Perpetual effect of laser surface texturing on tribological properties of Ti3SiC2/GNP composite—A fretting wear study

Tribological properties of Ti₃SiC₂ ceramic and Ti₃SiC₂/GNP composite were investigated using fretting sliding against Si₃N₄ ball counter body at a load of 50 N for a sliding distance of 900 m, under non-textured lubricated (NTL), textured lubricated (TL) condition, and textured lubricated high temperature (TLHT). This paper presents the influence of laser surface texturing (LST) on Ti₃SiC₂ and its graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) reinforced composite established through spark plasma sintering (SPS), tested under fretting wear conditions. The coefficient of friction and wear rate of Ti₃SiC₂ and its graphene nanoplatelets reinforced composites were incontrovertibly enhanced with laser surface texturing as compared to non-textured Ti₃SiC₂ and its GNP composite. The TL surface of Ti₃SiC₂ composite reinforced with 15% GNP showed the lowest COF and wear rate. Almost negligible changes were observed for TLHT tests. The LST proved to an efficient technique for enhancing the friction and wear properties of Ti₃SiC₂ and Ti₃SiC₂/GNP composite.     

A potential trackable bone filler: Preparation and characterization

This study reported the synthesis of fluorescent hydroxyapatite/alginate/carbon quantum dots (HA/Alg/CQDs) nanocomposites via the co-precipitation technique. The N-doped CQDs as a new class of fluorescent materials were prepared by the citric acid pyrolysis method, with an average size around 4 nm. Physical, chemical, and optical properties of the synthesized nanocomposites were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), atomic force microscopy (AFM), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), UV–visible spectroscopy, and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, respectively. The PL spectroscopy data verified the favorable in vitro luminescent emission of the HA/Alg/CQDs nanocomposites in comparison with HA/Alg and HA samples. The XRD patterns of the prepared samples confirmed the formation of crystalline HA in all composites, possessing a Ca/P ratio around 1.5 as obtained by EDX elemental analysis. The FESEM analysis exhibited HA nanoplates that homogeneously distributed throughout the alginate matrix. Therefore, the synthesized nanocomposites could be regarded as potential trackable drug carriers for hard tissue engineering applications.     

Fundamental parameters affecting electrospinning of PAN nanofibers as uniaxially aligned fibers

Electrospinning with a collector consisting of two pieces of electrically conductive substrates separated by a gap has been used to prepare uniaxially aligned PAN nanofibers. Solution of 15 wt % of PAN/DMF was used tentatively for electrospinning. The effects of width of the gap and applied voltage on degree of alignment were investigated using image‐processing technique by Fourier power spectrum method. The electrospinning conditions that gave the best alignment of nanofibers for 10–15 wt % solution concentrations were experimentally obtained. Bundles like multifilament yarns of uniaxially aligned nanofibers were prepared using a new simple method. After‐treatments of these bundles were carried out in boiling water under tension. A comparison was made between the crystallinity and mechanical behavior of posttreated and untreated bundles. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 101: 4350–4357, 2006     

Temporal Hydrologic Alterations Coupled with Climate Variability and Drought for Transboundary River Basins

Climate change (CC) and drought episode impacts linked with anthropogenic pressure have become an increasing concern for policy makers and water resources managers. The current research presents a comprehensive methodology but simple approach for predicting the annual streamflow alteration based on drought indices and hydrological alteration indicators. This has been achieved depending on the evaluation of drought severity and CC impacts during the human intervention periods to separate the influence of climatic abnormality and measure the hydrologic deviations as a result of streamflow regulation configurations. As a representative case study, the Lesser Zab River Basin in northern Iraq has been chosen. In order to analyse the natural flow regime, 34 hydrological years of streamflow (1931–1965) prior to the main dam construction were assessed. The Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration (IHA) method has been applied to quantify the hydrological alterations of various flow characteristics. In addition, an easy approach for hydrological drought prediction in relatively small basins grounded on meteorological parameters during the early months of the hydrological year has been presented. The prediction was accomplished by implementing the one-dimensional drought examination and the reconnaissance drought index (RDI) for evaluating the severity of meteorological drought. The proposed methodology is founded on linear regression relations connecting the RDI of 3, 6, and 12 months and the streamflow drought index (SDI). The results are critical for circumstances where an early exploration of meteorological drought is obtainable. Outcomes assist water resources managers, engineers, policy makers and decision-makers responsible for mitigating the effects of CC.     

Assessment of Sustainability in Water Supply-Demand Considering Uncertainties

Water is a vital resource for life on earth; hence its maintenance is very important. Different regions especially in arid and semi-arid areas are facing population growth and subsequent increase in the domestic, industrial and agricultural activities. Planning of water systems in order to be ready for future development conditions needs further studies on the estimation of the sustainable levels of demands based on the sustainable levels of supplies. In this study a threefold approach for estimating sustainability level of supply and demand in Ahachay river basin in northwestern part of Iran as a case study is taken. In the first method, the internal flows and the origins and final uses of the total resources for each subsystem are estimated and planning for sustainability use index is determined by calculating the available water. Second method introduced a simulation model which is utilized to estimate reliability, resiliency, vulnerability and maximum deficit for a river basin to determine a group sustainability index. In the third method, for evaluating the movement toward sustainability, an index is developed. This index includes parameters that are the difference between supply and demand, percentage of the satisfied demand, productivity of water resources and an indicator for evaluating the reduction of aquifer storage. Finally these methods are compared and a hybrid index combining the indices is developed. An uncertainty analysis is also performed to investigate the random nature of variables in estimating water balance and quantifying the water sustainability. This hybrid index can be used for evaluating the planning scenarios and for maintaining and improving the sustainable state of supply-demand for the region.     

A polar-based guided multi-objective evolutionary algorithm to search for optimal solutions interested by decision-makers in a logistics network design problem

In practical multi-objective optimization problems, respective decision-makers might be interested in some optimal solutions that have objective values closer to their specified values. Guided multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (guided MOEAs) have been significantly used to guide their evolutionary search direction toward these optimal solutions using by decision makers. However, most guided MOEAs need to be iteratively and interactively evaluated and then guided by decision-makers through re-formulating or re-weighting objectives, and it might negatively affect the algorithms performance. In this paper, a novel guided MOEA that uses a dynamic polar-based region around a particular point in objective space is proposed. Based on the region, new selection operations are designed such that the algorithm can guide the evolutionary search toward optimal solutions that are close to the particular point in objective space without the iterative and interactive efforts. The proposed guided MOEA is tested on the multi-criteria decision-making problem of flexible logistics network design with different desired points. Experimental results show that the proposed guided MOEA outperforms two most effective guided and non-guided MOEAs, R-NSGA-II and NSGA-II.     

SHeRo: Scalable hexapod robot for maintenance,repair, and operations

Improper maintenance, repair, and operations of societal centric structures can lead to catastrophic failures that drastically affect global economy, the environment, and everyday life. Due to the remote, cramped and highly irregular environmental nature of these structures, routine manual procedures and operations can be rather tedious, dangerous, and hazardous for humans. Automating maintenance, repair, and operations removes human workers from having to crawl within highly cluttered and constrained spaces, breathing in stale air mixed with fumes from welding or particulate from repair work, and provides higher reliability and consistency in the repair work. This paper introduces SHeRo, a scalable hexapod robot designed for maintenance, repair, and operations within remote, inaccessible, irregular, and hazardous environments. The scalability of the design enhances traditional hexapod robot designs by incorporating two prismatic joints into each leg. A detailed discussion on the design and realization of SHeRo is provided. An analysis on the stability and workspace of SHeRo is presented and a dynamic criterion is developed to integrate the concepts of robot stability and constant orientation workspace into a stable workspace. The analytical solution of the lateral stable workspace of SHeRo is derived along with a metric for comparing stable workspace between different robot configurations. A simulated demonstration and two physical experimental demonstrations are presented showing the advantage of introducing scalability into the hexapod robot design along with the workspace enhancement and flexibility of the scalable hexapod robot.     

Formal process algebraic modeling,verification, and analysis of an abstract Fuzzy Inference Cloud Service

In cloud computing, services play key roles. Services are well defined and autonomous components. Nowadays, the demand of using Fuzzy inference as a service is increasing in the domain of complex and critical systems. In such systems, along with the development of the software, the cost of detecting and fixing software defects increases. Therefore, using formal methods, which provide clear, concise, and mathematical interpretation of the system, is crucial for the design of these Fuzzy systems. To obtain this goal, we introduce the Fuzzy Inference Cloud Service (FICS) and propose a novel discipline for formal modeling of the FICS. The FICS provides the service of Fuzzy inference to the consumers. We also introduce four novel formal verification tests, which allow strict analysis of certain behavioral disciplines in the FICS as follows: (1) Internal consistency, which analyzes the service in a strict and delicate manner; (2) Deadlock freeness; (3) Divergence freeness; and (4) Goal reach ability. The four tests are discussed and the FICS is verified to ensure that it can pass all these tests.     

PGSW-OS: a novel approach for resource management in a semantic web operating system based on a P2P grid architecture

A web operating system is an operating system that users can access from any hardware at any location. A peer-to-peer (P2P) grid uses P2P communication for resource management and communication between nodes in a grid and manages resources locally in each cluster, and this provides a proper architecture for a web operating system. Use of semantic technology in web operating systems is an emerging field that improves the management and discovery of resources and services. In this paper, we propose PGSW-OS (P2P grid semantic Web OS), a model based on a P2P grid architecture and semantic technology to improve resource management in a web operating system through resource discovery with the aid of semantic features. Our approach integrates distributed hash tables (DHTs) and semantic overlay networks to enable semantic-based resource management by advertising resources in the DHT based upon their annotations to enable semantic-based resource matchmaking. Our model includes ontologies and virtual organizations. Our technique decreases the computational complexity of searching in a web operating system environment. We perform a simulation study using the Gridsim simulator, and our experiments show that our model provides enhanced utilization of resources, better search expressiveness, scalability, and precision.     

Admittance—Frequency Response in Zinc Oxide Varistor Ceramics

The lumped parameter/complex plane analysis technique revealed several contributions to the terminal admittance of the ZnO—Bi₂O₃ based varistor grain-boundary ac response. The terminal capacitance has been elucidated via the multiple trapping phenomena, a barrier layer polarization, and a resonance effect in the frequency range 10⁻²≤ f ≤ 10⁹ Hz. The characterization of the trapping relaxation behavior near ∼ 10⁵ Hz (∼ 10⁻⁶ s) provided a better understanding of a previously reported loss-peak. The possible nonuniformity in this trapping activity associated with its conductance term observed via the depression angle of a semicircular relaxation in the complex capacitance ( C *) plane has been postulated.