High-resolution image de-raining using conditional GAN with sub-pixel upscaling

Multimedia Tools and Applications - High-quality image de-raining is a challenging task that has been given considerable importance in recent times. To begin with, this problem is modeled as an...     

Structural,mechanical, and electrical properties of carbon nanoparticles synthesized from diesel

We studied the elemental analysis, structural morphology, mechanical, and electrical properties of carbon nanoparticles synthesized from diesel. The spherical carbon particle size in the range of about 10 to 80 nm in diameter was observed in scanning electron microscope (SEM) studies that were identified by Atomic force microscopy (AFM) study as an aggregation of carbon particles of average size 2.5 nm. The surface rms of carbon nanoparticle thin film (CNTF) was measured directly by AFM and found 0.22 nm. The Derjaguin–Muller–Toporov (DMT) elastic modulus of carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) was measured by PeakForce QNM mode of AFM. The minimum and maximum elastic modulus was measured of 0.40 GPa and 43.89 GPa, respectively. The resistivity, conductivity, magneto resistance, mobility, and average Hall co-efficient were measured by “Ecopia Hall-effect measurement system” by four-point Van der Pauw approach at ambient condition. We demonstrated I–V characteristic at the Indium/CNTF thin film interface, which is accompanied by rectifying behavior.     

A penalized batch-Bayesian approach to informative path planning for decentralized swarm robotic search

Autonomous Robots - Swarm-robotic approaches to search and target localization, where target sources emit a spatially varying signal, promise unparalleled time efficiency and robustness. With most...     

Household biomass fuel use is associated with chronic childhood malnutrition: Result from a nationwide cross-sectional survey in Bangladesh

Despite significant investment, childhood malnutrition continues to be a significant public health problem especially in least developed countries. The aim of this study was to find association between household biomass fuel (BMF) use and childhood malnutrition in Bangladesh using data from Demographic and Health Survey 2011. We included a total 6891 children under 5 years of age in the analysis. The prevalence of wasting, underweight, and stunting from BMF using household was 16.1% (n = 997; 95%CI, 15.1–17.3), 39.0% (n = 2399; 95%CI, 37.1–40.9), and 43.3% (n = 2620; 95%CI, 41.6–45.1), respectively. Underweight and stunting were significantly higher among children from households using BMF compared with the children from CF using households (underweight, biomass vs clean fuel: 39.0% vs. 23.5%, p < 0.001; stunting, biomass vs clean fuel: 43.3 vs. 31.5%, p < 0.001). The use of BMF in the household was significantly associated with underweight (OR = 1.38; 95%CI: 1.10–1.73) and stunting (OR = 1.58; 95%CI: 1.18–1.98) among children <5 years of age after adjusting possible confounders in mixed effect logistic regression analysis. This study found a significant association between chronic childhood malnutrition and household BMF use which is indicating possible alternative risk factor for malnutrition. Further prospective research is required to explore the mechanism of how BMF use results in chronic malnutrition.     

Preparation and characterizations of activated carbon from kenaf fiber for equilibrium adsorption studies of copper from wastewater

The potential of activated carbon prepared from kenaf fiber (KF) to remove copper (II) from aqueous effluents was investigated. The fibers were first semi-carbonized, then impregnated with potassium hydroxide (KOH) and finally activated by using carbon dioxide (CO₂) gas to produce activated carbon. Pore structure and physical characteristics of the prepared kenaf fiber activated carbon (KFAC) were determined. Adsorption studies for divalent copper (Cu) ions were carried out to delineate the effect of contact time, temperature, pH and initial metal ion concentration on equilibrium adsorption capacity. The experimental data followed pseudo-second-order kinetics and Elovich Model than pseudo-first-order. Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin models were implemented to analyze the parameters for adsorption at 30 °C, 50 °C and 70 °C. Thermodynamic parameters such as ??G ^o , ??H ^o and ??S ^o which represent Gibbs free energy, enthalpy and entropy, respectively, were evaluated. It was concluded that activated carbon from kenaf fiber (KFAC) can be used as an efficient adsorbent for removal of Cu (II) from synthetic wastewater.     

Numerical investigation on the electronic components' cooling for different coolants by finite element method

In this study, we conducted a numerical simulation to examine the cooling performance of an aluminum finned heat sink attached to a silicon chip, placed in a chamber of a rectangular cross-section. The heat sink is cooled by convective heat transfer utilizing nine commercially available gaseous coolants, namely air, hydrogen, helium, nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, freon12 vapor, propane, and ammonia. To select an appropriate coolant for electronic devices in terms of thermal–hydraulic performance, the maximum temperature on the chip domain and the associated pressure drop in the cooling channel as a function of coolant velocity are analyzed for the aforementioned fluids. It has been found that the minimum temperature is recorded for propane and freon12 vapor, which is approximately 31.1°C, for a coolant velocity of 0.5 m/s, but freon12 vapor shows the highest pressure drop, approximately 900 mPa, among all coolants. In the overall velocity regime, hydrogen shows the best cooling performance in terms of both cooling capacity and hydrodynamic characteristics. But considering safety issues, helium can be a better alternative. This comprehensive study provides a better understanding of different coolant performances, which will aid engineers to develop an effective cooling technique to accommodate the inexorably rising power demand.     

Inhibitory effect of sowthistle (Ixeris dentata) on development and expression of behavioral locomotor sensitization to nicotine in rats

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of sowthistle (Ixeris dentata, IXD) on development and expression of nicotine-induced locomotor sensitization and underlying neuronal activation reflected by c-Fos expression in rats. Rats were pretreated with IXD 30 min before a daily injection of nicotine during an 8-day development phase and then challenged with nicotine after a 6-day withdrawal period. In another set of experiments, same IXD doses were administered once 30 min before nicotine challenge. Daily IXD treatment during development phase was not effective in blocking nicotine-induced locomotor sensitization in rats. However, a single IXD treatment after the development and withdrawal periods of nicotine sensitization significantly alleviated sensitized locomotor behavior on day 15. These behavioral results were coincident with significant inhibition of nicotineinduced c-Fos expression in the nucleus accumbens. These results indicated that IXD pretreatment significantly blocked the expression, but not the development of nicotine-induced locomotor sensitization in rats.     

Active fault‐tolerant control for near space vehicles based on reference model adaptive sliding mode scheme

In this paper, an adaptive sliding mode (ASM) scheme is proposed for fault identification and fault‐tolerant control of near space vehicles (NSVs). First, the attitude dynamic model is introduced, and a baseline controller based on reference sliding mode scheme is designed in the case of no faults. Then fault parameterizations with actuator dynamics is presented for several classes of faults: lock‐in‐place, float, hard‐over, and loss of effectiveness. On the basis of adaptive observer design, fault parameters can be accurately estimated on‐line. Furthermore, an ASM fault‐tolerant controller is designed for both cases of actuator dynamic faults and control effector damage. Finally, simulation experiments show that the proposed ASM scheme is able to quickly and accurately identify faults and reconfigure the controller, resulting in excellent overall system performance. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Thermal stress relaxation in magnesium matrix composites controlled by dislocation breakaway

In metal matrix composites (MMCs) thermal stress relaxation can be achieved either by interface debonding, crack propagation or by dislocation motion. The present paper shows that in the case of magnesium matrix, interface thermal stresses are relaxed by dislocation motion. Moreover the results obtained by mechanical spectroscopy prove that this dislocation motion is controlled by a solid friction mechanism, which is not thermally activated. This point is very interesting for the development of MMCs, which exhibit a high damping capacity over a wide frequency range. Dislocation hysteretic motion in the magnesium matrix is evidenced by the dependence of the mechanical loss on the stress amplitude. The obtained relationship obeys perfectly to the Granato–Lücke model for dislocation breakaway.     

Autonomous bioremediation of a microbial protein (bioremediase) in Pozzolana cementitious composite

The self-bioremediation in cementitious composite material is one of the most interesting avenues relating to damage management and self-life of constructions, which needs to be cogitated. The self-bioremediation of a microbial protein-impregnated cementitious material has been explored in this work. The bioremediase protein was isolated from a hot spring bacterium (BKH1) and incorporated at three different concentrations into commercial Pozzolana cements that are widely used for mortar sample preparation. Artificial cracks were generated within the mortar samples by applying partial breaking load (50 %) and the samples were cured under water for different days. Image analysis by Crackscope and microstructure analysis by field emission scanning electron microscope ascertained the formation of irregular crystalline healing material within the cracks of the test samples. X-ray diffractometer and energy dispersive spectra analyses confirmed that the irregular crystalline structures were due to the deposition of new silicate phase (Gehlenite) within the cracks. Increase of ultrasonic pulse velocity and compressive strength, augmentation of sulphate resistance, decrease of chloride permeability and water absorption capacity revealed that there were overall improvement of mechanical properties and durability of the protein-incorporated mortar samples compared to the control (without protein incorporation) mortar samples. This cost effective and eco-friendly self-bioremediation phenomenon observed in mortar is evolved due to the biosilicification activity of bioremediase protein when amended in mortar samples. The exceptional potential of the microbial bioremediase protein for self-bioremediation attribute may add a new dimension in self-healing construction technology in near future.