Damage detection in multilayered fiber–metal laminates using guided-wave phased array

This study employs the Lamb wave method to detect damage in Fiber–metal laminates (FMLs). The method is based on quasi-isotropic behavior approximation and beamforming techniques. Delay and sum and minimum variance distorsionless response beamformers are applied to a uniform linear phased array. The simulation in finite element software is conducted to evaluate the performance of the presented procedure. The two types of damage studied are the following: (1) Delamination between fiber–epoxy and metal layers and (2) crack on the metal layer. The present study has the following important contributions: (1) Health monitoring of multi-damaged FMLs using Lamb waves and beamforming technique, (2) detection of damage type, (3) detection of damage size by 1D phased array, and (4) identification of damages that occurred very close to the laminate edges or close to each other.     

Fabrication of Novel Antimicrobial Bio-Fibers Using Silk Wastage,Study of Poly (hexamethylene) Biguanide,and Silver Nanoparticles Interaction

Regenerated silk fibers were fabricated through dry-wet spinning process using N-methyl morpholine N-oxide and methanol as solvent and coagulant, respectively. Several concentrations of poly (hexamethylene) biguanide (PHMB) (0.27, 0.41, and 0.55 mL per 1 g of fibroin) and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) (0.0005, 0.0015, 0.0055, 0.0095, and 0.0135% (w/v) were used as antibacterial agents. Antibacterial property of bio-fibers produced by either master batch or dipping methods was compared to each other against a gram-positive bacterium, Staphylococcus aurous. Master batch process indicated the dependency of antibacterial effect on the concentration of antibacterial agents as well as particle size. Maximum bactericidal activity in this process was obtained at concentrations of 0.0055% of AgNPs and 0.55 mL of PHMB per 1 g of fibroin. However for long-lasting effect and from toxicity aspect PHMB with lower concentration (0.27 mL) and with 0.0055% AgNP was seemed to be ideal. The result from dipping process showed that various concentrations of PHMB can greatly influence on the results; the interaction of 0.0055% AgNPs and 0.41 mL of PHMB offered good antibacterial properties with the least amount of toxicity effect in human cells.     

Correction to: A Novel Idea for Groundwater Resource Management during Megadrought Events

Water Resources Management - The original version of this article unfortunately contains an oversight in the spelling of name of one of the cited authors.     

An efficient method for synthesis of some heterocyclic compounds containing 3-iminoisatin and 1,2,4-triazole using Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles

1,2,4-triazole derivatives were prepared by reaction of thiocarbohydrazide and some esters in 60% ethanol. Condensation of 1,2,4-triazole derivatives with isatin gave Schiff bases of 3-iminoisatin derivatives. Reaction of malonic or succinic acid dihydrazide with isatin lead to formation of N,N'-bis-(3-imino-1,3-dihydro-indolyl-2-one)-malonamide 8a and N,N'-bis-(3-imino-1,3-dihydro-indolyl-2-one)succinamide 8b in good yields under mild reaction conditions. These reactions are catalyzed by Fe₃O₄ MNPs. The chemical structures were confirmed by Fourier transform-infrared, ¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry spectroscopy, and elemental analysis.     

Culture and the sequence of steps in theory of mind development.

To examine cultural contrasts in the ordered sequence of conceptual developments leading to theory of mind (ToM), we compared 135 3- to 6-year-olds (77 Australians; 58 Iranians) on an established 5-step ToM scale (Wellman & Liu, 2004). There was a cross-cultural difference in the sequencing of ToM steps but not in overall rates of ToM mastery. In line with our predictions, the children from Iran conformed to a distinctive sequence previously observed only in children in China. In contrast to the case with children from Australia (and the United States), knowledge access was understood earlier than opinion diversity in children from Iran, consistent with this collectivist culture's emphasis on filial respect, dispute avoidance, and acquiring knowledge. Having a sibling was linked with faster overall ToM progress in Australia only and was not related to scale sequences in either culture. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Detection of malicious vehicles (DMV) through monitoring in Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks

Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs) are appropriate networks that can be applied to intelligent transportation systems. In VANET, messages exchanged among vehicles may be damaged by attacker nodes. Therefore, security in message forwarding is an important factor. We propose the Detection of Malicious Vehicles (DMV) algorithm through monitoring to detect malicious nodes that drop or duplicate received packets and to isolate them from honest vehicles, where each vehicle is monitored by some of it trustier neighbors called verifier nodes. If a verifier vehicle observes an abnormal behavior from vehicle V, it increases distrust value of vehicle V. The ID of vehicle V is then reported to its relevant Certificate Authority (CA) as a malicious node when its distrust value is higher than a threshold value. Performance evaluation shows that DMV can detect most existence abnormal and malicious vehicles even at high speeds.     

Non-destructive evaluation of maturity and quality parameters of pomegranate fruit by visible/near infrared spectroscopy

In this study, the potential of visible and near infrared spectroscopy was investigated to classify the maturity stage and to predict the quality attributes of pomegranate variety “Ashraf” such as total soluble solids content, pH, and titratable acidity during four distinct maturity stages between 88 and 143 days after full bloom. Principal component analysis was used to distinguish among different maturities. The prediction models of internal quality attributes of the pomegranate were developed by partial least squares regression. The transmission spectra of pomegranate were obtained in the wavelength range from 400 to 1100 nm. In this research several preprocessing methods were utilized including centering, smoothing (Savitzky–Golay algorithm, median filter), normalization (multiplicative scatter correction and standard normal variate) and differentiation (first derivative and second derivative). It concluded that different preprocessing techniques had effects on the classification performance of the model using the principal component analysis method. In general, standard normal variate and multiplicative scatter correction gave better results than the other pretreatments. The correlation coefficients (r), root mean square error of calibration and ratio performance deviation for the calibration models were calculated: r = 0.93, root mean square error of calibration = 0.22 °Brix and ratio performance deviation = 6.4 °Brix for total soluble solids; r = 0.84, root mean square error of calibration = 0.064 and ratio performance deviation = 4.95 for pH; r = 0.94, root mean square error of calibration = 0.25 and ratio performance deviation = 5.35 for titratable acidity.     

High‐Molecular‐Weight Polyoxirane Copolymers and their Use in High‐Performance Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells

Low‐crystalline random and gradient P(EO‐co‐PO) copolymers and amorphous PPO and PBO of high molecular weight were synthesized by anionic coordination polymerization. Polymer gel electrolytes based on these (co)polymers were prepared and tested for long‐term performance of DSSC. The DSSC based on P(EO‐co‐PO) copolymers have longer life time compared to the homo‐PEO‐ and homo‐PPO‐based DSSC, respectively. The cells containing the chemically crosslinked copolymer gel exhibited a high efficiency of 6% after 25 d performance, whereas the solar cells based on physically crosslinked copolymer gel showed fast degradation.