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In this article, we investigate and compare the mean time to failure (MTTF) of series-parallel systems. This paper considers four different configurations with each having exponential failure and repair time. Each configuration consisting of the main, warm and cold standby units. A cold standby unit is included in Configuration 1 together with two warm standby units. Two cold standby units and one warm standby unit make up Configuration 2. In Configuration 3, there are four primary units, two warm standby units, and one cold standby unit. The Configuration 4 consists of six primary units, one warm standby unit, and two cold standby units. First order linear differential difference equations are used to produce a mathematical formula for MTTF for each configuration, which is then verified through analytical and numerical testing. Through the analytical and ranking experiment, Configuration 1 is found to be optimal.

As cloud resource demand grows, supply chain management (SCM), which is the core function of cloud computing, faces serious challenges. Quite a number of techniques have been proposed by many researchers for such a challenge. As such, numerous proposed strategies are still under reckoning and modification so as to enhance its potential. An optimized dynamic scheme that combined several algorithms' characteristics was proposed to map out such a challenge. The hybridized proposed scheme involved the meta-heuristic swarm mechanism of ant colony optimization (ACO) and deterministic spanning tree (SPT) algorithm as it obtained faster convergence chain, ensured resource utilization in least time and cost. Extensive experiments conducted in cloudsim simulator provided an efficient result in terms of minimized makespan time and throughput as compared to SPT, round robin (RR), and pre-emptive fair scheduling algorithm (PFSA) as it significantly improves performance.

Resource provisioning is the core function of cloud computing which is faced with serious challenges as demand grows. Several strategies of cloud computing resources optimization were considered by many researchers. Optimization algorithms used are still under reckoning and modification so as to enhance their potentials. As such, a dynamic scheme that can combine several algorithms' characteristics is required. Quite a number of optimization techniques have been reassessed based on metaheuristics and deterministic to map out with the challenges of resource provisioning in the Cloud. This research work proposes to involve the ant colony optimization (ACO) population-based mechanism by extending it to form a hybrid meta-heuristic through deterministic spanning tree (SPT) algorithm incorporation. Extensive experiment conducted in the cloudsim simulator provided an efficient result in terms of faster convergence, and makespan time minimization as compared to other population-based and deterministic algorithms as it significantly improves performance.

This article presents an overview of the research on the effects of internal curing (IC) on ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC). The process of adding a curing ingredient to the concrete mixture to serve as a water reservoir is known as internal curing. IC is a viable technique for supplying additional water for curing cement-based material with lower water-to-binder concrete. It is distinct from externally applied curing. The water meant for internal water curing is dispersed within the concrete after it hardened and facilitated the hydration process. It was used to minimize self-desiccation and shrinkage in UHPC. Based on the reviewed literature, an exchange between mechanical characteristics and autogenous shrinkage for concrete was observed for internally cured UHPC. Even though IC affects the mechanical characteristics, after 28 days, it was possible to achieve a compressive strength of over 150 MPa. Thermal curing was found to exhibit a remarkable effect on the development of UHPC strength. Experimental findings revealed that using pre-saturated aggregates for IC improves the tensile strength of UHPC. The scanning electron microscope images revealed that the bulk of the voids within the super-absorbent polymer cavities are filled with portlandite.

River plan change is one of the river geomorphology change process. This study focuses on the processes of the river plan change using geographic information system (GIS), remote sensing, and water quality analysis using water quality index (WQI) parameters. Multiple linear regression (MLR) method was used to observe the relationship between river plan change and WQI. Spatial model method was applied along the mainstream of Terengganu River Basin, using GIS to further justify the impact of river plan change on water quality status. The results obtained shows that the Terengganu River Basin has been going through certain river plan changes due to increase and decrease of the river plan criteria. Based on WQI analysis, the classification of water quality is under class III. Based on MLR, there are strong relationships between dissolved oxygen and river plan change which has value of R20.995, total suspended solids (TSS) with R20.764, and WQI with R20.928 during wet season, whereas during dry season, TSS and WQI showed the strong linear relationship with R2of 0.997 and 0.985, respectively. This study will appropriately act as an aid of the local enforcement to determine the problems of the river management.

Plant identification based on leaf shape is becoming a popular trend, since each leaf carries substantial information that can be used to identify plant. This is difficult because the features of a leaf shape can be influenced by other leaves that have similar features but different categories. This paper presents the most popular statistical operators: mean filtering technique (MFT), median filtering technique (MDFT), Wiener filtering technique (WFT), rank order filtering technique (ROFT) and adaptive two-pass rank order filtering technique (ATRFT) for enhancing preprocessing stage. The performance of these techniques was evaluated using mean square error (MSE) and peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR). Ten features were extracted from the pre-processed leaf images and identification performance was also evaluated using precision and recall. It is found that WFT is the best filtering technique and gives the best identification accuracy of 95.1%.

There have been emerging interests in functional foods, which fall in the gray area between conventional foods and medicine, over the years owing to their health benefits. In this study, the effect of fiber-enriched cake, produced from selected fruits, on the hematology and serum biochemistry of diabetic rats was investigated.

To investigate the effects of fractionation of acacia honey on its antioxidant potential in contrast with the pure honey from whole blood, brain and liver in vitro.