Search results for: PhET interactive simulations

Authors: A. Bahmanpour, I. Eames, C. Klettner, A. Dimakopoulos

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We develop a new set of diagnostic tools to analyze inundation into a model district using three-dimensional CFD simulations, with a view to generating a database against which to test simpler models. A three-dimensional model of Oregon city with different-sized groups of building next to the coastline is used to run calculations of the movement of a long period wave on the shore. The initial and boundary conditions of the off-shore water are set using a nonlinear inverse method based on Eulerian spatial information matching experimental Eulerian time series measurements of water height. The water movement is followed in time, and this enables the pressure distribution on every surface of each building to be followed in a temporal manner. The three-dimensional numerical data set is validated against published experimental work. In the first instance, we use the dataset as a basis to understand the success of reduced models - including 2D shallow water model and reduced 1D models - to predict water heights, flow velocity and forces. This is because models based on the shallow water equations are known to underestimate drag forces after the initial surge of water. The second component is to identify critical flow features, such as hydraulic jumps and choked states, which are flow regions where dissipation occurs and drag forces are large. Finally, we describe how future tsunami inundation models should be modified to account for the complex effects of buildings through drag and blocking.Financial support from UCL and HR Wallingford is greatly appreciated. The authors would like to thank Professor Daniel Cox and Dr. Hyoungsu Park for providing the data on the Seaside Oregon experiment.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics, extreme events, loading, tsunami

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Authors: Carlos Gonzales, Zaida Quiroz, Marcos Prates

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Several spatial variables collected at the same location that share a common spatial distribution can be modeled simultaneously through a multivariate geostatistical model that takes into account the correlation between these variables and the spatial autocorrelation. The main goal of this model is to perform spatial prediction of these variables in the region of study. Here we focus on a geostatistical multivariate formulation that relies on sharing common spatial random effect terms. In particular, the first response variable can be modeled by a mean that incorporates a shared random spatial effect, while the other response variables depend on this shared spatial term, in addition to specific random spatial effects. Each spatial random effect is defined through a Gaussian process with a valid covariance function, but in order to improve the computational efficiency when the data are large, each Gaussian process is approximated to a Gaussian random Markov field (GRMF), specifically to the block nearest neighbor Gaussian process (Block-NNGP). This approach involves dividing the spatial domain into several dependent blocks under certain constraints, where the cross blocks allow capturing the spatial dependence on a large scale, while each individual block captures the spatial dependence on a smaller scale. The multivariate geostatistical model belongs to the class of Latent Gaussian Models; thus, to achieve fast Bayesian inference, it is used the integrated nested Laplace approximation (INLA) method. The good performance of the proposed model is shown through simulations and applications for massive data.

Keywords: Block-NNGP, geostatistics, gaussian process, GRMF, INLA, multivariate models.

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Authors: Chaoyi Sun, Congxin Chen, Yun Zheng, Kaizong Xia, Wei Zhang

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Crest loads are often encountered in hydropower, highway, open-pit and other engineering rock slopes. Toppling failure is one of the most common deformation failure types of anti-dip bedding rock slopes. Analysis on such failure of anti-dip bedding rock slopes subjected to crest loads has an important influence on engineering practice. Based on the step-by-step analysis approach proposed by Goodman and Bray, a geo-mechanical model was developed, and the related analysis approach was proposed for the toppling failure of anti-dip bedding rock slopes subjected to crest loads. Using the transfer coefficient method, a formulation was derived for calculating the residual thrust of slope toe and the support force required to meet the requirements of the slope stability under crest loads, which provided a scientific reference to design and support for such slopes. Through slope examples, the influence of crest loads on the residual thrust and sliding ratio coefficient was investigated for cases of different block widths and slope cut angles. The results show that there exists a critical block width for such slope. The influence of crest loads on the residual thrust is non-negligible when the block thickness is smaller than the critical value. Moreover, the influence of crest loads on the slope stability increases with the slope cut angle and the sliding ratio coefficient of anti-dip bedding rock slopes increases with the crest loads. Finally, the theoretical solutions and numerical simulations using Universal Distinct Element Code (UDEC) were compared, in which the consistent results show the applicability of both approaches.

Keywords: anti-dip bedding rock slope, crest loads, stability analysis, toppling failure

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Authors: Muhammad Siddique, Volodymyr Lugovskyy

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This paper explores how nations might mitigate the unfavorable impacts of oil price volatility on economic growth by switching to renewable energy sources. The impacts of uncertain factor prices on economic activity are examined by looking at the Realized Volatility (RV) of oil prices rather than the more traditional method of looking at oil price shocks. The United States of America (USA), China (C), India (I), United Kingdom (UK), Germany (G), Malaysia (M), and Pakistan (P) are all included to round out the traditional literature's examination of selected nations, which focuses on oil-importing and exporting economies. Granger Causality Tests (GCT), Impulse Response Functions (IRF), and Variance Decompositions (VD) demonstrate that in a Vector Auto-Regressive (VAR) scenario, the negative impacts of oil price volatility extend beyond what can be explained by oil price shocks alone for all of the nations in the sample. Different nations have different levels of vulnerability to changes in oil prices and other factors that may play a role in a sectoral composition and the energy mix. The conventional method, which only takes into account whether a country is a net oil importer or exporter, is inadequate. The potential economic advantages of initiatives to decouple the macroeconomy from volatile commodities markets are shown through simulations of volatility shocks in alternative energy mixes (with greater proportions of renewables). It is determined that in developing countries like Pakistan, increasing the use of renewable energy sources might lessen an economy's sensitivity to changes in oil prices; nonetheless, a country-specific study is required to identify particular policy actions. In sum, the research provides an innovative justification for mitigating economic growth's dependence on stable oil prices in our sample countries.

Keywords: oil price volatility, renewable energy, economic growth, developed and developing economies

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Authors: Vagolu S. Krishna, Shan Zheng, Estharla M. Rekha, Luke W. Guddat, Dharmarajan Sriram

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Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major threat to human health. This due to the fact that current drug treatments are less than optimal as well as the rising occurrence of multi drug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant strains of the etiological agent, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mt). Given the wide-spread significance of this disease, we have undertaken a design and evaluation program to discover new anti-TB drug leads. Here, our attention is focused on ketol-acid reductoisomerase (KARI), the second enzyme in the branched-chain amino acid biosynthesis pathway. Importantly, this enzyme is present in bacteria but not in humans, making it an attractive proposition for drug discovery. In the present work, we used high-throughput virtual screening to identify seventeen potential inhibitors of KARI using the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in-house database. Compounds were selected based on high docking scores, which were assigned as the result of favourable interactions between the compound and the active site of KARI. The Ki values for two leads, compounds 14 and 16 are 3.71 and 3.06 µM, respectively for Mt KARI. To assess the mode of binding, 100 ns molecular dynamics simulations for these two compounds in association with Mt KARI were performed and showed that the complex was stable with an average RMSD of less than 2.5 Å for all atoms. Compound 16 showed an MIC of 2.06 ± 0.91 µM and a 1.9 fold logarithmic reduction in the growth of Mt in an infected macrophage model. The two compounds exhibited low toxicity against murine macrophage RAW 264.7 cell lines. Thus, both compounds are promising candidates for development as an anti-TB drug leads.

Keywords: ketol-acid reductoisomerase, macrophage, molecular docking and dynamics, tuberculosis

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Authors: Ohud Adnan Saffar

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This study aims to know the effect of using universal design for learning (UDL) to improve the quality of vocational programme with intellectual disabilities (SID) and the challenges facing this method from the teachers' point of view. The significance of the study: There are comparatively few published studies on UDL in emerging nations. Therefore, this study will encourage the researchers to consider a new approaches teaching. Development of this study will contribute significant information on the cognitively disabled community on a universal scope. In order to collect and evaluate the data and for the verification of the results, this study has been used the mixed research method, by using two groups comparison method. To answer the study questions, we were used the questionnaire, lists of observations, open questions, and pre and post-test. Thus, the study explored the advantages and drawbacks, and know about the impact of using the UDL method on integrating SID with students non-special education needs in the same classroom. Those aims were realized by developing a workshop to explain the three principles of the UDL and train (16) teachers in how to apply this method to teach (12) students non-special education needs and the (12) SID in the same classroom, then take their opinion by using the questionnaire and questions. Finally, this research will explore the effects of the UDL on the teaching of professional photography skills for the SID in Saudi Arabia. To achieve this goal, the research method was a comparison of the performance of the SID using the UDL method with that of female students with the same challenges applying other strategies by teachers in control and experiment groups, we used the observation lists, pre and post-test. Initial results: It is clear from the previous response to the participants that most of the answers confirmed that the use of UDL achieves the principle of inclusion between the SID and students non-special education needs by 93.8%. In addition, the results show that the majority of the sampled people see that the most important advantages of using UDL in teaching are creating an interactive environment with using new and various teaching methods, with a percentage of 56.2%. Following this result, the UDL is useful for integrating students with general education, with a percentage of 31.2%. Moreover, the finding indicates to improve understanding through using the new technology and exchanging the primitive ways of teaching with the new ones, with a percentage of 25%. The result shows the percentages of the sampled people's opinions about the financial obstacles, and it concluded that the majority see that the cost is high and there is no computer maintenance available, with 50%. There are no smart devices in schools to help in implementing and applying for the program, with a percentage of 43.8%.

Keywords: universal design for learning, intellectual disabilities, vocational programme, the challenges facing this method

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Authors: Ratnakumar V. Kappagantula, Gordon D. Ingram, Hari B. Vuthaluru

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This paper analyzes a three reactor chemical looping process for hydrogen production from natural gas, allowing for carbon dioxide capture through chemical looping technology. An oxygen carrier is circulated to separate carbon dioxide, to reduce steam for hydrogen production and to supply oxygen for combustion. In this study, the emphasis is placed on the steam conversion in the steam reactor by investigating the hydrogen efficiencies of the complete system at steam conversions of 15.8% and 50%. An Aspen Plus model was developed for a Three Reactor Chemical Looping process to study the effects of operational parameters on hydrogen production is investigated. Maximum hydrogen production was observed under stoichiometric conditions. Different conversions in the steam reactor, which was modelled as a Gibbs reactor, were found when Gibbs-identified products and user identified products were chosen. Simulations were performed for different oxygen carriers, which consist of an active metal oxide on an inert support material. For the same metal oxide mass flowrate, the fuel reactor temperature decreased for different support materials in the order: aluminum oxide (Al2O3) > magnesium aluminate (MgAl2O4) > zirconia (ZrO2). To achieve the same fuel reactor temperature for the same oxide mass flow rate, the inert mass fraction was found to be 0.825 for ZrO2, 0.7 for MgAl2O4 and 0.6 for Al2O3. The effect of poisoning of the oxygen carrier was also analyzed. With 3000 ppm sulfur-based impurities in the feed gas, the hydrogen product energy rate of the process were found to decrease by 0.4%.

Keywords: aspen plus, chemical looping combustion, inert support balls, oxygen carrier

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Authors: Smita Mathur

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Play is an innate, player-centric, joyful, fundamental activity of early childhood development that significantly contributes to social, emotional, and academic learning. Leveraging the power of play can enhance these domains by creating engaging, interactive, and developmentally appropriate learning experiences for young children. This research aimed to systematically examine young children’s play behaviors with a focus on four primary objectives: (1) the frequency and duration of on-task behaviors, (2) social interactions and emotional expressions during play, (3) the correlation between academic skills and play, and (4) identifying best practices for integrating play-based curricula. To achieve these objectives, a mixed-method study was conducted among young preschool-aged children in low socio-economic populations in the United States. The children were identified using purposive sampling. The children were observed during structured play in classrooms and unstructured play during outdoor playtime and in their home environments. The study sampled 97 preschool-aged children. A total of 3970 minutes of observations were coded to address the research questions. Thirty-seven percent of children lived in linguistically isolated families, and 76% lived in basic budget poverty. Children lived in overcrowded housing situations (67%), and most families had mixed citizenship status (66%). The observational study was conducted using the observation protocol during the Oxford Study Project. On-task behaviors were measured by tracking the frequency and duration of activities where children maintained focus and engagement. In examining social interactions and emotional expressions, the study recorded social interactions, emotional responses, and teacher involvement during play. The study aimed to identify best practices for integrating play-based curricula into early childhood education. By analyzing the effectiveness of different play-based strategies and their impact on on-task behaviors, social-emotional development, and academic skills, the research sought to provide actionable recommendations for educators and caregivers. The findings from study 1. Highlight play behaviors that increase on-task behaviors and academic, & social skills in young children. 2. Offers insights into teacher preparation and designing play-based curriculum 3. Research critiques observation as a data collection technique.

Keywords: play, early childhood education, social-emotional development, academic development

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Authors: Saumya R. Jha, Krishanu Biswas, Nilesh P. Gurao

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Several recent investigations have revealed medium entropy alloys exhibiting better mechanical properties than their high entropy counterparts. This clearly establishes that although a higher entropy plays a vital role in stabilization of particular phase over complex intermetallic phases, configurational entropy is not the primary factor responsible for the high inherent strengthening in these systems. Above and beyond a high contribution from friction stresses and solid solution strengthening, strain hardening is an important contributor to the strengthening in these systems. In this regard, researchers have developed severe plastic deformation (SPD) techniques like High Pressure Torsion (HPT) to incorporate very high shear strain in the material, thereby leading to ultrafine grained (UFG) microstructures, which cause manifold increase in the strength. The presented work demonstrates a meticulous study of the variation in mechanical properties at different radial displacements from the center of HPT tested equiatomic ternary FeMnNi synthesized by casting route, which is a low stacking fault energy FCC alloy that shows significantly higher toughness than its high entropy counterparts like Cantor alloy. The gradient in grain sizes along the radial direction of these specimens has been modeled using microstructure entropy for predicting the mechanical properties, which has also been validated by indentation tests. The dislocation density is computed by FEM simulations for varying strains and validated by analyzing synchrotron diffraction data. Thus, the proposed model can be utilized to predict the strengthening behavior of similar systems deformed by HPT subjected to varying loading conditions.

Keywords: high pressure torsion, severe plastic deformation, configurational entropy, dislocation density, FEM simulation

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Authors: Annamária Käferné Rácz, Bence Jáger, Balázs Kövesdi, László Dunai

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Due to the numerous advantages of steel corrugated web girders, its application field is growing for bridges as well as for buildings. The global stability behavior of such girders is significantly larger than those of conventional I-girders with flat web, thus the application of the structural steel material can be significantly reduced. Design codes and specifications do not provide clear and complete rules or recommendations for the determination of the lateral torsional buckling (LTB) resistance of corrugated web girders. Therefore, the authors made a thorough investigation regarding the LTB resistance of the corrugated web girders. Finite element (FE) simulations have been performed to develop new design formulas for the determination of the LTB resistance of trapezoidally corrugated web girders. FE model is developed considering geometrical and material nonlinear analysis using equivalent geometric imperfections (GMNI analysis). The equivalent geometric imperfections involve the initial geometric imperfections and residual stresses coming from rolling, welding and flame cutting. Imperfection sensitivity analysis was performed to determine the necessary magnitudes regarding only the first eigenmodes shape imperfections. By the help of the validated FE model, an extended parametric study is carried out to investigate the LTB resistance for different trapezoidal corrugation profiles. First, the critical moment of a specific girder was calculated by FE model. The critical moments from the FE calculations are compared to the previous analytical calculation proposals. Then, nonlinear analysis was carried out to determine the ultimate resistance. Due to the numerical investigations, new proposals are developed for the determination of the LTB resistance of trapezoidally corrugated web girders through a modification factor on the design method related to the conventional flat web girders.

Keywords: corrugated web, lateral torsional buckling, critical moment, FE modeling

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Authors: Driss Cherqaoui, Nouhaila Ait Lahcen, Ismail Hdoufane, Mehdi Oubahmane, Wissal Liman, Christelle Delaite, Mohammed M. Alanazi

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The Ebola virus is a highly contagious and deadly pathogen that causes Ebola virus disease. The Ebola virus glycoprotein (EBOV-GP) is a key factor in viral entry into host cells, making it a critical target for therapeutic intervention. Using a combination of computational approaches, this study focuses on the identification of natural compounds that could serve as potent inhibitors of EBOV-GP. The 3D structure of EBOV-GP was selected, with missing residues modeled, and this structure was minimized and equilibrated. Two large natural compound databases, COCONUT and NPASS, were chosen and filtered based on toxicity risks and Lipinski’s Rule of Five to ensure drug-likeness. Following this, a pharmacophore model, built from 22 reported active inhibitors, was employed to refine the selection of compounds with a focus on structural relevance to known Ebola inhibitors. The filtered compounds were subjected to virtual screening via molecular docking, which identified ten promising candidates (five from each database) with strong binding affinities to EBOV-GP. These compounds were then validated through molecular dynamics simulations to evaluate their binding stability and interactions with the target. The top three compounds from each database were further analyzed using ADMET profiling, confirming their favorable pharmacokinetic properties, stability, and safety. These results suggest that the selected compounds have the potential to inhibit EBOV-GP, offering new avenues for antiviral drug development against the Ebola virus.

Keywords: EBOV-GP, Ebola virus glycoprotein, high-throughput drug screening, molecular docking, molecular dynamics, natural compounds, pharmacophore modeling, virtual screening

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Authors: Carolina Aparicio-Fernández, Alejandro Vilar Abad, Mar Cañada Soriano, Jose-Luis Vivancos

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The building sector is responsible for 40% of the total energy consumption in the European Union (EU). Thus, implementation of strategies for quantifying and reducing buildings energy consumption is indispensable for reaching the EU’s carbon neutrality and energy efficiency goals. Each Member State has transposed the European Directives according to its own peculiarities: existing technical legislation, constructive solutions, climatic zones, etc. Therefore, in accordance with the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, Member States have developed different Energy Performance Certificate schemes, using proposed energy simulation software-tool for each national or regional area. Energy Performance Certificates provide a powerful and comprehensive information to predict, analyze and improve the energy demand of new and existing buildings. Energy simulation software and databases allow a better understanding of the current constructive reality of the European building stock. However, Energy Performance Certificates still have to face several issues to consider them as a reliable and global source of information since different calculation tools are used that do not allow the connection between them. In this document, TRNSYS (TRaNsient System Simulation program) software is used to calculate the energy demand of a building, and it is compared with the energy labeling obtained with Spanish Official software-tools. We demonstrate the possibility of using not official software-tools to calculate the Energy Performance Certificate. Thus, this approach could be used throughout the EU and compare the results in all possible cases proposed by the EU Member States. To implement the simulations, an isolated single-family house with different construction solutions is considered. The results are obtained for every climatic zone of the Spanish Technical Building Code.

Keywords: energy demand, energy performance certificate EPBD, trnsys, buildings

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Authors: Reza Soleimanpour, Ching Tai Ng

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Fibre-composites are widely used in various structures due to their attractive properties such as higher stiffness to mass ratio and better corrosion resistance compared to metallic materials. However, one serious weakness of this composite material is delamination, which is a subsurface separation of laminae. A low level of this barely visible damage can cause a significant reduction in residual compressive strength. In the last decade, the application of guided waves for damage detection has been a topic of significant interest for many researches. Among all guided wave techniques, nonlinear guided wave has shown outstanding sensitivity and capability for detecting different types of damages, e.g. cracks and delaminations. So far, most of researches on applications of nonlinear guided wave have been dedicated to isotropic material, such as aluminium and steel, while only a few works have been done on applications of nonlinear characteristics of guided waves in anisotropic materials. This study investigates the nonlinear interactions of the fundamental antisymmetric lamb wave (A0) with delamination in composite laminates using three-dimensional (3D) explicit finite element (FE) simulations. The nonlinearity considered in this study arises from interactions of two interfaces of sub-laminates at the delamination region, which generates contact acoustic nonlinearity (CAN). The aim of this research is to investigate the phenomena of CAN in composite laminated beams by a series of numerical case studies. In this study interaction of fundamental antisymmetric lamb wave with delamination of different sizes are studied in detail. The results show that the A0 lamb wave interacts with the delaminations generating CAN in the form of higher harmonics, which is a good indicator for determining the existence of delaminations in composite laminates.

Keywords: contact acoustic nonlinearity, delamination, fibre reinforced composite beam, finite element, nonlinear guided waves

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Authors: Yu Zhang, Ye Tian, Fang Ye Yixuan Kang

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The capacity of conventional cellular networks has reached its upper bound and it can be well handled by introducing femtocells with low-cost and easy-to-deploy. Spectrum interference issue becomes more critical in peace with the value-added multimedia services growing up increasingly in two-tier cellular networks. Spectrum allocation is one of effective methods in interference mitigation technology. This paper proposes a game-theory-based on OFDMA downlink spectrum allocation aiming at reducing co-channel interference in two-tier femtocell networks. The framework is formulated as a non-cooperative game, wherein the femto base stations are players and frequency channels available are strategies. The scheme takes full account of competitive behavior and fairness among stations. In addition, the utility function reflects the interference from the standpoint of channels essentially. This work focuses on co-channel interference and puts forward a negative logarithm interference function on distance weight ratio aiming at suppressing co-channel interference in the same layer network. This scenario is more suitable for actual network deployment and the system possesses high robustness. According to the proposed mechanism, interference exists only when players employ the same channel for data communication. This paper focuses on implementing spectrum allocation in a distributed fashion. Numerical results show that signal to interference and noise ratio can be obviously improved through the spectrum allocation scheme and the users quality of service in downlink can be satisfied. Besides, the average spectrum efficiency in cellular network can be significantly promoted as simulations results shown.

Keywords: femtocell networks, game theory, interference mitigation, spectrum allocation

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Authors: Shidvash Vakilipour, Scott Ormiston, Masoud Mohammadi, Rouzbeh Riazi, Kimia Amiri, Sahar Barati

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Two-phase and multi-phase flows are common flow types in fluid mechanics engineering. Among the basic and applied problems of these flow types, two-phase parallel flow is the one that two immiscible fluids flow in the vicinity of each other. In this type of flow, fluid properties (e.g. density, viscosity, and temperature) are different at the two sides of the interface of the two fluids. The most challenging part of the numerical simulation of two-phase flow is to determine the location of interface accurately. In the present work, a coupled interface tracking algorithm is developed based on Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) approach using a cell-centered, pressure-based, coupled solver. To validate this algorithm, an analytical solution for fully developed two-phase flow in presence of gravity is derived, and then, the results of the numerical simulation of this flow are compared with analytical solution at various flow conditions. The results of the simulations show good accuracy of the algorithm despite using a nearly coarse and uniform grid. Temporal variations of interface profile toward the steady-state solution show that a greater difference between fluids properties (especially dynamic viscosity) will result in larger traveling waves. Gravity effect studies also show that favorable gravity will result in a reduction of heavier fluid thickness and adverse gravity leads to increasing it with respect to the zero gravity condition. However, the magnitude of variation in favorable gravity is much more than adverse gravity.

Keywords: coupled solver, gravitational force, interface tracking, Reynolds number to Froude number, two-phase flow

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Authors: Chrysoula Bousiouta

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Throughout the history of theatre, technology has played an important role both in influencing the relationship between performance and audience and offering different kinds of experiences. The use of technology dates back in ancient times, when the introduction of artifacts, such as “Deus ex machine” in ancient Greek theatre, started. Taking into account the key techniques and experiences used throughout history, this paper investigates how technology, through new media, influences contemporary theatre. In the context of this research, technology is defined as projections, audio environments, video-projections, sensors, tele-connections, all alongside with the performance, challenging audience’s participation. The theoretical framework of the research covers, except for the history of theatre, the theory of “experience economy” that took over the service and goods economy. The research is based on the qualitative and comparative analysis of two case studies, Contact Theatre in Manchester (United Kingdom) and Bios in Athens (Greece). The data selection includes desk research and is complemented with semi structured interviews. Building on the results of the research one could claim that the intended experience of modern/contemporary theatre is that of engagement. In this context, technology -as defined above- plays a leading role in creating it. This experience passes through and exists in the middle of the realms of entertainment, education, estheticism and escapism. Furthermore, it is observed that nowadays, theatre is not only about acting but also about performing; it is that one where the performances are unfinished without the participation of the audience. Both case studies try to achieve the experience of engagement through practices that promote the attraction of attention, the increase of imagination, the interaction, the intimacy and the true activity. These practices are achieved through the script, the scenery, the language and the environment of a performance. Contact and Bios consider technology as an intimate tool in order to accomplish the above, and they make an extended use of it. The research completes a notable record of technological techniques that modern theatres use. The use of technology, inside or outside the limits of film technique’s, helps to rivet the attention of the audience, to make performances enjoyable, to give the sense of the “unfinished” or to be used for things that take place around the spectators and force them to take action, being spect-actors. The advantage of technology is that it can be used as a hook for interaction in all stages of a performance. Further research on the field could involve exploring alternative ways of binding technology and theatre or analyzing how the performance is perceived through the use of technological artifacts.

Keywords: experience of engagement, interactive theatre, modern theatre, performance, technology

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Authors: Qingsong Xiong, Cheng Yuan, Qingzhao Kong, Haibei Xiong

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Deep-learning-driven approaches based on vibration responses have attracted larger attention in rapid structural condition assessment while obtaining sufficient measured training data with corresponding labels is relevantly costly and even inaccessible in practical engineering. This study proposes an integrated label propagation network for structural condition assessment, which is able to diffuse the labels from continuously-generating measurements by intact structure to those of missing labels of damage scenarios. The integrated network is embedded with damage-sensitive features extraction by deep autoencoder and pseudo-labels propagation by optimized fuzzy clustering, the architecture and mechanism which are elaborated. With a sophisticated network design and specified strategies for improving performance, the present network achieves to extends the superiority of self-supervised representation learning, unsupervised fuzzy clustering and supervised classification algorithms into an integration aiming at assessing damage conditions. Both numerical simulations and full-scale laboratory shaking table tests of a two-story building structure were conducted to validate its capability of detecting post-earthquake damage. The identifying accuracy of a present network was 0.95 in numerical validations and an average 0.86 in laboratory case studies, respectively. It should be noted that the whole training procedure of all involved models in the network stringently doesn’t rely upon any labeled data of damage scenarios but only several samples of intact structure, which indicates a significant superiority in model adaptability and feasible applicability in practice.

Keywords: autoencoder, condition assessment, fuzzy clustering, label propagation

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Authors: Pavan K. Emani, Shashank Kothari, V. S. Phanikanth

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The ultimate load analysis of RC pile groups has assumed a lot of significance under liquefying soil conditions, especially due to post-earthquake studies of 1964 Niigata, 1995 Kobe and 2001 Bhuj earthquakes. The present study reports the results of numerical simulations on pile groups subjected to monotonically increasing lateral loads under design amounts of pile axial loading. The soil liquefaction has been considered through the non-linear p-y relationship of the soil springs, which can vary along the depth/length of the pile. This variation again is related to the liquefaction potential of the site and the magnitude of the seismic shaking. As the piles in the group can reach their extreme deflections and rotations during increased amounts of lateral loading, a precise modeling of the inelastic behavior of the pile cross-section is done, considering the complete stress-strain behavior of concrete, with and without confinement, and reinforcing steel, including the strain-hardening portion. The possibility of the inelastic buckling of the individual piles is considered in the overall collapse modes. The model is analysed using Riks analysis in finite element software to check the post buckling behavior and plastic collapse of piles. The results confirm the kinds of failure modes predicted by centrifuge test results reported by researchers on pile group, although the pile material used is significantly different from that of the simulation model. The extension of the present work promises an important contribution to the design codes for pile groups in liquefying soils.

Keywords: collapse load analysis, inelastic buckling, liquefaction, pile group

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Authors: Monika Kallubai, Shreya Dubey, Rajagopal Subramanyam

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Our study is all about the biological interactions of synthesized 5β-dihydrocortisol (Dhc) and 5β-dihydrocortisol acetate (DhcA) molecules with carrier protein Human Serum Albumin (HSA). The cytotoxic study was performed on breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) normal human embryonic kidney cell line (HEK293), the IC50 values for MCF-7 cells were 28 and 25 µM, respectively, whereas no toxicity in terms of cell viability was observed with HEK293 cell line. The further experiment proved that Dhc and DhcA induced 35.6% and 37.7% early apoptotic cells and 2.5%, 2.9% late apoptotic cells respectively. Morphological observation of cell death through TUNEL assay revealed that Dhc and DhcA induced apoptosis in MCF-7 cells. The complexes of HSA–Dhc and HSA–DhcA were observed as static quenching, and the binding constants (K) was 4.7±0.03×104 M-1 and 3.9±0.05×104 M-1, and their binding free energies were found to be -6.4 and -6.16 kcal/mol, respectively. The displacement studies confirmed that lidocaine 1.4±0.05×104 M-1 replaced Dhc, and phenylbutazone 1.5±0.05×104 M-1 replaced by DhcA, which explains domain I and domain II are the binding sites for Dhc and DhcA. Further, CD results revealed that the secondary structure of HSA was altered in the presence of Dhc and DhcA. Furthermore, the atomic force microscopy and transmission electron microscopy showed that the dimensions like height and molecular sizes of the HSA–Dhc and HSA–DhcA complex were larger compared to HSA alone. Detailed analysis through molecular dynamics simulations also supported the greater stability of HSA–Dhc and HSA–DhcA complexes, and root-mean-square-fluctuation interpreted the binding site of Dhc as domain IB and domain IIA for DhcA. This information is valuable for the further development of steroid derivatives with improved pharmacological significance as novel anti-cancer drugs.

Keywords: apoptosis, dihydrocortisol, fluorescence quenching, protein conformations

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Authors: Natacha Fery, Guilherme L. Dalledonne, Xiangyang Zheng, Cheng Tang, Roberto Mayerle

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A Decision Support System (DSS) for supporting decision makers in the management of the Shandong Peninsula has been developed. Emphasis has been given to coastal protection, coastal cage aquaculture and harbors. The investigations were done in the framework of a joint research project funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). In this paper, a description of the DSS, the development of its components, and results of its application are presented. The system integrates in-situ measurements, process-based models, and a database management system. Numerical models for the simulation of flow, waves, sediment transport and morphodynamics covering the entire Bohai Sea are set up based on the Delft3D modelling suite (Deltares). Calibration and validation of the models were realized based on the measurements of moored Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP) and High Frequency (HF) radars. In order to enable cost-effective and scalable applications, a database management system was developed. It enhances information processing, data evaluation, and supports the generation of data products. Results of the application of the DSS to the management of coastal protection, coastal cage aquaculture and harbors are presented here. Model simulations covering the most severe storms observed during the last decades were carried out leading to an improved understanding of hydrodynamics and morphodynamics. Results helped in the identification of coastal stretches subjected to higher levels of energy and improved support for coastal protection measures.

Keywords: coastal protection, decision support system, in-situ measurements, numerical modelling

Procedia PDF Downloads 190

Authors: Muhammed Ashiq Villanthenkodath, Shreya Pal

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Purpose: This study scrutinizes the impact of economic globalization on ecological footprint while endogenizing economic growth and energy consumption from 1990 to 2018 in India. Design/methodology/approach: The standard unit root test has been employed for time series analysis to unveil the integration order. Then, the cointegration was confirmed using autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) analysis. Further, the study executed the dynamic ARDL simulation model to estimate long-run and short-run results along with simulation and robotic prediction. Findings: The cointegration analysis confirms the existence of a long-run association among variables. Further, economic globalization reduces the ecological footprint in the long run. Similarly, energy consumption decreases the ecological footprint. In contrast, economic growth spurs the ecological footprint in India. Originality/value: This study contributes to the literature in many ways. First, unlike studies that employ CO2 emissions and globalization nexus, this study employs ecological footprint for measuring environmental quality; since it is the broader measure of environmental quality, it can offer a wide range of climate change mitigation policies for India. Second, the study executes a multivariate framework with updated series from 1990 to 2018 in India to explore the link between EF, economic globalization, energy consumption, and economic growth. Third, the dynamic autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model has been used to explore the short and long-run association between the series. Finally, to our limited knowledge, this is the first study that uses economic globalization in the EF function of India amid facing a trade-off between sustainable economic growth and the environment in the era of globalization.

Keywords: economic globalization, ecological footprint, India, dynamic ARDL simulation model

Procedia PDF Downloads 121

Authors: K. M. Yoo, M. H. Kang

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Conventional commercial wind turbine design software is limited to large wind turbines due to not incorporating with low Reynold’s Number aerodynamic characteristics typically for small wind turbines. To extract maximum annual energy product from an intermediately designed small wind turbine associated with measured wind data, numerous simulation is highly recommended to have a best fitting planform design with proper airfoil configuration. Since depending upon wind distribution with average wind speed, an optimal wind turbine planform design changes accordingly. It is theoretically not difficult, though, it is very inconveniently time-consuming design procedure to finalize conceptual layout of a desired small wind turbine. Thus, to help simulations easier and faster, a GUI software is developed to conveniently iterate and change airfoil types, wind data, and geometric blade data as well. With magnetic generator torque curve, peak power tracking simulation is also available to better match with the magnetic generator. Small wind turbine often lacks starting torque due to blade optimization. Thus this simulation is also embedded along with yaw design. This software provides various blade cross section details at user’s design convenience such as skin thickness control with fiber direction option, spar shape, and their material properties. Since small wind turbine is under international safety regulations with fatigue damage during normal operations and safety load analyses with ultimate excessive loads, load analyses are provided with each category mandated in the safety regulations.

Keywords: GUI software, Low Reynold’s number aerodynamics, peak power tracking, safety regulations, wind turbine performance optimization

Procedia PDF Downloads 301

Authors: Román Rodríguez Echegoyen, Fernando Carlos López Hernández, José Manuel López Ujaque

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Interactive management of energy certification ratings has remained on the sidelines of the evolution of virtual reality (VR) despite related advances in architecture in other areas such as BIM and real-time working programs. This research studies to what extent VR software can help the stakeholders to better understand energy efficiency parameters in order to obtain reliable ratings assigned to the parts of the building. To evaluate this hypothesis, the methodology has included the construction of a software prototype. Current energy certification systems do not follow an intuitive data entry system; neither do they provide a simple or visual verification of the technical values included in the certification by manufacturers or other users. This software, by means of real-time visualization and a graphical user interface, proposes different improvements to the current energy certification systems that ease the understanding of how the certification parameters work in a building. Furthermore, the difficulty of using current interfaces, which are not friendly or intuitive for the user, means that untrained users usually get a poor idea of the grounds for certification and how the program works. In addition, the proposed software allows users to add further information, such as financial and CO₂ savings, energy efficiency, and an explanatory analysis of results for the least efficient areas of the building through a new visual mode. The software also helps the user to evaluate whether or not an investment to improve the materials of an installation is worth the cost of the different energy certification parameters. The evaluated prototype (named VEE-IS) shows promising results when it comes to representing in a more intuitive and simple manner the energy rating of the different elements of the building. Users can also personalize all the inputs necessary to create a correct certification, such as floor materials, walls, installations, or other important parameters. Working in real-time through VR allows for efficiently comparing, analyzing, and improving the rated elements, as well as the parameters that we must enter to calculate the final certification. The prototype also allows for visualizing the building in efficiency mode, which lets us move over the building to analyze thermal bridges or other energy efficiency data. This research also finds that the visual representation of energy efficiency certifications makes it easy for the stakeholders to examine improvements progressively, which adds value to the different phases of design and sale.

Keywords: energetic certification, virtual reality, augmented reality, sustainability

Procedia PDF Downloads 184

Authors: Tugba Bayoglu

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Aerodynamic parameter estimation is very crucial in missile design phase, since accurate high fidelity aerodynamic model is required for designing high performance and robust control system, developing high fidelity flight simulations and verification of computational and wind tunnel test results. However, in literature, there is not enough missile aerodynamic parameter identification study for three main reasons: (1) most air to air missiles cannot fly with constant speed, (2) missile flight test number and flight duration are much less than that of fixed wing aircraft, (3) variation of the missile aerodynamic parameters with respect to Mach number is higher than that of fixed wing aircraft. In addition to these challenges, identification of aerodynamic parameters for high wind angles by using classical estimation techniques brings another difficulty in the estimation process. The reason for this, most of the estimation techniques require employing polynomials or splines to model the behavior of the aerodynamics. However, for the missiles with a large variation of aerodynamic parameters with respect to flight variables, the order of the proposed model increases, which brings computational burden and complexity. Therefore, in this study, it is aimed to solve nonlinear aerodynamic parameter identification problem for a supersonic air to air missile by using Artificial Neural Networks. The method proposed will be tested by using simulated data which will be generated with a six degree of freedom missile model, involving a nonlinear aerodynamic database. The data will be corrupted by adding noise to the measurement model. Then, by using the flight variables and measurements, the parameters will be estimated. Finally, the prediction accuracy will be investigated.

Keywords: air to air missile, artificial neural networks, open loop simulation, parameter identification

Procedia PDF Downloads 273

Authors: Peyman Mosberian-Tanha, Mona Rezaei

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Aquaculture sector is the fastest growing food sector with annual growth rate of about 10%. The sustainability of aquaculture production, however, has been debated mainly in relation to the feed ingredients used for farmed fish. The industry has been able to decrease its dependency on marine-based ingredients in line with policies for more sustainable production. As a result, plant-based ingredients have increasingly been incorporated in aquaculture feeds, especially in feeds for popular carnivorous species, salmonids. The effect of these ingredients on salmonids’ health and performance has been widely studied. In most cases, plant-based diets are associated with varying degrees of health and performance issues across salmonids, partly depending on inclusion levels of plant ingredients and the species in question. However, aquaculture sector is facing another challenge of concern. Environmental challenges in association with climate change is another issue the aquaculture sector must deal with. Data from trials in salmonids subjected to environmental challenges of various types show adverse physiological responses, partly in relation to stress. To date, there are only a limited number of studies reporting the interactive effects of adverse environmental conditions and dietary regimens on salmonids. These studies have shown that adverse environmental conditions exacerbate the detrimental effect of plant-based diets on digestive function and health in salmonids. This indicates an additional challenge for the aquaculture sector to grow in a sustainable manner. The adverse environmental conditions often studied in farmed fish is the change in certain water quality parameters such as oxygen and/or temperature that are typically altered in response to climate change and, more specifically, global warming. In a challenge study, we observed that the in the fish fed a plant-based diet, the fish’s ability to absorb dietary energy was further reduced when reared under low oxygen level. In addition, gut health in these fish was severely impaired. Some other studies also confirm the adverse effect of environmental challenge on fish’s gut health. These effects on the digestive function and gut health of salmonids may result in less resistance to diseases and weaker performance with significant economic and ethical implications. Overall, various findings indicate the multidimensional negative effects of climate change, as a major environmental issue, in different sectors, including aquaculture production. Therefore, a comprehensive evaluation of different ways to cope with climate change is essential for planning more sustainable strategies in aquaculture sector.

Keywords: aquaculture, climate change, sustainability, salmonids

Procedia PDF Downloads 183

Authors: Inas Hussein

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Communication in the modern world is increasingly becoming multimodal due to globalization and the digital space we live in which have remarkably affected how people communicate. Accordingly, Multimodal Discourse Analysis (MDA) is an emerging paradigm in discourse studies with the underlying assumption that other semiotic resources such as images, colours, scientific symbolism, gestures, actions, music and sound, etc. combine with language in order to  communicate meaning. One of the effective multimodal media that combines both verbal and non-verbal elements to create meaning is political cartoons. Furthermore, since political and social issues are mirrored in political cartoons, these are regarded as potential objects of discourse analysis since they not only reflect the thoughts of the public but they also have the power to influence them. The aim of this paper is to analyze some selected cartoons on the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital by the American President, Donald Trump, adopting a multimodal approach. More specifically, the present research examines how the various semiotic tools and resources utilized by the cartoonists function in projecting the intended meaning. Ten political cartoons, among a surge of editorial cartoons highlighted by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) - an international Jewish non-governmental organization based in the United States - as publications in different Arabic-language newspapers in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, Iran and UK, were purposively selected for semiotic analysis. These editorial cartoons, all published during 6^th–18^th December 2017, invariably suggest one theme: Jewish and Israeli domination of the United States. The data were analyzed using the framework of Visual Social Semiotics. In accordance with this methodological framework, the selected visual compositions were analyzed in terms of three aspects of meaning: representational, interactive and compositional. In analyzing the selected cartoons, an interpretative approach is being adopted. This approach prioritizes depth to breadth and enables insightful analyses of the chosen cartoons. The findings of the study reveal that semiotic resources are key elements of political cartoons due to the inherent political communication they convey. It is proved that adequate interpretation of the three aspects of meaning is a prerequisite for understanding the intended meaning of political cartoons. It is recommended that further research should be conducted to provide more insightful analyses of political cartoons from a multimodal perspective.

Keywords: Multimodal Discourse Analysis (MDA), multimodal text, political cartoons, visual modality

Procedia PDF Downloads 236

Authors: Annesha Ghosh, S. B. Agrawal

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Agricultural sector is facing a serious threat due to climate change and exacerbation of different atmospheric pollutants. Tropospheric ozone (O₃) is considered as a dynamic air pollutant imposing substantial phytotoxicity to natural vegetations and agriculture worldwide. Naturally, plants are exposed to different environmental factors and their interactions. Amongst such interactions, studies related to O₃ and water stress are still rare. In the present experiment, wheat cultivar HD2967 were grown in open top chambers (OTC) under two O₃ concentration; ambient O₃ level (A) and elevated O₃ (E) (ambient + 20 ppb O₃) along with two different water supply; well-watered (W) and 50% water stress conditions (WS), with an aim to assess the individual and interactive effect of two most prevailing stress factors in Indo-Gangetic Plains of India. Exposure to elevated O₃ dose caused early senescence symptoms and reduction in growth and biomass of the test cultivar. The adversity was more pronounced under the combined effect of EWS. Significant reduction of stomatal conductance (gs) and assimilation rate were observed under combined stress condition compared to the control (AW). However, plants grown under individual stress conditions displayed higher gs, biomass, and antioxidant defense mechanism compared to the plants grown under the presence of combined stresses. Higher induction in most of the enzyme activities of catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), glutathione reductase (GR), peroxidase (POD) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) was displayed by HD 2967 under EW while, under the presence of combined stresses (EWS), a moderate increment of APX and CAT activity was observed only at its vegetative phase. Furthermore, variations in nutrient uptake and redistribution to different plants parts were also observed in the present study. Reduction in water availability has checked nutrient uptake (N, K, P, Ca, Cu, Mg, Zn) in above-ground parts (leaf) and below-ground parts (root). On the other hand, carbon (C) accumulation with subsequent C-N ratio was observed to be higher in the leaves under EWS. Such major nutrient check and limitation in carbon fixation due to lower gs under combined stress conditions might have weakened the defense mechanisms of the test cultivar. Grain yield was significantly reduced under EWS followed by AWS and EW as compared to their control, exhibiting an additive effect on the grain yield.

Keywords: antioxidants, open-top chambers, ozone, water stress, wheat, yield

Procedia PDF Downloads 114

Authors: Gulcin Satir, Ahmet Yildirim

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Globally, including Turkey, health problems associated with malnutrition and nutrient deficiencies in childhood will remain major public health problems in future. Nutrition is a major environmental influence on physical and mental growth and development in early life. Many studies support the fact that nutritional knowledge makes contribution to wellbeing of children and their school performance. The purpose of this study was to examine nutritional knowledge and eating habits of primary school children and to investigate differences in these variables by socioeconomic status. A quasi-experimental one group pretest/posttest design study was conducted in five primary schools totaling 200 children aging 9-10 years in grade 4 to determine the effect of nutritional awareness programme on eating habits of primary school children. The schools were chosen according to parents’ social and demographic characteristics. The implemented nutritional awareness education programme focused on healthy lifestyle such as beneficial foods, eating habits, personal hygiene, physical activity and the programme consisted of eight lessons. The teaching approaches used included interactive teaching, role-playing, demonstration, small group discussions, questioning, and feedback. The lessons were given twice a week for four weeks totaling eight lessons. All lessons lasted 45-60 minutes and first 5 minutes of this was pre-assessment and last 5 minutes post assessment evaluation. The obtained data were analyzed for normality, and the distribution of the variables was tested by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Paired t-test was used to evaluate the effectiveness of education programme and to compare the above-mentioned variables in each school separately before and after the lessons. The result of the paired t-test conducted separately for each school showed that on average after eight lessons, there was a 25-32% increase in nutritional knowledge of students regardless of the school they attend to and this rate was significant (P < 0.01). This shows that increase in nutritional awareness in these five schools having different socio-economic status was similar to each other. This study suggests that having children involved directly in lessons help to achieve nutritional awareness leading to healthy eating habits. It is concluded that nutritional awareness is a valuable tool to change eating habits. Study findings will provide information for developing nutrition education programmes for the healthy life and obesity prevention in children.

Keywords: children, nutritional awareness, obesity, socioeconomic status

Procedia PDF Downloads 142

Authors: M. A. Askari, M. A. Nazari, P. Perrier, Y. Payan

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Growth and remodeling of biological structures have gained lots of attention over the past decades. Determining the response of the living tissues to the mechanical loads is necessary for a wide range of developing fields such as, designing of prosthetics and optimized surgery operations. It is a well-known fact that biological structures are never stress-free, even when externally unloaded. The exact origin of these residual stresses is not clear, but theoretically growth and remodeling is one of the main sources. Extracting body organs from medical imaging, does not produce any information regarding the existing residual stresses in that organ. The simplest cause of such stresses is the gravity since an organ grows under its influence from its birth. Ignoring such residual stresses might cause erroneous results in numerical simulations. Accounting for residual stresses due to tissue growth can improve the accuracy of mechanical analysis results. In this paper, we have implemented a computational framework based on fixed-point iteration to determine the residual stresses due to growth. Using nonlinear continuum mechanics and the concept of fictitious configuration we find the unknown stress-free reference configuration which is necessary for mechanical analysis. To illustrate the method, we apply it to a finite element model of healthy human face whose geometry has been extracted from medical images. We have computed the distribution of residual stress in facial tissues, which can overcome the effect of gravity and cause that tissues remain firm. Tissue wrinkles caused by aging could be a consequence of decreasing residual stress and not counteracting the gravity. Considering these stresses has important application in maxillofacial surgery. It helps the surgeons to predict the changes after surgical operations and their consequences.

Keywords: growth, soft tissue, residual stress, finite element method

Procedia PDF Downloads 352

Authors: Mouna Baassi, Mohamed Moussaoui, Hatim Soufi, Sanchaita RajkhowaI, Ashwani Sharma, Subrata Sinha, Said Belaaouad

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Human Immunodeficiency Virus type 1 protease (HIV-1 PR) is one of the most challenging targets of antiretroviral therapy used in the treatment of AIDS-infected people. The performance of protease inhibitors (PIs) is limited by the development of protease mutations that can promote resistance to the treatment. The current study was carried out using statistics and bioinformatics tools. A series of thirty-three compounds with known enzymatic inhibitory activities against HIV-1 protease was used in this paper to build a mathematical model relating the structure to the biological activity. These compounds were designed by software; their descriptors were computed using various tools, such as Gaussian, Chem3D, ChemSketch and MarvinSketch. Computational methods generated the best model based on its statistical parameters. The model’s applicability domain (AD) was elaborated. Furthermore, one compound has been proposed as efficient against HIV-1 protease with comparable biological activity to the existing ones; this drug candidate was evaluated using ADMET properties and Lipinski’s rule. Molecular Docking performed on Wild Type and Mutant Type HIV-1 proteases allowed the investigation of the interaction types displayed between the proteases and the ligands, Darunavir (DRV) and the new drug (ND). Molecular dynamics simulation was also used in order to investigate the complexes’ stability, allowing a comparative study of the performance of both ligands (DRV & ND). Our study suggested that the new molecule showed comparable results to that of Darunavir and may be used for further experimental studies. Our study may also be used as a pipeline to search and design new potential inhibitors of HIV-1 proteases.

Keywords: QSAR, ADMET properties, molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulation.

Procedia PDF Downloads 33