Journal of University of Babylon

Antilock braking systems (ABS) are utilized as a part of advanced autos to keep the vehicle’s ‎wheels from deadlocking when the brakes are connected. The control performance of ABS utilizing linear ‎and nonlinear controls are cleared up in this research. In order to design the control system of ABS a ‎nonlinear dynamic model of the antilock braking systems is derived relying upon its physical system. The ‎dynamic model contains set of equations valid for simulation and control of the mechanical framework. ‎Two different controllers technique is proposed to control the behaviors of ABS. The first one utilized the ‎PID controller with linearized technique around specific point to control the nonlinear system, while the ‎second one used the nonlinear discrete time controller to control the nonlinear mathematical model ‎directly. This investigation contributes to more additional information for the simulation of the two ‎controllers, and demonstrate a clear and reasonable advantage of the classical PID controller on the ‎nonlinear discrete time controller in control the antilock braking system. ‎

This work aims to estimate the maximum shear capacity of deep beams RC members strengthened ‎by Near-Surface Mounted (NSM) steel bars. This is done by using an assumed semi-empirical formula ‎that depends on experimental tests. This formula will cover many principal parameters such as shear span ‎to effective depth ratios (a/d), orientation angle of NSM steel bars, concrete compressive strength (f′c), ‎bar’s diameter and their spacing. So, thirteen reinforced concrete deep beams with different (a/d) ratios ‎equals (0.85, 1.136 and 1.42) were tested. These beams are categorized into three groups depending on ‎‎(a/d) ratio, which contained one unstrengthen beam as a control specimen and others strengthened beams ‎by different schemes of NSM steel bars.‎
A comparison between the calculated and experimental values shows good agreement with high ‎coefficient of determination (R2=95.4%). The proposed formula is also used to estimate shear capacity of ‎some specimens that found in some previous literatures to confirm the validity of the formula in ‎estimating shear capacity of different cases. Good agreement with low (COV) of the predicted shear ‎capacity with the experimental values that found in literatures was obtained.‎

Digital Elevation Model is a three-dimensional representation of the earth's surface, which is ‎essential for Geoscience and hydrological implementations. DEM can be created utilizing ‎Photogrammetry techniques, radar interferometry, laser scanning and land surveying. There are some ‎world agencies provide open source digital elevation models which are freely available for all users, ‎such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Japan Aerospace Exploration ‎Agency’s (JAXA) and others. ALOS, SRTM and ASTER are satellite based DEMs which are open ‎source products. The technologies that are used for obtaining raw data and the methods used for its ‎processing and on the other hand the characteristics of natural land and land cover type, these and ‎other factors are the cause of implied errors produced in the digital elevation model which can't be ‎avoided. In this paper, ground control points observed by the differential global positioning system ‎DGPS were used to compare the validation and performance of different satellite based digital ‎elevation models. For validation, standard statistical tests were applied such as Mean Error (ME) and ‎Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) which showed ALOS DEM had ME and RMSE are -1.262m and ‎‎1.988m, while SRTM DEM had ME of -0.782m with RMSE of 2.276m and ASTER DEM had 4.437m ‎and 6.241m, respectively. These outcomes can be very helpful for analysts utilizing such models in ‎different areas of work.‎

The study area is located in the southern Babylon governorate - central Iraq within longitudinal ‎‎(44◦36‎׳‎- 44◦47‎׳‎) east and latitudes (32◦18‎׳‎-32◦27‎׳‎) north, within the administrative border of Hashimiya ‎district. The study area lies on Mesopotamian plain which is characterized as a flat surface. Flow ‎pattern map is drown by using field measurements of water levels in scattered wells over entire the ‎region and local streams. The interflow quantity is calculated by using Darcy law after dividing the ‎region into 7 sectors. The sectors of 1 to 6 lay north Hilla River within the selected section and the 7 lies ‎south it. Interflow quantity of north is (0.065) m3/sec and of south is (0.0372) m3/sec. The quantity of ‎the losing by interflow from Hilla River Channel to both sides within Hashimiya Region (along ‎‎17270m) is approximately 0.1071m3/sec in average. The losing by evaporation is 0.086m3/sec along ‎same distance. Total sum of both losing represents 2.4% of used surface water in the region which ‎must be added into Hilla's share. ‎

The data management can be considered as an important subject in information management. ‎The correct and relevant data can be used as a source of valuable information in organization like ‎factories and refineries, and by good management of this data the right decision can be take. The ‎database system is considered as the best choice to manage data efficiently. In oil refinery the ‎laboratories will support the operational processing and provide the employees with knowledge to ‎control the operational condition of unit operation. These laboratories results can be considered as a ‎resource of information in oil refinery and stored in centralized database of client-server system ‎installed on intranet. Using intranet as a private network with central database in oil refinery will ‎provide secure and speed sharing of information within oil refinery, improve employee's productivity, ‎time management, reduce many of the administrative expenses, it can be designed according to the ‎needs of refinery and is subject to internal policies, at last it is cheap to be implemented and run. The ‎authorized employees can access central database and see these laboratories results by using their ‎clients' computers; this will save time and give them the ability to take required right decision quickly ‎in the operation unit and lead to improve quality control on the operational process in oil refinery.‎

This study aims to improve the compressive strength and the adhesive for the Iraqi gypsum by using ‎the lime as a local material to improve the properties of the Iraqi gypsum in binding and plastering works. ‎The lime was used to replace 10%, 20%, and 30% of the total gypsum quantity to study the development of ‎the paste material and its effect on the compressive strength, its structure and the water quantity. The initial ‎and final setting time was conducted with the compressive strength test. The results showed a full ‎improvement in the compressive strength for the cubes at the age of 7 days comparing to the gypsum paste. ‎There was a change in the setting time with the replacement of gypsum with lime in addition to the increase ‎in the density of the final product. The results showed the possibility of developing the Iraqi product and the ‎recommendation to use in a wide range in the finishing works which can be more economic in the work. ‎

Access control is very important in cloud data sharing. Especially in the domains like ‎healthcare, it is essential to have access control mechanisms in place for confidentiality and secure ‎data access. Attribute based encryption has been around for many years to secure data and provide ‎controlled access. In this paper, we proposed a framework that supports circuit and attributes based ‎encryption mechanism that involves multiple parties. They are data owner, data user, cloud server and ‎attribute authority. An important feature of the proposed system is the verifiable delegation of the ‎decryption process to cloud server. Data owner encrypts data and delegates decryption process to ‎cloud. Cloud server performs partial decryption and then the final decrypted data are shared for users ‎as per the privileges. Data owner thus reduces computational complexity by delegating decryption ‎process cloud server. We built a prototype application using the Microsoft.NET platform for proof of ‎the concept. The empirical results revealed that there is controlled access with multiple user roles and ‎access control rights for secure and confidential data access in cloud computing. ‎

This paper presents the results of a study to have better understanding of structural behavior of ‎the reinforced concrete (RC) column wrapped by carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheets.‎
In this study, 3D F.E model has been presented using ANSYS computer program (Release 16.0) ‎to analyze reinforced concrete columns strengthened with CFRP composites , to evaluate the gain in ‎performance (strength and ductility) due to strengthening, and to study the effect of the most ‎important parameters such as: compressive strength of concrete, modulus of elasticity of CFRP and ‎corner radius of square columns.‎
Three dimensional eight-node brick element (SOLID65) was used to represent the concrete, ‎three dimensional spar element (LINK180) represented the steel and using a three dimensional shell ‎element (SHELL41) to represent the CFRP composites. ‎
The present study has a comparison between the analytical results from the ANSYS finite ‎element analysis with experimental data. The results of the study show that, external bonded CFRP ‎sheets are very effective in enhancing the axial strength and ductility of the concrete columns. ‎Inspection of the results shows that, there is good agreement between the ANSYS and the experimental ‎test results.‎

‎ Mixing two polymers usually results in an immiscible system, characterized by a coarse, easy to ‎alter morphology, and poor adhesion between the phases. These blends have large size domains of ‎dispersed phase and poor adhesion between them. Therefore, miscibility of polymer blend must be ‎improved by using suitable additives such as compatibilizer. In this study 5% of silane 3-‎‎(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate is used as compatibilizer to improve the miscibility and compatibility ‎of LDPE/PVA blends. The samples were prepared by using a twin screw extruder. LDPE and PVA have ‎been mixed with different weight proportion. Several tests were carried out to identify the compatibility ‎and miscibility of the blends such as tensile properties, hardness, density, Fourier transforms infrared FTIR, ‎digital microscope, scanning electron microscopy SEM and differential scanning calorimetry DSC. Result ‎show that tensile strength, young modulus, elongation at break, density and hardness is increased with ‎silane addition to the blends. SEM and digital microscope shows an improvement in the miscibility due to ‎the better interaction between the two polymers as silane is added.‎

Rutting is one a distress that commonly occurs in flexible pavement, mainly due to exceedingly ‎heavy axle loads, high ambient temperature, and insufficient paving materials quality. Dealing with the ‎last reason of rutting, the paper aims at investigating rutting resistance of Cold Bituminous Emulsified ‎Mixture (CBEMs) with Acrylic (AR) polymer. CBEMs were prepared with Ordinary Portland Cement ‎‎(OPC) and conventional mineral filler (CMF) as a filler for its recognition benefit when introduce to CBEM. ‎Acrylic (AR) polymer emulsified was added to a cationic medium setting emulsified bitumen, with various ‎dosages ranged from 0% to 5% of residual bitumen, to obtain a modified asphalt emulsion that was mixed ‎with a local aggregate in order to prepare CBEMs. Also, it is intended to make a comparison between ‎CBEMs, for the same circumstances of local aggregates and different types of filler, with the Hot Mix ‎Asphalt (HMA). ‎
Marshall test is conducted to investigate the stability and flow of different mixes in the scope of the ‎research. Further, Wheel track device connected to a computer system is used to measure rutting depth ‎that indicates the expected rutting resistance. The results demonstrated a significant effect for AR polymer ‎adding, where the rutting resistance for CBEMs comprising OPC is improved for almost all dosages, but the ‎‎1.25% recorded as the best one. It is worth to mention that the new polymer modified CBEM offers rutting ‎resistance better than that of HMA, which sustain the possibility of replacing the common environment ‎harmful paving technology by sustaining one.‎

The effect of impeller flow type and rotation speed on the fluid in mixing tank design under ‎standard configurations investigated to analyses the fluid velocity, turbulent intensity and path lines. In ‎this theoretical study, the fluid motion inside the mixing tank was investigated by solving Navier-Stokes ‎equation and standard k-ε turbulent model in 3-dimensions, for incompressible and turbulent flow. Two ‎types of flow with three types of impellers were investigated, axial-flow with (Lightnin200 and generic ‎impellers) and radial-flow with (Rushton turbine). All impellers evaluated under rotation velocity variation ‎between 10 – 115 rpm. The results showed a direct proportional relationship between the impeller and ‎turbine rotation speed with the fluid velocity in mixing vessel. Also, this case matches with the turbulent ‎intensity and path lines.‎

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are biochemical-catalyzed systems in which electricity is produced ‎by oxidizing biodegradable organic matters in presence of bacteria. Many places suffer from lack of ‎electricity infrastructure or even existence‏"‏‎ ,‎‏"‏but in the same area there is wastewater that can be used ‎to generate clean energy‏"‏‎. ‎‏"‏A batch system single chamber and membrane-less microbial fuel cell is ‎designed with wastewater as inoculum and fuel in the same time(before adding cheese whey) at pH ‎‎=7±0.4 and an operating temperature of 30 0C ‎‏"‏‎. Wastewater samples are collected from the Al-‎Delmaj marsh site at an initial chemical oxygen demand concentration of 862 mg/l and pH of 7.8 ‎‎(reduced to 7±0.4 in all experiments by adding HCL acid).‎‏ ‏Rectangular sheets of graphite and smooth ‎surface carbon fiber of 42 cm2 surface area used for anode and cathode electrodes. The obtained ‎results indicated that the cell performance for the cell using graphite for anode and cathode electrodes ‎is better than that using the carbon fiber of smooth surface .the obtained open circuit voltage and ‎power per unit surface area (for graphite) were‏"‏‎ 190 mV and 5.95 mW/m2 respectively .‎‏"‏Cheese whey ‎as substrate was used to enhance the performance of cell to 439 mV OCV and 121.9mW/m2 ‎maximum power density‏"‏‎ .‎

Data mining is the process of discovering patterns in a data set by keyword. Keyword search is the ‎most effective way to discover information in documents. But somewhere, sometimes just searching for a ‎keyword is not enough; with research restricting that keyword has become a necessity. Like in social media ‎abuse of word is increasing. Many systems worked on only detecting an inappropriate word; not on ‎restriction of that word. So here in this paper keyword search method is proposed for social media which ‎not only finds the inappropriate words, but also restrict that word from publishing on the media.‎

Nickel titanium(NiTi) shape memory alloys have increased utilization for different engineering ‎applications especially in biomedical applications .The aim of this study, first studied the powder ‎metallurgy process variables such as compacting stress and sintering cycles on several physical tests such ‎as x-ray diffraction, porosity and apparent density as well as mechanical tests such as microhardness, ‎surface roughness , second studied the effect of alloying element of yttrium and tantalum on ‎microhardness, surface roughness of NiTi shape memory alloys. Several alloys have been prepared by ‎powder metallurgical technique. Vickers hardness, surface roughness measurements, XRD analysis, ‎porosity and apparent density were performed.‎
It was shown that the XRD diffraction tests of all samples have the same results of two phases at ‎room temperature (RT) (monoclinic NiTi and hexagonal Ni3Ti).the result of adding tantalum in the ‎percentage of (1%,2% and3%) in the expense of nickel, increasing hardness value gradually to record the ‎highest value (310) HV at 3%.and also decrease the surface roughness from (0.36 to 0.15) µm at ‎‎3%Tantalum and 650 Mpa. While the result of adding yttrium in the percentage of (1%, 2% and3%) %Wt. ‎in the expense of nickel, shown that the specimen of 2 % Yttrium and 650 Mpa compacting stress showed ‎the hardness value of (275.7) HV
‎ .The hardness value decreases at 3 % and 1% additives at the same compacting stress to (272.26 ‎and 200) HV respectively. The addition of Tantalum element decreases the surface roughness from (0.36 ‎to 0.15) µm at 3%Tantalum and 650 Mpa .While the specimen of 2% Yttrium at 650 Mpa shown (0.16) ‎‎µm surface roughness.‎

Water balance techniques are a means of solution of important theoretical and practical ‎hydrological problems, where morphometric analysis of a watershed provides a quantitative ‎description of the drainage system, which is an important aspect of the characterization of watersheds. ‎The evaluated quantities of drainage morphology in Khanaqin basin which located to the East of Iraq ‎were Perimeters (P), length (L), width (W), circulatory ratio (Rc), elongation ratio (Re), form factor (Rf), ‎compactness coefficient (Cc), stream order (Su), stream numbers (Nu) and lemniscate factor (K). The ‎catchment's area was (1920) km2, characterized by is elongated low relief, gentle ground slopes and ‎far from being circular with moderate peak flows of fifth stream order. The ratio of water surplus ‎calculated from annual rainfall was (13.15%) and the actual evapotranspiration and soil moisture was ‎‎(86.82%) according to average annual rainfall during (1990-2013) using Thornthwaite equations to ‎calculate potential and actual evapotranspiration. The water surplus calculated as (35.973) mm ‎distributed into (25.713) mm as natural recharge of groundwater and (10.26) mm surface runoff. ‎

The performance of the journal bearing at the dynamic loading condition under the effect of ‎self-excitation and forced harmonic excitation has been investigated. For this purpose, the ‎conventional form of the Reynolds equation is analyzed numerically using the central finite difference ‎technique with a proper initial and boundary condition. The numerical equations have been written in ‎‎(FORTRAN-95) language to obtain the results. According to the numerical results obtained, the ‎maximum oil pressure is obtained under the combined effect of forced harmonic vibration and self- ‎excitation is increased by 36.66 percent from those obtained under the self- excitation only.‎

The existence and development of an organization relies on the employment level of equipment ‎and obtainable resources. Whole the resources as worker, equipment, and raw material are to be employed ‎to the level of manufacture criterion, Also the potential impact this relationship may have on decision-‎making that contributes to improve the productivity of the manufacturing organization. This research aims ‎to employ two operation performance indicators: overall equipment and resource effectiveness to study ‎impact them onto manufacturing system. AL-Kufa /Iraq Cement plant is employed as a case study, also ‎Bar chart tool is used to assess present results. Results are generated using Minitab Version 17. Results ‎show that finish grinding process has lowest factors of performance, quality rate, availability of material, ‎readiness, and availability of facility which lead to reduce OEE and ORE performance indicators of 65.02 ‎‎% and 15.45%.‎‏ ‏

An experimental and analytical behavior of strengthened reinforced concrete two way slabs ‎by steel fiber ferrocement layers ,this study included testing 14 simply supported two way slabs, ‎which include 1 control slab, 13 strengthened slabs. In the strengthened slabs the effect of the ‎ferrocement layers with; steel fiber content in the ferrocement mortar of (0.25,0.5,0.75.1.1.25%), ‎thickness of ferrocement layers, the compressive strength for ferrocement mortar and wire mesh layers ‎number of ferrocement was investigated. The mid span deflection at ultimate load and cracks pattern ‎were discussed. All the reinforced concrete slab specimens were designed of the same dimensions and ‎reinforced identically to fail in flexure. Simply supported conditions for all slabs has bean tested under ‎central concentrated load. The experimental results show that; the ultimate loads and mid span ‎deflection of strengthened reinforced concrete slabs were more effected by using the steel fiber on the ‎ferrocement mortar, increasing the thickness of ferrocement and the compressive strength of ‎ferrocement. Three-dimensional nonlinear finite element analysis has been used to conduct the ‎analytical investigation, ANSYS (Version 16.0) computer program was used in this study. The ‎analytical result from modeling in ANSYS program exhibited a good agreement with experimental ‎results.‎

The present study includes an experimental and numerical investigations for the punching ‎behavior of shear reinforced square simply supported flat plates of high strength concrete (HSC) ‎subjected to repeated load.‎‏ ‏The experimental program consists of testing four flat plate models. They ‎were of the same overall dimensions of plate, (900×900×100) mm and dimensions of column ‎‎(150×150×300) mm. The main variable has been considered in the experimental study is: type of ‎shear reinforcement (three models): closed stirrups, headed shear studs and bent bars. Finally, a fourth ‎model (without shear reinforced) served as control model.‎‏ ‏From the results of this work, It was found ‎that the closed stirrups is the best type of shear reinforcement because this type‏ ‏is highly increase ‎punching shear strength (about 92%) , rotation capacity, simple and cost-effective. Three-dimensional ‎nonlinear finite element analysis has been carried out to conduct the numerical investigation of the ‎general behavior of HSC flat plat models. ABAQUS (Version 6, copyright 2013) computer program ‎was used in this work. A comparison between numerical and experimental results showed good validity ‎of the numerical analysis where the average difference ratio based on the ultimate load was less than ‎‎3.67% for all analyzed models. ‎

In this paper, an experimental study of the thermal performance of the solar air collector ‎manufactured of galvanized iron sheet with dimension 100×120cm, frame width 20cm, has holes ‎‎0.5cm arrangement on horizontal and vertical, the collector inclined at an angle (75o) on the horizontal ‎plane. All author faces of the collector (four sides and background) are insulations in order to minimize ‎the thermal losses .All the result recorded in winter season for two different days one of them sunny ‎and the other was cloudy. The result shows the effect of the angle of collector gives more heat to the ‎collector, hence higher outlet temperature, especially in sunny day. Maximum outlet temperature‏ ‏‎ of ‎the collector (35.5o when inlet temperature 18o) and maximum Nusselt number(Nu) at twelve o’clock ‎of the sunny day more than the cloudy day. At the end its high system efficiency and good collector ‎effectiveness. ‎

The purpose of this study is to present an evaluation of the properties and characteristics of ‎asphalt concrete of several hot mix asphalt (HMA) from five factories in Al-Hilla city. The research is ‎divided into two parts. The first part included the laboratory analysis of samples. The second part is ‎evaluation of results according to standard specifications. ‎
The test results included (Asphalt content percent, stability, creep compliance, voids ratio, ‎density, flow, crushed aggregate percent, Loss Angless abrasion and SO3 percent).The results of ‎laboratorial tests indicated that all properties of asphalt mixes were susceptible and possible to be used ‎in the asphaltic roads.‎
The mixes types prepared and tested according to Marshall method. The values of Marshall ‎stability, creep and density are (9.4, 5.4, 9.8, 9, 8.6), (2.5, 2.7, 2.7, 2.6, 2.3) and (2.334, 2.336, 2.337, ‎‎2.333, 2.338) with asphalt content between (4.2 to 4.6) % for all asphalt mixes of different factories.‎

Cold Bituminous Emulsion Mixtures have many environmental, logistical, and economic ‎advantages over conventional Hot Mix Asphalt. Nevertheless, their inferior performance and high water ‎sensitivity at early life attract little attentions. Moreover, it is impossible to apply CBEM as a structural ‎surface layer if left without treatment or enhancement. The main aim of this study is to enhance the ‎properties of CBEM for the hope of using it as a structural layer. Thus, a trial has been made to improve ‎CBEM mechanical and durability properties by replacing the Ordinary Portland Cement by the ‎Conventional Mineral Filler with 3 percentages; namely, 0, 50%, and 100%. CBEM mixtures mechanical ‎properties were evaluated in term of Marshall Stability and Flow, Indirect Tensile Strength, and Wheel ‎Track Test. While Moisture damage was evaluated in terms of Retained Marshall Stability. Test results ‎showed that the addition of 100%OPC filler can improve CBEM mechanical and durability properties ‎efficiently. In terms of mechanical properties results, CBEM comprised 100%OPC, can be used as a ‎structural Surface layer based on local Iraqi specifications limits, where mixture enhanced about 1.9, 1.78, ‎‎9,4.85, and 2.6 times in term of MS, MF, rutting deformation resistance, resistance to tensile cracking, and ‎moisture damage resistance, respectively as compared to untreated CBEM. Also, CBEM-100%OPC mix ‎seemed comparable (and sometime superior) to HMA, e.g., resistance to rutting of CBEM is about 6.2 ‎times higher than that of HMA. It’s worth to say that OPC upgrades CBEM to a significant level that ‎enables it to use as a structural layer in terms of the mechanical and the durability properties.‎

This work aims to study the effect of using fiber wire mesh on the flexural and shear ‎properties of RC concrete beams. Six reinforced concrete beams (120*180*1220mm) were tested ‎under two load points. Fiber wire mesh was applied with two manners, first one is three layers as U ‎shape around the section of the beam, the second one is four layers around overall section of ‎beam. The test results indicated that using of fiber wire mesh as additional reinforcement can ‎increase the ultimate load of about (1.85-3.58% in the case of flexural) and (17.7-23.7% in case of ‎shear). Also, results showed that an increasing in first cracking load is obtained from (42.8-‎‏85.7‏‎% ‎in case of flexural) and from (41.2-76.5% in case of shear). Also the shear behavior of beams ‎becomes more ductile when the fiber wire mesh was used in beams. The cracks of shrinkage was ‎disappeared when the fiber wire mesh surround the section of the beam. ‎

Competition is one of the most important challenges that is facing the marketing of industrial ‎products in today's markets. In this research study of the impact of material selection factor for air coolers ‎of different materials is applied. Investigation on the air cooler windows which are part of the body of air ‎coolers is conducted. Corrosion resistance, thermal conductivity, strength of material, weight, shape, cost ‎and manufacturing process are the factors that are applied and calculated on three types of materials ‎Aluminum, Galvanized steel and polypropylene. The physical properties of the three mentioned materials ‎are used to calculate Merit Index .The corrosion average, according to Tafel Method depending the ‎corrosion current and adopting contactors for the anodic and cathodic metals behaviors is performed. ‎ANSYS is adopted using the three samples for the selected materials Aluminum, Galvanized steel and ‎polypropylene to measure maximum stress and deflection are measured. Accordingly, the results are ‎compared to choose the best alternative. It is observed that the polypropylene is the best choice depending ‎three factors while the aluminum material is better depending two factors and the galvanized steel is ‎regarded as the best in only one factor, the rest factors are identical when choosing an alternative material ‎for manufacturing the air cooler windows.‎

‎ Determining dimensions of continuous RC beam depend on the critical span. Practically, ‎changing the dimensions of others spans is difficult. So that, this work aimed to discuss the ‎possibility of adding voids within the beams which its dimensions are more than required in order to ‎reduce the cost and dead load. The selected percent of voids to volume of tested beams was 10%. ‎The shape of voids was a first variable (spherical voids or conic voids). Also, the alteration in ‎behavior when a (5cm) concrete layer thickness of compression zone was replaced with a concrete ‎layer modified with adding polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) was investigated, as a second variable. After ‎testing six samples, the result showed that the failure criteria of normal concrete voided beams is ‎transformed from flexural behavior to shear behavior, while the failure criteria of control solid ‎specimen was flexure behavior. Also, the modified beams failed in flexural behavior except the ‎beam with conic voids failed in shear behavior. Corresponding to this transform, the ultimate load ‎varied in the same manner. Where, the normal concrete voided beams failed with lesser ultimate ‎load than control solid beam of about (6.4% and 18.3%) for spherical and conic voids, ‎respectively. While, the ultimate load of modified concrete beams is increased of about (13.8%, ‎‎5.4% and 3.1%) for solid beam, spherical and conic voided beams respectively in comparing ‎control specimen.‎

Titanium dioxide Nano particles have been used as a core material for the design of low-cost ‎sustainable power source, the dye sensitized cell. In this work, dye sensitized cell was investigated to be ‎used as a self-powered ultra violet light detector in a data acquisition system. To enhance the detector ‎robustness, the device was sealed using cross-linked photo resist to isolate it from the environmental ‎effects. The detector was tested in air as well as in water to proof its characteristics in various ‎environmental conditions. High responsivity and fast response were achieved for both discrete and ‎continuous ultraviolet (UV) illuminations. To prove the self-powered property of the sensor, it was ‎interfaced to a microcontroller. Our experimental results‏ ‏confirmed that there is no need of intermediate ‎electronics such as signal conditioning circuit in the interfacing circuit. Furthermore, the detector observed ‎obvious selectivity for different light colors. This characteristic makes it candidate for the development of ‎color sensors. ‎

The waste cooking oil or used cooking oil is the best source of biodiesel synthesizing because it ‎enters into the so-called W2E field, whereas not only get rid of the used cooking oils, but produce ‎energy from waste fuel. In this study, biodiesel was synthesized from the used cooking oil and ‎specifications are tested. From 1 liter of used cooking oil, 940 ml is gained. The remaining of liter is ‎glycerine and water. A Blend of 20% of biodiesel with 80% of net diesel by volume is formed. Blends ‎of 100% diesel and 100% biodiesel are prepared too. The diesel engine combustion performance is ‎studied. Brake thermal efficiency, brake specific fuel consumption, volumetric efficiency, mean ‎effective pressure, and engine outlet temperature. Cylinder pressure variation with crank angle is ‎analyzed. At last not least, the concentrations of hydrocarbon and nitrogen pollutants are measured. ‎The results showed a significant enhancement in engine power and pollutant gases emitted. There is ‎positive compatible with other critical researches. ‎

A smart city is rising as an approach and strategy to reduce the troubles produced by rapid ‎urbanization and the growth of urban population. Although, cities continue to develop and purify their ‎social, economic and environmental goals along with the strategies to achieve them, this phenomenon ‎has been discussed by little research yet. However, due to the requiring immediate action or attention ‎for practical application of the principles of smart cities, city authorities, stakeholders and local ‎communities need to know the current reality of their city and where development is being attained in ‎their systems. Therefore, constructing a framework for smart cities assessment will help share or ‎exchange the newcomer strong and weak points, and emphasize where actual development is taking ‎place and update a plan for future developments. Moreover, this assessment is able to assist cities ‎prioritizes actions. This paper developed a guiding assessment framework for smart cites that will help ‎the creating, carefully choosing and priorities of crucial indicators. These indicators can then show the ‎way to the smart cites performance assessment and monitoring. Drawing on the investigation of an ‎extensive and wide collection of literature from a variety of disciplinary areas and based on the ‎conceptual literature on smart cities, in addition to interviews this study identify a good tool to help ‎recognizing of virtual achievement of smart city. Furthermore, it is significant to be taken into ‎consideration in assessing smart city smartness level.‎