Abstract: Starting from nonlocal continuum mechanics, a
thermodynamically new nonlocal model of Euler-Bernoulli
nanobeams is provided. The nonlocal variational formulation is
consistently provided and the governing differential equation for
transverse displacement is presented. Higher-order boundary
conditions are then consistently derived. An example is contributed in
order to show the effectiveness of the proposed model.
Abstract: For a bluff body, dimples behave like roughness
elements in stimulating a turbulent boundary layer, leading to delayed
flow separation, a smaller wake and lower form drag. This is very
different in principle from the application of dimples to streamlined
body, where any reduction in drag would be predominantly due to a
reduction in skin friction. In the present work, a car model with
different dimple geometry is simulated using k-ε turbulence modeling
to determine its effect to the aerodynamics performance. Overall, the
results show that the application of dimples manages to reduce the
drag coefficient of the car model.
Abstract: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are formed
during the pyrolysis of scrap tyres to produce tyre pyrolytic oil
(TPO). Due to carcinogenic, mutagenic, and toxic properties PAHs
are priority pollutants. Hence it is essential to remove PAHs from
TPO before utilising TPO as a petroleum fuel alternative (to run the
engine). Agricultural wastes have promising future to be utilized as
biosorbent due to their cost effectiveness, abundant availability, high
biosorption capacity and renewability. Various low cost adsorbents
were prepared from natural sources. Uptake of PAHs present in tyre
pyrolytic oil was investigated using various low-cost adsorbents of
natural origin including sawdust (shisham), coconut fiber, neem bark,
chitin, activated charcoal. Adsorption experiments of different PAHs
viz. naphthalene, acenaphthalene, biphenyl and anthracene have been
carried out at ambient temperature (25°C) and at pH 7. It was
observed that for any given PAH, the adsorption capacity increases
with the lignin content. Freundlich constant Kf and 1/n have been
evaluated and it was found that the adsorption isotherms of PAHs
were in agreement with a Freundlich model, while the uptake
capacity of PAHs followed the order: activated charcoal> saw dust
(shisham) > coconut fiber > chitin. The partition coefficients in
acetone-water, and the adsorption constants at equilibrium, could be
linearly correlated with octanol–water partition coefficients. It is
observed that natural adsorbents are good alternative for PAHs
removal. Sawdust of Dalbergia sissoo, a by-product of sawmills was
found to be a promising adsorbent for the removal of PAHs present in
TPO. It is observed that adsorbents studied were comparable to those
of some conventional adsorbents.
Abstract: Blueberries are widely valued for their high content in
phenolic compounds with antioxidant activity, and hence beneficial
for the human health. In this way, a study was done to determine the
phenolic composition (total phenols, anthocyanins and tannins) and
antioxidant activity of blueberries from three cultivars (Duke,
Bluecrop, and Ozarkblue) grown in two different Portuguese farms.
Initially two successive extractions were done with methanol
followed by two extractions with aqueous acetone solutions. These
extracts obtained were then used to evaluate the amount of phenolic
compounds and the antioxidant activity. The total phenols were
observed to vary from 4.9 to 8.2 mg GAE/g fresh weight, with
anthocyanin’s contents in the range 1.5-2.8 mg EMv3G/g and tannins
contents in the range 1.5- 3.8 mg/g. The results for antioxidant
activity ranged from 9.3 to 23.2 molTE/g and from 24.7 to 53.4molTE/g, when measured, respectively, by DPPH and ABTS
methods. In conclusion it was observed that, in general, the cultivar
had a visible effect on the phenols present, and furthermore, the
geographical origin showed relevance either in the phenols contents
or the antioxidant activity.
Abstract: This experimental study evaluates the effect of using
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Multidimensional Self-
Concept Model (MSCM) in a drug prevention programme to increase
resiliency and reduce aggression among at-risk youth in Malaysia. A
number of 60 (N=60) university students who were at-risk of taking
drugs were involved in this study. Participants were identified with
self-rating scales, Adolescent Resilience Attitude Scale (ARAS) and
Aggression Questionnaire. Based on the mean score of these
instruments, the participants were divided into the treatment group,
and the control group. Data were analyzed using t-test. The finding
showed that the mean score of resiliency was increased in the
treatment group compared to the control group. It also shows that the
mean score of aggression was reduced in the treatment group
compared to the control group. Drug Prevention Programme was
found to help in enhancing resiliency and reducing aggression among
participants in the treatment group compared to the controlled group.
Implications were given regarding the preventive actions on drug
abuse among youth in Malaysia.
Abstract: Analysis of the properties of coconut (Cocos nucifera)
and its oil was evaluated in this work using standard analytical
techniques. The analyses carried out include proximate composition
of the fruit, extraction of oil from the fruit using different process
parameters and physicochemical analysis of the extracted oil. The
results showed the percentage (%) moisture, crude lipid, crude
protein, ash and carbohydrate content of the coconut as 7.59, 55.15,
5.65, 7.35 and 19.51 respectively. The oil from the coconut fruit was
odourless and yellowish liquid at room temperature (30oC). The
treatment combinations used (leaching time, leaching temperature
and solute: solvent ratio) showed significant differences (P
Abstract: Mechanical stress has a strong effect on the magnitude
of the Barkhausen-noise in structural steels. Because the
measurements are performed at the surface of the material, for a
sample sheet, the full effect can be described by a biaxial stress field.
The measured Barkhausen-noise is dependent on the orientation of
the exciting magnetic field relative to the axis of the stress tensor.
The sample inhomogenities including the residual stress also
modifies the angular dependence of the measured Barkhausen-noise.
We have developed a laboratory device with a cross like specimen
for bi-axial bending. The measuring head allowed performing
excitations in two orthogonal directions. We could excite the two
directions independently or simultaneously with different amplitudes.
The simultaneous excitation of the two coils could be performed in
phase or with a 90 degree phase shift. In principle this allows to
measure the Barkhausen-noise at an arbitrary direction without
moving the head, or to measure the Barkhausen-noise induced by a
rotating magnetic field if a linear superposition of the two fields can
be assumed.
Abstract: This study aims to investigate the possibility of crime
prevention through CCTV by analyzing the appropriateness of the
CCTV location, whether it is installed in the hotspot of crime-prone
areas, and exploring the crime prevention effect and transition effect.
The real crime and CCTV locations of case city were converted into
the spatial data by using GIS. The data was analyzed by hotspot
analysis and weighted displacement quotient (WDQ). As study
methods, it analyzed existing relevant studies for identifying the trends
of CCTV and crime studies based on big data from 1800 to 2014 and
understanding the relation between CCTV and crime. Second, it
investigated the current situation of nationwide CCTVs and analyzed
the guidelines of CCTV installation and operation to draw attention to
the problems and indicating points of CCTV use. Third, it investigated
the crime occurrence in case areas and the current situation of CCTV
installation in the spatial aspects, and analyzed the appropriateness and
effectiveness of CCTV installation to suggest a rational installation of
CCTV and the strategic direction of crime prevention. The results
demonstrate that there was no significant effect in the installation of
CCTV on crime prevention in the case area. This indicates that CCTV
should be installed and managed in a more scientific way reflecting
local crime situations. In terms of CCTV, the methods of spatial
analysis such as GIS, which can evaluate the installation effect, and the
methods of economic analysis like cost-benefit analysis should be
developed. In addition, these methods should be distributed to local
governments across the nation for the appropriate installation of
CCTV and operation. This study intended to find a design guideline of
the optimum CCTV installation. In this regard, this study is
meaningful in that it will contribute to the creation of a safe city.
Abstract: It has become an increasing evident that large
development influences the climate. There are concerns that rising
temperature over developed areas could have negative impact and
increase living discomfort within city boundaries. Temperature trends
in Ibadan city have received little attention, yet the area has
experienced heavy urban expansion between 1972 and 2014. This
research aims at examining the impact of landuse change on surface
temperature knowing that the built-up environment absorb and store
solar energy, resulting into the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. The
Landsat imagery was used to examine the landuse change for a
period of 42 years (1972-2014). Land Surface Temperature (LST)
was obtained by converting the thermal band to a surface temperature
map and zonal statistic analyses was used to examine the relationship
between landuse and temperature emission. The results showed that
the settlement area increased to a large extent while the area covered
by vegetation reduced during the study period. The spatial and
temporal trends of surface temperature are related to the gradual
change in urban landuse/landcover and the settlement area has the
highest emission. This research provides useful insight into the
temporal behavior of the Ibadan city.
Abstract: A Disaster Management System (DMS) is very important for countries with multiple disasters, such as Chile. In the world (also in Chile)different disasters (earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruption, fire or other natural or man-made disasters) happen and have an effect on the population. It is also possible that two or more disasters occur at the same time. This meansthata multi-risk situation must be mastered. To handle such a situation a Decision Support System (DSS) based on multiagents is a suitable architecture. The most known DMSs are concernedwith only a singledisaster (sometimes thecombination of earthquake and tsunami) and often with a particular disaster. Nevertheless, a DSS helps for a better real-time response. Analyze the existing systems in the literature and expand them for multi-risk disasters to construct a well-organized system is the proposal of our work. The here shown work is an approach of a multi-risk system, which needs an architecture and well defined aims. In this moment our study is a kind of case study to analyze the way we have to follow to create our proposed system in the future.
Abstract: Concrete is found to undergo degradation when
subjected to elevated temperatures and loose substantial amount of its
strength. The loss of strength in concrete is mainly attributed to
decomposition of C-S-H and release of physically and chemically
bound water, which begins when the exposure temperature exceeds
100°C. When such a concrete comes in contact with moisture, the
cement paste is found rehydrate and considerable amount of strength
lost is found to recover. This paper presents results of an
experimental program carried out to investigate the effect of recuring
on strength gain of OPC concrete specimens subjected to elevated
temperatures from 200°C to 800°C, which were subjected to
retention time of two hours and four hours at the designated
temperature. Strength recoveries for concrete subjected to 7
designated elevated temperatures are compared. It is found that the
efficacy of recuring as a measure of strength recovery reduces with
increase in exposure temperature.
Abstract: In this paper, an effective non-destructive, noninvasive
approach for leak detection was proposed. The process relies
on analyzing thermal images collected by an IR viewer device that
captures thermo-grams. In this study a statistical analysis of the
collected thermal images of the ground surface along the expected
leak location followed by a visual inspection of the thermo-grams
was performed in order to locate the leak. In order to verify the
applicability of the proposed approach the predicted leak location
from the developed approach was compared with the real leak
location. The results showed that the expected leak location was
successfully identified with an accuracy of more than 95%.
Abstract: The detection of the polymer melt state during
manufacture process is regarded as an efficient way to control the
molded part quality in advance. Online monitoring rheological
property of polymer melt during processing procedure provides an
approach to understand the melt state immediately. Rheological
property reflects the polymer melt state at different processing
parameters and is very important in injection molding process
especially. An approach that demonstrates how to calculate
rheological property of polymer melt through in-process
measurement, using injection molding as an example, is proposed in
this study. The system consists of two sensors and a data acquisition
module can process the measured data, which are used for the
calculation of rheological properties of polymer melt. The rheological
properties of polymer melt discussed in this study include shear rate
and viscosity which are investigated with respect to injection speed
and melt temperature. The results show that the effect of injection
speed on the rheological properties is apparent, especially for high
melt temperature and should be considered for precision molding
process.
Abstract: Micro-alloyed steel components are used in
automotive industry for the necessity to make the manufacturing
process cycles shorter when compared to conventional steel by
eliminating heat treatment cycles, so an important saving of costs and
energy can be reached by reducing the number of operations. Microalloying
elements like vanadium, niobium or titanium have been
added to medium carbon steels to achieve grain refinement with or
without precipitation strengthening along with uniform
microstructure throughout the matrix. Present study reports the
applicability of medium carbon vanadium micro-alloyed steel in hot
forging. Forgeability has been determined with respect to different
cooling rates, after forging in a hydraulic press at 50% diameter
reduction in temperature range of 900-11000C. Final microstructures,
hardness, tensile strength, and impact strength have been evaluated.
The friction coefficients of different lubricating conditions, viz.,
graphite in hydraulic oil, graphite in furnace oil, DF 150 (Graphite,
Water-Based) die lubricant and dry or without any lubrication were
obtained from the ring compression test for the above micro-alloyed
steel. Results of ring compression tests indicate that graphite in
hydraulic oil lubricant is preferred for free forging and dry lubricant
is preferred for die forging operation. Exceptionally good forgeability
and high resistance to fracture, especially for faster cooling rate has
been observed for fine equiaxed ferrite-pearlite grains, some amount
of bainite and fine precipitates of vanadium carbides and
carbonitrides. The results indicated that the cooling rate has a
remarkable effect on the microstructure and mechanical properties at
room temperature.
Abstract: In this research (using induction furnace process)
nodular iron with three different percentages of copper (residual,
0.5% and 1,2%) was obtained. Chemical analysis was performed by
mass spectrometry and microstructures were characterized by Optical
Microscopy (ASTM E3) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM).
The study of mechanical behavior was carried out in a mechanical
test machine (ASTM E8) and a Pin on disk tribometer (ASTM G99)
was used to assess wear resistance. It is observed that the dissolution
of copper in crystal lattice increases the pearlite structure improving
the wear and hardness behavior, but producing a contrary effect on
the energy absorption.
Abstract: Doxorubicin, also known as Adriamycin, is an
anthracycline class of drug used in cancer chemotherapy. It is used in
the treatment of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, multiple myeloma, acute
leukemia, breast cancer, lung cancer, endometrium cancer and ovary
cancers. It functions via intercalating DNA and ultimately killing
cancer cells. The major side effects of doxorubicin are hair loss,
myelosuppression, nausea & vomiting, oesophagitis, diarrhea, heart
damage and liver dysfunction. The minor modifications in the
structure of compound exhibit large variation in the biological
activity, has prompted us to carry out the synthesis of sulfonamide
derivatives. Sulfonamide is an important feature with broad spectrum
of biological activity such as antiviral, antifungal, diuretics, antiinflammatory,
antibacterial and anticancer activities. Structure of the
synthesized compound N-(1-methyl-2-oxo-2-N-methyl anilinoethyl)
benzene sulfonamide confirmed by proton nuclear magnetic
resonance (1H NMR),13C NMR, Mass and FTIR spectroscopic tools
to assure the position of all protons and hence stereochemistry of the
molecule. Further we have reported the binding potential of
synthesized sulfonamide analogues in comparison to doxorubicin
drug using Auto Dock 4.2 software. Computational binding energy
(B.E.) and inhibitory constant (Ki) has been evaluated for the
synthesized compound in comparison of doxorubicin against Poly
(dA-dT).Poly (dA-dT) and Poly (dG-dC).Poly (dG-dC) sequences.
The in vitro cytotoxic study against human breast cancer cell lines
confirms the better anticancer activity of the synthesized compound
over currently in use anticancer drug doxorubicin. The IC50 value of
the synthesized compound is 7.12 μM whereas for doxorubicin is 7.2
μM.
Abstract: In this paper, we regard as a coded transmission over a
frequency-selective channel. We plan to study analytically the
convergence of the turbo-detector using a maximum a posteriori
(MAP) equalizer and a MAP decoder. We demonstrate that the
densities of the maximum likelihood (ML) exchanged during the
iterations are e-symmetric and output-symmetric. Under the Gaussian
approximation, this property allows to execute a one-dimensional
scrutiny of the turbo-detector. By deriving the analytical terminology
of the ML distributions under the Gaussian approximation, we confirm
that the bit error rate (BER) performance of the turbo-detector
converges to the BER performance of the coded additive white
Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel at high signal to noise ratio (SNR),
for any frequency selective channel.
Abstract: Operations, maintenance and reliability of wind
turbines have received much attention over the years due to the rapid
expansion of wind farms. This paper explores early fault diagnosis
technique for a 5MW wind turbine system subjected to multiple
faults, where genetic optimization algorithm is employed to make the
residual sensitive to the faults, but robust against disturbances. The
proposed technique has a potential to reduce the downtime mostly
caused by the breakdown of components and exploit the productivity
consistency by providing timely fault alarms. Simulation results show
the effectiveness of the robust fault detection methods used under
Matlab/Simulink/Gatool environment.
Abstract: Cement concrete is a complex mixture of different
materials. Behaviour of concrete depends on its mix proportions and
constituents when it is subjected to elevated temperatures. Principal
effects due to elevated temperatures are loss in compressive strength,
loss in weight or mass, change in colour and spall of concrete. The
experimental results of normal concrete and high strength concrete
subjected elevated temperatures at 200°C, 400°C, 600°C, and 800°C
and different cooling regimes viz. air cooling, water quenching on
different grade of concrete are reported in this paper.
Abstract: The work studied the effect of germination on
proximate, phenol and flavonoid content and antioxidant activities
(AOA) of African Yam been (AYB). Germination was done in
controlled dark chamber (100% RH, 28oC). The proximate, phenol
and flavonoid content and antioxidant activities before and after
germination were investigated. The crude protein, moisture, and
crude fiber content of germinated AYB were significantly higher
(P