems for schools building as a pilot study for wider adoption. An extensive literature review was carried out to identify the features of construction prefabrication and its requirements. Then a thorough investigation of the possibilities of adopting this approach in Iraq and the major expected obstacles was carried out. A questionnaire survey has been conducted with (96) stakeholders who have experience in prefabricated building projects. The results showed that the highest rating of benefits went to time and productivity, while the highest rating of obstacles went to lack of government support. Therefore the top proposed action included the adoption of a clear governmental strategy for change. Finally, the respondents agreed that school building is the most suitable type of projects to start with.
A high-performance Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) based all-optical switch using graphene on silicon nitride (Si3N4) is proposed and simulated. Graphene absorbs pump power (λ = 980 nm) on Si3N4 waveguide, generating heat. The heat affects the Si3N4 waveguide, causing a change in its refractive index due to thermo-optic effect. By tuning the probe phase (λ = 1550 nm) in the Si3N4 arm with graphene on top, all optical switching can then be carried out. An extinction ratio ranges of 13-25 dB and pump power range 20-270 mW. These findings demonstrate that our suggested configuration offers a useful integrated part for the creation of effective all-optical control devices on the insulator platform with a quick switching rate. Moreover, the suggested design might be able to achieve a wide bandwidth by utilizing an integrated MZI structure.
This study aims to review flow-induced vibration one of the repercussions of vibrations is caused by fluid movement. In general, the investigation of the structure of the systems affects the efficiency of the components that construct those systems. This review examined the influence of generated vibrations and internal pressure on fluid transport pipes using theoretical calculations, practical tests, and numerical analysis to identify and test the dynamic behavior of static fluid transport pipes. The experimental study considered the natural frequencies caused by the fluid pressure effect under various stability situations. The flow of all liquids, such as oil, water, gas, air, and vapors, through the pipes, was tested, and the mathematical models were correctly adjusted. All empirical, theoretical, numerical, and analytical research agrees that several approaches exist to develop, modify, and improve these metrics. However, one factor affecting rheological measurements is vibration, which was addressed as needed in the middle of the 20th century due to major discoveries that damage could be rooted in vibration. Established on the determinations, they provided mathematical models paired with pressure and velocity measurements of moving fluids and the influence of produced or uninduced vibration. This study demonstrates that additional empirical investigations, particularly more detailed analytical methodologies, are urgently required to produce better findings.
An investigation of performance response of two types of bearings such as Cylindrical Roller Bearing and bush bearing on evaporative cooler driven by DC motor of 1500 r.p.m, through studying many parameters like vibration response, temperature raise, humidity, sound level and total performance. high quality 3D positions X, Y and Z, vibration sensors type (ADXL335 accelerometers) with Arduino mega 2560 that interfaced with Lab-View program were used to measure changes in vibration amplitude and frequency. Two temperature sensors of type (LM35) were used to investigate the temperature raise in the bearings also with Arduino mega 2560 that interfaced with Lab-View program. For humidity a sensor of type DHT22 was used, also, a portable device was used to measure electricity consumption, rotary speed and sound level in the bearings of evaporative cooler. By replacing bearings all the parameters above wear measured then a comparison between them were made to find the best performance and operation of these bearings. The obtained results from the experimental work have clarified and explained by tables and figures. It has been found that the vibration of evaporative cooler in X, Y and Z-directions increased by using two cylindrical roller bearings than using two of bush bearings. The temperature of cylindrical roller bearings increased When running the evaporative cooler more than bush bearings. the noise of Evaporative Cooler by using both types of Bearings was almost same but with a little Reduce by using cylindrical roller Bearings. Which means the Evaporative Cooler has better Performance by using bush bearings than using cylindrical roller bearings.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly advancing as a valuable tool in oncology for enhancing detection and management of cancer. The integration of AI with PET/CT imaging presents significant scenarios for improving efficiency and accuracy of cancer diagnosis. This study examines the current applications of AI with PET/CT imaging, highlighting its role in diagnosing, differentiating, delineating, staging, assessing therapy response, determining prognosis, and enhancing image quality. A comprehensive literature search was conducted in six data-bases to get the most recent works, use Springer, Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, IEEE, and Google Scholar in the last five years (2019-2024), identifying 80 studies that met the criteria for inclusion that focused on AI-driven models applied to PET/CT data in various cancers, with lung cancer being the most studied. Other cancers examined include head and neck, breast, lymph nodes, whole body, and others. All studies involved human subjects. The findings indicate that AI holds promise in improving cancer detection, identifying benign from malignant tumors, aiding in segmentation, response evaluation, staging, and determining the prognosis. However, the application of AI-powered models and PET/CT-derived radiomics in clinical practice is limited because of issues of data normalization, reproducibility, and the requirement of large multi-center data sets for improving model generalizability. All these limitations have to be solved to guarantee the dependable and ethical use of AI in day-to-day clinical activities.
In the last two decades Modern architecture of the 20th century has become a primary focus for numerous global organizations, researchers, and academics who aim to preserve and sustain it. The leading parties in this endeavor are UNESCO and the International DOCOMOMO. They recognize modern heritage as tangible, authentic, carrying exceptional features and modern characteristics that reflect values, shifts, and norms of its era. Therefore, Docomomo has identified key Modernist Merits as criteria to assess the authenticity of this heritage, while UNESCO has listed many modern buildings and sites on the World Heritage List. In this respect many Iraqi modernist buildings suffer from mishandling and poor interest. Numerous have been distorted, demolished, or are on the verge of disappearing. This reflects a lack of understanding their exceptional modernist values which are worthy of preservation, and thus inefficiency in managing this heritage. Given that Intervention in modernist heritage involves adhering to guidelines set by international organization, the vague connection between criteria of DOCOMOMO and those of UNESCO clouds the process. Therefore, this article focuses on addressing the relationship between the two organizations' sets of criteria and clarifying their connection. The authors also aimed to address the national Iraqi context by assessing selected cases of modernist heritage buildings by one of Iraq’s modernism pioneers, architect Qahtan Al-Madfai, against DOCOMOMO’s criteria for modernist merits, highlighting the originality of Iraqi modernist heritage.Using a descriptive analytical approach, the theoretical sections of the paper begin by exploring the principles and characteristics of modern architecture, followed by identifying the exceptional values of modernist buildings, defined by DOCOMOMO as Modernist Merits and linking them to UNESCO's criteria. The practical part includes an experts’ survey to assess the Modernist Merits of the selected sample of Al- Madfaies’ buildings.The research results showed that Qahtaan Al-Madfai’s architecture was distinguished by a high evaluation of two Merits (exceptional features): the technological feature and the artistic aesthetic feature. While the first was fairly preserved, the second feature was affected in some buildings as a result of the mismanagement of these buildings and the lack of awareness of their values.
Thyroid nodules (TNs) are discrete abnormalities located within the thyroid gland that are radiologically different from the surrounding thyroid tissue. Ultrasound is an accurate and efficient way to diagnose thyroid nodules. Recently, several methods of AI were proposed to improve the detection of thyroid nodules ultrasound images with good performances. However, in some cases related to the type or size of the dataset using machine or transfer deep learning methods alone is unable to achieve high accuracy and high specificity. Consequently, the addition of feature selection)FS) to the deep learning method enhances the results by reducing the high features and the time needed for training the dataset. This study proposes two deep-learning models for classifying thyroid nodule US images into two categories: benign and malignant. ResNet50 was the first model used to extract deep features from US images. The second model integrates ResNet50 and principal component analysis (PCA) for feature selection, intending to reduce dataset dimensionality while maintaining the greatest data variance possible before classification. The proposed model was created using a freely available dataset. The dataset consists of 800 images, 400 benign and 400 malignant. The suggested system was accessed based on accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 score. The classification accuracy for ResNet50 was 85%, while ReNet50-PCA was 89.16%. The combination of deep learning and FS techniques in this research produces an interesting diagnostic framework that can potentially increase efficiency and accuracy in thyroid cancer detection, especially in local healthcare centers.
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) allows for direct and immediate imaging of the morphology of retinal tissue. It has become a crucial imaging modality for diagnosing eye problems in ophthalmology. One of the most significant morphological characteristics of the retina is the structure of the retinal layers, which provides important evidence for diagnostic purposes and is related to a variety of retinal diseases. In this paper, a convolutional neural network (CNN) model is proposed that can identify the difference between a normal retina and three common macular diseases: Diabetic macular edema (DME), Drusen, and Choroidal neovascularization (CNV). This proposed model was trained and tested on an open source dataset of OCT images also with professional disease classifications such as DME, CNV, Drusen, and Normal. The suggested model has achieved 98.3% overall classification accuracy, with only 7 wrong classifications out of 368 test samples. The suggested model significantly outperforms other models that made use of the identical dataset. The final results show that the suggested model is particularly adapted to the detection of retinal disorders in ophthalmology centers.
With the development of manufacturing techniques, the demands have increased on tools with flexible components that can produce parts with different shapes and sizes only by replacing the rigid part of these tools, since the flexible part can match the required geometry. This study is focused on effects of rubber hardness and sheet thickness on the springback developed on the produced parts. Silicone rubber with three hardness (40,60 ,80) Shore A hardness scale was used. The material of workpiece was Aluminum (3003) with three different thicknesses of (0.8,1,1.2) mm and three holding time of (0,10,20) seconds. The results demonstrate that, the springback decreases with any increase in the rubber hardness or sheet thickness. In addition, the holding time showed a significant effect only with a harder rubber.
This research deals with the extent to which corrosion affects the behavior of buckling for 6061-T4 aluminum alloy under increasing compressive dynamic loads. Two types of columns, long, and intermediate were used.1% of the length column is the allowable lateral deflection. This is called the critical buckling of the columns. For the purpose of calculating the critical deflection, a digital dial gauge was used and set at a distance of 0.7 of column length from the fixed end condition for the column. The experimental analysis revealed that the corrosion time negatively affects the mechanical properties of materials such as the corroded specimens of 60 days (The least time to observe the corrosion of aluminum in the soil) which have approximately 2.7 % reduction in ultimate strength compared with the non-corroded specimen. Increasing the corrosion time reduces the critical load such as the maximum reduction will be 4.24% in critical buckling load for 60 days’ corrosion time. The results obtained were experimentally compared with the theoretical formulas of the Perry-Robertson and Euler-Johnson formula with the results of the ANSYS. It was found that the Perry-Robertson formula has a good agreement with the experimental results with a safety factor of 1.2, while the Euler-Johnson formula agreed with the experimental results taking a safety factor of 1.5. The ANSYS results showed a good agreement between the measured and calculated values by taking 1.1 factor of safety.
Improving fatigue life is one of the most important issues in mechanical design; an investigation has been conducted on Al 2017-T4. Group of samples have been machined and prepared, some of specimens have been treated using the ultrasonic impact treatment (UIT) with one line peening. The fatigue tests were carried out under constant and variable amplitude (R=-1) at ambient temperature, in order to find out the fatigue life S-N curve and strength after treatment. It has been found significant increasing in strength after it was treated by (UIT). The fatigue strength is improved after treatment up to 4.16% at 107 cycles, enhancement are present with 24% and 18.78% for the cumulative fatigue lives low-high and high–low respectively. These results also show a strong tendency of increasing of fatigue strength after application of (UIT) with increase in mechanical properties of material used.
A failing heart can be supported in several ways, including cardiopulmonary bypass pumps (CPB), extracorporeal membrane oxygenators (ECMOs), and other types of auxiliary heart pumps. The intra-aortic-balloon-pump (IABP) is one technique of internal counter-pulsation that supports maintaining the circulatory system It continues to be used as a vascular support device to critically unwell cardiac patients. Many recent studies have focused on the problems of the (IABP) in open-heart surgery, while other researchers concentrated on the positioning and size of the balloon, some of them studied the timing of the balloon's inflation and deflation. this paper has reviewed a brief Introduction, the basic principles of the balloon, how to trigger the balloon pump as well as the use of IABP in Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG), balloon mistiming of inflation and deflation, balloon timing usage within open-heart surgery and finally a balloon position and sizing.
A dam failure results in losses in terms of economy and infrastructure, in addition to the loss of many lives and assets. Inadequate seepage control procedures are typically the cause of seepage failure in earth-fill dams. For an earthen dam to be waterproof and to minimize seepage, non-homogeneous dams with a clay core are one kind of embankment dam used. As water moves through the dam's core, friction causes it to lose a lot of energy. Both vertical and inclined cores can be used in the design and construction of zoned embankment dams. As a result, choosing the proper materials and dimensions for the earth dam's core is critical. The main objective of this study is to investigate different seepage control strategies for an earth dam (HORAN DAM) using the Finite Element Method (FEM). We modeled and analyzed nine cases of various seepage control techniques that have been modeled and analyzed using SEEP/W, a FEM-based software. The modeling results show using chimney filters reduces pore water pressure more effectively than using toe rock and horizontal filters. Regarding seepage, trapezoidal cores perform better than inclined cores, and the milder slope is preferred over steeper core slopes. The results show when the core permeability decreases, the seepage quantity also decreases. Toe rock decreases seepage more than horizontal filters and chimney filters. Additionally, it has been shown that using a toe rock filter together with a trapezoidal core with a mild slope performs better than using a different filter and a different internal clay core shape.
Aluminum metal matrix composites are widely employed for improving the mechanical properties. Various fabrication routes like liquid state, solid state and liquid-solid state are currently available for producing these materials. The objective of the present work is the fabrication of nano particulate composites AA7075-Al2O3 with different amount of nano particles (20-30 nm) reinforced material Al2O3 (2, 4 and 6 wt%) using stir casting technique at three stirring speeds (300, 850 and 1500 rpm). Tensile tests of these composites were carried-out to obtain the mechanical properties (ultimate strength and ductility). Vickers hardness tests were also performed to obtain the hardness number (VHN) of these materials. All tests were performed at room temperature. The microstructures of the best mechanical properties’ composites were examined for the three stirring speeds. It was revealed that the ultimate strength (?u) and Vickers hardness (VHN) for the composite containing 6 wt% Al2O3 fabricated at 850 rpm show the best properties compared to the other composites fabricated at 300 and 1500 rpm and the matrix. The ?u and VHN were increased by about (36.6 %) and (24.5 %) respectively. Ductility of the strongest composite (6 wt% Al2O3 at 850 rpm speed), however, was the least when compared to other composites and the matrix. With increasing the amount of Al2O3, ?u and VHN, an increasing trend was noticed while the ductility shows a reduction trend. The maximum reduction in ductility occurred for the composite containing 6 wt% Al2O3 obtained at 850 rpm. The ductility of the developed composite was reduced by (23 %). The optical microstructures of unreinforced, as-cast Aluminum alloy AA7075 and 6 wt% Al2O3 composites for all stirring speeds show dendrite microstructure resulting from the casting process, but the composite at the stirring speed of 850 rpm shows a more refined microstructure.
In this study, the analytic model (Azmi Model) had been considered for computation the load capacities of the composite open web steel joists and compared them with those obtained from experimental tests. The capacities of seven joists had been studied, each including one of the following variables (distribution of headed studs, connection degree of the connectors, inclination of the web, shape of the web, density of slab concrete, length of connectors).Theoretically, according to the Analytic model, the referenced joist of (45° web inclination , uniformly distributed ,over connected ,short headed studs) exhibited maximum load capacity of (18.45) ton, while the joist of (45° web inclination, uniformly distributed, under connected, short headed studs) exhibited minimum load capacity of (16.23) ton at yield point of bottom chord. Experimentally, the referenced joist exhibited maximum load capacity of (15.51) ton, while the joist of (34° web inclination, uniformly distributed, over connected, short headed studs) exhibited (12.49) ton load capacity. The load capacities values of the tested joists ranged between (67%-85%) of the predicted values according to the analytic model.
A proposed modern technique for determination the blood group typing by monitoring the agglutination of red blood cells using acousto-optical technique and digital camera. The method based on analysis the digital image of the agglutination process by MATLAB software._x000D_ We present an overview of two acousto-optic sensing approaches; the first demonstrates the cuvette approach while the second is the microscope slide approach. The cuvette approach digital image analyzing depends on the green channel distribution of the original image and count the brighten pixels, while the microscope slide approach passes through series of algorithms started with grayscale filter and end with edge detection it counts the different color pixels._x000D_ The experimental result shown that it is possible to enhance the determination of blood group typing by using acousto-optical technique in both cases of using isohemagglutinating sera as well as the crossmatch test in a short time and high efficiency compared with the traditional methods.
Moisture-induced damage in asphalt pavements, is defined by adhesive failure at the binder-aggregate interface and decreased mechanical integrity, severely reduce pavement durability. The research examines the mechanical properties and moisture sensitivity of hot mix asphalt (HMA) enhanced with styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) polymer and including reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP). Laboratory assessments, including indirect tensile strength (ITS) and tensile strength ratio (TSR) tests, were performed on conventional HMA, SBS-modified HMA (4% SBS), and SBS-modified HMA contained 20% RAP. The results indicated that SBS modification significantly improved mechanical and moisture resistance properties, where unconditioned ITS specimens increased by 37.1% and TSR value enhanced by 13.5%. The incorporation of RAP decreased ITS value by about 21 % relative to pure SBS-modified HMA; nevertheless, the SBS+RAP combination still show higher ITS and TSR values than conventional HMA.
In this study a Nickel-Titanium-Cupper shape memory alloys was manufactured by powder metallurgy (PM) technique, powder mixture of 50% Ti , 47% Ni and 3% Cu was prepared by mixing for two hours and compacted in a press machine using various compacting pressure (600, 700 and 800) MPa , sample was then sintered for 5 hrs in an electrical tube vacuum furnace using sintering temperature of (850?C, 900?C and 950?C) .phase analysis of samples was conducted by X-ray diffraction test, the effect of different sintering temperature and compacting pressure on the porosity, microhardness ,compression strength and the shape memory effect (SME) was studied, the result showed decrease in the porosity and increasing in the shape recovery ,compression strength and microhardness with increasing compacting pressure and at lower sintering temperature and hence the best results was at 800MPa compacting pressure and 850?C sintering temperature.
Due to the instability and irregular of national electric power supplied to residence sector in Iraq for long term history, attracted researchers interest to strive for solutions, and associated challenge dry and very hot summer season in Iraq on air conditioning application, A test room full size prototype was constructed in Baghdad, its size 33.5m3, the room is built from very good thermal insulation Autoclave Aerated Concrete AAC with white panted Concrete roof, test room is exposed to solar radiation during entire day, thermal energy shifted by time using thermal energy storage TES containing PCM, PCM is soft paraffin its phase inversion temperature (29 to 27)°C, thermal energy was shifted from night timing by cooling down TES (Discharging PCM) to peak time 11:00 am to 02:00 pm, the testes were carried out over entire summer season April to October, the results showed thermal energy can shift to by any quantity and time based on mass of PCM and enthalpy, electrical energy saved at peak time 52.5% of total power spent over season 2.7KW/day, Only 27% of electric energy utilized to discharge PCM during night, about 43% of heat lose is sourced from exposed roof, melting and solidification of PCM temperature must be within indoor comfort range 23 to 28 ?C to release or absorb the latent heat 41kJ/kg.
The main objective of this study is to design the asphalt pavement structure for the Alkut-Mayssan highway in Iraq as a case study by using PCASE application to determine the necessary thickness of CR-modified asphaltic layers. Additionally, Marshall tests were used to investigate the effect of the dry process crumb rubber modifier on the thickness of the binder coarse layer based on various variables, such as the crumb rubber modifier with different content (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)% and sizes (0.3mm, 2.36mm , 4.75mm, and mix gradation). The test results show that while pavement thickness reduced as crumb rubber gradation increases, MR values increase. Additionally, as compared to the control mixture, the addition of 1% of CR in various gradations could decrease the thickness of the asphalt binder layer.
Distillation columns are among the most critical units in chemical processes, especially in oil refineries. This research aims to develop a mathematical model for a nonlinear multicomponent naphtha distillation column using real experimental data. The naphtha distillation column used in this research consists of a column with a diameter of 2.2 m and a height of 16.6 m, containing 20 trays of type (valve tray). The process currently operates in Al-Dora Refinery as part of the Midland Refinery Company in eastern Baghdad, Iraq. Four manipulated variables (reflux flow rate, reboiler heat duty, light compound fraction in the feed, and feed flow rate) were tested for their impact on four control variables (light compound fraction in the top product, light compound fraction in the bottom product, amount of top product, and amount of bottom product). A 4x4 transfer function is produced by representing the obtained dynamic models for the variables under study using various second-order models (having different damping factors) with dead time.
Galvanic corrosion of Nickel-Chrome alloy (Ni-Cr alloy) and Copper (Cu) coupled in 5% sulfuric acid solution was investigated. The effects of agitation velocity, temperature, and time on the galvanic corrosion current and the weight loss of both metals in both free corrosion and galvanic corrosion were investigated. The trends of open circuit potential (OCP) of each metal and galvanic potential (Eg) of the couple were also determined. The results showed that Cu was cathodic relative to Ni-Cr alloy in galvanic couple and the corrosion potential of the couple (Ni- Cr alloy /Cu) was between the values of the two single components because the OCP of copper shifted to positive with the increase in velocity. Under stagnant conditions initially the galvanic current was more negative then shifted to the positive with time. The corrosion of Ni-Cr alloy decreased with time because the passivation layer was formed on the surface. Under flow conditions, the galvanic current sharply shifted to the negative direction (increase galvanic current from Ni-Cr alloy (anode) to Cu (cathode) during the first few minutes.
The efficiency of adsorption using copper nanocomposite catalysts for the removal of lead ions from aqueous solution was studied. Nano copper and its nanocomposition were prepared in laboratory in very accurate conditions. After preparing samples, the samples were analyzed using XRD and SEM and that shows very good morphology of catalytic performance and has nano sized of crystalline shape. In order to study the efficiency of these catalysts, all samples were tested using adsorption process. The preparing samples show very good efficiency for lead removing from aqueous solution, and reach maximum removal efficiency 96% for 0.05g of adsorbents at pH 10, otherwise increasing or decreasing the pH would give undesirable results for all samples. Langmuir isotherm fitted better than Freundlich isotherm for adsorption of lead.
In this work, the design procedure of a hybrid robust controller for crane system is presented. The proposed hybrid controller combines the linear quadratic regulator (LQR) properties with the sliding mode control (SMC) to obtain an optimal and robust LQR/SMC controller. The crane system which is represented by pendulum and cart is used to verify the effectiveness of the proposed controller. The crane system is considered one of the highly nonlinear and uncertain systems in addition to the under-actuating properties. The parameters of the proposed LQR/SMC are selected using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) method. The results show that the proposed LQR/SMC controller can achieve a better performance if only SMC controller is used. The robustness of the proposed controller is examined by considering a variation in system parameters with applying an external disturbance input. Finally, the superiority of the proposed LQR/SMC controller over the SMC controller is shown in this work.
The present work was designed on producing nanohydroxyapatite layers using electrophoretic deposition (EPD) on 316L stainless steel substrate. The EPD coatings were prepared by the deposition of hydroxyapatite (HA)-chitosan nanocomposites on different substrate roughness (polish surface, 220 grit SiC grind, and sand blast surfaces). Depositions were performed using the suspensions of HA nano particles (3 g/L) in the mixture of alcohol and distilled water (ethanol, 5 vol. %water and containing 0.5 g/L of chitosan dissolved in 1 vol.% acetic acid. Coatings were achieved on the cathode at constant voltage, time and temperature (90 V, 5 min and 40 °C respectively); the pH value was performed and fitted at 4. After deposition, the coated samples were dried at room temperature for 24 h. The surface topography of coatings was analyzed using atomic force microscopy (AFM). SEM was used to postulate both the surface and the cross section morphology of the coatings. The adhesion bonding between the deposited coatings and substrate were measured using tape tester to evaluate the adhesion bonding between the coating and substrate. The results showed the deposited coatings on sand blasted substrate has less porosity compared with the polish surface and 220 emery paper SiC grinding substrate respectively. The coating on the sand blasted substrate showed higher nanoroughness (122 nm), better adhesion bonding (removal area 15%) and higher thickness layer (12 µm) than that of the polish substrate and 220 emery paper SiC grinding substrate.
This research studies the physical and mechanical properties of mortar composed of PVC plastic waste particles used as fine aggregate replacement material. PVC particles in quantities of 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, and 30% by volume were used for sand fraction substitution. This quantity of PVC was used to formulate seven mixes with a cement content of 525 kg/m3 and a water-to-cement ratio (w/c) of 0.45. At 7 and 28 days, the compressive and splitting tensile strengths of the mortar's mechanical characteristics were evaluated. Additionally, the physical characteristics of density and absorption were investigated. The findings demonstrated that the mechanical properties and density of mortar containing PVC powder were minimized.
The control of quenching process has been investigated in this study by developing a quench system design to simulate the quenching process and measure the time – temperature history inside the sample during the cooling stage. The main purpose of this quench system is to evaluate the quench power of different quenchant at different conditions (type, temperature and agitation).A stainless steel sample was used with a suitable measurement as a probe in designing this quench system.The performance of two of quenchants (water and brine) with different conditions was investigated, and the designed probe was used to illustrate the effect of quenching parameters (quenchant type, temperature and its agitation) on cooling curves and cooling rate.The quenching system has proven its ability to work effectively and the results showed that heat transfer properties were significantly affected by quenchant parameters.
Basrah is the richest town and the economic capital of Iraq. It suffers from lack of drinking water. This project is a dream to supply drinking water to Basrah citizens within WHO standards. Water should pass sedimentation and filtration stages before interring reverse osmosis unit. The design is carried out using lewaplus2 software. Several parameters should be selected in the design step membrane type, number of stages, number per element in each stage, and the recovery percentage. An optimization is carried out using Minitab ver. 18 for the acceptable limit of TDS and minimum cost and it was found that the optimum conditions were 52% for first stage, the numbers of vessels are 20 for both the first and second stage. In addition, results showed that the pressure and the total dissolved solid increase with increasing the recovery while parameters like the feed flow rate per vessel, the power, and the cost are decreasing with the recovery. Mathematical model described the cost was conducted and statistical study was also done to ensure the results.
The present work deals with direct diffusion bonding welding without interlayer of austenitic stainless steel type AISI 304L with Oxygen Free High Conductivity pure copper (OFHC) in vacuum atmosphere (1.5 *10-5 mbr.). The optimum bonding conditions are temperature of 650 ?C, duration time of 45 min. and the applied stress of 30 MPa, in order to secure a tight contact between the mating surfaces. The corrosion behavior of diffusion bonding joints in 3.5% Nacl is studied to evaluate the corrosion resistance of welding joints by using Potentiodynamic method. The observed microstructure of corroded specimen of optimum diffusion bonding joint shows that the corrosion current density has low value as compared with base materials used. During polarization, galvanic coupling is observed between two materials used. At passivity region, inverse polarity is occurred at 450mV. Therefore, passive stainless steel 304 L behaves as cathode respective to pure copper, the corrosion behavior of the diffusion bonding joint was mostly by copper side. The corrosion results indicate the presence of galvanic effect. The corrosion current density of copper, stainless steel 304L and bond joints condition were (3.66 µA/cm2, 1.62 µA/cm2 and 1.85µA/cm2) respectively. A SEM examination of corroded diffusion bonding joint indicates that the galvanic corrosion happened on copper side. The corrosion rate of bonding joint conditions was 0.85 mpy, which is less than 1%. This means that corrosion resistance of bond joint is more than excellent.
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This extensive and thorough review aims to systematically outline, clarify, and examine the numerous exploratory data analysis techniques that are employed in the intriguing and rapidly advancing domain of functional MRI research. We will particularly focus on the wide array of software applications that are instrumental in facilitating and improving these complex and often nuanced analyses. Throughout this discourse, we will meticulously assess the various strengths and limitations associated with each analytical tool, offering invaluable insights relevant to their application and overall efficacy across diverse research contexts and environments. Our aim is to create a comprehensive understanding of how these tools can be best utilized to enhance research outcomes. Through this analysis, we aspire to equip researchers with critical knowledge and essential information that could profoundly influence their methodological selections in upcoming studies. By carefully considering these factors, we hope to contribute positively to the ongoing progression of this important field of inquiry, fostering innovation and enhancing the impact of future research findings in functional MRI studies.
Breast cancer is one of the greatest frequent tumours among females in Iraq. Medical ultrasound imaging has become a common modality for breast tumour imaging because of its ease of use, low cost, and safety. In the present study, Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) feature extraction approaches were used to classify breast ultrasound imaging. The CNN model used is composed of four-layer for breast cancer ultrasound image analysis. Two types of free datasets were used. These data were divided into groups A and B. Group A has three classes, namely benign, malignant and normal, while group B has two classes, namely, benign and malignant. The proposed technique was assessed based on its accuracy, precision, F1 score and recall. The model's classification accuracy for data A was 96%, whereas for data B was 100%.
Many difficulties were recorded during laser-assisted tattoo removal. But most of them remain unknown. The recent literatures on laser tattoo removal focuses more on removal methods and systems than on side effects, such as temperature increase over tissue and ideal treatment parameters. This study aims to assess the surface temperature in compliance with eyebrow tattoo removal. The study was carried out for 55 patients aged between 22 and 43 years. The treatment was performed using a Nd:YAG laser (1064nm, Phi laser system) with an energy of 1000 mJ, a frequency of 3Hz, and a spot size of 8mm. The surface temperature of the skin during tattoo removal process was measured with a FLIR thermal camera. The results were analyzed by testing the normal state of distribution. The Shapiro-Wilk and Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests were used. All patients finished the full treatment of three laser sessions to achieve the goal of total removal. After temperature comparison, the results showed a significant influence of skin nature and patients' age on temperature distribution on skin, as for older patients, the energy absorption increased. Additionally, patients with darker skin tones exhibited greater absorption. The benefit of deepening understanding appeared in the Temperature distribution in the tissues of the affected area and the surrounding area during laser irradiation, as it provides a guiding and reference function for the effect of photothermal therapy.
Open graded asphalt mixture is becoming more widespread where it is applied for various purposes, e.g. drainage of rainwater effectivity, traffic safety (high skid resistance), and controlling pollution noise. However, it has many other disadvantages, of which low stability, high stripping, and moisture sensitivity. The research aims to study the effect of styrene butadiene styrene SBS addition on the volumetric and mechanical properties of open graded mixture. In this research one type of aggregate with gradation (12.5 mm NMAS), asphalt of penetration grade (40/50), and cement as filler were used. Optimum asphalt content was selected based on the criteria of air voids content, asphalt drain down, permeability, and abrasion resistance (for aged and un-aged) samples. Other properties of open-graded mixtures, such as indirect tensile strength (ITS), moisture susceptibility, Marshall stability and flow were evaluated. The results show that addition of polymer (SBS) leads to an enhancement in the properties of the modified mixtures. There is an improvement in Marshall parameters. Also, a slight decreasing is noticed for permeability and air voids. For Cantabro abrasion loss (aging and un-aging condition), the abrasion resistance is increased, the drain down of asphalt is decreased from original mixture by addition of SBS. Finally, the moisture sensitivity is improved indicating that modified mixes becomes more resistant to water damage.
This research is devoted to study the influence of different weight percent concerning to the additions of Ti and Cu on mechanical and tribological properties of AA6061. The composite materials consist of different weight percentage of Ti (0.2, 0.4, and 0.6) wt% and constant weight percentage of Cu (0.2) wt% which were fabricated by liquid metallurgy route technique. Microstructural characterization and phases have been examined by using SEM (scanning electron microscopic).SEM examination showed uniform distribution of nano Ti and Cu in AA6061. The consequences of mechanical tests demonstrated clear enhancement in mechanical properties, such as ultimate tensile strength, yield strength, young modulus, ductility% and hardness at additive percentage of 0.4% Ti+0.2%Cu nano particles incorporated into molten AA6061. Percentage of enhancement ultimate tensile strength is about 73.3%, yield strength about 82.7%, young modulus is about 21.2%, the Vickers hardness about 42.6% and the decreasing in ductility was about 25.2% compared with the metal matrix (AA6061). The wear rate test was performed by using pin on disc rig for both hybrid nano composite and base metal (AA6061) under various loads (10,15and 20) N with sliding speed (1.282) m/sec at a (10) min’s time. The results showed a decrease in wear rate at 0.4%Ti+0.2%Cu compared with the base metal (AA6061). Improvement percentage of wear rate is about 105% at 20 N load.
The composite opened web steel joist supported floor systems have been common for many years. It is economic and has light weight and can embed the electrical conduit, ductwork and piping, eliminating the need for these to pass under the member, consequently eliminate the height between floors. In order to study the joist strength capacity under the various conditions, it had been fabricated seven joists composed of the steel and concrete slab connected to the top chord by shear connectors (headed studs). These joist have 2820 mm length c/c of the supports and 235 mm overall depth. In the present study, six variable parameters are adopted (Studs distribution, Degree of shear connection, Degree of the web inclination, Shape of the web, Density of concrete for slab and length of the shear connector). The test results exhibited that minimum strength capacity was 160kN for light weight joist and maximum capacity was 225kN for joist of long shear connectors at failure. The results were compared by ultimate flexural model by Azmi.
The corrosion behavior of martensite phase in Cu-Al-Be shape memory alloy with aging at 150 at time 2,4and 6 hour and quenching ice water with salt, water at room temperature and oil media study by open circuit potential, tafal polarization and cyclic polarization. The microstructure of martensite study by optical microscope and x-ray diffraction(XRD) and transformation temperature was determined by Di?erential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC).the result show aging martensite at 150 at 2 and 4 hour have high open circuit potential, low corrosion current density , high corrosion potential and pitting potential than martensite without aging.
The aim of this study is to evaluate the sediment transport and to assess the quality of water for a reach of Euphrates River with a length of (124.4 km), begins from downstream of Haditha dam which represents the upstream of study, and ends at Heet station in Heet city which represents the downstream. There are 196 cross-sections which were distributed along the study area by using the model of one-dimensional HEC-RAS version 4.1. Calibration and Verification processes from(01-Sep-2013) to (30-Nov2013) and (01-DEC-2013) to (28-FEB-2014) respectively, show that the optimal Manning Roughness Coefficient (n) is equal to (0.033) which gives the less error ratio between the observed and calculated water surface elevations. By comparing the results of sediment transport “mass accumulated” for this study which equal to (237.38ton/day) was larger than the value of the previous study which equal to (165ton/day, measured in 2010). But the value of sediment load of this study at Heet station was equal to (551.76 ton/day) which was less than the value of previous study (189.041×103 ton/day,measured in 1988), due to increasing in the rates ofdischarge that was arrived the reach of study area.
The partial shading conditions have a significant effect on the performance of Photovoltaic system and the ability of delivering energy. In this study, the impact of different partial shading on the mono crystalline (88W) PV module performance was investigated in this study. Horizontal string, vertical string, and single cell shading at different percentage of shading area have been studied. It is found that the horizontal string shading is more severe on the efficiency of the PV panel. In contrast, the efficiency of PV panel with cellular and vertical cell shading was less during the tests. The experimental results showed that the power losses were 99.8%, 66% and 56.8 % for horizontal, cellular and vertical shading respectively via applied non transparent material as shading element by 100% of shading area at 500 W/m2. Moreover, transparent material used to shade whole module horizontally, different shading area and different radiation level applied to find electrical characteristics of the module under these conditions. The results show that at 800W/m2 of irradiation levels and no shading condition the power was 68.6W, by increase shading area by 20% in each step, the power reducing by 44.94, 47.58, 49.42, 50.57 and 52.4% in compared with their initial value at no shading condition.
In today's world, Urinary Tract disorders such as obstructions whatever the causes (stricture, stones), are prevalent and can be extremely dangerous and painful for individuals. One of the most important instruments in the Urological sector for a variety of clinical diseases is the Ureteral stent, a minimally invasive surgical tool for relieving blockages and facilitating kidney-to-Bladder drainage. This review addressed the problems of biofilm formation and polymers currently available for use as new biomaterials in new Ureteral stent designs, providing a comprehensive update on recent developments in stent development. It also evaluated the various biomaterials that found application as Ureteral stents in relation to various issues such as encrustation, bacterial colonization, urinary tract infections, and related clinical issues. This study concluded with a discussion of biomaterials' potential applications and the design in the Urinary Tract.
The most important way for joining the non-welding aluminum alloy is Friction stir spot welding. Three parameters effect on efficiency of welding: tool shape, rotational speed, and plunged time, are chosen to study for welding 6061T6 aluminum alloy. Each of the above parameters has three variables as: pin shapes (square, cylinder, and hexagonal), plunged time (50, 70,100) sec and rotational speeds (710, 1120, 1800) rpm hybrid approach which is consist of the experiment run, neural network and social spider optimization is used to optimize the welding conditions by finding the maximum ultimate force. The best condition of the weldments is (square, 710rpm, 100sec) with maximum shear force 4740N. The best results obtained from hybrid optimization with experimental results; with discrepancy of 2%.
Whispering Gallery Mode Micro-Resonators (WGMRs) have received significant interest due to their great sensitivity to environmental changes, compact size, and ability to operate over a wide spectral range because their low optical losses produce high-quality factors so that they can be used in various sensing applications. This work investigates the design and implementation of cylindrical WGMRs for Refractive Index (RI) sensing for different delivery fiber diameters. Single Mode Fiber with different waist diameters (80,67.1,18) µm were used as delivery fibers. At the same time, the sensor (resonator) fiber is SMF with a diameter (125 µm). Quality factors and Free Spectral Range (FSR) were calculated and analyzed for each diameter. The quality factor for all diameters was in power of 104, which is considered good. The FSR is inversely proportional to fiber diameter. FSR values were (0.678,1.75,2.03) nm for (80,67.1,18) µm delivery fiber diameters respectively. An analyte prepared by NaCl with different refractive indices is used to investigate the RI sensor performance. Higher sensitivity is obtained from the WGMR with a smaller waist diameter, which is (-)74 nm/RIU. While for the delivery fiber diameters (80,67.1) µm were (-0.28, -9.27) nm/RIU respectively. The submitted sensor will have a good contribution in the field of chemical, biological and medical applications.
Plastic pollution represents a significant global environmental challenge, with millions of tons of plastic waste accumulated annually in landfills and natural ecosystems. The COVID-19 pandemic intensified this issue due to the widespread use of single-use personal protective equipment. As a response to this problem, this study examines the use of recycled polyethylene terephthalate and single-use face masks as additives in porous asphalt mixtures to improve the mixtures’ properties and promote sustainability in pavement engineering. The research aimed to evaluate the combined effect of incorporating recycled polymers into a hybrid system, rather than separately modified mixtures of polyethylene terephthalate and single-use face mask fibers. Laboratory tests indicated that the hybrid mixture exhibited optimal performance, achieving a 34% increase in Marshall stability, a 19% decrease in flow, and a 20% reduction in air-void content. Additionally, permeability decreased by 36%, while remaining within the accepted limit, improving moisture susceptibility, and cantabro abrasion losses decreased by up to 11%, suggesting improvements in cohesion, structure, and durability. The findings demonstrate that hybrid polymer modification offers an environmentally sustainable and high-performance approach for future porous asphalt pavements.
This paper present glass waste material reusing in concrete as partial replacement of cement. Some hardened properties like compressive and flexural strengths, modulus of elasticity and % absorption was made. The effect of glass powder on these properties was examined compared to reference specimens without glass powder. Five percentage was tested: 0%(reference), 10%, 15%, 20% and 25%. From tests results one can conclude that replacing cement partially by glass powder enhanced strengths of concrete (compression and flexural) up to 20% replacing level Using glass powder as partial replacement of cement improved strengths and modulus of elasticity of concrete. The %absorption decrease with increasing of glass powder content. The results show that utilization of waste glass as powder in concrete can reduce amount of cement which save cost besides its environmental benefits.
Hybrid metal composite materials, combining diverse metal components, have emerged as promising alternatives in engineering applications, offering a unique synergy of mechanical properties. This review comprehensively examines the fatigue life of hybrid metal composites, delving into the intricate interplay of materials, manufacturing processes, and environmental factors. Drawing from a rich array of literature, the review explores the evolution of hybridization strategies, emphasizing their impact on fatigue resistance. Key factors influencing fatigue behavior, including material selection, manufacturing techniques, and environmental conditions, are systematically analyzed. The article highlights the significance of strategic hybridization in enhancing fatigue characteristics, reducing costs, and optimizing the overall performance of metal composites. The insights presented contribute to advancing the understanding of fatigue mechanisms in hybrid metal composite materials, offering valuable guidance for future research and engineering applications. Hybrid metal composite materials, characterized by the combination of diverse metal components, have garnered significant attention in engineering applications due to their potential to provide a unique synergy of mechanical properties. This comprehensive review delves into the intricate aspects of the fatigue life of hybrid metal composites, offering a thorough analysis of the interplay between materials, manufacturing processes, and environmental factors.
Road transport undeniably constitutes the predominant mechanism for facilitating the transportation of both goods and individuals on a global scale, serving as an essential backbone for economic and social interactions across diverse regions and cultures. The noticeable decrease in the flow of vehicles, which can be attributed to a plethora of internal and external factors, with a particular emphasis on the phenomenon of congestion, has profound implications that significantly influence fuel consumption rates, contribute to pollution associated with emissions, adversely affect the health and well-being of bystanders, and culminate in a considerable loss of time for individuals navigating these congested environments. In light of their elevated population densities coupled with their classification as emerging economies, South Asian countries find themselves necessitated to implement automated systems for the critical processes of predicting, identifying, and effectively addressing the challenges posed by road traffic congestion in order to enhance urban mobility and overall transport efficiency. This thorough research carefully explores the various techniques that have been utilized to recognize traffic congestion, presenting an extensive assessment of their individual strengths and weaknesses, thus offering insightful observations about the existing situation in this field of study. The examination of the diverse approaches and advanced technologies that have been utilized for the operation of lane-less roadways have been conducted, revealing substantial potential for further innovations that could greatly assist future researchers in their endeavors to enhance traffic management and improve roadway safety and efficiency.
In this work it had been focused on the possibility of replacement of steel spring in suspension system by fiber reinforced polymer composite that is responsible for light weight of spring which leads to reduces the weight of vehicle and improve fuel efficiency. This type of spring used in motor cycles, light weight vehicle. The design will be simulated by ANSYS workbench. Then, E-Glass fiber has been used to fabricate helical compression spring of 40% fiber volume fraction of glass. with polyester resin. The deflection of glass reinforced composite spring is more than steel spring but within permissible limit. weight of composite spring is reduced by 57% than of steel.
Desired mechanical properties like microstructure, micro hardness and wear resistance are the key parameters for which low carbon steel (AISI 1006) are widely selected. Surface heat treatment applied to improve these properties; traditionally surface heat treatments like induction hardening, in recent time’s laser surface hardening. In this work, thermochemical treatment (liquid nitriding) by using mixture from 61% NaCN, 15% K2CO3 and 24% KCL and followed by Nd:YAG laser surface treatment was done . The laser parameter were energy (0.89, 2, 4 and 9) J, spot diameter (0.790 ,0.33, 0.283 and 0.224) mm, pulses duration (1, 2.33, 4.47 and 9.87) ms with fix wavelength 1604nm. Laser surface treatment cycle was melting the layer surface, holding and rapid cooling in air medium. Optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) has been used to study the microstructures and cross-sectional of molted and heat affected zones respectively. The wear test was done to measure the wear rate by using pin -on-disk principles were satisfied. The result shown that increasing in laser energy effects to increase in the area of melted and heat affected zones of nitriding steel. Also increasing in laser energy led to increase micro hardness about 61%, while wear rate decrease about 40 % and increased depth of molted zone.
Medical image segmentation plays a crucial role in the realm of medical imaging. The process involves the division of an image to obtain a comprehensive view and ensure precise diagnostics. There are various methods that are employed, ranging from traditional approaches to the more advanced deep learning techniques. Both play a significant role in enhancing healthcare. With the continuous advancement in technology, there is a growing need for accurate segmentation. While traditional methods such as thresholding and region growing are effective, they may require human intervention for complex cases. Deep learning techniques, particularly Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), have significantly improved the process by learning intricate details and accurately segmenting the image. When these methods are combined, healthcare professionals can achieve high-quality, precise results. Furthermore, with the advancements in hardware and technology, real-time segmentation is now possible. Generally, the process of dividing medical images into segments is extremely important for the progress of healthcare with the help of artificial intelligence and the most recent advancements in the industry, such as explainable AI and multimodal learning. However, this meticulously detailed and in-depth review provides an all-encompassing and extensive analysis of the current methods utilized, their multitude of applications across various fields, and the promising emerging advancements that have the potential to pave the way for remarkable future improvements and innovations.
The removal of Congo red dye from industrial wastewater before its discharge to the environment is a critical problem, as it is non-biodegradable, toxic, and carcinogenic. Activated carbon was synthesized from a suggested sustainable source (sugarcane waste) and used as an adsorbent for the dye. Isotherm adsorption models and adsorption kinetics were investigated, and a simulated adsorption column model was proposed and developed based on the modified general rate model. The batch results showed that the highest removal rate achieved was 87.1% of the initial dye concentration (30 mg/L). The Freundlich isotherm model best described the equilibrium data, as evidenced by the high correlation coefficient (0.9535). Meanwhile, the maximum adsorption capacity was found to be 149.25 mg/g using the Langmuir isotherm. Furthermore, the kinetic results indicate that the pseudo-second-order model accurately describes the concentration-time relationship. A simulated maximum dynamic adsorption capacity of 0.096 mg/g was achieved at an optimal volumetric flow rate of 0.1 mL/min, with a dye concentration of 30 mg/L and a bed length of 39.69 cm. The continuous column efficiency increased with column length, reaching a maximum of 75% at 66.15 cm. Also, as the dye concentration increased, the column efficiency and dynamic adsorption capacity decreased. The study demonstrated an innovative approach to removing Congo red dye from its aqueous solution in a neutral medium using sustainably produced activated carbon derived from a sustainable source. A continuous removal process was simulated by developing a mathematical model based on adsorption curves and adsorption kinetics, which successfully described the adsorption process. This type of modeling, rather than relying on pre-existing equations, enables more efficient, scalable design.
One of the major usages for Al–Pb alloy are bearing alloys because of its lubricant behavior of Pb phase component. Applications of these alloys are in heavy duty, such as boring mills, presses, lathes, milling machines and hydraulic pump bushings. In present work, SiC powder was selected as additive for improving the mechanical properties of Al-Pb alloy that produced by mechanical alloying method. The percentage weight of SiC powder are (2.5, 5,10, 15 %) which mixing together with Al- Pb alloy for two hours in ball milling device, then compacted and sintering to obtain the improved alloy, and examine the mechanical properties (compressive strength and microhardness) of produced alloy. Results show that the additive of SiC powder on the Al-Pb alloy lead to improve the microhardness which increased with increased the percentage of additive, in the other hand, the compressive strength had a reverse effective with increased the percentage of SiC powder.
This study was devoted in investigating the optimum geometric parameters for underactuated linkage three phalanges robotic finger. New kinematic and kinetic equations of grasping were derived in this research taking into account the angle for the ternary solid links of the four-bar linkages. To obtain the target of optimization, a gradient descent method was used which consists of three stages to find the optimal geometric parameters with high accuracy. Five criteria were selected to find the optimal solution by using multi objectives function algorithm, these are percentage of the grasping stability, the grasp forces, squeezing force, Mimic function for grasping task, and transmission angle for grasping operation. Gradient descent method starts by detecting the optimal geometric parameters for each criterion and choosing the best geometric parameters from the five criteria functions. At the optimum solution, the underactuated robotic finger prototype was built from hard Polylactic acid (PLA) plastic using rapid prototyping and was tested performance by grasping objects. Finally, the results have been shown that the robotic finger adapts to the wanted configurations.
Pick and place system is one of the significant employments of modern robots utilized in industrial environments. The objective of this research is to make a comparison of time sequences by combining multiple axes of sequences. A pick-place system implemented with pneumatic linear double-acting cylinders to applicator in automated systems processes for manufacturing. The challenge of 3-axes movement control was achieved using the PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) controller such that the merging between two or three axes was achieved according to the selected sequence of the program. The outcomes show the contrasted sequences and the reference in a constant velocity. The main variable parameter is the number of steps for each sequence. The combination of two axes has developed the sequence and reduced in number of sequences for a path. At last, one of the important factors in moving products industry is the smooth product’s movement, because any high speed might cause a vibration in the system and lead to a decreased positioning accuracy.
In this paper, an Adaptive Sliding Mode Controller (ASMC) is designed and applied for a magnetic levitation system (Maglev) where a steel ball is desired to be stabilized at a desired position with existence of uncertainty in system model. Additionally, a sliding mode differentiator (SMD) is used for estimating the ball velocity since it’s needed for the controller to work properly. The designed controller and differentiator are applied practically to an experimental laboratory size magnetic levitation system and the results were plotted to show the behavior of the system under the effect of the designed controller. The experimental results reveal clearly the effectiveness and ability of the suggested controller in forcing the steel ball to follow various desired position.
The toxicity of permanent implants is the main concern. The release of ions from the substrate leads to toxicity. Because of how the human body works biologically, the toxicity of corrosion compounds is a byproduct of wear and fretting debris. aimed to improve the corrosion resistance of a 316L stainless steel substrate. Bio ceramic Nano-hydroxyapatite (HA) was coated using the Electrophoretic Deposition (EPD) technique. Stainless steel has good mechanical properties and high compatibility, but it suffers from body fluid attack due to its chloride content, which can penetrate the passivation layer, resulting in the release of chromium and nickel ions. Tissues and organs are damaged by the ions and debris that are released. To address this problem, it was coated with bioceramic using the EPD method. Suspensions of various powders—hydroxyapatite, magnesium oxide, zinc oxide, and the composite—were prepared and coated by electrophoretic deposition. The coated samples were dried at room temperature to ensure a homogeneous coating structure. The zeta potential test for magnesium oxide and hydroxyapatite suspensions was positive, while zinc oxide and complex suspensions were negative. One of the important parameters for achieving electrolyte and implant balance is the open circuit potential (OCP). A substantial change towards a more noble direction (less negative) was seen in the OCP-coated (316 L) alloy, suggesting excellent thermodynamic stability. Tafel extrapolation analysis was used to obtain the corrosion potential (Ecorr) and corrosion current density (Icorr) values of composite-coated stainless steel 316L, which are generally derived from the polarization curve. The findings that are in line with the MgO, HA, and ZnO coatings show a significant decrease in corrosion current (Icorr), an increase in corrosion potential (Ecorr), and a decrease in corrosion rate from (4.386 × 10-¹ mm/y) Stainless Steel 316 L to (1.417 × 10-² mm/y) MgO Coated and (1.222 × 10-³ mm/y) (65%MgO+25%ZnO+10%HA coated).
Total hip replacement (THR) is an elective surgical procedure with the primary indication being pain relief. The aim of this study is to analyze gait dynamics for patients after they underwent a unilateral THR surgery and compare it with normal parameters. To investigate the gait dynamics a gait analysis was performed on five patients after they underwent a unilateral THR surgery; only two of them were examined before the surgery. The gait analysis was performed using a digital video camera with two force plates. Kinematics data were obtained from 2D trajectories of seven passive markers using SkillSpector software. MATLAB software has been used for inverse dynamics computation. General gait parameters, Harris Hip Score, joints’ angles, forces, moments and powers were obtained during gait cycle. It was found that the average of improvement in Harris Hip Score (for four patients who were examined 1.5, 2.5, 3 and 9 months after surgery) is 61.8 points, which is an indication of pain relief. In the other hand, the general gait parameters were found slightly lower than normal after THR surgery. The average hip reaction force was found to be 2.988 N/BW, which is within normal range. Also, the average of maximum hip extension and maximum hip flexion angles were found to be 25.69 and -13.524 degree respectively, which both are within normal ranges. Furthermore, hip, knee and ankle moments and powers results showed some abnormality. Therefore as a conclusion, patient satisfaction and functional improvement are not related to general gait parameter. And it is not unusual that gait mechanics improvement would not reach normal after months of recovery. Also, the results of gait dynamics which are from the engineer’s perspective are compatible with Harris Hip Score, which is from the physician’s perspective, in quantifying surgical results and subsequent recovery progress.
In this work chopped carbon fibers are used to improve tensile strength of Porcelanite lightweight aggregate concrete. Silica fume was added in order to improve the mixes compressive strength. Silica fume increase water demand and using fibers reduce workability, to improve workability and decrease water demand high rang super plasticizers are used. The results showed that compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, modulus of elasticity of carbon fibers Porcelanite lightweight aggregate concrete increase with increasing of carbon fiber up to 2% compared to reference Porcelanite lightweight aggregate concrete without fibers. The percentages of increasing were 14.40%, 68.00%, and 10.66% for compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, and modulus of elasticity, respectively. Flexural Strength continues in increase with increase of fibers. The dry unite weight of mixes with chopped fiber decrease with increase of fiber percentage. Besides the chopped carbon improved the ductility of Porcelanite lightweight aggregate concrete and that clear from stress-strain relationship.
Strengthening elastomers by the Nano-fillers, for example, Graphite subordinates, have high embellishments on their attributes. In the present work, Graphene Oxide (GO) nano-sheets have scattered in huge rubbers was Nitrile Butadiene Rubber (NBR). Enhancement the vulcanization procedure on (GO/NBR) nano-composite elastic was performed by arrangement blending strategy and rumination blending method. Scattering of GO into NBR was homogenous, where affirmed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and X-beam Diffraction (XRD) test. Breaking down the useful gatherings by Fourier-Transformed Infrared Spectrophotometry (FTIR) has been explored as well. Diverse stacking wt% of GO inside NBR has clear impacts on the rigidity and flexibility conduct of the nano-composite. Impact of GO on the electrical conductivity and persuasive properties of GO/NBR nano-composite elastic portrayed too. The GO presence has upgraded the crosslinking trademark in GO/NBR nano-composite elastic and enhanced its properties.
Three-phase induction motors (IM) are widely utilized in various applications such as fans, milling machines, conveyor systems, robotics, pumps, and heavy machinery. Tasks that require precise speed control often demand additional control systems to ensure efficient and accurate operation. Unfortunately, the speed control of induction motors is a difficult problem due to system nonlinearity, parameter variations, and external disturbances. Therefore, standard proportional-integral-differential (PID) control systems are among the various techniques available for motor speed regulation. In this paper, the PID controller is used as a criteria to assess the efficacy of the proposed approach. This work specifically addresses the use of a toolbox controller for active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) to control the speed of a three-phase IM. The ADRC toolbox is a software tool (often a MATLAB/Simulink toolbox or library) designed to help users implement ADRC methods in their systems without having to code the algorithms from scratch. The speed performance of the motor was compared between PID and ADRC controllers. The evaluation was performed under steady state operation, with the intention of establishing and maintaining the speed of 1400 rpm. By simulation, the performance of the controllers in respect of rise time, settling time and the current consumption in all the simulations was analyzed conducted through MATLAB/Simulink. Simulation data indicate that the ADRC system outperforms conventional PID controllers when used with induction motors. Performance indicators such as ITAE (14.3 vs. 19.7), ISE (234.01 vs. 251.13), and RMSE (644.21 vs. 660.62) demonstrate that the ADRC system provides higher accuracy, faster response, and more efficient speed regulation control compared to the PID system. The results reveal that ADRC has better performance, especially in disturbance suppression. starting current, which contributes to extending the motor’s operational lifespan. Additionally, ADRC ensures smooth acceleration of rotor speed with a lower rise time of 0.3s as well as settling time of 0.36s, allowing the system to reach steady-state speed more efficiently. ADRC is more adaptive to nonlinear and unpredictable settings than PID since it actively compensates for total disturbances and estimates them.
In this paper, the cross section behavior of reinforced concrete columns made of normal and hybrid reactive powder concrete (hybrid by steel and polypropylene fibers) under concentric and eccentric vertical load was study. The casted columns were cured in two different type tap water for 28 days and chloride water for six months. Chloride salts with concentration was 8341.6 mg/l. Three variables were adopted in the experimental program; concrete type, curing type and the eccentricity of vertical load. Twenty (120x120x1200) mm columns were casted and tested depending on these variables. The different eccentricities were (0, 50,100 and 150) mm and where (e/h) were (0, 0.42, 0.83 and 1.25) respectively from the center of column, the other types of loading are tested the specimens as beam._x000D_ The experimental results showed increasing in ultimate load capacity and higher chlorides resisting for hybrid reactive powder concrete in comparison with normal concrete in both types of curing (tap and chloride water). Through studying load deflection, test results for Normal Strength Concrete (NSC) and Hybrid Fiber Reactive Powder Concrete (HFRPC) columns that deflection for columns cured in chloride water more than tap water when compared at the same load that also by increase eccentricity leads to an increase in deflection for both cured and The neutral axis depth for HFRPC columns is more than NSC at the same load also when eccentricity increases, the compression zone decreases and neutral axis also decrease by increase eccentricity. These results occur when columns are cured in tap and chloride water._x000D_
Spinal alignment examination procedures are frequently employed to assess spinal deformities. The spine plays a crucial role in maintaining the biomechanical functionality of the skeletal system. It protects the spinal cord and facilitates movement, among other vital functions. Various methods, including radiography and non-invasive techniques such as goniometer, inclinometer and kyphometer, have been employed to assess spine alignment qualitatively. Nevertheless, these methods are characterized by a high radiation dose and require significant time. Consequently, this study aimed to develop and create a portable, user-friendly, radiation-free computer-assisted electromechanical device to assess spinal deformities. This device is designed to evaluate sagittal spinal alignment by estimating the angle between two vertebrae for the segmental and global thoracic and lumbar regions, and the length of the spine. This study highlighted the importance of the method in evaluating spinal alignment. The MPU-6050 sensor was employed to record the angle between the two vertebrae, while the rotary encoder was utilized to measure the length of the spine. Subsequently, the data was transmitted to a computer over a Bluetooth module connection, following processing by the Arduino Nano microcontroller. The proposed system was employed on five healthy adult subjects to evaluate their standing posture in the sagittal plane, namely in the upright, flexion, and extension positions. The resulting parameters that define spinal alignment are provided. The suggested system offers the benefits of simplicity, portability, and cost-effectiveness, allowing for rapid and accurate assessment of sagittal spinal alignment. It enables quick clinical assessment and provides few health risks to the patient, leading to correct diagnosis.
Gait analysis can be described as a field of biomechanical engineering dealing with the subject of human locomotion. This study aimed to identify the effect of Ilizarov on gait when the presence the above-knee prosthesis. The study was made on a 50-year-old male patient was underwent correction right tibia with Ilizarov fixation due to war accident in July 2012. Also, this accident led to trans-femoral amputation. Two-dimensional gait system of a synchronized 25 Hz camera with an AMTI force platform was use for measuring gait kinematics and kinetics data while walking at a self-selected speed. These data can be used as standard measures in pathology studies, as input to theoretical joint models, and as input to mechanical joint simulators treated with Ilizarov and prosthetics.
The present research aims to develop a sustainable, high-performance grout mix for semi-flexible pavement applications by partially replacing Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) with Metakaolin (MK) and Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS). The experiments were carried out in two steps: Portland cement was partially replaced with MK (10%, 20%, and 30%) to determine the optimum mix proportions for rheological and mechanical behavior. The selected optimal MK content was mixed with GGBS at 50%, 60%, and 70% replacement levels. Flowability was evaluated using flow time tests, and DIOs assessed mechanical performance through compressive, tensile, and flexural strength testing. The results showed that a 20% MK replacement level achieved a balance between workability and strength, with an optimum flow time of 14.03 s and a compressive strength of approximately 32.2 kN at 7 days of age. However, incorporating GGBS with a 20% MK blend enhanced the sustainability of these blended grouts without sacrificing their mechanical properties. The MK-GGBS grout-60% GGBS (60% GGBS) showed the highest compressive and flexural strengths, which can be considered for semi-flexible pavement applications. The incorporation of MK and GGBS reduces energy consumption during cement production, which is widely known as a significant contributor to global warming. It increases the durability of grouting materials under traffic loading.
In this paper the ability of fabricating laminate composites by manual layup was discussed. Heating method was used to manufacture the composites; heat was applied to approximately 12 hours with specific heat temperature. There were four types of laminate composites fabricated and studied in this research, containing Aluminum alloy 6061 as the common element in all types, two types of fibers; woven Carbon fiber with two different orientations: ±45°, ±60°, random fiberglass and with two types of resin; epoxy resin and polyester resin. Different types of composites were made to determine the effect of CNC milling machine to the measured surface roughness and for specified parameters. The weight fraction ratio of the fibers is 37%, polymer is 34% and 29% for Aluminum. The parameters selected are spindle speed, feed rate and depth of cut. The L9 Taguchi orthogonal arrays, signal to noise (S/N) ratio and analysis of variance (ANOVA) are selected to determine the effect of these parameters; it was analyzed by MINITAB 17 program. The results showed that the parameter were significant more to the epoxy resin specimens than polyester resin specimens. The optimal milling parameters for good surface finish for Aluminum – Carbon fiber composite are at 3000RPM, 1200mm/min, 1.2mm, and for Aluminum – Fiberglass composite are 5000RPM, 1800 mm/min, 2.0mm.
Gypsum soil is classified as problematic because it contains gypsum, a soluble substance in the presence of water. Therefore, it is recommended that it be improved before construction. This research examines the effect of clayey soils on enhancing the properties of gypseous soils. Two soil samples, designated as Soil 1 (with a gypsum concentration of 35.4%) and Soil 2 (with a gypsum content of 12.3%), were obtained from Al Najaf City, Iraq, and subjected to laboratory testing. The study investigates the use of cost-effective, locally available clayey soil to improve the engineering characteristics of gypseous soils, thereby mitigating the adverse effects of wetting. The experimental program encompassed a compaction, compressibility, and shear strength test. To assess the impact of clayey additives, gypseous soil was treated with varying percentages of clayey soil content (5% and 10%), and tests were conducted on both treated and untreated gypseous soil samples. The results indicated that using 10% clayey additives could decrease the collapse potential by 55% and 39% for Soil 1 and Soil 2, respectively. Additionally, the clayey additives significantly affected cohesion, with an enhancement percentage of 625% and 1315% under soaking conditions at 10% clayey additives for Soil 1 and Soil 2, respectively.
The Ilizarov system is a form of external fixation device utilized by medical professionals to aid patients who have sustained injuries from accidents, bone shortening, or nonunion of the bone. The device is fixed onto the long bone of the patient and is adjusted according to the nature of the injury. Ilizarov's techniques are minimal invasiveness, not aggressive, spare tissues and involve little blood loss. It consists of wires that are secured to a modular circular frame and then tightened. The Ilizarov fixator is a valuable tool for treating acute fractures, especially in cases where there is bone loss and compromised soft tissue. Several studies have aimed to improve the effectiveness of Ilizarov fixation through modifications to its frame components, such as ring diameter, transosseous element diameter, ring separation, transosseous element count in each ring, and number of rings, as well as the type of transosseous element employed, including wires, full-pins, or half-pins. Furthermore, positioning of transosseous elements at the correct crossing angle without damaging the nerves and vessels while considering the intricacy of bone deformities. Recent advancements in Ilizarov fixation will be thoroughly reviewed in this manuscript, with a particular focus on improving the stiffness of the entire frame. The main objective of this review is to pinpoint the optimal configurations, with a particular focus on stiffness, in order to foster stability and ensure a successful recuperation.
The study aims to evaluate the current flood carrying capacity and its change after some cross sections developments for the 110 km reach of Tigris River and Kmait flood escape system. This reach extends from Ali Al-Gharbi station to Amarah Barrage station. The model is calibrated by using set of data at the Ali Al-Garbi gaging station, that includes flow varied between 790 to 470 m3/s during April 2019. Manning’s n coefficient value of (0.03) is selected as it has the minimum least-squares root difference of (0.148) between the measured and estimated water levels. The results show that the current capacity of Kmait flood escape and this Tigris River reach are 280 m3/s and 1100 m3/s, respectively. According to the study of strategic for water and land resources in Iraq, 2014, scenarios are conducted for some cross sections development to improve the capacity of the reach to 2750 m3/s. Results of applied development show that Tigris River can safely accommodate a flood wave of 2750 m3/s when modifying the cross-sections in different locations, and raising the banks level in three locations, 0+00, 79+00 and 95+00km. Earthworks volume of development of the reach is 247603200 million m³, with the total cost of 490 billion IQD.
The free vibration analysis of rotating multi-layered cylindrical shell is investigated based on the first order shear deformation theory (FSDT) of shell. Cylindrical shell consists of three layers; outer and inner layers are isotropic material and the middle layer is a functionally graded material (FGM). The material properties for middle layer are assumed to be graded in the thickness direction. Based on Hamilton’s principle, the equilibrium equations and the equations of motion are derived and then solved by using the differential quadrature method (DQM) as a numerical tool. MATLAB software was adopted for programming the equations and the related boundary condition. The effect of (FGM) layer thickness, angular speed, index power law, circumferential wave number on the natural frequency of the clamped-clamped rotating cylindrical shell were examined. The numerical results showed that a reasonable agreement between the present study and analytical data available in the literature.
Diabetic peripheral neuropathy represents one of the common long-terms complications that effect about fifty percentage?of diabetes patients. The habitual diagnosis tool based on nerve conduction study that examine the nerve damage and classify the patient status into normal and diabetic peripheral neuropathy with degree of severity without considering the effect on skeletal muscle and take on patient data. A complementary diagnostic tool proposed, in this study integrates the patient’s data including body mass index, age and duration of diabetic, average blood glucose levels, nerve conduction study that involves amplitude and latency of peroneal and tibial nerves and muscle ultrasound alongside the machine learning algorithms to facilitate the clinicians for a precise diagnosis. A group of control and diabetic patients utilized to gather the data with calculating the muscle thickness and statistical properties from the gray-level ultrasound images of six skeletal muscles. Support vector machine, naïve bayes, ensemble of bagged tree and artificial neural network supervised machine learning algorithms categorize each class with a high classification accuracy, 98.1% for tibialis anterior with naïve bayes algorithm. The outcomes of this study show a promising complementary diagnostic tool that will help the clinicians to perform an exact diagnosis and disclose the side effect on both nerves and muscles of diabetic patients.
This study explores the impact of adding high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and Novolac polymers to gypseous soil from Tikrit City, Iraq, to enhance its geotechnical properties. The soil contained 38% gypsum, and the polymers were added in varying proportions (1%, 3%, 6%). Both polymers improved maximum dry density, optimum moisture content, and reduced collapse potential (Ic). The collapse potential was reduced by 64%, 77.7%, and 83.2% at 1%, 3%, and 6% HDPE content, respectively. The collapse potential was reduced by 82.3%, 74.8%, and 51.9% at 1%, 3%, and 6% Novolac polymer content, respectively. In the dry conditions, the internal friction angle increased by about 22.9% and 5.7% as the HDPE content was increased by 3% and 6% respectively. Adding Novolac polymer also increased the internal friction angle by about 5.7% by the addition of 3% Novolac polymer. In soaked conditions, the best increase in internal friction angle (?) was 30% with the addition of 3% HDPE polymer. the internal friction angle increased by about 26.7% by adding 1% and 3% of Novolac polymer. The study concludes that adding HDPE and Novolac polymers can improve geotechnical properties, but their effect on CBR is complex and depends on the polymer percentage added and soil moisture state.
Additionally, it has been demonstrated that osseointegrated implantation offers superior proprioception and control over the prosthesis, enabling more natural movement and improved functional results. Additionally, it lowers the chance of falling and increases energy transfer efficiency, making it simpler for amputees to engage in physical activity. Furthermore, as compared to conventional socket prosthesis attachment, osseointegrated implantation has been linked to higher patient satisfaction and quality of life._x000D_ It is crucial to remember that osseointegration is a surgical operation with risks including infection and implant failure. Additionally, for effective implantation, it needs a specific amount and quality of bone, which may restrict its usage in some individuals. Furthermore, osseointegrated implantation could be more expensive than conventional socket prosthetics._x000D_ Understanding the efficacy and safety of this method requires research on complication rates and outcome metrics in patients having osseointegrated prosthesis implantation. You may acquire information on things like infection rates, implant failure, patient satisfaction, and functional results by studying original research papers. Clinical decision-making can then be improved with the use of this information._x000D_ In transfemoral amputees, osseointegration has showed promise as a powerful substitute for socket prostheses. A growing corpus of research has shown that osseointegrated implantation provides advantages in terms of increasing mobility, decreasing discomfort, and improving general quality of life. The efficiency of osseointegration for transtibial and upper extremity implants has received little attention._x000D_ Minor soft tissue infections are the most frequent consequences, although they are manageable with the right treatment and monitoring. To further reduce the risk of problems and improve the overall success of osseointegrated implantation, research and development are ongoingly focused on enhancing surgical methods and implant design._x000D_ Although osseointegration has a lot of potential, not all amputees may be good candidates for it. Considerations for osseointegrated implantation must take into consideration elements including the degree and nature of the amputation, the quality and density of the bone, and the desires of the patient.
Power outages are a common and persistent problem in Iraq, significantly impacting various aspects of life and business. These interruptions disrupt routine household tasks and hinder more complex technical operations in industries and services. Emphasizing the need for careful management and proactive solutions. This paper introduces a real-world time series dataset for Baghdad city, including historical outages, weather conditions (such as temperature), and power overloads, and analyzes the correlation among these parameters in different seasons. The research uses this dataset to train one-dimensional Convolutional Neural Networks (1D CNN) to find patterns and relationships that can accurately predict when power outages can happen in the long term and short term to improve the management of the Baghdad electricity grid through data-driven networks. This model was evaluated using performance metrics, and the results show that CNN is accurate in predicting outages in the short term with a Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of (0.0077), whereas, in the long term, it has achieved an MAE of (0.0775). These predictive models have the potential to facilitate the development of proactive measures aimed at reducing the impact of power outages by anticipating potential outages in advance. This research focuses on enhancing the reliability and efficiency of Baghdad's electricity supply, ultimately contributing to economic growth and stability.
The process of placing the brackets in their proper positions in the field of orthodontics is consider one of the main steps in orthodontic treatment. In order to achieve high accuracy placements for the brackets, many methods are available today, starting from direct and indirect methods, each of them has advantages and disadvantages regarding the accuracy and the time for patient treatment. In this study, a new mechanism is introduce with its mechanical behavior in order to reduce the time required for patient treatment and to increase the accuracy for bracket placements. The newly mechanism was designed using Solidworks CAD software with a total Virtual functionality for all of the parts of the assembly, then a simulation was carried out to find the stress distribution, deformation, and strain on the main parts of the proposed assembly. The finished design shows a high precision mechanism that is able to place brackets one by one on the teeth.