Lighting preferences in office spaces concerning the indoor thermal environment

The accurate prediction of the visual comfort zone in an indoor environment is difficult as it depends on many parameters. This is especially the case for large compact urban areas in which the density and shadow from neighboring buildings can limit the accessible daylighting in indoor spaces. This paper investigates the satisfaction range for illuminance regarding indoor air temperature in office buildings and the significant parameters affecting this range in six office buildings in Tehran, Iran. Lighting comfort has been evaluated by a subjective survey (509 total responses) and field measurement. The questionnaires were filled out in 146 and 109 rooms in summer and winter, respectively. The results show that the illuminance should not be less than 550 lx, while illuminance between 600 and 650 lx provides the highest satisfaction level. The satisfaction with lighting level is affected by individual parameters such as age, type of activity, and environmental parameters such as window orientation, external obscurations, and season. A relationship was observed between lighting level satisfaction and thermal condition acceptance, and the overall comfort depends more on thermal conditions than the lighting level.     

Pure Hydrogen and Propylene Coproduction in Catalytic Membrane Reactor-Assisted Propane Dehydrogenation

Propane dehydrogenation on a commercial Pt-Sn/Al₂O₃ catalyst in a Pd-Ag membrane reactor is considered. A mathematical model is developed to evaluate the performance of the catalytic membrane reactor for the process of propane dehydrogenation. Design and operating conditions are systematically evaluated for key performance metrics such as propane conversion, propylene selectivity, hydrogen selectivity, and hydrogen recovery under different operating conditions. The results confirm that the high performance of the membrane reactor is related to the continuous removal of hydrogen from the reaction zone to shift the reaction equilibrium towards the formation of more propylene and hydrogen.     

A computer-aided diagnostic system for liver tumor detection using modified U-Net architecture

The Journal of Supercomputing - A multimedia-based medical decision-making system is an ultimate requirement in the medical imaging domain. In the healthcare sector, achieving quick and efficient...     

Eddy Current Detection of Retained Austenite in Ni-Hard4 Cast Iron

In this article, the nondestructive eddy current (EC) method was used for microstructural evaluation of Ni-hard4 cast iron (NiHCI). Different destabilizing heat treatments were used to produce different microstructures and hardness. The microstructural analysis and hardness measurement were done for conventional characterization of the reference blocks. Then, the EC techniques were applied to evaluate the hardness and microstructural changes by the detection of EC parameters at different frequencies. Metallurgical investigations showed that increasing the destabilizing soaking time and temperature decreases the amount of retained austenite in NiHCIs. The nondestructive evaluation method (NDT) revealed that it can be good correlated between retained austenite amount and hardness with EC parameters. This shows that the EC technique can detect NiHCIs products according to the metallurgical characterization with good accuracy.     

Investigating the effect of paper properties on color reproduction of digital printing

Digital printing is affected by several parameters including printer and paper type which determine the final printed color gamut and the quality of reproduction. For investigation of those effects, tests were done on the three types of laser printer and six types of paper with different properties of whiteness, roughness, and gloss. The gamut volume was generated by Eye-One spectrophotometer, ProfileMaker, and ColorThink software. Properties of the different types of paper were measured by the atomic force microscopy, spectrophotometer and, goniophotometer. Results showed that the reproducibility was considerably dependent on the type of printer and type of paper. High whiteness and gloss increased the color gamut volume, while high roughness decreased the reproducibility of the printer. Tests on paper properties showed that whiteness had the most significant effect on color gamut volume.     

Polyhydroxybutyrate/chitosan/bioglass nanocomposite as a novel electrospun scaffold: fabrication and characterization

Scaffolds and their features play a central role in tissue engineering; so this study is based on the production of a series of electrospun PHB/Chitosan/nBG nanocomposite scaffolds with 9 wt% polyhydroxybutyrate, 10, 15 and 20 wt% chitosan and 7.5, 10 and 15 wt% nanobioglass (nBG). Electrospinning process was performed with optimal conditions of spinning machine including voltage of 16 kV, syringe-collector spacing of 16 cm, and output rate of 1 µl per hour. The developed phases and the formation of chemical bonds between ceramic and polymer bands were studied through XRD and FTIR analyses. The FE-SEM and TEM analyses showed uniform morphology of nanofibers and dispersion of bioglass nanoparticles in the fiber structure. The presence of 10 wt% bioglass nanoparticles and 15 wt% chitosan increased the tensile strength of fibers to 3.42 MPa, which was about four times greater than strength of control sample (pure PHB). The developed fibers were kept 28 days in SBF solution and 60 days in PBS solution to assess their bioactivity and biodegradability. The results showed that the presence of bioglass nanoparticles leads to a dramatic increase in absorption of calcium and phosphorus ions and weight loss of scaffold. The developed scaffold can be used for bone and teeth tissue engineering applications.     

Green synthesis of 5-arylidene-2,4-thiazolidinedione, 5-benzylidene rhodanine and dihydrothiophene derivatives catalyzed by hydrated ionic liquid tetrabutylammonium hydroxide in aqueous medium

An efficient synthesis of 5-arylidene-2,4-thiazolidinediones and 5-benzylidene rhodanines by the Knoevenagel condensation of 2,4-thiazolidinedione or rhodanine with aromatic aldehydes was studied. It proceeded smoothly in the presence of tetrabutylammonium hydroxide/H ₂O-EtOH to afford the corresponding products in high yields at 50°C. Also, a series of dihydrothiophene derivatives were synthesized via the four-component reaction of aldehyde, malonitrile, 2,4-thiazolidinedione, and piperidine in the presence of Bu₄NOH as a basic ionic liquid in aqueous medium. This new method offers several advantages, such as excellent yields, short reaction times, and simple procedure.     

Solution approaches to the course timetabling problem

University course timetabling is one of the most important administrative activities that take place in all academic institutions. In this work, we go over the main points of recent papers on the timetabling problem. We concentrate on university timetabling and introduce hard and soft constraints as well as most currently used objective functions. We also discuss some solution methods that have been applied by researchers. Finally, we raise more questions to be explored in future studies. We hope the directions lead to new researches that cover all aspects of the problem and result in high-quality timetables.