Fire tests on bonded post-tensioned concrete slabs

The results from eight fire tests conducted on bonded post-tensioned one-way spanning concrete slabs are presented in this paper. The fire tests were augmented with two additional tests at ambient temperature, carried out to failure on slabs with identical geometry and prestressing tendons. The different structural response between using plastic and metallic ducts, Limestone and Thames Gravel aggregates, and different axial restraint conditions to longitudinal thermal expansion, have been highlighted. Slabs with Thames Gravel aggregates were shown to have a much higher deflection compared to slabs with Limestone aggregates, with restrained slabs having a lower vertical deflection compared to equivalent unrestrained slabs. In all the fire tests, cracks directly inline and parallel to the tendons occurred due to thermal stresses at relatively low tendon temperatures, which were not observed in the ambient tests. It is shown that the use of plastic ducts resulted in slightly higher tendon temperatures due to the ease at which water migrated from the grout once the duct had melted. The fire tests have shown that the fire resistance specified in current codes of practice are generally conservative for bonded post-tensioned one-way spanning concrete slabs. The tests have provided detailed experimental data in the form of temperature distributions within the slab, vertical and horizontal displacements and strains in the tendons, which will allow validation of future computer models to predict the behaviour of bonded post-tensioned concrete slabs under fire conditions.     

Bending and creep buckling response of viscoelastic functionally graded beam-columns

The viscoelastic creep response of flexural beams and beam-columns made with functionally graded materials is numerically investigated. The paper highlights the challenges associated with the modeling and analysis of such structures, and presents a nonlinear theoretical model for their bending and creep buckling analysis. The model accounts for the viscoelasticity of the materials using differential-type constitutive relations that are based on the linear Boltzmann’s principle of superposition. The model is general in terms of its ability to deal with any material volume faction distribution through the depth of the beam, and with different linear viscoelastic laws, boundary conditions, and loading schemes. The governing equations are solved through time stepping numerical integration, which yields an exponential algorithm following the expansion of the relaxation function into a Dirichlet series. A numerical study that examines the capabilities of the model and quantifies the creep response of functionally graded beam-columns is presented, with special focus on the stresses and strains redistribution over time and on the creep buckling response. The results show that the creep response of such structures can be strongly nonlinear due to the variation of the viscoelastic properties through the depth, along with unique phenomena that are not observed in homogenous structures.     

Synthesis of mordenite zeolite in absence of organic template

Mordenite is a zeolite that has been used as a selective adsorbent and as a catalyst. Mordenite zeolite with crystal diameter 65 nm and crystal length 7 μm was successively synthesized in the absence of organic template by hydrothermal method at 180 °C for 5 days after stirring at high speed and aging in the synthesis mixture with the molar composition of 12Na₂O:100SiO₂:2Al₂O₃:500H₂O. The produced samples were investigated using XRD, SEM, FT-IR, EDS, DTA/TG and BET surface area. The prepared sample, crystallized in needle shape crystals. Total (BET) surface area was 52.14 m²/g whereas, total pore volume was 0.2 cm³/g. Average pore diameter was 24.16 Å. Thermogravimetry analysis (DTA/TG) showed that, at room temperature to 800 °C, mordenite mass loss is 6%.     

Simultaneous reconstruction of the time-dependent Robin coefficient and heat flux in heat conduction problems

This paper aims to solve an inverse heat conduction problem in two-dimensional space under transient regime, which consists of the estimation of multiple time-dependent heat sources placed at the boundaries. Robin boundary condition (third type boundary condition) is considered at the working domain boundary. The simultaneous identification problem is formulated as a constrained minimization problem using the output least squares method with Tikhonov regularization. The properties of the continuous and discrete optimization problem are studied. Differentiability results and the adjoint problems are established. The numerical estimation is investigated using a modified conjugate gradient method. Furthermore, to verify the performance of the proposed algorithm, obtained results are compared with results obtained from the well-known finite-element software COMSOL Multiphysics under the same conditions. The numerical results show that the proposed algorithm is accurate, robust and capable of simultaneously representing the time effects on reconstructing the time-dependent Robin coefficient and heat flux.     

Optimum energy efficient multi-hop protocol for homogenous and heterogeneous 3D underwater acoustic sensor networks

Information transmission is extremely challenging in underwater acoustic sensor networks (UASNs) because, in the acoustic channel, the packet loss is high compared to other channels due to low bandwidth and a long propagation delay. So, designing an efficient energy algorithm is a big challenge in the acoustic channel. In this paper, first, a cluster head (CH) election fitness function based on a hybrid particle swarm optimization and gravitational search algorithm (PSO-GSA) is proposed for a three-dimensional (3D) underwater sensor network (UASN). The proposed algorithm includes CH election, CH load, and neighbor CH distance for multi-hop transmission (MH-PSOGSA). Then, based on the proposed algorithm, a relay-based traffic-aware energy-efficient routing protocol (R-TAEERP) with a weight function is proposed to offload the heavy consumption of the CHs. MATLAB simulations were accomplished to compare the performance of MH-PSOGSA and R-TAEERP with the existing representative protocols. The heterogeneity in energy and traffic has been considered. The simulation results show better performance of the proposed algorithm than other existing representative protocols in terms of energy consumption, the performance of the stable region, and the lifetime of the network.     

Tabu search with multi-level neighborhood structures for high dimensional problems

Metaheuristics have been successfully applied to solve different types of numerical and combinatorial optimization problems. However, they often lose their effectiveness and advantages when applied to large and complex problems. Moreover, the contributions of metaheuristics that deal with high dimensional problems are still very limited compared with low and middle dimensional problems. In this paper, Tabu Search algorithm based on variable partitioning is proposed for solving high dimensional problems. Specifically, multi-level neighborhood structures are constructed by partitioning the variables into small groups. Some of these groups are selected and the neighborhood of their variables are explored. The computational results shown later indicate that exploring the neighborhood of all variables at the same time, even for structured neighborhood, can badly effect the progress of the search. However, exploring the neighborhood gradually through smaller number of variables can give better results. The variable partitioning mechanism used in the proposed method can allow the search process to explore the region around the current iterate solution more precisely. Actually, this partitioning mechanism works as dimensional reduction mechanism. For high dimensional problems, extensive computational studies are carried out to evaluate the performance of newly proposed algorithm on large number of benchmark functions. The results show that the proposed method is promising and produces high quality solutions within low computational costs.     

On Load Adaptive Control of Voltage Regulators for Power Managed Loads: Control Schemes to Improve Converter Efficiency and Performance

Voltage regulator (VR) efficiency improvement especially at light load currents is important in many applications including those that are battery powered and have energy consumption constraints. However, controlled steady-state and dynamic performance should be maintained while improving efficiency. In this paper, an analytical study of VR losses and voltage ripple deviation is presented and discussed, yielding to proposed control technique, namely "pulse sliding" (PSL) control technique, which results in improved VR conversion efficiency with low and controlled voltage ripple and improved dynamic response. The proposed method and controller achieves the advantages of both variable frequency and fixed frequency controls and eliminates their disadvantages by utilizing information obtained from the inductor peak current, compensation error signal and capacitor current, resulting in an optimum nonlinear switching frequency modulation. PSL is compared to other control methods by both analysis and experiments. Experimental results highly agree with theoretical analysis.     

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION ON VARYING THE COMPRESSION RATIO OF SI ENGINE WORKING UNDER DIFFERENT ETHANOL–GASOLINE FUEL BLENDS

Using different ethanol–gasoline fuel blends, a VARICOMP engine was used to study the effect of varying the compression ratio on SI engine performance. The performance tests were carried out using different percentages of ethanol in gasoline fuel, up to 40%, under variable compression ratio conditions. The results show that the engine indicated power improves with the percentage addition of the ethanol in the fuel blend. The maximum improvement occurs at 10% ethanol–90% gasoline fuel blend. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Highlights on the Role of KRAS Mutations in Reshaping the Microenvironment of Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma

The most frequent mutated oncogene family in the history of human cancer is the RAS gene family, including NRAS, HRAS, and, most importantly, KRAS. A hallmark of pancreatic cancer, recalcitrant cancer with a very low survival rate, is the prevalence of oncogenic mutations in the KRAS gene. Due to this fact, studying the function of KRAS and the impact of its mutations on the tumor microenvironment (TME) is a priority for understanding pancreatic cancer progression and designing novel therapeutic strategies for the treatment of the dismal disease. Despite some recent enlightening studies, there is still a wide gap in our knowledge regarding the impact of KRAS mutations on different components of the pancreatic TME. In this review, we will present an updated summary of mutant KRAS role in the initiation, progression, and modulation of the TME of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). This review will highlight the intriguing link between diabetes mellitus and PDAC, as well as vitamin D as an adjuvant effective therapy via TME modulation of PDAC. We will also discuss different ongoing clinical trials that use KRAS oncogene signaling network as therapeutic targets.