Engineering and Technology Journal

Deposition of Multicomponent hard coatings (Ti-B-N-C) on the molybdenum high-speed tool steel (AISI M52) has been achieved by mixed vapor deposition technique to improve the mechanical properties of the surface. In this technique the coating materials that were supplied in the gas phase were produced from powders that vaporized by thermal energy (that is, PVD- Reactive Evaporation Process), while the reactor that used to deposit Ti-Base coatings is hot-wall chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD) system equipment. This combination results in technical and financial advantages. The structure of deposited Ti-Base hard film was characterized by XRD technique, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Mechanical characterization of the hard films has been performed by using Vickers micro hardness tester and The Ball-on-disk wear tests. With different reactive gas flow rates that ranged from 500 to 3000Sccm(standard Cubic Centimeter per Minute), the film showed amorphous matrix with crystalline Nano fibers of Ti-B phase which led to achieve higher hardness of 2051HV and better wear resistance with relatively good COF values of 0.61 than the uncoated tools.

In the present work, the investigation on the performance of series of solar air collectors to obtain high temperature air was performed. The first collector has been studied experimentally, while the rest of the series collectors have been investigated numerically with the same boundary conditions. The experimental and numerical results of the first collector show acceptable accruement, this lead to calculate the series of collectors numerically. The results indicated that collector’s series do not work with the same efficiency. The first collector will work at low inlet air temperatures, which lead to increase in the efficiency, on the contrary for the other collectors. The results showed that, it can be determined the required number of collectors in series that necessary to obtained the required outlet air temperature

This study presents an experimental investigation on the behavior of fourteen reinforced self-compacting concrete tapered beams with or without strengthening. The strengthening was applied by using carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) to beams with simply supported span and subjected to two points loading. Those beams have an overall length of 2000 mm, a width of 150 mm and a height of 250 mm at supports (hs) and a mid-span depth (hm) varies between 150 mm and 200 mm and with different strengthening scheme, they are investigated to evaluate the behavior at experimental test and to study the effect of the parameters which include haunch angle α, shear-span to effective depth ratio a/d and strengthening strips number and locations on beams behavior. The experimental results show that decreasing the value of haunch angle α increased the load capacity by about 56% and decreased the corresponding deflection while when tapered beams are strengthened by CFRP the ultimate load is increased up to 39% with decrease of deflection. On the other hand, increasing a/d ratio leads to a decrement in load capacity and increment in deflection

In the present research, efforts are made to develop the properties of PMMA resin that used for upper and lower prosthesis complete denture, by addition four different types of nanoparticles powders, which are fly ash, fly dust, zirconia and aluminum that added with different ratios of volume fractions of (0.01, 0.02 and 0.03) to poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA), cold cured resin (castavaria) is the new fluid resin (pour type) as a matrix. The nano composite and hybrid nano composite for prosthetic dentures specimens, preparation was done by using (Hand Lay-Up) method as six groups which includes: the first three groups consists of PMMA resin reinforced by fly ash , fly dust and ZrO2 nanoparticles respectively, the second three groups consists of three types of hybrid nano composites, which includes ((PMMA:X% fly ash) - (1%Al + 3%ZrO2)), ((PMMA:X% fly dust) - (1% Al + 3%ZrO2)) and ((PMMA:nZrO2) - (1% fly ash+ 3% fly dust)) respectively. As well as, the effect of moisture and UV was taking into consideration in this study. The compression test results shows that the values of compressive strength, compressive elastic modulus, and compressive strength under the effect of accelerated weathering (moisture and UV radiation) increased with the addition of nano powders (fly ash, fly dust, zirconia and aluminum). As well as, the results showed that the maximum values of compressive strength reach to (286.25MPa) for (PMMA + 2%nZrO2) nano composite. In addition, the results showed that the compressive elastic modulus reach to the maximum value (25.4166GPa) in the nano composite material (PMMA + 2%nZrO2). Moreover, the results showed that the compressive strength under the effect of accelerated weathering (moisture and UV radiation) reach to the maximum value to (315MPa) for the nano composite material (PMMA + 3%nZrO2).

Aerobic granular sludge (AGS) is an emerging and an advance technology for intensive and high-rate biological nutrient removal from wastewater that may play as important role in industrial wastewater treatment strategy in Iraq. Lab scale sequential batch reactor (SBR) operated with selected operation cycle was used to cultivate granular sludge for each of dairy and oil refinery wastewaters. Successful granulation process in each reactor was achieved after 72 day of operation. The results of experimental work proved the flexibility of AGS technology to treat refinery and dairy wastewater and withstand fluctuated load. The COD and NH4 removal efficiencies for oil refinery wastewater were 86% and 92%, respectively, with sludge volume index (SVI) of 50 ml/g and granules size distribution of (0.3-3) mm. While COD and NH4 removal efficiencies for dairy wastewater were 80% and 82%, respectively, with SVI of 70 ml/g and the large percentage of its granules were ranged between 0.3 and 0.5 mm and the other smaller percentage were ranged between 0.75 and 2 mm. In addition microbiology observations showed high diverse in microorganisms communities which indicated the presence of stabilized sludge in both reactors.

Recently the subject of energy-efficient is very important in cognitive radio (CR), especially during spectrum sensing, since the large energy consumption (EC) cost, produces a restriction in their implementation especially in devices with limited power, i.e battery. In these design, energy detector consumes a significant part of energy during spectrum sensing to detect the activity of the primary user (PU). In this paper, we investigated a method for improving EC in two scenarios: non-cooperative and cooperative. The idea behind the improvement is based on sensing the spectrum with low-density samples. The optimization concept for reducing EC through controlling the number of frequency samples to be sensed is illustrated as well as the probability of detection in both scenarios. To evaluate the proposed method a comparison is made between the proposed method and censoring method. The performance of energy detection system is evaluated in AWGN and Rayleigh fading channels. The simulation results show that in non-cooperative scenario at Eb/No equal 10 dB, and for sensing ratio equal 50%, EC decreases by 50% and 46% with sma loss in of detection probability of 5% in AWGN channel and 12% in Rayleigh channel. In cooperative scenario, the results show that as the number of cognitive users (CU) increased the average EC per user decreased with an improvement in probability of detection. In case of sensing ratio 50%, the EC is decreased by 43.6% as compared with censoring method

Structural lightweight aggregate concrete solves weight and durability problems in buildings and structures. Recent advanced in material technology have accelerated the development of high performance concrete using lightweight aggregate. The main objective of this research is to produce high performance lightweight aggregate concrete reinforced with polypropylene and to study the mechanical properties of this type. The effect of various factors such as type of fiber and volume fraction of fibers also has been investigated. The experimental work included the use of pumice as coarse and fine lightweight aggregate, superplasticizer and silica fume to produce high performance lightweight concrete. Several trial mixes were examined to determine the proper proportion of the concrete constituent. Three types of polypropylene with different volume fraction were used. The procedure also includes studying the compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, flexural strength and static modulus of elasticity. The test results shows that the addition of all types of polypropylene fiber results in significant improvement in most mechanical properties compared with reference concrete specimens at different ages except compressive strength it was improved at Vf =0.25% and decrease at Vf =0.75%.

7075 Aluminum alloy metal matrix composites ( ) with different wt % of Al2O3. (0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1), the size of reinforced particles is 10 Nano meter , were fabricated using stir casting technique. The influence of adding Al2O3 particles content on the mechanical properties of the . It was observed that the nanomaterial reinforcement led to high improvement in BHN hardness ultimate strength ( ), yield stress ( ) and ductility. The improvements were due to regular distribution of Al2O3 and refinement of aluminum 7075 grains. The maximum improvement in BHN hardness, and was observed at 0.2 wt %. Al2O3. While the minimum value of ϵ % was obtained at 0.2 wt % Al2O3.

The Cadastral maps are very important since they have technical and materialist specification of the property borders. However, these maps despite their use as land registration in world in general but in Iraq; the old maps are unfit for use. Therefore, updating and digitizing the cadastral maps are very pivotal. In the present work, we have an old agricultural cadastral map since thirties as a hardcopy which was digitized then updated using control points and modern satellite image (QuickBird 2009) for the same area. In this research, we upgraded the methodology for updating of the agricultural cadastral maps of Iraq based on the use of Differential Global Position system (DGPS), Total Station, and Satellite Imagery, in addition to the cadastral editor extension in ArcGIS software to produce new agricultural maps. The tolerance of this approach was tested by root mean square errors in addition the parcel points were compared with land records and QuickBird image. The motivation of current work was due to there are no modern cadastral maps for the study area, which is located in province of Wassit South-East of Baghdad. The results can be used as a basis for the decision makers in addition; this methodology can be utilized to solve problems relating to land property in study area and can be extrapolated to other datasets.

The sector of Private Construction Companies is one of the most important sectors in construction market in IRAQ. This sector played an important role in the last ten years in the Iraqi construction field. The idea of this research came from the hardly competitive bidding among these many private companies, and because of the lack of knowledge by many of these companies about the bidding strategy theories. This research is a trial to create a balanced condition of the bidding price for the contractor. The average bidding strategy method depends on historical data for the bidders and it is a relationship between the added percentage of profit and the winning probability. An important factor is inserted in this research, which is the maximum fiscal deficit that is facing the contractor during construction period of any project; this deficit is the difference between the received discounted payments and the cost of finished works for any period during construction. The contractor apply the bidding strategy method to lower his profit margin to the lowest certain extent to rise the opportunity to win the contract. Nevertheless, he forget that the lowest profit margin leads to highest cash deficit during construction. A survey was done for a contract construction company in the private sector in Iraq, where the competition is more clearly than the governmental sector, by collecting data for (5) competitive companies in (16) projects. By using the average bid method, to determine the added (12%) of profit the winning probability was (9%), and from the analysis of the cash flow forecasting curve the maximum fiscal deficit will be IQD (8,972,000) at the second month of the project execution duration. By applying the resultant equation and to lower the deficit through rising profit by (0.1%) the winning opportunity will be decrease by (0.6%). In this research, a relationship is drawn between the profit margin and the maximum deficit for project, and finally a relationship is drawn between the deficit and the winning opportunity of the contract. Both of these two relationships are linear, and the important results are that any contract should apply both average bid method and cash deficit method at the same time, according to the economic condition to its firm.

This work focuses on the synthesis of hybrid polymer composite matrix materials prepared from the epoxy–Polyurethane resin (Polyprime EP) as matrix reinforced phase by using (5%, 10%, 15% and 20%) Zinc oxide particles and 5% woven roving Kevlar fiber (00-900) kind (49). Mechanical and physical tests such as tensile strength, impact strength, hardness, density, thermal conductivity, and water absorption were done. The results showed increased hardness with increasing volume fraction of ZnO for the ratios (5%, 10%, 15% and 20%). The impact strength was increased for volume fraction of zinc oxide at 15%, modulus of elasticity at 5%, thermal conductivity at 20% and density test at 10%. The stress increased at volume fraction of zinc oxide at 10% and 15%. The water absorption decreased with increasing volume fraction of ZnO additives.

This paper presents an experimental investigation of structural behaviour of reinforced concrete deep beams strengthened in shear by CFRP strips. The experimental program consisted of fabricating, casting and testing of nine identical porcelainte lightweight aggregate reinforced concrete deep beams. Three of the tested deep beams were unstrenghtened to serve as reference beams, while the remaining beams were tested after being strengthened using CFRP strips in two different orientations (vertical and horizontal). The locally available natural porcelanite aggregate is used to produce lightweight aggregate concrete. The beams were designed to satisfy the requirements of ACI 318M- 14 building code. In order to insure shear failure modes, adequate flexural steel reinforcement were provided. Effect of three different values of shear span to effective depth ratio (a/d =1.0, 0.8, 1.2) were selected. All beams have been tested as a simply supported beams subjected to two concentrated points loading. The beam specimens were tested up to failure under monotonic loads. The experimental work showed that the failure load increases as the shear span to effective depth ratio deceases. As the shear span to effective depth ratio decreased from 1.0 to 0.8, the percentage of increase in the ultimate load was about 24%. In addition, the diagonal compression strut crack of unstrenghtened control beams was changed to several diagonal cracks at mid depth within the shear span of the strengthened beams and exhibited more ductile failure mode.

Trichophyton rubrum (T.rubrum) is a pathogenic dermatophyte that can causes fungal infection in keratinized layer of the human tissues such as skin, hair and nails. This work was carried out to study the antifungal activity of CuO nanoparticles (CuO NPs) on the viability of T.rubrum. CuO NPs have been synthesized by pulsed laser ablation of copper target immersed in liquid media using Q-switched pulsed Nd:YAG laser with 1064 nm. The optical properties and the surface charge of CuO NPs colloidal were characterized using UV–Vis spectrophotometer and Zeta potential techniques. UV–Vis spectrophotometer exhibited two peaks of absorption of CuO NPs colloidal: sharp peak at 200 nm and another peak at 630 nm. Zeta potential technique showed negative charge of CuO NPs colloidal (-28.16 mV). The morphological properties of CuO NPs such as particle size, shape and particle size distribution were characterized using Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), the shapes were spherical and the particle size distribution was inhomogeneous which ranges between 20 to 180 nm. The synthesized CuO NPs presented suitable fungistatic activity against T.rubrum and its highest growth-inhibitory effectiveness was at high concentration (100 μg/ml) and high exposure time (3 hrs). Moreover, the inhibition rate of T. rubrum progressively increased with increasing CuO NPs concentration and exposure time.

This paper suggests the use of contourlet transform for efficient feature extraction of fingerprints for identification purposes. Back propagated neural network is then used as a classifier. Two fingerprints databases are used to test the system. These include fingerprints images with different positions, rotations and scales to test the robustness of the system. Computer simulation results show that the proposed contourlet transform outperforms the classical wavelet method. Where an identification rate of 94.4% was obtained using contourlet transform compare with 87% using wavelet transform for standard FVC2002 database

The aim of this paper is to design a proposed non-linear fractional order proportional-integral-derivative neural (NFOPIDN) controller by modifying and improving the performance of fractional order PID (FOPID) controller through employing the theory of neural network with cognitive optimization techniques for the differential - drive wheeled mobile robot (WMR) multi-input multi-output (MIMO) system in order to follow a pre-defined trajectory. In this paper a cognitive bacterial foraging optimization algorithm (BFOA) has been utilized to find and tune the parameters of the proposed (NFOPIDN) controller and then find the optimal torque control signals for the differential - drive WMR. The simulation results show that the proposed controller can give excellent performance in terms of compared with other works (minimized tracking error for Ranunculoid-curve trajectory, smoothness of torque control signals obtained without saturation state and no sharp spikes action as well as minimum number of memory units needed for the structure of the proposed NFOPIDN controller).