Evaluation of Lepidium sativum seed and guar gum to improve dough rheology and quality parameters in composite rice–wheat bread

The effects of hydrocolloids in rice–wheat flour were studied. Hydrocolloids at 0%, 0.3%, 0.6% and 1% w/w (flour basis) and guar (G), Lepidium sativum seed (L) and guar-L. sativum seed (GL) gum were tested as additives to the rice/flour in various combinations. The quality parameters for the experiment were assessed with farinography, extensography, amylography and texture profile analysis. The evaluation of dough rheology showed that water absorption, dough development time, dough stability and viscosity all increased with the addition of hydrocolloids alone or in a combination. It was demonstrated that G₁L₁ promoted the highest effect. The mixing tolerance index and gelatinization temperature decreased with an increased hydrocolloid concentration. Extensibility value for the dough that incorporated guar and L. sativum seed gum increased with increasing hydrocolloid concentration from 0.3% to 0.6% and then decreased at 1%. The water activity of all bread didn't have significant differences with increasing hydrocolloids concentration but this parameter 24 decreased during storage. Firmness decreased with increasing hydrocolloid concentration and increased with increasing storage time. The sensory evaluation by a consumer panel gave the higher score for overall acceptability to G_0.3L_0.3 and G_0.3L_0.6 samples. The results also showed that G₁L₁, G₁L_0.6 and G_0.6L₁ samples had high specific volume and porosity.     

Sustainability assessment of flooring systems in the city of Tehran: An AHP-based life cycle analysis

In recent years, numerous attempts have been made to reduce the global environmental and associated socio-economic impacts of construction activities to achieve sustainable development goals. A sustainable system or activity refers to an eco-friendly, cost effective and socio-politically viable solution. This paper utilizes triple-bottom-line (TBL) sustainability criteria for the selection of a sustainable flooring system in Tehran (Iran). Three types of block joisted flooring systems – concrete, clay, and expanded polystyrene (EPS) blocks – have been investigated using life cycle analysis (LCA). Proposed approach provides a comprehensive evaluation system based on TBL criteria that are further divided into thirteen sub-criteria. It includes: (1) Environmental concerns (resource depletion, waste and emissions, waste management, climate change, environmental risk, embodied energy and energy loss); (2) Economic concerns (material cost, construction cost, and occupation and maintenance cost); and (3) Socio-political issues (social acceptance, vulnerability of area, and building weight). Analytical hierarchy process (AHP) is used as a multi-criteria decision making technique that helps to aggregate the impacts of proposed (sub)criteria into a sustainability index (SI) through a five-level hierarchical structure. Integration of AHP and LCA provides a framework for robust decision making that is consistent with sustainable construction practices. A detailed analysis shows that the EPS block is the most sustainable solution for block joisted flooring system in Tehran.     

Study on novel poly (vinyl pyrrolidone) doped MWCNTs/polyrhodanine nanocomposites: Synthesis,characterization, and thermal performance

In this paper, poly (vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) doped multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs/polyrhodanine), were synthesized through one-step chemical oxidative polymerization of rhodanine monomers on the surface-modified carbon nanotubes. Characterization of MWCNTs/polyrhodanine was conducted by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and EDX spectrum analyses in which the results confirmed the successful formation of MWCNTs/polyrhodanine. In addition, to investigate the thermal properties of samples, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was employed, and results exhibited significant improvement in the nanocomposite thermal stability due to the addition of MWCNTs with reinforcement effect in polymer matrix.     

An optimal algorithm for two robots path planning problem on the grid

This paper is a study on the problem of path planning for two robots on a grid. We consider the objective of minimizing the maximum path length which corresponds to minimizing the arrival time of the last robot at its goal position. We propose an optimal algorithm that solves the problem in linear time with respect to the size of the grid. We show that the algorithm is complete; meaning that it is sure to find an optimal solution or report if any does not exist.     

Influences of graphene oxide support on the electrochemical performances of graphene oxide-MnO2 nanocomposites

MnO₂ supported on graphene oxide (GO) made from different graphite materials has been synthesized and further investigated as electrode materials for supercapacitors. The structure and morphology of MnO₂-GO nanocomposites are characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoemission spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and Nitrogen adsorption-desorption. As demonstrated, the GO fabricated from commercial expanded graphite (denoted as GO(1)) possesses more functional groups and larger interplane gap compared to the GO from commercial graphite powder (denoted as GO(2)). The surface area and functionalities of GO have significant effects on the morphology and electrochemical activity of MnO₂, which lead to the fact that the loading amount of MnO₂ on GO(1) is much higher than that on GO(2). Elemental analysis performed via inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy confirmed higher amounts of MnO₂ loading on GO(1). As the electrode of supercapacitor, MnO₂-GO(1) nanocomposites show larger capacitance (307.7 F g^-1) and better electrochemical activity than MnO₂-GO(2) possibly due to the high loading, good uniformity, and homogeneous distribution of MnO₂ on GO(1) support.     

Model-based human gait recognition using leg and arm movements

We have presented a model-based approach for human gait recognition, which is based on analyzing the leg and arm movements. An initial model is created based on anatomical proportions, and a posterior model is constructed upon the movements of the articulated parts of the body, using active contour models and the Hough transform. Fourier analysis is used to describe the motion patterns of the moving parts. The k-nearest neighbor rule applied to the phase-weighted Fourier magnitude of each segment’s spectrum is used for classification. In contrast to the existing approaches, the main focus of this paper is on increasing the discrimination capability of the model through extra features produced from the motion of the arms. Experimental results indicate good performance of the proposed method. The technique has also proved to be able to reduce the adverse effects of self-occlusion, which is a common incident in human walking.     

Environmentally responsive design in the vernacular architecture of mountainous regions. The case of Kang village,Iran

Vernacular architecture is highly compatible with local conditions and is often referred to as environmentally friendly and sustainable architecture. Today, due to issues that threaten the environment, re-paying attention to these compatibility methods and their application in contemporary architecture can be one of the priorities of architectural planning. This research seeks to answer the question of how vernacular architecture in mountainous regions is formed in order to adapt to local characteristics and particularly the role of semi-open spaces in this coordination. The article is a case study of the residential units in Kang village, Torqabeh city, Khorasan Razavi province, Iran. For this purpose, the physical variables of the village, including how the village texture and its thoroughfares were established and formed, mass and space structure, the configuration of residential units and the formation of closed, open, and semi-open spaces, material types, building techniques, and construction details, and issues related to the openings of residential units are studied in 35 house samples of the village. The result shows that the physical planning of the village, in accordance with the principles proposed in the Mahoney table for cold semi-arid climates, causes the most passive heating. Examination of the physical characteristics of the semi-open spaces in relation to the residential unit shows that these spaces play a major role in coordinating the building with the coldness of the region.

     

Application-aware virtual paths insertion for NOCs

Network-on-chip (NoC) has rapidly become a promising alternative for complex system-on-chip architectures including recent multicore architectures. Additionally, optimizing NoC architectures with respect to different design objectives that are suitable for a particular application domain is crucial for achieving high-performance and energy-efficient customized solutions. Despite the fact that many researches have provided various solutions for different aspects of NoCs design, a comprehensive NoCs system solution has not emerged yet. This paper presents a novel methodology to provide a solution for complex on-chip communication problems to reduce power, latency and area overhead. Our proposed NoC communication architecture is based on setting up virtual source–destination paths between selected pairs of NoCs cores so that the packets belonging to distance nodes in the network can bypass intermediate routers while traveling through these virtual paths. In this scheme, the paths are constructed for an application based on its task-graph at the design time. After that, the run time scheduling mechanism is applied to improve the buffer management, virtual channel and switch allocation schemes and hence, the constructed paths are optimized dynamically. Moreover, in our design the router complexity and its overheads are reduced. Additionally, the suggested router has been implemented on Xilinx Virtex-5 FPGA family. The evaluation results captured by SPLASH-2 benchmark suite reveal that in comparison with the conventional NoC router, the proposed router takes 25% and 53% reduction in latency and energy, respectively besides 3.5% area overhead. Indeed, our experimental results demonstrate a significant reduction in the average packet latency and total power consumption with negligible area overhead.     

Thermal property measurement of thin aluminum oxide layers for giant magnetoresistive (GMR) head applications

In recent years, the magnetic recording storage industry has developed a growing interest in increasing recording density of the magnetic disks. Since dimensions of the recording head read transducer have been scaled down to increase areal density, all other parameters being equal, the energy required to cause damage by an ElectroStatic Discharge (ESD) event is reduced substantially. The present work characterizes the thermal transport properties of Al₂O₃ gap layer, which are essential to address the ESD failure. This study provides data for out-of-plane thermal conductivity of thin Al₂O₃ layers, which are obtained using steady-state Joule heating and electrical-resistance thermometry technique.