Study of Subsonic Flow Over a TOW 2B Missile

The objective of this investigation is to study the subsonic flow over a missile. In this paper, a model of TOW 2B missile is studied. Two computational approaches are being explored, namely solutions based on the Reynolds-averaged compressible Navier-Stokes equations and solutions based on the inviscid flow (small disturbance theory). The simulations are performed at the Mach number of 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9 and 1.0 at four angles of attack of 2, 4, 6 and 8 degree. Results obtained from analytical simulation are compared with numerical data. It is found that lift and drag coefficients would go up by increasing of the angle of attack and the Mach number. Trend of changes of the results that obtained from the small disturbance theory is roughly as same as the numeric solution.     

Congestion Control in the Internet: Inspiration from Balanced Food Chains in the Nature

Congestion in the Internet is the main reason for reduced performance and poor quality of service; therefore, a good congestion control system is essential. The current work proposes that the congestion control problem in the Internet can be inspired from natural population control tactics. Toward this idea, the congestion window size of each connection is viewed as population size of a species and then congestion control problem is redefined as population control of these windows species (W). This paper defines a three-trophic food chain and gives a model to control population size of W species within this food chain. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm leads to a fair, stable and high-performance congestion control scheme.

A Spatial Multi-Criteria Analysis Approach for Locating Suitable Sites for Construction of Subsurface Dams in Northern Pakistan

Pakistan is an agricultural country with an increasing interest for hydropower. Water management problems such as sedimentation and evaporation have been of high concern for surface water reservoirs for many years. Therefore, groundwater storage through subsurface dams could be promising, especially considering the monsoon rainfall and seasonal river flows in Pakistan. The paper aims to develop and test a methodology to locate suitable sites for construction of subsurface dams using spatial multi-criteria analysis (SMCA) in the northern parts of Pakistan. For the study, spatial data on geology, slope, land cover, soil depth and topographic wetness index (TWI) was used. Two weighting techniques, i.e. the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and the factor interaction method (FIM), were employed and compared. The sensitivity of the two methods as well as of the model parameters was analysed. The suitability map derived from AHP yielded about 3 % (16 km²) of the total area as most suitable, about 4 % (22 km²) as moderately suitable and about 0.8 % (5 km²) as least suitable. The suitability map derived from FIM identified about 2.7 % (14 km²) of the total area as most suitable, about 4 % (22 km²) as moderately suitable and about 1 % (7 km²) as least suitable. The sensitivity analyses suggested that AHP was a more robust weighting technique than FIM and that land cover was the most sensitive factor. The methodology presented here shows promising results and could be used in early planning to locate suitable sites for construction of subsurface dams.     

Comparison of thermal shock resistances of plasma-sprayed nanostructured and conventional yttria stabilized zirconia thermal barrier coatings

The main goal of the current study is evaluation and comparison of thermal shock behavior of plasma-sprayed nanostructured and conventional yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) thermal barrier coatings (TBCs). To this end, the nanostructured and conventional YSZ coatings were deposited by atmospheric plasma spraying (APS) on NiCoCrAlY-coated Inconel 738LC substrates. The thermal shock test was administered by quenching the samples in cold water of temperature 20–25 °C from 950 °C. In order to characterize elastic modulus of plasma-sprayed coatings, the Knoop indentation method was employed. Microstructural evaluation, elemental analysis, and phase analysis were performed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray diffractometry (XRD) respectively. The results revealed that failures of both nanostructured and conventional TBCs were due to the spallation of ceramic top coat. Thermal stresses caused by mismatch of thermal expansion coefficients between the ceramic top coat and the underlying metallic components were recognized as the major factor of TBC failure. However, the nanostructured TBC, due to bimodal unique microstructure, presented an average thermal cycling lifetime that was approximately 1.5 times higher than that of the conventional TBC.     

Arachidonyl ethanolamide (anandamide) activates the parvocellular part of hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus

A total of 335 patients with early Parkinson's disease (PD) were enrolled in a multicenter, randomized, double-blind trial designed to assess the efficacy and safety of pramipexole. Entry was restricted to patients with idiopathic PD who were not receiving levodopa. Pramipexole was administered according to an ascending dose schedule up to 4.5 mg/d. During the 7-week dose-escalation phase, each subject was titrated to his or her maximally tolerated dose of study medication. This was followed by a 24-week period of maintenance therapy. The mean daily dose during the maintenance period was 3.8 mg. Pramipexole significantly reduced the severity of PD symptoms and signs compared with placebo, as measured by decreases in parts II (Activities of Daily Living) and III (Motor Examination) of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale at week 24 compared with baseline (p < or = 0.0001). Differences between the active drug and placebo groups emerged at week 3 (1.5 mg/d) in the ascending-dose interval and persisted throughout the maintenance phase (p < or = 0.0001). The majority of patients completed the study (pramipexole 83%, placebo 80%). In the assessment of adverse events, nausea, insomnia, constipation, somnolence, and visual hallucinations occurred more frequently in the pramipexole treatment group compared with placebo patients. No clinically significant changes were noted in blood pressure or pulse rate. Overall, these results indicate that pramipexole is safe and effective in the treatment of early PD.     

Grid-Tied PV-BES system based on modified bat algorithm-FLC MPPT technique under uniform conditions

Neural Computing and Applications - Grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) systems play an important role in reducing emissions resulting from conventional fossil-fuel-based power plants. However, in...     

Discovering Non-Cooperating Nodes by Means of Learning Automata in the Internet of Things

Internet of Things (IoT) refers to a set of things that are wirelessly connected. The lack of cooperation of nodes, which is due to the reduction of energy level, leads to non-cooperating nodes. Discovering non-cooperating nodes is regarded as one of the main challenges of IoT. In this paper, we addressed this issue by using learning automata where misbehavior of non-cooperating nodes is identified and removed from the network. Simulation results of the proposed method were compared with those of previous works and methods; it was found that the proposed method optimized the other methods in terms of power consumption, throughput, the precision of discovering non-cooperating nodes, and false-positive rate.

     

A Demand-Based Structure for the Architecture of Wireless Networks on Chip

Wireless Personal Communications - Wireless networks on chip (WiNoC) are considered to be a novel approach for designing efficient and scalable systems. The rationale behind this new approach is to...