Abstract: We report the design and characterization of ultra high
quality factor filter based on one-dimensional photonic-crystal Thue-
Morse sequence structure. The behavior of aperiodic array of
photonic crystal structure is numerically investigated and we show
that by changing the angle of incident wave, desired wavelengths
could be tuned and a tunable filter is realized. Also it is shown that
high quality factor filter be achieved in the telecommunication
window around 1550 nm, with a device based on Thue-Morse
structure. Simulation results show that the proposed structure has a
quality factor more than 100000 and it is suitable for DWDM
communication applications.
Abstract: The effect of carbon nanofibers (CNFs) on the
electrical properties of Poly(vinylidene fluoride-hexafluoropropylene)
(P(VdF-HFP)) based gel polymer electrolytes has been investigated
in the present work. The length and diameter ranges of CNFs used in
the present work are 5-50 μm and 200-600 nm respectively. The
nanocomposite gel polymer electrolytes have been synthesized by
solution casting technique with varying CNFs content in terms of
weight percentage. Electrochemical impedance analysis demonstrates
that the reinforcement of carbon nanofibers significantly enhances the
ionic conductivity of the polymer electrolyte. The decrease of
crystallinity of P(VdF-HFP) due the addition of CNFs has been
confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The interaction of CNFs with
various constituents of nanocomposite gel polymer electrolytes has
been assessed by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy.
Moreover CNFs added gel polymer electrolytes offer superior
thermal stability as compared to that of CNFs free electrolytes as
confirmed by Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA).
Abstract: In VLSI, testing plays an important role. Major
problem in testing are test data volume and test power. The important
solution to reduce test data volume and test time is test data
compression. The Proposed technique combines the bit maskdictionary
and 2n pattern run length-coding method and provides a
substantial improvement in the compression efficiency without
introducing any additional decompression penalty. This method has
been implemented using Mat lab and HDL Language to reduce test
data volume and memory requirements. This method is applied on
various benchmark test sets and compared the results with other
existing methods. The proposed technique can achieve a compression
ratio up to 86%.
Abstract: Polymeric micro-cantilevers (Cs) are rapidly
becoming popular for MEMS applications such as chemo- and biosensing
as well as purely electromechanical applications such as
microrelays. Polymer materials present suitable physical and
chemical properties combined with low-cost mass production. Hence,
micro-cantilevers made of polymers indicate much more
biocompatibility and adaptability of rapid prototyping along with
mechanical properties. This research studies the effects of three
process and one size factors on the filling behaviour in micro cavity,
and the role of each in the replication of micro parts using different
polymer materials i.e. polypropylene (PP) SABIC 56M10 and
acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) Magnum 8434 . In particular,
the following factors are considered: barrel temperature, mould
temperature, injection speed and the thickness of micro features. The
study revealed that the barrel temperature and the injection speed are
the key factors affecting the flow length of micro features replicated
in PP and ABS. For both materials, an increase of feature sizes
improves the melt flow. However, the melt fill of micro features does
not increase linearly with the increase of their thickness.
Abstract: This study analyzed the effect of area variables and
economic variables on the length of each period of the project in order
to analyze the effect of agreement rate on project implementation in
housing renewal projects. In conclusion, as can be seen from these
results, a low agreement rate may not translate into project promotion,
and a higher agreement rate may not translate into project delay. The
expectation of the policy is that the lower the agreement rate, the more
projects would be promoted, but that is not the actual effect. From a
policy consistency viewpoint, changing the agreement rate frequently,
depending on the decision of the public, is not reasonable. The policy
of using agreement rate as a necessary condition for project
implementation should be reconsidered.
Abstract: Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar has
received increasing attention in recent years. MIMO radar has many
advantages over conventional phased array radar such as target
detection,resolution enhancement, and interference suppression. In
this paper, the results are presented from a simulation study of MIMO
uniformly-spaced linear array (ULA) antennas. The performance is
investigated under varied parameters, including varied array size,
pseudo random (PN) sequence length, number of snapshots, and
signal to noise ratio (SNR). The results of MIMO are compared to a
traditional array antenna.
Abstract: Cadmium (II) (Cd) is one of the major toxic elemental
pollutants, which is hazardous for humans, animals and plants. γ-
Polyglutamic acid (γ-PGA) is an extracellular biopolymer produced
by several species of Bacillus which has been reported to be an
effective biosorbent for metal ions. The effect of γ-PGA on growth of
rice grown under laboratory conditions was investigated. Rice seeds
were germinated and then grown at 30±1°C on filter paper soaked
with Cd solution and γ-PGA for 7 days. The result showed that Cd
significantly inhibited the growth of roots, shoots by reducing root,
and shoot lengths. Fresh and dry weights also decreased compared
with control; however, the addition of 500 mg·L-1 γ-PGA alleviated
rice seedlings from the adverse effects of Cd. The analysis of
physiological traits revealed that Cd caused a decrease in the total
chlorophyll and soluble protein contents and amylase activities in all
treatments. The Cd content in seedling tissues increased for the Cd
250 μM treatment (P
Abstract: By enhancing the applicatıon of grounds for
establishment and due to the lack of appropriate sites, engineers
attempt to seek out a new method to reduce the weakness of soils. İn
aspect of economic situation, various ways have been used to
decrease the weak grounds. Because of the rapid development of
infrastructural facilities, spreading the construction operation is an
obligation. Furthermore, in various sites with the really bad soil
situation, engineers have considered obvious problems. One of the
most essential ways for developing the weak soils is stone column.
Obviously, the method was introduced in France in 1830 to improve
a native soil initially. Stone columns have an expanding range of
usage in different rough foundation sites all over the world to
increase the bearing capacity, to reduce the whole and differential
settlements, to enhance the rate of consolidation, to stabilize slopes
stability of embankments and to increase the liquefaction resistance
as well. A recent procedure called installing vertical nails along the
round stone columns in order to make better the performance of
considered columns is offered. Moreover, thanks to the enhancing the
nail diameter, number and embedment nail depth, the positive points
of vertical circumferential nails increases. Based on the result of this
study, load caring capacity will be develop with enhancing the length
and the power of reinforcements in vertical encasement stone column
(CESC). In this study, the main purpose is comparing two methods of
stone columns (installed a nail surrounding the stone columns and
using geogrid on clay) for enhancing the bearing capacity, decreasing
the whole and various settlements.
Abstract: Sewer deposits have been identified as a major cause
of dysfunctions in combined sewer systems regarding sewer
management, which induces different negative consequents resulting
in poor hydraulic conveyance, environmental damages as well as
worker’s health. In order to overcome the problematics of
sedimentation, flushing has been considered as the most operative
and cost-effective way to minimize the sediments impacts and
prevent such challenges. Flushing, by prompting turbulent wave
effects, can modify the bed form depending on the hydraulic
properties and geometrical characteristics of the conduit. So far, the
dynamics of the bed-load during high-flow events in combined sewer
systems as a complex environment is not well understood, mostly due
to lack of measuring devices capable to work in the “hostile” in
combined sewer system correctly. In this regards, a one-episode
flushing issue from an opening gate valve with weir function was
carried out in a trunk sewer in Paris to understand its cleansing
efficiency on the sediments (thickness: 0-30 cm). During more than
1h of flushing within 5 m distance in downstream of this flushing
device, a maximum flowrate and a maximum level of water have
been recorded at 5 m in downstream of the gate as 4.1 m3/s and 2.1
m respectively. This paper is aimed to evaluate the efficiency of this
type of gate for around 1.1 km (from the point -50 m to +1050 m in
downstream from the gate) by (i) determining bed grain-size
distribution and sediments evolution through the sewer channel, as
well as their organic matter content, and (ii) identifying sections that
exhibit more changes in their texture after the flush. For the first one,
two series of sampling were taken from the sewer length and then
analyzed in laboratory, one before flushing and second after, at same
points among the sewer channel. Hence, a non-intrusive sampling
instrument has undertaken to extract the sediments smaller than the
fine gravels. The comparison between sediments texture after the
flush operation and the initial state, revealed the most modified zones
by the flush effect, regarding the sewer invert slope and hydraulic
parameters in the zone up to 400 m from the gate. At this distance,
despite the increase of sediment grain-size rages, D50 (median grainsize)
varies between 0.6 mm and 1.1 mm compared to 0.8 mm and 10
mm before and after flushing, respectively. Overall, regarding the
sewer channel invert slope, results indicate that grains smaller than
sands (< 2 mm) are more transported to downstream along about 400
m from the gate: in average 69% before against 38% after the flush
with more dispersion of grain-sizes distributions. Furthermore, high
effect of the channel bed irregularities on the bed material evolution
has been observed after the flush.
Abstract: This study aims to investigate the mixing behaviors of
deionized (DI) water and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) solutions in
C-shaped serpentine micromixers over a wide range of flow
conditions. The flow of CMC solutions exhibits shear-thinning
behaviors. Numerical simulations are performed to investigate the
effects of the mean flow speed, fluid properties and geometry
parameters on flow and mixing in the micromixers with the serpentine
channel of the same overall channel length. From the results, we can
find the following trends. When convection dominates fluid mixing,
the curvature-induced vortices enhance fluid mixing effectively. The
mixing efficiency of a micromixer consisting of semicircular C-shaped
repeating units with a smaller centerline radius is better than that of a
micromixer consisting of major segment repeating units with a larger
centerline radius. The viscosity of DI water is less than the overall
average apparent viscosity of CMC solutions, and so the effect of
curvature-induced vortices on fluid mixing in DI water is larger than
that in CMC solutions for the cases with the same mean flow speed.
Abstract: A solar dish collector has been designed, fabricated
and tested for its performance on 10-03-2015 in Salem, Tamilnadu,
India. The experiments on cooking vessels of coated and un-coated
with 5 Liters capacity have been used for cooking Rice. The results
are shown in graphs. The solar cooker is always capable of cooking
food within the expected length of time and based on the solar
radiation levels. With minimum cooking power, the coated pressure
cooker of 5 Liters capacity cooks the food at faster manner. This is
due to the conductivity of the coating material provided in the cooker.
Abstract: In this communication, a low-cost circularly
polarized wire antenna exhibiting improved gain performance for
Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle
(V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications is
presented. The proposed antenna comprises a Y-shaped quarterwavelength
monopole antenna surrounded by two iterations of eight
conductive arched walls acting as parasitic elements to enhance the
overall antenna gain and to shape the radiation pattern in the H-plane.
A hemispherical radome shell is added to protect the antenna
structure and its effect on the antenna performance is discussed. The
designed antenna demonstrates antenna gain of 8.2 dB with
omnidirectional far-field radiation pattern in the H-plane. The gain of
the proposed antenna is also compared with the characteristic of the
stand-alone Y-shaped monopole to highlight the advantages of the
proposed approach.
Abstract: To evaluate the vigor of wheat seeds and stress of
premature aging effects on germination percentage, root length and
shoot length of five wheat cultivars that include Vynak, Karkheh,
Chamran, Star and Kavir which underwent a period of zero, two,
three, four days in terms of premature aging with 41°C temperature
and 100% relative humidity. Seed germination percentage, root
length and shoot length in these conditions were measured. This
experiment was conducted as a factorial completely randomized
design with four replications in laboratory conditions. The results
showed that each of aging treatments used in this experiment can be
used to detect differences in vigor of wheat varieties. Wheat cultivars
illustrated significant differences in germination percentage, root
length and shoot length in terms of premature aging. The wheat
cultivars; Astar and Vynak had maximum germination percentage
and Karkheh, respectively Kavir and Chamran had lowest percentage
of seed germination. Reactions of root and shoot length of wheat
cultivars was also different. The results showed that the seeds with a
stronger vigor affected less in premature aging condition and the
difference between the percentage of seed germination under normal
conditions and stress was significant and the seeds with the weaker
vigor were more sensitive to the premature aging stress and the
premature aging had more severe negative impact on seed vigor.
Abstract: In order to study the effect of different levels of triple
super phosphate chemical fertilizer and biological phosphate fertilizer
(fertile 2) on some morphological traits of corn this research was
carried out in Ahvaz in 2002 as a factorial experiment in randomized
complete block design with 4 replications). The experiment included
two factors: first, biological phosphate fertilizer (fertile 2) at three
levels of 0, 100, 200 g/ha; second, triple super phosphate chemical
fertilizer at three levels of 0, 60, 90 kg/ha of pure phosphorus (P2O5).
The obtained results indicated that fertilizer treatments had a
significant effect on some morphological traits at 1% probability
level. In this regard, P2B2 treatment (100 g/ha biological phosphate
fertilizer (fertile 2) and 60 kg/ha triple super phosphate fertilizer) had
the greatest plant height, stem diameter, number of leaves and ear
length. It seems that in Ahvaz weather conditions, decrease of
consumption of triple superphosphate chemical fertilizer to less than
a half along with the consumption of biological phosphate fertilizer
(fertile 2) is highly important in order to achieve optimal results.
Therefore, it can be concluded that biological fertilizers can be used
as a suitable substitute for some of the chemical fertilizers in
sustainable agricultural systems.
Abstract: This paper represents an experimental study of LPG
diffusion flame at elevated preheated air temperatures. The flame is
stabilized in a vertical water-cooled combustor by using air swirler. An
experimental test rig was designed to investigate the different
operating conditions. The burner head is designed so that the LPG fuel
issued centrally and surrounded by the swirling air issues from an air
swirler. There are three air swirlers having the same dimensions but
having different blade angles to give different swirl numbers of 0.5,
0.87 and 1.5. The combustion air was heated electrically before
entering the combustor up to a temperature about 500 K. Five air to
fuel mass ratios of 15, 20, 30, 40 and 50 were also studied. The effect
of preheated air temperature, swirl number and air to fuel mass ratios
on the temperature maps, visible flame length, high temperature region
(size) and exhaust species concentrations are studied. Some results
show that as the preheated air temperature increases, the volume of
high temperature region also increased but the flame length decreased.
Increasing the preheated air temperature, EINOx, EICO2 and EIO2
increased, while EICO decreased. Increasing the preheated air
temperature from 300 to 500 K, for all air swirl numbers used, the
highest increase in EINOx, EICO2 and EIO2 are 141, 4 and 65%,
respectively.
Abstract: The use of engineered nanomaterials has increased as
a result of their positive impact on many sectors of the economy,
including agriculture. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are now used to
enhance seed germination, plant growth, and photosynthetic quantum
efficiency and as antimicrobial agents to control plant diseases. In
this study, we examined the effect of AgNP dosage on the seed
germination of three plant species: corn (Zea mays L.), watermelon
(Citrullus lanatus [Thunb.] Matsum. & Nakai) and zucchini
(Cucurbita pepo L.). This experiment was designed to study the
effect of AgNPs on germination percentage, germination rate, mean
germination time, root length and fresh and dry weight of seedlings
for the three species. Seven concentrations (0.05, 0.1, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2
and 2.5 mg/ml) of AgNPs were examined at the seed germination
stage. The three species had different dose responses to AgNPs in
terms of germination parameters and the measured growth
characteristics. The germination rates of the three plants were
enhanced in response to AgNPs. Significant enhancement of the
germination percentage values was observed after treatment of the
watermelon and zucchini plants with AgNPs in comparison with
untreated seeds. AgNPs showed a toxic effect on corn root
elongation, whereas watermelon and zucchini seedling growth were
positively affected by certain concentrations of AgNPs. This study
showed that exposure to AgNPs caused both positive and negative
effects on plant growth and germination.
Abstract: The economic use and ease of construction of profiled
deck composite slab is marred with the complex and un-economic
strength verification required for the serviceability and general safety
considerations. Beside these, albeit factors such as shear span length,
deck geometries and mechanical frictions greatly influence the
longitudinal shear strength, that determines the ultimate strength of
profiled deck composite slab, and number of methods available for its
determination; partial shear and slope-intercept are the two methods
according to Euro-code 4 provision. However, the complexity
associated with shear behavior of profiled deck composite slab, the
use of these methods in determining the load carrying capacities of
such slab yields different and conflicting values. This couple with the
time and cost constraint associated with the strength verification is a
source of concern that draws more attentions nowadays, the issue is
critical. Treating some of these known shear strength influencing
factors as random variables, the load carrying capacity violation of
profiled deck composite slab from the use of the two-methods
defined according to Euro-code 4 are determined using reliability
approach, and comparatively studied. The study reveals safety values
from the use of m-k method shows good standing compared with that
from the partial shear method.
Abstract: In Electric Power Steering (EPS), spoke type
Brushless AC (BLAC) motors offer distinct advantages over other
electric motor types in terms torque smoothness, reliability and
efficiency. This paper deals with the shape optimization of spoke
type BLAC motor, in order to reduce cogging torque. This paper
examines 3 steps skewing rotor angle, optimizing rotor core edge and
rotor overlap length for reducing cogging torque in spoke type BLAC
motor. The methods were applied to existing machine designs and
their performance was calculated using finite- element analysis
(FEA). Prototypes of the machine designs were constructed and
experimental results obtained. It is shown that the FEA predicted the
cogging torque to be nearly reduce using those methods.
Abstract: Greenhouses offer us suitable conditions which can
be controlled easily for the growth of the plant and they are made by
using a covering material that allows the sun light entering into the
system. Covering material can be glass, fiber glass, plastic or another
transparent element. This study investigates the solar energy usability
rates and solar energy benefitting rates of a semi-spherical (modified
arch) type greenhouse system according to different orientations and
positions which exists under climatic conditions of Bayburt. In the
concept of this study it is tried to determine the best direction and
best sizes of a semi-spherical greenhouse to get best solar benefit
from the sun. To achieve this aim a modeling study is made by using
MATLAB. However, this modeling study is run for some determined
shapes and greenhouses it can be used for different shaped
greenhouses or buildings. The basic parameters are determined as
greenhouse azimuth angle, the rate of size of long edge to short and
seasonal solar energy gaining of greenhouse. The optimum azimuth
angles of 400, 300, 250, 200, 150, 100, 50 m2 modified arch
greenhouse are 90o, 90o, 35o, 35o, 34o, 33o and 22o while their
optimum k values (ratio of length to width) are 10, 10, 10, 10, 6, 4
and 4 respectively. Positioning the buildings in order to get more
solar heat energy in winter and less in summer brings out energy and
money savings and increases the comfort.
Abstract: The elastic properties and fracture of two-dimensional
graphene were calculated purely from the atomic bonding (stretching
and bending) based on molecular mechanics method. Considering the
representative unit cell of graphene under various loading conditions,
the deformations of carbon bonds and the variations of the interlayer
distance could be realized numerically under the geometry constraints
and minimum energy assumption. In elastic region, it was found that
graphene was in-plane isotropic. Meanwhile, the in-plane deformation
of the representative unit cell is not uniform along armchair direction
due to the discrete and non-uniform distributions of the atoms. The
fracture of graphene could be predicted using fracture criteria based on
the critical bond length, over which the bond would break. It was
noticed that the fracture behavior were directional dependent, which
was consistent with molecular dynamics simulation results.