The purpose of this research was to evaluate the potential of Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) in estimating Young’s modulus of elasticity of wood species. To do so, Terminalia catappa, a wood species of common occurrence was chosen and its mechanical properties such as bending strength, compression parallel to the grain, and shear parallel to the grain properties were determined using testing methods for small and clear specimens of wood with the British (BS 373, 1957) and American Society of Testing Materials’ specifications (ASTM D143, 1983s. The results showed that at 18% moisture content the wood has a density of 520 kg/m3 with a mean modulus of rupture of 86.04 Mpa, compressive strength parallel to the grain of 42.02 Mpa, modulus of elasticity of 10,500 Mpa, and shear strength parallel to the grain of 16.42 N/mm2. This dataset was used on machine learning approaches such as decision tree and random forest. The estimated value of Young’s modulus using the machine learning models varies between 1000 to 13000 MPa. The obtained results indicated that the use of Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) is an efficient tool for predicting Wood-Young’s modulus. This research paves the way for further investigations on the application of MRS and machine learning for predicting a wider range of wood properties. By employing machine learning techniques such as decision trees and random forests, researchers can develop robust models for estimating Young's modulus in other wood species. This approach allows for leveraging large datasets that encompass various influencing factors, ultimately leading to more accurate predictions compared to traditional methods.

The identification and delineation of recharge zones are critical components in sustainable groundwater management. This study focuses on determining the recharge zones within the Erbil Basin, employing a combination of field investigations, hydrogeological assessments, and geospatial analyses using Groundwater Modeling system (GMS) software with the aid of Geographic information System (GIS). The study uses the historical and field observed geological formations data to evaluate the 3D visualization of unconfined, confined and semi-confined aquifer types within Erbil Basin in order to determine the Recharge area. The aim is to provide valuable insights into the spatial distribution and characteristics of areas where groundwater recharge predominantly occurs. The outcomes of this research contribute to a comprehensive understanding of recharge dynamics in the Erbil Basin. The delineation of recharge zones provides essential information for sustainable groundwater management, aiding in the development of effective land use planning and conservation strategies. The results of this study reveal a decline in groundwater levels within the Erbil basin over the period from 2004 to 2023. were 86.2 meters in the Kasnazan well and 125.86 meters in the Mala Omer well, both located within recharge zones of the Erbil groundwater basin. The findings will be valuable for local authorities, policymakers, and water resource managers, offering a basis for informed decision-making to ensure the long-term viability of groundwater resources in the Erbil Basin. The study emphasizes the importance of integrating multidisciplinary approaches to accurately identify and protect the crucial zones responsible for replenishing the groundwater system.

The use of models in sciences to describe phenomena that assume non negative values such as size distributions, flood frequencies, radio wave amplitude fluctuations, air velocity fluctuations and geographical analysis are enhanced with the lognormal distribution, and the likes of Weibull and Exponential distributions as a life time distribution model. In most cases, these are empirically observed and test fits and often other models such as gamma distribution are also fitted. The distribution is specified by saying that the life time of random variable X is lognormal if the logarithm Y = In X of the life time is normally distributed with mean μ and variance σ2. The two parameter lognormal distribution denoted by ; with the corresponding normal distribution is considered. Lognormal distributions play a central role in human and ecological risk association, its probability plots are invaluable because they provide a powerful way to visualize measured data or simulated results such as in landslides.

Owners frequently allocate excessive risks to contractors and utilize (custom) contracts to fit their project needs and specifications. The MENA region has seen a boom in industrial projects in recent years, which has made it imperative to examine the barriers to optimal risk allocation and throw light on the processes currently in place for risk allocation. In order to approach a balanced construction contract, the current article aims to investigate the existing risk distribution in mega industrial projects. Properly identifying, evaluating, and assigning risks in contracts can improve project performance. First, the study found 70 risk factors that were categorized into nine groups based on a thorough literature review and scientometric analysis. Estimates of the likelihood, impact, and method of control for these risk factors were requested from the respondents. The findings showed that the way risk is now allocated in construction projects is ineffective and has resulted in a number of other issues, including aggressive contractual relationships, claims, and conflicts. Strong organizations today work hard to maintain effective partnerships by enforcing policies that promote cooperation and aid in risk management. Contractual provisions used in mega industrial projects become less flexible and less able to accommodate the needs and interests of the parties involved in all potential situations as a result of standardization. One of the most prominent standard forms of contracts for mega industrial projects, the Conditions of Contract for Plant and Design Build (FIDIC form 2017 Yellow Book), was researched and reviewed to identify risky provisions and offer solutions for contractual issues.  In order to reduce the project's major risk factors and partially reform the contract requirements into risk-balanced conditions that may improve the contract's utility as a project management tool, several modifications were made. These amendments concentrated on the particular needs of mega industrial projects and made a concerted effort to address a number of issues, including the Employer and Contractor's responsibility matrix, liability limitations, resolving procurement-related issues, design errors and contradictions in documents, the necessity of coordination between contractors and subcontractors, the significance of following the project schedule, and the relationship between delay damages and project milestones. Contract parties will benefit from the study's findings in terms of effective project management, risk reallocation, management, and reduction of claims, as well as preventing disputes.

In the field of similarity search, very little effort has been made to process the text without using suffix trees or automata. Most of the algorithms developed in the past use data structures and methods outlined above to accelerate the search process. However, their costly maintenance has always been a cause of concern. Let, T be a text of size N, and P be a pattern of size M. We present highly practical algorithms to process a real-time stream of text characters. The algorithm reports all substrings of pattern P in the text stream T as they appear in the stream. This is highly useful in detecting patterns in the data stream in real-time, for example, viruses and malware can be detected as they appear in the data stream. Additionally, the algorithm can be used to find the longest common substring(s) between two given strings. We achieved the stated goals without using any sophisticated data structure such as a suffix tree or finite automaton. For an alphabet size σ the algorithm runs in O(M) space, and O (MN/σ) expected time, which simplifies to O(N) for M ≤ σ. We also provide experimental results to support our claim.

The features of light propagation in outer space filled with an electromagnetic medium, the physical model of which was proposed in a previous article [A. Rozov, Z. Naturforsch. 72, 757 (2017)] are analyzed. This model made it possible to derive the equations of electrodynamics for moving media within the frame of classical mechanics.  Joint analysis of the electromagnetic medium model and electrodynamic equations taking into account known data and astronomical observations of galaxy redshift and cosmic background radiation allowed to make some conclusions both about the internal structure of the electromagnetic medium and on the peculiarities of light propagation in outer space.

Unregulated land use transition creates hostile environment. This study assessed factors that influences land use transition in Epetedo, Lafiaji/Ebute and Sandgrouse communities in Lagos Island. Ullman theory of spatial interaction was used to explain the interaction that exist among different land uses. Both qualitative and quantitative techniques were used in measuring the transition in land use from year 2002-2022. The study employed observation and survey method to facilitate the realization of the objectives of this study. The whole of the study area (33 Streets) was studied, using base map to delineate the study area; checklist of streets and house numbers were used to take inventory of land uses; and questionnaires were administered to collect data related to individual perception on the subject matter. The study revealed that majority of the respondents strongly agreed that population growth, higher economic return, increase in rental value, location, and specific priorities are the major factors responsible for land use transition with the mean score of 4.49, 4.13, 4.07, 3.74, 3.69 respectively. With the mean value of 2.33. This study concluded land use transition is influenced by physical, social, and economic factors. Policy measures on population growth; capacity building; and balancing between maximizing economic return on land and land use regulatory framework were recommended to curb unplanned land use changes.

In this paper, an extended Boissonade-De Kepper model with discrete delays is considered. By linearizing the system at the equilibrium point and analyzing the instability of the linearized system, two sufficient conditions to guarantee the existence of periodic solutions of the system are obtained. It is found that under suitable conditions on the parameters, time delay affects the stability of the system. The present method does not need to consider a bifurcating equation. Some numerical simulations are provided to illustrate our theoretical prediction. An interesting problem is solved.

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It is generally agreed and accepted that Information is an indispensable part of our modern everyday life. But that does not mean that a generally agreed and accepted understanding of what information is or may be does exist in the general public or in the specific scientific communities. Norbert Wiener’s dictum “Information is information, not matter or energy” is not a definition, but expresses pretty well the existing ambiguity and embarrassment about the discoursed matters.