Characterisation of virgin olive oils from European olive cultivars introduced in Tunisia

The behaviour of three European olive varieties, Ascolana Tenera, Koroneiki and Picholine, cultivated in the north of Tunisia, was compared to an autochthonous variety, Chétoui. Most of the quality indices and the fatty acid composition showed significant variations between the olive oils. Among the introduced varieties, the Picholine cultivar had the highest value of oleic acid (61%) whereas the Ascolana Tenera cultivar was noteworthy for its lowest content of phenolic compounds (175 mg/kg) and presented the highest level of palmitic acid. The Chétoui variety presented a high content of oleic and linoleic acids. But all samples, both the autochthonous Chétoui and the introduced cultivars, have similar levels of antioxidant compounds, with the exception of phenols. The aroma composition showed significant differences between the oils from the foreign cultivars. The major volatile component was the C‐6 aldehyde fraction whose content varied greatly between the different varieties studied: The E‐2‐hexenal content ranged from 1.6 mg/kg of oil in the Ascolana Tenera variety to >5 mg/kg for the Picholine and Koroneiki cultivars, whereas the Chétoui variety had the lowest levels of volatile compounds, with the exception of the hexanal level which was tenfold higher than in the foreign cultivars. Therefore, our results showed that two of the introduced varieties, Koroneiki and Picholine, showed good adaptation to the Tunisian cultivation conditions. So far, we claim the possibility to develop the successful cultivation of these latter imported varieties in the country.     

Glass fibre reinforced plastic (GFRP) rebars for concrete structures

The study described is a part of a large-scale experimental and theoretical programme on the application of fibre reinforced plastic ( ) reinforcement for concrete structures initiated at the Université de Sherbrooke (Sherbrooke, Canada). The programme is being carried out to gain an insight into the flexural behaviour of concrete beams reinforced with glass fibre reinforced plastic ( ) rebars. Results of experimental study on 3.3 m long beams reinforced with two different types of rebars are presented and compared to that of conventional steel reinforced concrete beams. Three series of reinforced concrete beams were tested in flexure. The beams were 200 mm wide and respectively 300, 450 and 550 mm high. The paper also attempts to present the properties of and its components and to give an oversight of relevant research activities involving rebars as reinforcement for concrete units.     

Analytical and Numerical Investigation on Effective Thermal Conductivity of Polymer Composites Filled with Conductive Hollow Particles

The thermal behavior of hollow conductive particles filled in epoxy resin has been investigated using 3D finite element computation. The effect of the filler concentrations associated with the particle/matrix interfacial resistance on the effective thermal conductivity of the composites was considered. The relationship between the out-of-plane effective thermal conductivity, the wall thickness of the hollow particles, and the ratio of the thermal conductivities of the filler to the matrix material were also taken into account. The numerical results show an increase of the effective thermal conductivity with increasing wall thickness of the hollow particles. However, for a large contact resistance and/or for a high effective thermal conductivity, it is shown that the contact resistance has a dominant influence on the effective thermal conductivity of the composites. The numerical results were also compared to some well-known analytical effective thermal conductivity models.     

Optimizing the overlap between the stator teeth of a claw pole transverse-flux permanent-magnet Machine

The paper presents a three-dimensional finite-element analysis-based optimization of the overlap between adjacent stator teeth of a claw pole transverse flux permanent magnet machine (TFPM). Two major optimization criteria are considered: 1) the maximization of the output torque and 2) the minimization of the cogging torque. The paper shows that an overlap of almost 30% fulfills both optimization criteria.     

Structural,Micromechanical and Tribological Analyses of Electrodeposited Nickel–Graphite Coatings with Different Fractions of Graphite Microparticles

Nickel–graphite composite coatings were electrodeposited on a steel substrate from typical watts bath and with specific operating conditions for different weight fractions of graphite microparticles. The weight percentage of particles in coatings and the microstructure were studied, respectively, by atomic absorption, scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffraction. The influence of graphite fraction on roughness and microhardness were also investigated. It was found that roughness increases with the increase of particle content while microhardness decreases. The tribological response was examined against high chromium steel ball using linear reciprocating tribometer. The results indicated that the friction coefficient decreases when graphite content increases. This was ascribed to the development of tribo-layer on the wear track and transfer film on the counterface. However, it was found that the improvement of wear resistance was obtained until an optimal value of graphite concentration, which provided the best condition that promoted the tribo-layer stability and maintained the matrix integrity.     

CADS-ML/DL: efficient cloud-based multi-attack detection system

International Journal of Information Security - With the increasing adoption of cloud computing, securing cloud-based systems and applications has become a critical concern for almost every...