bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Alternative Air-Conditioning Options for Developing Countries
Authors: Kashif Muhammad , Sultan Muhammad , Khan Zahid Mahmood
Published: February 2022

This study assesses the potential selection of efficient air-conditioning (AC) and cooling systems in order to avoid excess power consumption, mitigation of harmful refrigerants generated by the existing AC systems. Several varieties of active and passive air-conditioning systems i.e. heating ventilating air-conditioning (HVAC), vapor compression air-conditioning (VCAC) conventional direct evaporative cooling (DEC) and indirect evaporative cooling (IEC)  and desiccant air-conditioning (DAC) systems are under practice for the cooling and dehumidification. The storage of agricultural products mainly based on product individual characteristics i.e. respiration rate, transpiration rate and moisture content of that product. Variant ambient air conditions and the type of application are the main parameters for the choice of air-conditioning system to get optimum performance. The DAC system subsidize the coefficient of performance (COP) in humid regions, coastal ranges of developing countries e.g. Karachi and Gawadar (Pakistan) with hot humid climatic conditions. In similar way, hottest regions of the country such as Sibbi, Jacobabad and Multan perform better results when incorporates with M-cycle evaporative cooling system. Variation in ambient air conditions directly affect the cooling load and the choice of sustainable air-conditioning system
Design of Wooden Skids for Long Transportation of Batteries
Authors: Byraboina Madhava Rao , Srinivas Kosaraju , K S N Murthy , M. Jagadish
Published: February 2022

The basic objective of the present work is to arrive at the optimal design for wooden skids used for the “storage and transportation” of the batteries to the ware houses and customers. The wooden skid was designed taking account of load conditions that it experiences during transportation and storage. In this context, the most vital parameters like nature of load that influences the performance of the wooden skid was considered. With the help of simple design approach, the reliability of the design was studied and the importance of influencing parameters was discussed.
Paradigm Shift in Routing Approaches for High Speed MANET Applications
Authors: Inamdar Sadanand R. , B. Sathish Babu , Yadahalli Ravi M.
Published: February 2022

Effective routing protocol in ad hoc networks involves consideration of key factors like latency, mutual interference between on-going communication during route initiation, power consumption and effective re-routing process for unstable topology conditions in presence of node mobility. Recent ad hoc network applications involve quest for a high throughput, robustness and differentiated service awareness in the context of present 3G/4G and future 5G standards. This paper discusses the motivation for routing strategy with paradigm shift to meet the aspiration set forth under high traffic volume applications.
Evaluation of the Effects of Coarse Aggregate Sizes on Concrete Quality
Authors: Obi Lawrence Echefulechukwu
Published: February 2022

This work was necessitated by the observations made at construction sites where artisans and craftsmen were left alone in concrete production. It was discovered that they used inadequate quantity and size of coarse aggregates due to difficulty associated in the mixing as if the coarse aggregates were not needed in concrete production. The research has established that the coarse aggregates and their sizes play critical roles in the development of adequate strength in concrete. It was observed that with proper mixing, the slump test results did not witness shear or collapse type of slump rather there were true slump in all cases of the test. The workability decreased with slight differences when the coarse aggregate size was increased. The increase in the coarse aggregates yielded appreciable increase in the compressive strength. It can therefore be inferred that the quality of concrete in terms of strength can be enhanced through an increase in the coarse aggregate size when proper mix ratio, batching, mixing, transporting, placing and finishings are employed in concrete productions.
Progressive Collapse Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Structures: A Simplified Procedure
Authors: Naji Arash , Rohani Mohamadreza
Published: February 2022

In this paper, a simplified analysis procedure to calculate the column removed point displacement at progressive collapse analysis of reinforced concrete structures is proposed. The energy absorption capacity under the column missing event is used for formulations. The approximate method is simple to utilize, user friendly, yet accurate. For progressive collapse analysis of structures, linear static analysis, nonlinear static analysis, linear dynamic analysis and nonlinear dynamic analysis can be performed. In this paper, the nonlinear static analysis from alternate load path method is used and the reason of initial local collapse has not been considered. In fact, an energy-based method by using load-displacement curve of RC frame and considering the effect of floor slab for the progressive collapse analysis is considered. The accuracy of the proposed method is demonstrated by comparing the results to three experimental and analytical results. Finally, the effects of the spans length, sections dimensions, material properties and the beams reinforcements of column removed spans on substructure behavior is studied, as well.
Thermodynamic – Informational Paradigm in the Context of the Formation of a Mathematical Model of Transient Processes in an Open System
Authors: Ismailov Bahram Israfil
Published: February 2022

In this article the theoretical substantiation on the developed mathematical model of the analysis of transient processes of interacting heterogeneous hyperchaotic systems of fractional order is given. The model represents a thermodynamically spectrum of the dimensions of Poincare’s return time. The thermodynamic category in open system is the entropy of Tsallis in fractional space.
Internet of Things in Automated Production
Authors: Mendes Cleiton , Osaki Raphael , Da Costa Cesar
Published: February 2022

Industry 4.0 is being presented as the fourth industrial revolution in which intelligent machines, advanced sensors, and smart logistic networks and suppliers will be connected to the internet of things. Such an intelligent network would create a cyber-physical system that scan store all of the supply chain data in the cloud and allow access to these data through different devices connected to the internet. Thus, the factory of the future could be established. This project proposes the creation of a manufacturing cell at the shop floor level based on the concepts of Industry 4.0. The effects on production of industry 4.0 emerging with this mind is very important.  Therefore, the impacts in production of industry 4.0 are examined in this paper.
Quantum-behaved Particle Swarm Optimization for Power Economic Dispatch Problem of Units with Multiple Fuel Option
Authors: Chiang Chao Lung
Published: February 2022

This paper presents a quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization (QPSO) with a multiple updating (MU) for solving the power economic dispatch problem (PEDP) of generators with multiple fuel options (MFOs). The QPSO assists the proposed method efficaciously find and precisely search. The MU helps the proposed method prevent deforming the augmented Lagrange function (ALF) and caused difficultly in searching optimal solution. The proposed approach combines the QPSO and the MU that has benefits of adopting a widespread area of punishment parameters and a small-size population. The proposed algorithm has been demonstrated on a practical ten generating units system; every one unit is composed of two or three fuel changes. The entire fuel price got by the proposed QPSO-MU has been competed with former studies for validating its efficacy. Compared achievements clearly express that the presented method is an effective alternative for resolving PEDP of units with MFOs in the realistic operations of power system.
Genetic Diversity Assessment of Four Rice Varieties using SNP Markers
Authors: Souleymane Oumarou , Joseph Batieno Teyioué Benoit , Manneh Baboucarr , Ofori Kwadwo , Danquah Eric
Published: February 2022

Markers assisted selection is a tool for improving the speed and efficiency of crop improvement. The identification of SNPs within the target genomic region of a QTL is necessary for efficient breeding of quantitative traits such as salt tolerance. The study was conducted to characterize parental lines using SNP markers and to identify the polymorphic SNPs for salt tolerance in QTL study of offspring. Four rice lines were evaluated under five levels of salt conditions including the control. The experimental design was a split-plot with two replications. Leaf samples were collected from four rice lines at heading stage and sent to LGC Genomics laboratory for genotyping using rice SNP platform. DNA extraction and SNP genotyping were performed using an internal protocol. The phenotypic data recorded were the visual scoring, tiller number, green leaf number, panicle number, panicle weight and dry weight. Phenotypic data were analyzed using SAS 9.2 software. The genotypic data were analyzed using MEGA6 and GGT2 software. Significant diversity was revealed among lines concerning all the phenotypic traits. Significant diversity, divergence and substitution pattern were observed among lines. 200 markers out of 1896 were polymorphic and selected for the next step.
Reserve Management in Restructured Power System Considering Loads Reliability
Authors: Zolfaghari Saeed Zolfaghari , Hashemi Mohammad Hassan , Zolfaghari Azam
Published: February 2022

Determining the spinning reserve capacity is amongst the most important tasks of system operator to insure safe and reliable operation of power system. So far, various methods are proposed to determine reserve capacity which are based on deterministic or probabilistic criteria. Due to considering the stochastic nature of system events, probabilistic approaches are more preferable in comparison to deterministic approaches. In practice, the value of interrupted loads are not the same for all consumers and some of them like industrial ones have higher value of lost load (VOLL). Thus, consumes with higher values of lost load are willing to pay more in order to gain higher reliability levels than consumers with less VOLL. In other words, they are more concerned with their individual load point reliability. In this paper a new method is presented to optimally determine the system spinning reserve requirement in a competitive simultaneous energy and reserve market render based on cost-benefit analysis and stochastic programming technique is proposed considering different values of lost load at each bus. Including units and lines outages and their corresponding likelihoods in the objective function, regard for loading rate of the generators constraints and transmission flow constraints are the advantages of the proposed method. Simulations performed on the 14-bus IEEE test system demonstrate effectiveness of the presented approach.
3D Scanning and 3D Printing Technologies used in Albanian Heritage Preservation
Authors: Tota Albana , Shehi Ermira , Onuzi Aferdita
Published: February 2022

In cultural heritage study of 3D modeling has become a very useful process to obtain indispensable data for documentation and visualization. 3D scanning and 3D printing suggest a vital solution in preserving and sustaining traditional folk costumes. 3D scanning and 3D digitizing is defined as the process of using metrological methods to ascertain the size and shape of a scanned object, which may often involve an optical device that rotates around the desired scanned model. In digital preservation, especially for three dimensional physical artifacts in various crafts, the geometric shape of an object is most important. The aim of this paper is to show 3D scanning technology that produces a high-precision digital reference document to provide virtual model for replication, and makes possible easy mass distribution of digital data. We also experimented with 3d Additive manufacturing or 3D printing to show a way to actualize digital forms of folk accessories for the experimental manufacturing and to show a way how to preserve nowadays the original object. The work includes scanning, modeling, and printing of waist coat and of coin handicrafts. Experiments will be carried out on 3d scanning, 3d modeling software, reconstruction and fabrication -rapid prototyping.
Improvement The Mechanical Properties of Styrene Butadiene Rubber By Using Silica Fume
Authors: Salman Ali Abed
Published: February 2022

Styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) is considered to be one of the greatest important polymeric materials used as a bond, so we discussed in this study to improve its properties .This study covers the effect of silica fume on mechanical properties of styrene butadiene rubber reinforced with silica fume. The composites were prepared with (1 to 3 wt. %) of silica fume particles .The results had indicated  that the tensile strength and flexural strength are improved by (11.6% and 13.5%) respectively at 2 wt% and the hardness is  improved by (9.3%) at 3wt%.
Cost and Efficiency Analysis of PV Transformer-Less Inverter Topology to Grid Connection
Authors: Noor Shahreen , Khan Md. Noman Habib , Al Woadud K.M. Abdul
Published: February 2022

Photovoltaic (PV) inverters bear a part and parcel role due to cost and power efficiency where it can be used either in Transformer based system or Transformer-less system. Both system even though the renewable energy which is fully Environmental friendly, however some limitations such as bulky system, maintenance cost increasing indicate for avoiding the Transformer based inverter.  In contrast, Transformer -less inverter topology is recovering the TRX based issue and to reduce the overall system cost size with high efficiency. In this paper, Transformer -based inverters have been discussed as well as Transformer –less (TRX) inverter topologies and main focusing part is the cost analysis of TRX inverter topology to grid connection and the different marking process of PV-TRX Inverter Topology to Grid Connection has been shown as well as comparison will be shown with Bangladesh.
Influence of Rice Husk Ash Density on the Workability and Strength of Structural Concrete
Authors: Kamau John , Ahmed Ash , Hyndman Fraser , Hirst Paul , Kangwa Joseph
Published: February 2022

Supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) have been known to improve the properties of fresh and hardened concrete, and at the same time enhance the sustainability of concrete. Rice husk Ash (RHA), is one such material, but has neither been widely studied nor applied in practice. This work investigated the effect of the density of RHA on the workability and compressive strength of fresh and hardened RHA-replaced concrete respectively. Cement was replaced with RHA in concrete by weight (RHA-W) and by volume (RHA-V) at steps of 0%, 5%, 7.5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25% and 30%. The 0% replacement was used as the reference point from which performances were measured. Results showed that unlike the characteristic of other established pozzolans, RHA significantly reduced the workability of wet concrete and the rate of compressive strength gain over curing time due to a high water demand that is caused by the increased volume of replaced concrete, which results from its low density. Workability reduced with increased replacement for both RHA-W and RHA-V. Replacements of above 15% were not possible for the RHA-W due to the high water demand. However, replacements of up to 30% were achieved for the RHA-V. RHA-W specimens achieved lower compressive strengths and were observed to gain strength at a lower rate over the 28 to 91-days period of curing compared to RHA-V specimens. This behavior was attributed to the shortage of water that is necessary for the hydration of cement and subsequent pozzolanic reaction, which is the basis of the contribution that is made to the strength and performance of concrete by SCMs. However, the compressive strengths achieved were above the study’s target concrete strength of class C32/40 at 91 days, which is among those classes that are listed as being durable and suitable for structural applications. A conclusion that RHA should supplement cements by volumetric replacement rather than simple substitution by weight was drawn.
Influence of Extrusion-Cooking Conditions on Corn Pasta Quality
Authors: El-Bialee Nazeer , Saad AbdelGawad Mohammed , El-Didamony Mohamed Ibrahim , Zahran Gamal
Published: February 2022

Gluten free products remain the cornerstone for celiac patients. Insufficiency, poverty and little offered about gluten free products (quality and quantity) represented a high obstacle for Egyptian celiac patients. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to modify a single screw extruder to produce gluten–free pasta (GFP) (tagliatelle type). The GFP was made from corn flour under screw rotation speed (N) of 10, 25 and 50 rpm at 40, 65, 90 and 115 ºC of barrel temperature (BT). Extruder performance was evaluated as specific mechanical energy (SME) and expansion ratio (Er). The cooking quality of GFP as optimum cooking time (OCT), cooked yield (CY), swelling (Sw), cooking losses (CL) and sensory characteristics (appearance, colour, taste, mouth feel and overall acceptability) were evaluated. The better results of the GFP sensory evaluation were obtained at BT= 80 ºC, N =25 rpm and Er ? 1.38 with OCT ? 3.3 min, CY= 196%, Sw = 210% and CL= 16.3%. All parameters were given a direct proportion with processing variables N and BT, except CL. Furthermore, it can be predicted cooking properties values for GFP by SME value using the following equation; SME » 1.8675 (Er) + 0.8037 » 0.0608 (OCT)1.5984  » 8×10-17 (CY)6.7878 » 2×10-9 (Sw)3.494  » -0.0306 (CL) + 0.7877.
Haar Wavelet Implementation to Various Partial Differential Equations
Authors: Mredula K. P. , Vakaskar D. C.
Published: February 2022

The article brings together a series of algorithms with the modification in formulation of solution to various partial differential equations. The algorithms are modified with implementation of Haar Wavelet. Test examples are considered for validation with few cases. Salient features of multi resolution is closely compared with different resolutions. The approach combines well known finite difference and finite element method with wavelets. A detailed description of algorithm is attempted for simplification of the approach.
Design Construction and Testing of a Petroleum Product Storage Tank 10 Million Litre Capacity
Authors: Agho Nosakhare , Mailabari S. K. , Omorodion I. H. , Ariavie G. O. , Sadjere G. E.
Published: February 2022

The purpose of this paper is to design a 10 million litre capacity petroleum storage tank for use in the oil industry in Nigeria with a view to overcoming the challenges associated with the loss of product due to evaporation. The tank having diameter and height of 27.4m and 17.5m respectively was designed to have two relief valves; a primary valve which would ensure that the product vapour pressure within high-level (h2) in meters of the storage tank does not exceed the minimum acceptable pressure. The second relief valve is designed to relief due to a sudden increase in pressure as a result of a possible fire in the tank. To this end, the design made reference to the American Petroleum Institute Manual 650 (12th Edition) as a guide. Some fundamental considerations include tank shape, height, diameter and materials used. A corrosion allowance of 3mm was also considered.
Wear and Friction Characteristics of TiO2 – ZnO / PMMA Nanocomposites
Authors: Farhan Fadhil K. , Kadhim Bahjat Bahlol , Ablawa Batool D. , Shakir Warqaa A.
Published: February 2022

Tribological characteristics (Wear and Friction) have been studied for (PMMA) polymer, reinforced by nano [TiO2 - ZnO] with volume fractions (0, 2, 3, 4 and 5) vol. %. Ultrasonic dispersion technique was used to prepare the nanocomposites specimens followed by cold – casting technique using flash Teflon molds according to standard conditions. [Pin-on-disc] technique is used to measure wear rate and coefficient of friction. Tribological results show that the values are decreased progressively by succession of load increasing as well as volume fractions of fillers. Scanning electron microscopy technique were employed to aid interpretation results of sliding wear and distribution nanoparticles in base – matrix.
Comparison of LMS and NLMS algorithm with the using of 4 Linear Microphone Array for Speech Enhancement.
Authors: Ahmed Mamun , Bhuyan Nasimul Hyder Maruf
Published: February 2022

In this paper, we have presented the design, implementation and comparison result of Least Mean Square (LMS) algorithm and Normalized LMS (NLMS) algorithm using a 4 channel microphone array for noise reduction as well as speech enhancement. Adaptive sub band Generalized Side lobe Canceller (GSC) beam former has been used for experiment and analysis. Tested results were done by using one speech signal and a small number of noise sources. The side lobe canceller was evaluated with the adaptation of LMS and NLMS. The overall development of Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) has been determined from the input and output powers of signal and noise, with signal only as input and noise, as input to the GSC. The NLMS algorithm considerably improves speech quality with noise suppression levels of up to 13 dB, while the LMS algorithm is giving up to 10 dB. In different ways of SNR measure was under various types of blocking matrix, step sizes and various noise locations. The whole process will be used for hands-free telephony, video conferencing etc. in a noisy environment.
Energy Efficiency Analysis in Buildings using Dynamic Simulations
Authors: Eftimie Elena
Published: February 2022

This paper proposes an analysis of factors that have a significant impact on energy efficiency in buildings. Thus, as a first objective proposes an analysis of the impact of rehabilitation and modernization of buildings in view of their energy performance improvement. A second followed objective consisted of the study of some production and use thermal energy systems in order to increase the thermal comfort. Based on a case study, this paper provides the opportunity for comparative analyses both among different insulation materials for buildings and among different heating systems. Determination of energy consumption for space heating and of the building comfort parameters was achieved using dynamic simulations by means of TRNSYS program; it was envisaged that the assessment of energy efficiency in buildings, the design stage or before their rehabilitation, is more economical than finding solutions in the use phase of buildings.
Properties of Different Mortars and their Effect on the Flexural Strength of Low Density Block Walls
Authors: Ahmed Ash , Kamau Jhon
Published: February 2022

Mortar for masonry is important because it provides the linkage between masonry units so enabling the composite to behave as a single material.  The type of mortar used determines the flexural and compressive strength of the masonry so in this paper, a range of mortars are examined and their effects on the flexural strength of low density block walls determined.  These include traditional designation (iii) (1 cement : 1 lime : 6 sand), designation (iv) (1 cement : 1 lime : 9 sand) mortars as defined in BS 5628, and two thin layer mortars. The conventional mortars were formed using both 42.5N or 32.5N PC to BS EN 197 in order to ascertain the difference these two cements have on the properties of mortar. The thin layer mortars show remarkably high compressive strength. The characteristic flexural strength of low density aircrete wallettes incorporating both these conventional and thin layer mortars was verified. The wallettes were tested in accordance with British and European standards. The flexural strength of aircrete wallettes was derived from the strength of small specimens tested to destruction under four-point loading. The strengths of the wallettes are high with impressive repeatability with the maximum strength being reached for thin layer wallettes within 7 days curing time. In general the strengths of both conventional mortar and thin layer mortar wallettes compare favourably to values reported in the standards.
An Efficient Method to Reduce an MAI’s Effect in Spectral Amplitude Coding OCDMA Network
Authors: Amaseb Kamal Elsiddig , Ahmed Hassan Yousif , Zeghid Medien
Published: February 2022

Multiple access interference (MAI) in spectral-amplitude coding, optical code division multiple access (SAC-OCDMA) scheme hardly limits the system performance. This problem increases proportionally with the amount of concurrent users. In addition, phase induces intensity noise (PIIN) coming from the spontaneous emission process of light source is extra impairment leads to system drop needs to be tackled too. Towards overcome the specified problems, vector combinatorial (VC) codes which based on grouping of certain vectors is proposed. Any positive integer number can be used in both weighs and user parameters in code building procedure, these technique nominees our code to be a potential reliable applicant for future optical communication schemes. Such flexibility is an exceptional property for VC compared to SAC-OCDMA counterparts’ codes. Compared with the systems employing Hadamard, Modified Frequency Hopping (MFH), Modified Quadratic-Congruence (MQC), and Modified Double Weight (MDW), numerical results show that, the VC is effective to reduce the power of MAI and PIIN. It has been exposed that, performance can be superior significantly when VC is used.
Condenser Heat Recovery For Combined Cooling-Heating and Power Generation using Isentropic Fluid
Authors: Dubey Kaushalendra Kumar , Mishra R. S.
Published: February 2022

The thermodynamic study of combined cooling, heating and power generation system with the recovery of heat source from the condenser of 1MW thermal power plant. The R-134a working fluid based Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) is introduced in the proposed thermodynamic analysis and the provision of parabolic trough collector is recommended for solar heating purpose. The analysis of the system shows thermal efficiency and multiple effects like Heating- Cooling and Power through heat recovery of thermal power plant. This analysis also express the resulting process heat obtained and the cooling effect of solar integrated as well as non-solar integrated system. The results conclude that the thermal efficiency as well as heating-power and cooling effects increases by 30-40% in the case of solar integrated as compare to without solar system.
Comparative Analysis of Physico-Chemical Parameters of Borehole, Pond and Well Water in Kashere Metropolis
Authors: Gidado Abdulkadir A. , Halliru Ibrahim , Kendeson Christiana Anawuese , Abdullahi Yusuf
Published: February 2022

In a bid to ascertain the quality of water for human consumption in Kashere Metropolis, essential physico-chemical parameters were evaluated on samples of drinking water obtained from boreholes, pond and wells located at densely populated areas, labelled as: Kashere cattle market Pond, KP; Kashere cottage Hospital Borehole, HB; Kashere Market Borehole, MB; Federal University, Kashere (FUK) campus Borehole, CB; Kashere cottage Hospital Well, HW; Kashere Market Well, MW and FUK campus Well, CW. Standard procedure for the determination of chemical and physical characteristics of the water samples were used. The results of the investigated parameters in the samples were as follows: ?H 6.61?7.96, Turbidity 0.0?2568 FTU, Electrical Conductivity 60.5?1151 Mhocm-1, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) 25.9?518.0 mgL-1, Ca 0.0033?0.5446 ppm, Mg 0.0793?1.2215 ppm, Cd 0.0010?0.0030 ppm, Zn 0.0024?0.l054 ppm, Pb 0.0002?0.0026 ppm and Fe 0.0044?0.5649 ppm. Except for the concentration of Fe (in CB; 0.5649 ppm), all the analyzed minor and major cations in the water samples were in very low concentration and below the permissible limits of WHO standard guidelines values for drinking water.  It is recommended that, water from the pond should be properly treated before consumption due to its high turbidity.  Also periodic assessment of the quality of drinking water from these water sources should be conducted, to ascertain that they are not contaminated by either or both organic and inorganic pollutants.
BAT algorithm and Ant Colony Optimization based Optimal Reactive Power Dispatch to Improve Voltage Stability
Authors: Katuri Rayudu , Yesuratnam Guduri , Jayalaxmi Askani
Published: February 2022

One of the important tasks of a power system engineer is to run the system in safe and reliable mode for secure operation with increase in loading. So, it is significant to perform voltage stability analysis by optimal reactive power dispatch with Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques. This paper presents the application of Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) and BAT algorithms for Optimal Reactive Power Dispatch (ORPD) to enhance voltage stability. The proposed ACO and BAT algorithms are used to find the optimal settings of On-load Tap changing Transformers (OLTC), Generator excitation and Static Var Compensators (SVC) to minimize the sum of the squares of the voltage stability L– indices of all the load buses. By calculating system parameters like L-Index, voltage error/deviation and real power loss for the practical Equivalent of Extra High Voltage (EHV) Southern Region Indian 24 bus system, voltage profile is improved and voltage stability is enhanced. A comparative analysis is done with the conventional optimization technique like Linear Programming (LP) for the given objective function to demonstrate the effectiveness of proposed ACO and BAT algorithms.
Life Cycle Assessment of Paper Based Printed Interconnections for ECG Monitoring
Authors: Wan Qiansu , Zou Zhuo , Zheng Lirong
Published: February 2022

This paper presents quantitative environment impact evaluation and assessment of inkjet printed flexible cable on soft substrates for Electrocardiography (ECG) monitoring. The studied printed ECG cable is fabricated by inkjet printing of nanoparticles wire on paper substrate which enables wireless transmission of ECG signals between bio-electric electrodes and central medical device. In order to facilitate the inventory analysis, the environmental impacts evaluation of inkjet printing technology has been carried out by comparing with traditional ECG cables. With the life cycle inventory modelling by using GaBi software, the life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted to qualify the input and output of raw material resources, energy resources used in manufacturing phases and the impacts to environment.
Comparative Study of Major Image Enhancement Algorithms
Authors: Kulkarni Amrutha , Rangaswamy Shanta , S Manonmani
Published: February 2022

Image restoration is a process of reconstruction or recovery of an image that has been corrupted or degraded by any degradation phenomenon. Image restoration techniques are inclined towards modeling the degradation and applying the inverse process in order to recover the original image. The critical goal of restoration techniques is to improve the quality of an image in some predefined manner. This present paper is a comparative study of image enhancement techniques used for improving the quality of a given image and evaluate it against the quality of a given image and evaluate it against SNR, PSNR, MSE, and SSIM as metrics.
Hourly Prediction of Building Energy Consumption: An Incremental ANN Approach
Authors: Shabani Aulon , Zavalani Orion
Published: February 2022

Rapid growth of buildings energy consumption puts the focus to improve energy efficiency by building engineers and operators. Energy management through forecasting approaches using machine-learning algorithms is an increasing research domain. Most of algorithms focus on predicting energy consumption when a considerable amount of past-observed data exist.  In this paper, we focus on the case when small amount of available data exist and the amount of data increases incrementally by time. Artificial Neural Networks used as the learning algorithm take as the training data mini batches of different sizes. Algorithm is evaluated on different batch sizes and compared to baseline learner.
Experimental Investigation of the Influence of Penstock Configuration and Angle of Twist of Flat Blades on the Performance of a Simplified Pico-Hydro System
Authors: Edeoja Alex Okibe , Awuniji Linus
Published: February 2022

The effects of penstock configuration and lateral twist angle of the flat blades on the performance of a simplified Pico hydro system were examined as part of an ongoing development. Two configurations of the penstock having 2 and 1 stages of area reductions from 3 to 2 inches and 3 to 2 inches within the lower 1 m of their total height were used. Turbine runners with flat blades laterally twisted at angles of 30, 45, 60, 75 and 90° were fabricated locally and the system performance studied. The speed of rotation of the alternator and turbine shafts were measured and the available fluid power, flow rate and net head were computed. The results show that the 90° blade twist gave the best performance of the simplified system in terms of rotational speed and consequently power for both penstock configurations while the 30° twist yielded the least values of the parameters. However, the respective values for the 1st configuration were relatively higher for all the twist angles used. The maximum values of the parameters obtained for the 2-stage area reduction were 1844.7 rpm and 3636 W while the corresponding values for the other configuration were 1810.6 rpm and 2422 W The simplicity of the flat blade configuration coupled with the system performance for the entire blade twist angles indicates good promise for the implementation of the system for generation of clean, decentralized energy in line with current global trends even in locations without naturally flowing water.
Performance of Ternary Class F Pulverised Fuel Ash and Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag Concrete in Sulfate Solutions
Authors: Ahmed Ash , Kamau John
Published: February 2022

Durability of concrete is defined as its ability to resist deterioration after it has been exposed to the environment of its intended use. This work examined the performance of combined (ternary) Pulverised Fuel Ash (PFA) and Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS) concrete in sulfate solutions of sodium sulfate (Na2SO4), magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) and mixed Na2SO4 and MgSO4, as well as its performance in water absorption. Investigations were carried out on replacements that were found to have achieved the highest compressive strengths as well as on 30% replacements from a previous study. From the results obtained, it was also found that at highest compressive strengths, the ternary concrete could be used with an advantage over the individual binary concretes in MgSO4 environments, whereas at a higher replacement, the ternary concrete could be used with an advantage over individual binary specimens in Na2SO4 and MgSO4 environments. For visual observations, it was concluded that the ternary concrete could be used with an advantage over the individual binary concretes in Na2SO4 and MgSO4 environments, whereas for strength deterioration, the results showed that the ternary specimens could be used with an advantage over individual binary concretes in both the MgSO4 and the mixed sulfate solutions. Generally, the ternary specimens showed some complimentary effect from the two materials.
Global Warming: Preventing Irreversibility
Authors: Lane Jan Erik
Published: February 2022

When the UNFCCC (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) meets again in Bonn for the COP23 (the Conference of the Parties 23) in the fall with Fiji as host, the focus should be upon the GOAL II in the COP21 (the Conference of the Parties 21) Treaty: decarbonisation with 30-40 per cent of 2005 levels until 2030. Several countries now meet the GOAL I of halting the rise in CO2 emissions. And the rest should be asked and helped to do so. But the GOAL II is a very big challenge. It can only be fulfilled with massive investments in solar panel parks.
Individual Universes of the Multiverse
Authors: Istvan Szalay
Published: February 2022

Using exploded numbers we consider the exploded three-dimensional space as a mathematical model of the Multiverse. Our universe is only one among the infinite number three-dimensional individual universes of the Multiverse. We introduce the concept of box – phenomenon of objects outsize our universe. Applying a shift coordinate transformation we investigate the shifted box – phenomenon and show certain parts of objects in the Multiverse selected from in different individual universes. Among others we show that the same part of a given object yields different views depending on the individual universes. Moreover, we give a measure of distance concerning the Multiverse. Finalliy, we mention the super – distance of different individual universes.
Plastic Limit Analysis of Truss Structures Subjected to Progressive Collapse
Authors: Naji Arash
Published: February 2022

In this paper, a method to generate the required basic mechanisms in a plastic limit analysis of truss structures subjected to progressive collapse is presented. Rigid body motion of all members is introduced by constraint equations and at the same time releases are introduced. A set of basic mechanisms is obtained by solving the generated set of equations. Additional modification is necessary to put the mechanisms in the usual form of relative deformations for each member. The joint geometry of the structure and the member connectivity are the requirements of the proposed method. The method is thus applicable for programming and omits the hand generation process of the basic mechanisms in a limit analysis.
Parking Provision for CBD Area of Pabna Town in Bangladesh
Authors: Rahman Atikur , Prothan Jakirul Islam Jony , Islam Marazul , Pramanik Ashrafuzzaman
Published: February 2022

Pabna is the most ancient city of Bangladesh having a parking problem in CBD area. This study is mainly focused on the demand and supply of parking system in CBD area. The deficiency of parking supply and illegal occupancy of the traffic lane with parking has become a common practice. An existing parking accommodation, parking demand, parking turnover, average parking duration, parking types and parking index are analyzed on the base of modified patrol survey. The parking space inventory survey helps to identify the present parking spaces, number of parking bays, vacant land for the multistoried parking facility. Both on-street and off-street parking have surveyed to find out the actual measurement of the demand and supply of parking. It should be mentioned that the feasibility of a multistoried parking facility is also proposed to shift the existing on-street parking of CBD.
Crystal growth, Dielectric and Thermal Studies on N-Methyl-4-Nitroaniline: Isophthalic Acid Molecular Adduct Crystals
Authors: Lakshmi Ravikumar , Prabukanthan P.
Published: February 2022

Organic compound N-methyl-4-nitroaniline isophthalic acid (NMNAIPA) needle shaped single crystals with a dimension of 4x1x1 cm3 were grown by slow evaporation technique in methanol as solvent at ambient temperature. The grown single crystals have been analyzed through powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1HNMR), carbon NMR (13CNMR), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR),  Raman spectra and UV-Vis spectra. Based on powder XRD patterns, the as-grown NMNAIPA single crystal was a good crystalline in nature.  The various planes of reflection have been identified from the powder XRD pattern.  It belongs to the monoclinic crystal system.  The presences of functional groups were identified from FT-IR and Raman spectra. UV-Vis-NIR spectral analysis showed 74% transmission in the visible region for NMNAIPA crystal. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss of the as-grown NMNAIPA single crystal was studied as a function of frequency and temperature. Thermo gravimetric (TG) and differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) techniques were carried out to characterize the thermal behavior and stability of as-grown NMNAIPA single crystal.  It has thermal stability around 421 K.  The nonlinear optical (NLO) activity test using a pulsed Nd:YAG laser confirms the generation of second harmonics and it shows 1.25 times relatively greater than KDP.
Numerical Investigation of Cold Thermal Energy Storage Using Phase Change Material in Freezer
Authors: Zarajabad Omid Ghahramani , Ahmadi Rouhollah , Ghaffari Saeed
Published: February 2022

Freezer is one of the electrical components that can be found in any building. Like any electrical appliance domestic freezer consumes a significant amount of energy during its working time. During recent decades a lot of solutions have been found to reduce this energy consumption. One of the most usable and appropriate ones is implementation of phase change material (PCM) in a Cold Thermal Energy Storage (CTES) system which can be installed in a household freezers. In this paper numerical investigation of using CTES system in a domestic freezer in order to diminish energy consumption during pick hours (18-22:30), is studied. Regard to the temperature ranges of the freezer, NaCl-H2O is used as a PCM in the CTES system. In a distinct period of time, a large amount of cold thermal energy in latent heat form is stored at low temperature in the PCM, and it is released in the freezer’s cabin when the compressor is off. Accordingly, numerical modeling and simulation using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software on charging and discharging cycle of PCM are done to measure cold storage period and amount of saved energy. The results reveal that using CTES could keep the freezer in the standard thermal condition without using a compressor, for 4.5 hours. These results show that if the PCM used in CTES system for a year, it could reduce energy, fossil fuel consumption and CO2 emission up to 45.7 kWh, 13.7 liters and 32.0 kg, respectively.
Performance of Recycled Aggregate Concrete after Washing Treatment of Aggregates
Authors: Triantafyllou Dimitrios , Ahmed Ash , Kamau John
Published: February 2022

Retrieval and reuse of crushed concrete aggregates (CCA) in the concrete industry is a common practice that has gained popularity due to environmental concerns that identify the saturation of landfill areas as a harmful and costly by-product of construction, and has therefore become a necessity for a sustainable, more well-coordinated effort towards improving concrete preparation. This research examines a natural method of CCA-washing that aims to effectively segregate contaminants from healthy material by allowing CCAs to sit outdoors for a period of time thus being subjected to several rain-washing cycles. Eleven mixes were prepared, a control mix with 100% natural/virgin concrete aggregates (NCA/VCA) and ten mixes with CCA content varying between 10-100% replacement. Findings showed that even up to 100% substitution a remarkable reduction of only 15% in compressive strength was observed, with no significant change or effect on the consistency; thus conferring potentially significant sustainability implications.
The Implementation of Augmented Reality Applications in Education
Authors: Kanaki Kalliopi , Katsali Nikolaos D.
Published: February 2022

In this paper, we present augmented reality applications implemented by students and teachers of the 5th Vocational High School of Heraklion in Crete, within the context of informatics courses. The applications aim to enhance the traveling experience of the visitors of Heraklion city, exploiting the global spread of smart mobile devices in contemporary societies and the facilities they provide. The whole project was accomplished in a collaborative manner and focused on the provision of information about museums and monuments of Heraklion city. The applications have to be installed on the smart mobile device of the user.
Unfolding the Curriculum: Physical Computing, Computational Thinking and Computational Experiment in STEM’s Transdisciplinary Approach
Authors: Psycharis Sarantos , Kalovrektis Konstantinos , Sakellaridi Eva , Korres Konstantinos , Mastorodimos Dimitrios
Published: February 2022

The aim of the present article is to analyze the relation of physical computing with the computational thinking dimensions and the transdisciplinary approach of STEM epistemology in inquiry-based learning environments, when the methodology of the computational experiment is implemented. We argue that computational science and computational experiment can be applied in connection with STEM epistemology, when physical computing activities are embedded in the curriculum for Higher Education students. In order to implement this connection, we present software applications that combine algorithms and physical computing. We believe that engaging students through their existing STEM courses in physical computing - in the form of the computational experiment methodology- is a strategy that is much more likely to succeed in increasing the interest and appeal of STEM epistemology. Different learning modules were designed, which covered the combination of easy java simulations (Ejs) with Arduino and Raspberry pi.
Utilization of Web-Based Services and Applications for Educational Purposes in Vocational Education and Training (VET)
Authors: Kotsifakos Dimitrios , Magetos Dimitrios , Douligeris Christos
Published: February 2022

This paper introduces new web-based tools that can assist the teaching of Informatics courses in a Vocational Education and Training (VET) environment. In order to be able to utilize these tools for educational purposes, a web-based information system needs to be created (analysis, design, implementation, check). Such systems take advantage of already available on-line software which does not require an installation on a localized server, i.e. the installation of software at the individual school Informatics laboratories. This approach meets the educational needs of the courses, and avoids possible costly in terms of time and resources malfunctions. The tools we introduce can thoroughly cover the educational needs of modern Informatics courses which are taught during Vocational Training in accordance with the analytical schedule of the last three grades of Lyceum as well as afterwards.
Performance Analysis of Permutation Matrix Zero Cross Correlation Code for SAC-OCDMA Systems
Authors: Nisar Kottakkaran Soopy , Sarangal Himali , Thapar Simrandeep Singh , Qutubuddin Mohammed , Rahmath Mohammed
Published: February 2022

SAC-OCDMA systems are picking up prominence because of their property of low Multiple Access Interference (MAI). This paper deals with zero cross-correlation (ZCC) by considering permutation matrices (PM). The properties and performance analysis of PM-ZCC code are given in this study. The obtained results have shown that PM-ZCC code can achieve better BER for more number of users. In PM-ZCC code, the code length is neither too short nor too long which is the good property of encoder-decoder design structure.
Applying Measurement Theory and Information-based Measure in Modeling Physical Phenomena and Technological Processes
Authors: Menin Boris Michailovich
Published: February 2022

In this paper, we compare the features of the application of the theory of measurements and the measure of the similarity of the model to the phenomenon under study on the basis of calculating the amount of information contained in the model. An experimental estimate compared with the standard model’s uncertainty calculation procedure shows that this measure is preferable to the traditional approach to calculating the threshold discrepancy. The article presents an algorithm that is used to calculate the minimum achievable uncertainty in the resolution of the model's fuzziness, as well as experimental results demonstrating its effectiveness.