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.     

Silicon Application Enhances the Photosynthetic Pigments and Phenolic/Flavonoid Content by Modulating the Phenylpropanoid Pathway in Common Buckwheat under Aluminium Stress

Silicon - Silicon (Si) is very effective in the amelioration of heavy metal (HM) stress in different crop plants. This investigation was conducted to assess the protective role of Si in modulating...     

Design considerations for an immobilized cell bioreactor operating in a batch recirculation mode

Immobilizing microbial cells and enzymes used in biological and biochemical processes is advantageous and has been a subject of intensive study in recent years. Successful implementation of this technology requires complete understanding of physical, chemical and biological parameters which influence the performance of such a system. This paper focuses on a few basic design considerations which are essential to the design and operation of immobilized cell bioreactors. A process using microorganisms entrapped in calcium alginate gel as a biocatalyst is considered. This system is used to biodegrade the organic compound, phenol. A batch reactor operated in a recirculation mode is used, and parameters like concentration of dissolved oxygen, concentration of the organic compound, bead size, biomass loading and the flow rate are studied. The bioreactor can be operated within many operating windows where one of the above parameters may be rate limiting. With the help of conceptual and experimental data, the influence of the above parameters on the reaction rates is discussed.     

Investigation of charge transport mechanism in semiconducting La<Subscript>0.5</Subscript>Ca<Subscript>0.5</Subscript>Mn<Subscript>0.5</Subscript>Fe<Subscript>0.5</Subscript>O<Subscript>3</Subscript> manganite prepared by sol–gel method

Here in, we report the charge transport mechanism in semiconducting La_0.5Ca_0.5Mn_0.5Fe_0.5O₃ (LCMFO) polycrystalline material synthesized via sol–gel auto combustion route. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed the orthorhombic phase of the prepared material. Temperature dependent resistivity and impedance spectroscopy measurements have been carried out to probe the dielectric and electrical conduction mechanism which revealed a change of Mott variable range to the small polaronic hopping conduction mechanism around 303 K. The complex impedance and modulus spectra undoubtedly showed the contribution of both grain and grain boundary effect on the conduction properties of LCMFO. An equivalent circuit [(R_gbQ_gb) (R_gQ_g)] model has been used to address the electrical parameters associated with the different phases (grains and grain boundaries) having different relaxation times. The values of resistances of two phases obtained after fitting the equivalent circuit in the nyquist plot have been analyzed which confirmed the change of conduction mechanism around 303 K. The resultant change in conduction mechanism is also supported by the conductivity plots.     

Underwater object detection: architectures and algorithms – a comprehensive review

Underwater object detection is an essential step in image processing and it plays a vital role in several applications such as the repair and maintenance of sub-aquatic structures and marine sciences. Many computer vision-based solutions have been proposed but an optimal solution for underwater object detection and species classification does not exist. This is mainly because of the challenges presented by the underwater environment which mainly include light scattering and light absorption. The advent of deep learning has enabled researchers to solve various problems like protection of the subaquatic ecological environment, emergency rescue, reducing chances of underwater disaster and its prevention, underwater target detection, spooring, and recognition. However, the advantages and shortcomings of these deep learning algorithms are still unclear. Thus, to give a clearer view of the underwater object detection algorithms and their pros and cons, we proffer a state-of-the-art review of different computer vision-based approaches that have been developed as yet. Besides, a comparison of various state-of-the-art schemes is made based on various objective indices and future research directions in the field of underwater object detection have also been proffered.

     

Performance analysis of hybrid/single nanofluids on augmentation of heat transport in lid-driven undulated cavity

This numerical study reveals the heat transfer performance of hybrid/single nanofluids inside a lid-driven sinusoidal trapezoidal-shaped enclosure. The right and left inclined surfaces of the trapezium have been considered as insulated, whereas the bottom sinusoidal wavy and the flat top surfaces of the enclosure as hot and cold, respectively. The governing partial differential equations of fluid's velocity and temperature have been resolved by applying the finite element method. The implications of Prandtl number (4.2-6.2), Richardson number (0.1-10.0), undulation number (0-3), nanoparticles volume fraction (0%-3%), and nanofluid/base fluid (water, water–copper (Cu), water–Cu–carbon nanotube, water–Cu–copper oxide (CuO), water–Cu–TiO₂, and water–Cu–Al₂O₃) on the velocity and temperature profiles have been studied. Simulated findings have been represented by means of streamlines, isothermal lines, and average Nusselt number of above-mentioned hybrid nanofluids for varying the governing parameters. The comparison of heat transfer rates using hybrid nanofluids and pure water has been also shown. The heat transfer rate is increased about 15% for varying Richardson number from 0.1 to 10.0. Blending of two nanoparticles suspension in base fluid has a higher heat transfer rate—approximately 5% than a mononanoparticle. Moreover, a higher average Nusselt number is obtained by 14.7% using the wavy surface than the flat surface of the enclosure. Thus, this study showed that applying hybrid nanofluid may be beneficial to obtain expected thermal performance.     

Comparison of energy conservation building codes of Iran,Turkey, Germany,China, ISO 9164 and EN 832

To improve the energy efficiency of buildings via compliance to regulation in Iran, Code No. 19 was devised in 1991. The code lacks high level aims and objectives, addressing the characteristics of Iranian buildings. As a consequence, the code has been revised and is not completely implemented in practice, and still remains inefficient. As with any energy coding system, this code has to identify the right balance between the different energy variables for the Iranian climate and way of life. In order to assist improvements to high level objectives of Code 19, this code is compared with ISO 9164, EN 832, German regulation, TS 825 of Turkey and China’s GB 50189 to understand how these have adapted international standards to national features. In order to test the appropriateness of Code 19, five case study buildings in Iran are assessed against Code 19 as well as Turkish standard TS 825 and the results are compared. The results demonstrate that Code 19 is efficient in calculations of building envelope, but it needs improvements in the areas of ventilation, gains from internal and solar sources. The paper concludes by offering suggestions for improving the code.     

Multi-scale Single Image Super-Resolution with Remote-Sensing Application Using Transferred Wide Residual Network

In the integrated circuit (IC) designing floorplanning is an important phase in the process of obtaining the layout of the circuit to be designed. The floorplanning determines the performance, size, yield, and reliability of VLSI ICs. The obtained results in this step are necessary for the other consecutive process of the chip designing. VLSI floorplanning from the computational point of view is a non-polynomial hard (NP-hard problem), and hence cannot be efficiently solved by the classical optimization techniques. In this paper, we have proposed a metaheuristic approach to address the problem by using the parallel particle swarm optimization (P-PSO) technique. The P-PSO uses a new greedy operation on the sequence pair (SP) to explore the search space to find an optimal solution. Experimental results on the Microelectronic Centre of North Carolina and Gigascale Systems Research Center benchmark shows that the applied parallel PSO (P-PSO) may be used to produce an optimal solution.

     

Composition and temperature dependence of structure and piezoelectricity in (1−x)(K1−yNay)NbO3‐x(Bi1/2Na1/2)ZrO3 lead‐free ceramics

Lead‐free piezoceramics with the composition (1?x)(K_1?yNa_y)NbO₃‐x(Bi_1/2Na_1/2)ZrO₃ (KNyN‐xBNZ) were prepared using a conventional solid‐state route. X‐ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and dielectric measurements as a function of temperature indicated the coexistence of rhombohedral (R) and tetragonal (T) phase, typical of a morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) as the BNZ concentration increased and by adjusting the K/Na ratio. High remnant polarization (P_r=24 μC/cm²), piezoelectric coefficient (d₃₃=320 pC/N), effective piezocoefficient ({d_{33}^*}=420 pm/V), coupling coefficient (k_p=48%), and high strain (S=0.168%) were obtained at room temperature, but significant deterioration of P_r, {d_{33}^*}, and k_p were observed by increasing from room temperature to 160°C (17.5 μC/cm², 338 pm/V, and 32%, respectively) associated with a transition to a purely T phase. Despite these compositions showing promise for room‐temperature applications, the deterioration in properties as a function of increasing temperature poses challenges for device design and remains to be resolved.