Authors:Bayan S. Al Numan, Faris R. Ahmed, Kamaran K. Hamad Pages: 1 - 6 Abstract: To make concrete a truly green material, viable cement substitutes are available. This experimental investigation is performed to study the effect of using limestone powder (LSP) and styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) latex in the concrete mix. In this work, a concrete with 1:1.8:3 cementitious material:sand:gravel and water/cement ratio w/c of 0.5 is produced. First, LSP is used with 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20% replacements by weight of cements. The fineness of the LSP is measured using sieve No. 200 and showed about 30% pass. Second, and to improve the matrix of concrete due to the dilution effect, four ratios of SBR latex (0, 5, 10, and 15%) are added by weight of cements to the mix for each LSP ratio. Compressive strength at ages of 3, 7, 14, 28, and 90 days is tested for the concrete specimens mixed with LSP only to examine its effect on concrete strength’s development with time, whereas strengths are recorded at the age of 28 days for the other concretes. Three prisms were cast for each ratio and tested at 28 days. The results show general improvements in terms of compressive and flexural strengths. PubDate: 2018-02-18 DOI: 10.14500/aro.10212 Issue No:Vol. 6, No. 1 (2018)
Authors:Adil M. Hussein, Kamal O. Abdullah, Kharman A. Faraj, Dara F. Hamamin Pages: 7 - 12 Abstract: This work reports the radon concentration level in the work environment of cement plants (CPs) located in the Sulaymaniyah city-North of Iraq. This survey for the radon concentration is performed in 24 sectors of three different CPs including Tasluja, Mass, and Bazian. The measurements were recorded using solid state nuclear track detector (CR-39 NTDs). The radon effective dose μSv/hr correlated weakly with the gamma effective dose μSv/hr to enhance the radon concentration measuring. The detector was fixed in different places of the plants such Crusher, Correction stores, Raw Mill (Grinding Mill), Preheater (Tower), Clinker, and Cement Storage. The arithmetic mean (AM) value of radon concentration (Ca) was found to be 98 ± 9, 101 ± 10, and 125 ± 10 Bq m−3 and the arithmetic mean value of annual effective dose (E) of radon was 0.767, 0.753, and 0.962 mSv y−1 for Tasluja, Mass, and Bazian CPs, respectively. The maximum values of about 222 ± 20 Bq m−3 and 1.402 mSv y−1, respectively, in sector III (Grinding) at Bazian CP. The achieved results reveal that the maximum value of radon concentration in all sectors of the CPs is below the international standard value (300 Bq m−3) of both the World Health Organization and International Commission on Radiological Protection. PubDate: 2018-03-02 DOI: 10.14500/aro.10329 Issue No:Vol. 6, No. 1 (2018)
Authors:Bushra A. Sultan, Loay E. George, Nidaa F. Hassan Pages: 13 - 22 Abstract: In this paper, an enhanced fractal image compression system (FIC) is proposed; it is based on using both symmetry prediction and blocks indexing to speed up the blocks matching process. The proposed FIC uses quad tree as variable range block partitioning mechanism. two criteria’s for guiding the partitioning decision are used: The first one uses sobel-based edge magnitude, whereas the second uses the contrast of block. A new set of moment descriptors are introduced, they differ from the previously used descriptors by their ability to emphasize the weights of different parts of each block. The effectiveness of all possible combinations of double moments descriptors has been investigated. Furthermore, a fast computation mechanism is introduced to compute the moments attended to improve the overall computation cost. the results of applied tests on the system for the cases “variable and fixed range” block partitioning mechanism indicated that the variable partitioning scheme can produce better results than fixed partitioning one (that is, 4 × 4 block) in term of compression ratio, faster than and PSNR does not significantly decreased. PubDate: 2018-03-24 DOI: 10.14500/aro.10207 Issue No:Vol. 6, No. 1 (2018)
Authors:Abdulla M.K. Elmadhoun, Md Jan Nordin Pages: 23 - 32 Abstract: Facial expressions are essential communication tools in our daily life. In this paper, the uniform local binary pattern is employed to extract features from the face. However, this feature representation is very high in dimensionality. The high dimensionality would not only affect the recognition accuracy but also can impose computational constraints. Hence, to reduce the dimensionality of the feature vector, the firefly algorithm is used to select the optimal subset that leads to better classification accuracy. However, the standard firefly algorithm suffers from the risk of being trapped in local optima after a certain number of generations. Hence, this limitation has been addressed by proposing an improved version of the firefly where the great deluge algorithm (GDA) has been integrated. The great deluge is a local search algorithm that helps to enhance the exploitation ability of the firefly algorithm, thus preventing being trapped in local optima. The improved firefly algorithm has been employed in a facial expression system. Experimental results using the Japanese female facial expression database show that the proposed approach yielded good classification accuracy compared to state-of-the-art methods. The best classification accuracy obtained by the proposed method is 96.7% with 1230 selected features, whereas, Gabor-SRC method achieved 97.6% with 2560 features. PubDate: 2018-04-09 DOI: 10.14500/aro.10378 Issue No:Vol. 6, No. 1 (2018)
Authors:Aeed S. Al-Fahdawi, Eman I. Alsalihi Pages: 33 - 37 Abstract: Potassium Diphenylmethyl Xanthate and its monomeric complexes were synthesized at room temperature under inert gas and stirring condition. The ligand and its complexes of the general formula [M(L)2] (where M= FeII, CoII, NiII , CuII, ZnII and CdII) were characterized by spectroscopic methods (IR, UV-Vis, 1H-, 13C-, DEPT-, HQMC- and COSY-NMR), elemental analysis, metal content, magnetic susceptibility measurement and molar conductance. These studies revealed the formation of four coordinate complexes. PubDate: 2018-05-25 DOI: 10.14500/aro.10243 Issue No:Vol. 6, No. 1 (2018)
Authors:Eman I. Alsalihi, Aeed S. Al-Fahdawi Pages: 38 - 45 Abstract: The (E)-3-(3-acetylphenylimino) indolin-2-one (Bidentate) ligand type [HL], has been prepared from Isatin and 3-aminoacetophenone in the presence of KOH. In general, the ligand contains oxygen (O) and nitrogen (N) donor atoms. The reaction of Isatin and 3-aminoacetophenon was carried out in ethanol by condensation reaction at 80°C with reflux for 4 h, to form [HL] ligand type. This ligand has been used to prepare NiII and CoII complexes in the ratio of 1:1 metal-ligand. All compounds have been characterized by spectroscopic methods (Fourier transform infrared and ultravioletvisible), C.H.N, thin-layer chromatography, mass spectrum, X-ray diffraction, magnetic moment, conductivity measurements and milting point, the synthesized ligand and its metal complexes have been tested for their antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis using agar disc diffusion method. The ligand and its complexes showed significant activities against S. aureus and B. subtilis. Our study revealed the formation of four coordinate square planar complexes around NiII and CoII metal ions. PubDate: 2018-05-25 DOI: 10.14500/aro.10245 Issue No:Vol. 6, No. 1 (2018)
Authors:Rafid K. Abbas, Ali R. Hassanpour Pages: 46 - 54 Abstract: –Polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) drill bits are widely used in oil and gas drilling. The wear of PDC cutters is a major problem during drilling. It leads to severe time losses which affect the overall drilling operation cost. Therefore, it is essential to evaluate the wear tendency for these cutters using predictive approaches. The present research is focused on studying the wear mechanisms of PDC cutters and the effect of their mechanical properties on the extent of wear. The volume of wear for the PDC cutters was determined experimentally using micro- and nano-scratch tests by implementing an approach based on the geometry of the removed material after micro- and nano-scratch tests. The experimental wear results were compared to the predictions from current models in the literature.Various wear models are evaluated for micro- and nano-scratch tests on both layers of the PDC samples. The study shows that the wear of the PDC cutters can be predicted from the material mechanical properties, applied load, sliding distance, and hardness of the PDC cutters. The study could be extended for the evaluation of wear intensity of PDC cutters from various manufactures without using the previous techniques of abrasion testing. PubDate: 2018-05-31 DOI: 10.14500/aro.10278 Issue No:Vol. 6, No. 1 (2018)
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