Search results for: mode choice

Authors: Shengbiao Wu, Weihua Cao, Min Wu, Can Liu

Abstract:

This paper presents an intelligent tuning method of microwave filter based on complex neural network and improved space mapping. The tuning process consists of two stages: the initial tuning and the fine tuning. At the beginning of the tuning, the return loss of the filter is transferred to the passband via the error of phase. During the fine tuning, the phase shift caused by the transmission line and the higher order mode is removed by the curve fitting. Then, an Cauchy method based on the admittance parameter (Y-parameter) is used to extract the coupling matrix. The influence of the resonant cavity loss is eliminated during the parameter extraction process. By using processed data pairs (the amount of screw variation and the variation of the coupling matrix), a tuning model is established by the complex neural network. In view of the improved space mapping algorithm, the mapping relationship between the actual model and the ideal model is established, and the amplitude and direction of the tuning is constantly updated. Finally, the tuning experiment of the eight order coaxial cavity filter shows that the proposed method has a good effect in tuning time and tuning precision.

Keywords: microwave filter, scattering parameter, coupling matrix, intelligent tuning

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Authors: Ali Abdi Kordani, Meysam Rooyintan, Sid Mohammad Boroomandrad

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Nowadays, one the most important problems in megacities is public transportation and satisfying citizens from this system in order to decrease the traffic congestions and air pollution. Accordingly, to improve the transit passengers and increase the travel safety, new transportation systems such as Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), tram, and monorail have expanded that each one has different merits and demerits. That is why comparing different systems for a systematic selection of public transportation systems in a big city like Tehran, which has numerous problems in terms of traffic and pollution, is essential. In this paper, it is tried to investigate the advantages and feasibility of using monorail, tram and BRT systems, which are widely used in most of megacities in all over the world. In Tehran, by using SPSS statistical analysis software and TOPSIS method, these three modes are compared to each other and their results will be assessed. Experts, who are experienced in the transportation field, answer the prepared matrix questionnaire to select each public transportation mode (tram, monorail, and BRT). The results according to experts’ judgments represent that monorail has the first priority, Tram has the second one, and BRT has the third one according to the considered indices like execution costs, wasting time, depreciation, pollution, operation costs, travel time, passenger satisfaction, benefit to cost ratio and traffic congestion.

Keywords: BRT, costs, monorail, pollution, tram

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Authors: Mahdiar Hosseinghadiry, Razali Ismail, F. Fotovati

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One of the most important and challenging tasks in testing network-on-chip based system-on-chips (NoC based SoCs) is to verify the communication entity. It is important because of its usage for transferring both data packets and test patterns for intellectual properties (IPs) during normal and test mode. Hence, ensuring of NoC reliability is required for reliable IPs functionality and testing. On the other hand, it is challenging due to the required time to test it and the way of transferring test patterns from the tester to the NoC components. In this paper, two testing techniques for mesh-based NoC interconnections are proposed. The first one is based on one-by-one testing and the second one divides NoC interconnects into three parts, horizontal links of switches in even columns, horizontal links of switches in odd columns and all vertical. A design for testability (DFT) architecture is represented to send test patterns directly to each switch under test and also support the proposed testing techniques by providing a loopback path in each switch. The simulation results shows the second proposed testing mechanism outperforms in terms of test time because this method test all the interconnects in only three phases, independent to the number of existed interconnects in the network, while test time of other methods are highly dependent to the number of switches and interconnects in the NoC.

Keywords: on chip, interconnection testing, horizontal-vertical testing, enhanced unicast

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Authors: Chandra Shekhar Maurya, Chiranjit Sarkar

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The transient response of rheological properties of a carbonyl iron (CI)-water-based magnetorheological fluid (MRF) was studied under shear rate, shear stress, and shear strain working mode subjected to step-change in an applied magnetic field. MR fluid is a kind of smart material whose rheological properties change under an applied magnetic field. We prepared an MR fluid comprising of CI 65 weight %, water 35 weight %, and OPTIGEL WX used as an additive by changing the weight %. It was found that the MR effect of the CI/water suspension was enhanced by using an additive. A transient shear stress response was observed by switched on and switched off of the magnetic field to see the stability, relaxation behavior, and resulting change in rheological properties. When the magnetic field is on, a sudden increase in the shear stress was observed due to the fast motion of magnetic structures that describe the transition from the liquidlike state to the solid-like state due to an increase in dipole-dipole interaction of magnetic particles. Simultaneously, the complete reverse transition occurs due to instantaneous breakage of the chain structure once the magnetic field is switched off.

Keywords: magnetorheological fluid, rheological properties, shears stress, shears strain, viscosity

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Authors: Debabrata Das, Preeti Mishra

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A two-phase anaerobic process combining biohydrogen followed by biomethane (biohythane technology) serves as an environment-friendly and economically sustainable approach for the improved valorization of organic wastes. Suitability of the pure cultures like Klebsiela pneumonia, C. freundii, B. coagulan, etc. and mixed acidogenic cultures for the biohydrogen production was already studied. The characteristics of organic wastes play a critical role in biohydrogen production. The choice of an appropriate combination of complementary organic wastes can vastly improve the bioenergy generation besides achieving the significant cost reduction. Suitability and economic viability of using the groundnut deoiled cake (GDOC), mustard deoiled cake (MDOC), distillers’ dried grain with soluble (DDGS) and algal biomass (AB) as a co-substrate were studied for a biohythane production. Results show that maximum gaseous energy of 20.7, 9.3, 16.7 and 15.6 % was recovered using GDOC, MDOC, DDGS and AB in the two stage biohythane production, respectively. Both GDOC and DDGS were found to be better co-substrates as compared to MDOC and AB in terms of hythane production, respectively. The maximum cumulative hydrogen and methane production of 150 and 64 mmol/L were achieved using GDOC. Further, 98 % reduction in substrate input cost (SIC) was achieved using the co-supplementation procedure.

Keywords: Biohythane, algal biomass, distillers’ dried grain with soluble (DDGS), groundnut deoiled cake (GDOC), mustard deoiled cake (MDOC)

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Authors: Fatma H. Galal, Alaaeddeen M. Seufi

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Due to the increasing usage of mobile phone, experiments were designed to investigate ‎the effect of acute dose exposure on the mosquito life cycle. 50 tubes (5 ml size) ‎containing 3 ml water and a first instar larva of the mosquito, Culex univittatus were put ‎between two mobile cell phones switched on talking mode for 4 continuous hours. A ‎control group of tubes (unexposed to radiation) were used. Larval and pupal durations ‎were calculated. Furthermore, adult emergence and sex ratio were observed for both ‎treated and control larvae. Results indicated that the employed dose of radiation reduced ‎total larval duration to about half the value of control. 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th larval ‎durations were reduced significantly by mobile radiation when compared to controls. ‎Meanwhile pupal duration was elongated significantly by mobile radiation when ‎compared to control. Sex ratio was significantly shifted in favor of females in the case of ‎radiated mosquitoes. Successful adult emergence was decreased significantly in the case ‎of radiated insects when compared to controls. Molecular studies to investigate the ‎effects of mobile radiation on insects and other model organisms are going on.‎

Keywords: mosquito, mobilr radiation, larval and pupal durations, sex ratio

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Authors: Opeyemi Atiba-Oyewo, Maurice S. Onyango, Christian Wolkersdorfer

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Characterization and nanostructure formation of banana peels as sorbent material are described in this paper. The transformation of this agricultural waste via mechanical milling to enhance its properties such as changed in microstructure and surface area for water pollution control and other applications were studied. Mechanical milling was employed using planetary continuous milling machine with ethanol as a milling solvent and the samples were taken at time intervals between 10 h to 30 h to examine the structural changes. The samples were characterised by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Brunauer Emmett and teller (BET). Results revealed three typical structures with different deformation mechanisms and the grain-sizes within the range of (71-12 nm), nanostructure of the particles and fibres. The particle size decreased from 65µm to 15 nm as the milling progressed for a period of 30 h. The morphological properties of the materials indicated that the particle shapes becomes regular and uniform as the milling progresses. Furthermore, particles fracturing resulted in surface area increment from 1.0694-4.5547 m2/g. The functional groups responsible for the banana peels capacity to coordinate and remove metal ions, such as the carboxylic and amine groups were identified at absorption bands of 1730 and 889 cm-1, respectively. However, the choice of this sorbent material for the sorption or any application will depend on the composition of the pollutant to be eradicated.

Keywords: characterization, nanostructure, nanosorbent, eco-friendly, banana peels, mechanical milling, water quality

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Authors: Ikenna Michael Onuorah

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The relentless march of globalization in architecture has led to a homogenization of built environments, often characterized by an overreliance on imported, resource-intensive materials and a disregard for local cultural contexts. This research posits that such practices pose significant environmental and cultural perils, trapping communities in "caged concrete jungles" devoid of both ecological sustainability and a meaningful connection to their heritage. Through a mixed-method approach encompassing quantitative and qualitative data analysis, the study investigated the impacts of neglecting local materials and cultural expression in architectural design. The research is anticipated to yield significant insights into the multifaceted consequences of neglecting locally available materials and cultural expression in architecture. It creates a compelling case for reasserting local materials and cultural expression in architectural design. Based on the anticipated research findings, the study proposed series of actionable recommendations for architects, policymakers, and communities to promote sustainable and culturally sensitive built environments. This will serve as a wake-up call, urging architects, policymakers, and communities to break free from the confines of "caged concrete jungles" and embrace a more sustainable and culturally sensitive approach to design.

Keywords: sustainability, cultural identity, building materials, sustainable dsigns

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Authors: Wu Di, Yeo Khoon Seng, Lim Tee Tai

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The typical insects employ a flapping-wing mode of flight. The numerical simulations on free flight of a model fruit fly (Re=143) including hovering and are presented in this paper. Unsteady aerodynamics around a flapping insect is studied by solving the three-dimensional Newtonian dynamics of the flyer coupled with Navier-Stokes equations. A hybrid-grid scheme (Generalized Finite Difference Method) that combines great geometry flexibility and accuracy of moving boundary definition is employed for obtaining flow dynamics. The results show good points of agreement and consistency with the outcomes and analyses of other researchers, which validate the computational model and demonstrate the feasibility of this computational approach on analyzing fluid phenomena in insect flight. The present modeling approach also offers a promising route of investigation that could complement as well as overcome some of the limitations of physical experiments in the study of free flight aerodynamics of insects. The results are potentially useful for the design of biomimetic flapping-wing flyers.

Keywords: free hovering flight, flapping wings, fruit fly, insect aerodynamics, leading edge vortex (LEV), computational fluid dynamics (CFD), Navier-Stokes equations (N-S), fluid structure interaction (FSI), generalized finite-difference method (GFD)

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Authors: Changchun Liang, Xiaodong Zhang, Xin Liu, Pengfei Sun

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Space intelligent robotic systems are expected to play an increasingly important role in the future. The robotic on-orbital service, whose key is the tracking and capturing technology, becomes research hot in recent years. In this paper, the authors propose a vision servo control system for target capturing. Robotic manipulator will be an intelligent robotic system with large-scale movement, functional agility, and autonomous ability, and it can be operated by astronauts in the space station or be controlled by the ground operator in the remote operation mode. To realize the autonomous movement and capture mission of SRM, a kind of autonomous programming strategy based on multi-camera vision fusion is designed and the selection principle of object visual position and orientation measurement information is defined for the better precision. Distributed control system hierarchy is designed and reliability is considering to guarantee the abilities of control system. At last, a ground experiment system is set up based on the concept of robotic control system. With that, the autonomous target capturing experiments are conducted. The experiment results validate the proposed algorithm, and demonstrates that the control system can fulfill the needs of function, real-time and reliability.

Keywords: control system, on-orbital service, space robot, vision servo

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Authors: Mirela-Gabriela Bratu

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The main objective of this study is to highlight the way in which emotions are constructed discursively in the French written press, more particularly in the titles of informative articles. To achieve this objective, we will begin the study with the theoretical part, which aims to capture the characteristics of journalistic discourse, to which we will add clues of emotions that we will identify in the titles of the articles. The approach is based on the empirical results from the analysis of the articles published on the earthquake that took place on August 24, 2016, in Italy, as described by two French national daily newspapers: Le Monde and Le Point. The corpus submitted to the analysis contains thirty-seven titles, published between August 24, 2016, and August 24, 2017. If the textual content of the speech offers information respecting the grammatical standards and following the presentation conventions, the choice of words can touch the reader, so the journalist must add other means than mastering of the language to create emotion. This study aims to highlight the strategies, such as rhetorical figures, the tenses, or factual data, used by journalists to create emotions for the readers. We also try, thanks to the study of the articles which were published for several days relating to the same event, to emphasize whether we can speak or not of the dissipation of emotion and the catastrophic side as the event fades away in time. The theoretical framework is offered by works on rhetorical strategies (Perelman, 1992; Amossi, 2000; Charaudeau, 2000) and on the study of emotions (Plantin, 1997, 1998, 2004; Tetu, 2004).

Keywords: disaster, earthquake, emotion, feeling

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Authors: Balram Panjwani, Bernd Wittgens, Jan Erik Olsen, Stein Tore Johansen

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The Norwegian ferroalloy industry is a world leader in sustainable production of ferrosilicon, silicon and manganese alloys with the lowest global specific energy consumption. One of the byproducts during the metal reduction process is energy rich off-gas and usually this energy is not harnessed. A novel concept for sustainable energy recovery from ferroalloy off-gas is discussed. The concept is founded on the idea of introducing a combustion chamber in the off-gas section in which energy rich off-gas mainly consisting of CO will be combusted. This will provide an additional degree of freedom for optimizing energy recovery. A well-controlled and high off-gas temperature will assure a significant increase in energy recovery and reduction of emissions to the atmosphere. Design and operation of the combustion chamber depend on many parameters, including the total power capacity of the combustion chamber, sufficient residence time for combusting the complex Poly Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH), NOx, as well as converting other potential pollutants. The design criteria for the combustion chamber have been identified and discussed and sizing of the combustion chamber has been carried out considering these design criteria. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has been utilized extensively for sizing the combustion chamber. The results from our CFD simulations of the flow in the combustion chamber and exploring different off-gas fuel composition are presented. In brief, the paper covers all aspect which impacts the sizing of the combustion chamber, including insulation thickness, choice of insulating material, heat transfer through extended surfaces, multi-staging and secondary air injection.

Keywords: CFD, combustion chamber, arc furnace, energy recovery

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Authors: George Madalin Danila, Mihaiella Cretu, Cristian Puscasu

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Glycol-based anti-freeze liquids, commonly composed of ethylene glycol or propylene glycol, have important uses in automotive cooling, but they should be handled with care due to their toxicity; ethylene glycol is highly toxic to humans and animals. A fast, accurate, precise, and robust method was developed for the simultaneous quantification of 7 most important glycols and their isomers. Glycols were analyzed from diluted sample solution of coolants using gas-chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry in single ion monitoring mode. Results: The method was developed and validated for 7 individual glycols (ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, triethylene glycol, tetraethylene glycol, propylene glycol, dipropylene glycol and tripropylene glycol). Limits of detection (1-2 μg/mL) and limit of quantification (10 μg/mL) obtained were appropriate. The present method was applied for the determination of glycols in 10 different anti-freeze liquids commercially available on the Romanian market, proving to be reliable. A method that requires only a two-step dilution of anti-freeze samples combined with direct liquid injection GC-MS was validated for the simultaneous quantification of 7 glycols (and their isomers) in 10 different types of anti-freeze liquids. The results obtained in the validation procedure proved that the GC-MS method is sensitive and precise for the quantification of glycols.

Keywords: glycols, anti-freeze, gas-chromatography, mass spectrometry, validation, recycle

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Authors: F. Boukazouha, G. Poulin-Vittrant, M. Rguiti, M. Lethiecq

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Since its invention, by virtue of its remarkable features, the piezoelectric transformer (PT) has drawn the attention of the scientific community. In past years, it has been extensively studied and its performances have been continuously improved. Nowadays, such devices are designed in more and more sophisticated architectures with associated models describing their behavior quite accurately. However, the different studies usually carried out on such devices mainly focus on their electrical characteristics induced by direct piezoelectric effects such as voltage gain, efficiency or supplied power. In this work, we are particularly interested in the characterization of mechanical displacements induced by the inverse piezoelectric effect in a PT in vibration. For this purpose, a detailed three-dimensional finite element analysis is proposed to examine the mechanical behavior of a Rosen-type transformer made of a single bar of soft PZT (P191) and with dimensions 22mm×2.35mm×2.5mm. At the first three modes of vibration, output voltage and mechanical displacements ux, uy and uz along the length, the width and the thickness, respectively, are calculated. The amplitude of displacements varies in a range from a few nanometers to a few hundred nanometers. The validity of the simulations was successfully confirmed by experiments carried out on a prototype using a laser interferometer. A good match was observed between simulation and experimental results, especially for us at the second mode. Such 3D simulations thus appear as a helpful tool for a better understanding of mechanical phenomena in Rosen-type PT.

Keywords: piezoelectricity, gain, dispalcement, simulations

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Authors: Golak Bihari Mahanta, Bibhuti Bhusan Biswal, B. B. V. L. Deepak, Amruta Rout, Gunji Balamurali

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Robots are widely used in the manufacturing industry for rapid production with higher accuracy and precision. With the help of End-of-Arm Tools (EOATs), robots are interacting with the environment. Robotic grippers are such EOATs which help to grasp the object in an automation system for improving the efficiency. As the robotic gripper directly influence the quality of the product due to the contact between the gripper surface and the object to be grasped, it is necessary to design and optimize the gripper mechanism configuration. In this study, geometric and kinematic modeling of the parallel gripper is proposed. Grey wolf optimizer algorithm is introduced for solving the proposed multiobjective gripper optimization problem. Two objective functions developed from the geometric and kinematic modeling along with several nonlinear constraints of the proposed gripper mechanism is used to optimize the design variables of the systems. Finally, the proposed methodology compared with a previously proposed method such as Teaching Learning Based Optimization (TLBO) algorithm, NSGA II, MODE and it was seen that the proposed method is more efficient compared to the earlier proposed methodology.

Keywords: gripper optimization, metaheuristics, , teaching learning based algorithm, multi-objective optimization, optimal gripper design

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Authors: Pezhman Taghipour Birgani, Mehdi Shekarzadeh

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In this paper, the propagation of lamb waves in three-layer joints is investigated using global matrix method. Theoretical boundary value problem in three-layer adhesive joints with perfect bond and traction free boundary conditions on their outer surfaces is solved to find a combination of frequencies and modes with the lowest attenuation. The characteristic equation is derived by applying continuity and boundary conditions in three-layer joints using global matrix method. Attenuation and phase velocity dispersion curves are obtained with numerical solution of this equation by a computer code for a three-layer joint, including an aluminum repair patch bonded to the aircraft aluminum skin by a layer of viscoelastic epoxy adhesive. To validate the numerical solution results of the characteristic equation, wave structure curves are plotted for a special mode in two different frequencies in the adhesive joint. The purpose of present paper is to find a combination of frequencies and modes with minimum attenuation in high and low frequencies. These frequencies and modes are recognizable by transducers in inspections with Lamb waves because of low attenuation level.

Keywords: three-layer adhesive joints, viscoelastic, lamb waves, global matrix method

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Authors: Sahar Heidary, Ramin Ghasemi Shayan

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The overall goal Monte Carlo N-atom radioactivity transference PC program (MCNP4C) was done for the regeneration of x-ray groups in diagnostic radiology and mammography. The electrons were transported till they slow down and stopover in the target. Both bremsstrahlung and characteristic x-ray creation were measured in this study. In this issue, the x-ray spectra forecast by several computational models recycled in the diagnostic radiology and mammography energy kind have been calculated by appraisal with dignified spectra and their outcome on the scheming of absorbed dose and effective dose (ED) told to the adult ORNL hermaphroditic phantom quantified. This comprises practical models (TASMIP and MASMIP), semi-practical models (X-rayb&m, X-raytbc, XCOMP, IPEM, Tucker et al., and Blough et al.), and Monte Carlo modeling (EGS4, ITS3.0, and MCNP4C). Images got consuming synchrotron radiation (SR) and both screen-film and the CR system were related with images of the similar trials attained with digital mammography equipment. In sight of the worthy feature of the effects gained, the CR system was used in two mammographic inspections with SR. For separately mammography unit, the capability acquiesced bilateral mediolateral oblique (MLO) and craniocaudal(CC) mammograms attained in a woman with fatty breasts and a woman with dense breasts. Referees planned the common groups and definite absences that managed to a choice to miscarry the part that formed the scientific imaginings.

Keywords: mammography, monte carlo, effective dose, radiology

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Authors: Radek Richtr, Petr Paus

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The connection to the primal environment, living and growing nature is disappearing for most of the residents in urban core areas nowadays. Most of the residents perceive scattered green mass like more technical objects than sentient living organisms. The Arboretum is a type of application from the 'serious games' genre -it is a research experiment masked as a gaming environment. In used virtual and augmented reality environments, every city district is represented by central objects; Pillars created as a result of resident’s consensus. Every player can furthermore plant and grow virtual organic seeds everywhere he wants. Seeds sprout, and their form is determined by both players’ choice and nearest pillar. Every house, private rooms, and even workspace get their new living virtual avatar-connected 'residents' growing from player-planted seeds. Every room or workspace is transformed into (calming) nature scene, reflecting in some way both players and community spirit and together create a vicinity environment. The conceptual design phase of the project is crucial and allows for the identification of the fundamental problems through abstraction. The project that centers on wide community usage needs a clear and accessible interface. Simultaneously the conceptual design allows early sharing of project ideas and creating public concern. The paper discusses the current conceptual model of an Arboretum project (which is part of a whole widespread project) and its validation.

Keywords: augmented reality, conceptual design, mixed reality, social engineering

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Authors: Daniel Y. Abebe, Jaehyouk Choi

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The idea of adding metallic energy dissipaters to a structure to absorb a large part of the seismic energy began four decades ago. There are several types of metal-based devices conceived as dampers for the seismic energy absorber whereby damages to the major structural components could be minimized for both new and existing structures. This paper aimed to develop and evaluate structural performance of both stiffened and non stiffened circular shear panel damper for passive seismic energy protection by inelastic deformation. Structural evaluation was done using commercially available nonlinear FE simulation program. Diameter-to-thickness ratio is employed as main parameter to investigate the hysteresis performance of stiffened and unstiffened circular shear panel. Depending on these parameters three different buckling mode and hysteretic behavior was found: yielding prior to buckling without strength degradation, yielding prior to buckling with strength degradation and yielding with buckling and strength degradation which forms pinching at initial displacement. Hence, the hysteresis behavior is identified, specimens which deform without strength degradation so it will be used as passive energy dissipating device in civil engineering structures.

Keywords: circular shear panel damper, FE analysis, hysteretic behavior, large deformation

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Authors: Metahri Leyla, Helali Amal, Dali Yahia Mustapha Kamel

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Herbal medicine is one of the oldest medicines in the world. It constitutes an interesting alternative to treat and cure without creating new diseases. Despite the progress of medicine, the increase in the number of doctors, the creation of social security, many parents have resorted to herbal medicine for their children; they are increasingly asking for "natural remedies", "without risk" for their children. Herbal tea is a very accessible way to enjoy the benefits of herbal medicine. Accordingly; the objective of our study is to obtain detailed information on the composition and mode of administration of these herbal teas and to identify the different plants used; their beneficial effects, as well as their possible toxicity. The current research work represents an ethnobotanical survey spread over one month (from January 6, 2021 to February 19, 2021) carried out by means of an electronic questionnaire concerning 753 respondents, involving single or multiparous mothers. The obtained results reveal that a total of 684 mothers used herbal teas for their infants, which revealed the use of 55 herbal remedies for several indications, the most sought after are the carminative effect and relief of colic, and which 9% of users noticed undesirable effects linked to the administration of herbal teas to their infants. As a conclusion, it has been asserted that the use of herbal teas as a natural remedy by Algerian mothers is a widely accepted practice, however the "natural" nature of the plants does not mean that they are harmless.

Keywords: Keywords: Herbal medicine, Herbal teas, Children, Mothers, Medicinal plants.

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Authors: Kei Okubo, Yosuke Kurihara, Takashi Kaburagi, Kajiro Watanabe

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Many of the ever-growing elderly population require exercise, such as running, for health management. One important element of a runner’s training is the choice of shoes for exercise; shoes are important because they provide the interface between the feet and road. When we purchase shoes, we may instinctively choose a pair after trying on many different pairs of shoes. Selecting the shoes instinctively may work, but it does not guarantee a suitable fit for running activities. Therefore, if we could select suitable shoes for each runner from the viewpoint of brain activities, it would be helpful for validating shoe selection. In this paper, we describe how brain activities show different characteristics during particular task, corresponding to different properties of shoes. Using five subjects, we performed a verification experiment, applying weight, softness, and flexibility as shoe properties. In order to affect the shoe property’s differences to the brain, subjects run for ten min. Before and after running, subjects conducted a paced auditory serial addition task (PASAT) as the particular task; and the subjects’ brain activities during the PASAT are evaluated based on oxyhemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin relative concentration changes, measured by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). When the brain works actively, oxihemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin concentration drastically changes; therefore, we calculate the maximum values of concentration changes. In order to normalize relative concentration changes after running, the maximum value are divided by before running maximum value as evaluation parameters. The classification of the groups of shoes is expressed on a self-organizing map (SOM). As a result, deoxyhemoglobin can make clusters for two of the three types of shoes.

Keywords: brain activities, NIRS, PASAT, running shoes

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Authors: H. S. S. Abou El-Mal, H. E. M. Sallam

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This paper presents experimental and analytical study on the behavior of repaired and strengthened shear critical RC beams using externally bonded CFRP bi-directional fabrics. The use of CFRP sheets to repair or strengthen RC beams has been repetitively studied and proven feasible. However, the use of combined repair techniques and applying that method to both plain and FRC beams can maximize the shear capacity of RC shear deficient beams. A total of twelve slender beams were tested under four-point bending. The test parameters included CFRP layout, number of layers and fiber direction, injecting cracks before applying repairing sheets, enhancing the flexural capacity to differentiate between shear repair and strengthening techniques, and concrete matrix types. The findings revealed that applying CFRP sheets increased the overall shear capacity, the amount and orientation of wrapping is of prime importance in both repairing and strengthening, CFRP wrapping could change the failure mode from shear to flexural shear, the use of crack injection combined to CFRP wrapping further improved the shear capacity while, applying the previous method to FRC beams enhanced both shear capacity and failure ductility. Acceptable agreement was found between predicted shear capacities using the Canadian code and the experimental results of the current study.

Keywords: CFRP, FRC, repair, shear strengthening

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Authors: Bachir Kacimi, Fatiha Teklal, Arezki Djebbar

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Forming processes induce residual deformations on the reinforcement and sometimes lead to mesoscopic defects, which are more recurrent than macroscopic defects during the manufacture of complex structural parts. This study deals with the influence of the fabric shear and buckles defects, which appear during draping processes of composite, on the impact behavior of a glass fiber reinforced polymer. To achieve this aim, we produced several specimens with different amplitude of deformations (shear) and defects on the fabric using a specific bench. The specimens were manufactured using the contact molding and tested with several impact energies. The results and measurements made on tested specimens were compared to those of the healthy material. The results showed that the buckle defects have a negative effect on elastic parameters and revealed a larger damage with significant out-of-plane mode relatively to the healthy composite material. This effect is the consequence of a local fiber impoverishment and a disorganization of the fibrous network, with a reorientation of the fibers following the out-of-plane buckling of the yarns, in the area where the defects are located. For the material with calibrated shear of the reinforcement, the increased local fiber rate due to the shear deformations and the contribution to stiffness of the transverse yarns led to an increase in mechanical properties.

Keywords: Defects, Forming, Impact, Induced properties, Textiles

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Authors: M. Moody, R. Mahmoodi, A. R. Zolfaghari, A. Aminottojari

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In this study, flow inside the shell side of a shell-and-tube heat exchanger is simulated numerically for laminar and turbulent flows in both steady state and transient mode. Governing equations of fluid flow are discrete using finite volume method and central difference scheme and solved with simple algorithm which is staggered grid by using MATLAB programming language. The heat transfer coefficient is obtained using velocity field from equation Dittus-Bolter. In comparison with, heat exchanger is simulated with ANSYS CFX software and experimental data measured in the THTL test loop. Numerical results obtained from the study show good agreement with experimental data and ANSYS CFX results. In addition, by deliberation the effect of the baffle spacing and the baffle cut on the heat transfer rate for turbulent flow, it is illustrated that the heat transfer rate depends on the baffle spacing and the baffle cut directly. In other word in spied of large turbulence, if these two parameters are not selected properly in the heat exchanger, the heat transfer rate can reduce.

Keywords: shell-and-tube heat exchanger, flow and heat transfer, laminar and turbulence flow, turbulence model, baffle spacing, baffle cut

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Authors: Manik Konch

Abstract:

Actions are generally evaluated from moral point of view. Either the action is praised or condemned, but in all cases it involves the agent who performs it. The agent is held morally responsible for bringing out an action. This paper is an attempt to explore the Aristotle’s notion of action and its relation with moral development in response to modern philosophical moral psychology. Particularly, the distinction between voluntary, involuntary, and non-voluntary action in the Nicomachean Ethics with some basic problems from the perspective of moral psychology: the role of choice, moral responsibility, desire, and akrasia for an action. How to do a morally right action? Is there any role of virtue, character to do a moral action? These problems are analyzed and interpreted in order to show that the Aristotelian theory of action significantly contributes to the philosophical study of moral psychology. In this connection, the paper juxtaposes Aristotle’s theory of action with response from David Charles, John R. Searle’s, and Alfred Mele theorization of action in the mechanism of human moral behaviours. To achieve this addressed problem, we consider, how the recent moral philosophical moral psychology research can shed light on Aristotle's ethics by focusing on theory of action. In this connection, we argue that the desire is the only responsible for the akratic action. According to Aristotle, desire is primary source of action and it is the starting point of action and also the endpoint of an action. Therefore we are trying to see how desire can make a person incontinent and motivate to do such irrational actions. Is there any causes which we can say such actions are right or wrong? To measure an action we have need to see the consequences such act. Thus, we discuss the relationship between akrasia and action from the perspective of contemporary moral psychologists and philosophers whose are currently working on it.

Keywords: action, desire, moral psychology, Aristotle

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Authors: Babar Sultan, Kiran Sultan, Waseem Khan, Ijaz Mansoor Qureshi

Abstract:

In this paper, a novel idea for the performance enhancement of secondary network is proposed for Underlay Cognitive Radio Networks (CRNs). In Underlay CRNs, primary users (PUs) impose strict interference constraints on the secondary users (SUs). The proposed scheme is based on Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) optimization for relay selection and power allocation to handle the highlighted primary challenge of Underlay CRNs. ABC is a simple, population-based optimization algorithm which attains global optimum solution by combining local search methods (Employed and Onlooker Bees) and global search methods (Scout Bees). The proposed two-phase relay selection and power allocation algorithm aims to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the destination while operating in an underlying mode. The proposed algorithm has less computational complexity and its performance is verified through simulation results for a different number of potential relays, different interference threshold levels and different transmit power thresholds for the selected relays.

Keywords: artificial bee colony, underlay spectrum sharing, cognitive radio networks, amplify-and-forward

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Authors: Abdelghani Tahiri, Youssef Karra, Naima Ait Aabd, Abdelaziz Mimouni

Abstract:

Saffron (Crocus sativus L.), the most expensive spice in the world derived from the stigmas, is an autumn-flowering and sterile triploid (2n=3x=24) geophyte species that belong to the Iridaceae family. This plant species is mainly propagated vegetatively through the formation of daughter corms from the mother one. Low multiplication rates of daughter corms under natural conditions, along with fungal contamination, significantly reduce the productivity and quality of saffron corms. The development of efficient and sustainable strategies for rapid and large-scale production of selected cultivars of saffron will be desired. For this, the main objective of this work is to improve the vegetative propagation of saffron under ex-vitro conditions. Preliminary results of the influence of increasing doses of humic substances (HS) on the growth and multiplication of corms under greenhouse conditions are evaluated. The obtained data shows that the effect of HS depends on the concentration used and the mode of application. Indeed, the application through irrigation has increased the number of shoots and corms, but it has reduced other parameters. On the other hand, the temporary treatment has improved all observed parameters except for the number of shoots and corms. Results obtained in this work suggest that it is possible to improve the propagation of saffron corms under greenhouse conditions.

Keywords: saffron, Crocus sativus L., corm, humic substances

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Authors: Mihai I. Sturza, Laura T. Corredor, Kaustuv Manna, Gizem A. Cansever, Tushar Dey, Andrey Maljuk, Olga Kataeva, Sabine Wurmehl, Anja Wolter, Bernd Buchner

Abstract:

Recently, the iridate double perovskite Sr₂YIrO₆ has attracted considerable attention due to the report of unexpected magnetism in this Ir⁵⁺ material, in which according to the Jeff model, a non-magnetic ground state is expected. Structural, magnetic and thermodynamic investigations of Sr₂YIrO₆ and Ba2YIrO6 single crystals, with emphasis on the temperature and magnetic field dependence of the specific heat will be presented. The single crystals were grown by using SrCl₂ and BaCl₂ as flux. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction measurements performed on several crystals from different preparation batches showed a high quality of the crystals, proven by the good internal consistency of the data collected using the full-sphere mode and an extremely low R factor. In agreement with the expected non-magnetic ground state of Ir⁵⁺ (5d4) in these iridates, no magnetic transition is observed down to 430 mK. Moreover, our results suggest that the low-temperature anomaly observed in the specific heat is not related to the onset of long-range magnetic order. Instead, it is identified as a Schottky anomaly caused by paramagnetic impurities present in the sample, of the order of

Keywords: double perovskites, iridates, self-flux grown synthesis, spin-orbit coupling

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Authors: Ahmad Shah Farhat, Anahita Alizadeh Qamsari, Ashraf Mohammadzadeh, Hamid Reza Goldouzian, Ezat Khodashenas

Abstract:

Introduction: Newborns may be treated with phenobarbital for many reasons. Because in each region, depending on different races and genetic factors, different pharmacokinetic conditions govern the drug. It is essential to control blood levels of certain drugs, especially phenobarbital, and maintain these levels during treatment. Methods: In this study, venous blood was collected from 50 neonates who received intravenous phenobarbital at a loading dose of 20 mg/kg weight and at least three days had passed since the maintenance dose of 5 mg/kg body weight. in 24 hours. and sent to the laboratory. Phenobarbital blood levels were measured, then the results were analyzed descriptively. Results: In this study, the average weight of newborns was 9.93 ± 2.58. The mean blood concentration of phenobarbital, three days after starting the maintenance dose in the group of infants weighing more than 2.5 kg, was 3.33 ± 9.1 micrograms/liter in the group of infants weighing less than 2 kg. and half a kilogram or LBW was 5.9 ± 9.5 micrograms/liter and in the group weighing less than 1.5 kg VLBW was 14.4 ± 15.46 micrograms/liter. There was no significant difference between groups (p>0.05). Three days after starting the maintenance dose in all three groups, the mean blood phenobarbital concentration was 9.86 ± 0.86 micrograms/liter. Conclusion: Blood phenobarbital levels in our newborns are below therapeutic levels, so phenobarbital levels should be evaluated.

Keywords: poisining, neonats, phenobarbital, drug

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Authors: Abid Ali Abid

Abstract:

One-dimensional (1-D) particle-in-cell (PIC) electrostatic simulations are carried out to investigate the electrostatic waves, whose constituents are hot, cold and beam electrons in the background of motionless positive ions. In fact, the electrostatic modes excited are electron acoustic waves, beam driven waves as well as Langmuir waves. It is assessed that the relevant plasma parameters, for example, hot electron temperature, beam electron drift speed, and the electron beam density significantly modify the electrostatics wave's profiles. In the nonlinear stage, the wave-particle interaction becomes more evident and the waves have obtained its saturation level. Consequently, electrons become trapped in the waves and trapping vortices are clearly formed. Because of this trapping vortices and mixing of the electrons in phase space, finally, lead to electrons thermalization. It is observed that for the high-density value of the beam-electron, the solitary waves having a bipolar form of the electric field. These solitons are the nonlinear Brenstein-Greene and Kruskal wave mode that attributes the trapping of electrons potential well of phase-space hole. These examinations revealed that electrostatic waves have been exited in beam-plasma model and producing waves having broad-frequency ranges, which may clarify the broadband electrostatic noise (BEN) spectrum studied in the auroral zone.

Keywords: electron acoustic waves, trapping of cold electron, Langmuir waves, particle-in cell simulation

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