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In the current scenario, energy generation is relied on the portable gadgets with more efficiency paving a way for new versatile and smart techniques for device fabrication. 3D printing is one of the most adaptable fabrication techniques based on designed architecture. The fabrication of 3D printed energy storage devices minimizes the manual labor enhancing the perfection of fabrication and reducing the risk of hazards. The perfection in fabrication technique enhances the performance of the device. The idea has been built upon by industry as well as academic research to print a variety of battery components such as cathode, anode, separator, etc. The main attraction of 3D printing is its cost-efficiency. There are tremendous savings in not having to manufacture battery cells separately and then assemble them into modules. This review highlights recent and important advances made in 3D printing of energy storage devices. The present review explains the common 3D printing techniques that have been used for the printing of electrode materials, separators, battery casings, etc. Also highlights the challenges present in the technique during the energy storage device fabrication in order to overcome the same to develop the process of 3D printing of the batteries to have comparable performance to, or even better performance than, conventional batteries.

The research focuses on the design space optimisation of National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) submerged inlets through the formulation of a hybrid data fusion methodology. Submerged inlets have drawn considerable attention owing to their potential for good on-design performance, for example during cruise flight conditions. However, complexities due to the geometrical topology and interactions among various design variables remain a challenge. This research enhances the current design knowledge of submerged inlets through the utilisation of data mining and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) methodologies, focusing on design space optimisation. A two-pronged approach is employed where the first step encompasses a low-fidelity model through data mining and surrogate modelling to predict and optimise the design parameters, while the second step uses the Design of Experiments (DOE) approach based on the CFD results for the candidate design geometry to construct a surrogate model with high fidelity for design refinement. The feasibility of the proposed methodology is demonstrated for the optimisation of the total pressure recovery of a NACA submerged inlet for the subsonic flight regime. The proposed methodology is found to provide good agreement between the surrogate and CFD-based model and reduce the optimisation processing time by half in comparison with conventional (global-based) CFD optimisation approaches.

Developer forums are essential for software engineers to solve their problems with the assistance of experts on such forums. However, sometimes the solutions (answers) of a problem are not satisfactory or challenging to select the potential answer. Information seekers usually browse all the answers within the question thread to get the potential answer. The manual selection of correct answers is a tedious and time-consuming task. In this paper, we propose an automatic classification approach to predict the correct answers for developer forums. We first extract the metadata and combination of Q/A for each thread of the developer community (Stack Overflow). Then, the natural language processing techniques are applied to preprocess the Q/A combinations of the given dataset. After that, a keyword ranking algorithm is leveraged to extract keywords and their ranking scores for each Q/A combination. Based on keywords and their ranking scores for each Q/A combination, a keywords-based feature vector is constructed. Subsequently, word embedding is leveraged to convert each preprocessed Q/A combination into a text-based feature vector. Finally, we pass the metadata, keywords-based features, and text-based features to the ensemble deep learning model for training to predict correct answers. The results of 10-fold cross-validation specify that the proposed approach is accurate and surpasses the state-of-the-art. On average, it improves the accuracy, precision, recall, and f-measure up to 1.72%, 24.96%, 6.57%, and 16.62%, respectively.

The plant hormone, abscisic acid (ABA), is not only important for promoting abiotic stress responses but also plays a versatile and crucial role in plant immunity. The pathogen infection-induced dynamic accumulation of ABA mediates the degradation of non-expresser of PR genes 1 (NPR1) through the CUL3

This research focused on developing a hybrid quality monitoring model through combining the data-driven and key engineering parameters to predict the friction stir blind riveting (FSBR) joint quality. The hybrid model was formulated through utilizing the in situ processing and joint property data. The in situ data involved sensor fusion (force and torque signals) and key processing parameters (spindle speed, feed rate, and stacking sequence) for data-driven modeling. The quality of the FSBR joints was defined by the tensile strength. Furthermore, the joint cross-sectional analysis and failure modes in lap shear tests were employed to confirm the efficacy of the proposed model and development of the process–structure–property relationship.

Aim: To see the frequency of visceral injury and port site hernia from direct trocar entry in laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Study Design: Place and Duration of Study: Department of Surgery, District Headquarters Teaching Hospital Abbottabad from 1st December 2017 to 20th September 2019. Methodology: Two hundred and sixty patients requiring laparoscopic cholecystectomy were enrolled. Direct trocar technique was used for peritoneal first port entry using retractable trocar in all patients. Demographic characteristics of the patients, as well as intraoperative visceral injury and post operative port site hernia formation were recorded. Results: Majority of study participants were females: 229 (88 %) women while remaining men. Mean age of study population was recorded as 37±8 years. Females were older than males (p > 0.05).We have not seen a single case of visceral injury or hernia formation in our study. Conclusions: The blind technique with retractable port is safe for first port entry into peritoneum in terms of visceral injury and also hernia formation. Key words: Direct trocar, Laparoscopic cholecystectomy, Visceral injury, Port site hernia

Background: Biliary injury is frequently seen as a complication after laparoscopic removal of gall bladder. In order to minimize the occurrence of this dreadful complication, “critical view of safety” involving dissection in the triangle of Calot’s and subsequent recognition of cystic structures before surgery has been proposed. Objective: To determine the role of critical view of safety in laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Study Design: Descriptive cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Surgery, Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Teaching Hospital Abbottabad from 1st January 2018 to 30th September 2019. Methods: Three hundred patients requiring laparoscopic cholecystectomy were enrolled. Before clipping, the cystic artery and duct were isolated by critical view of safety. Demographic data of patients in addition to occurrence of intra-operative or post-operative complications was recorded. Results: Majority of study participants were females, 264 (88%) females and 36 (12 %) males. Females were older than males (p>0.05). Operative findings included non inflamed gall bladders in 83% patients of which 90% were females and rest were males. Difficult cholecystectomy like acutely inflamed gall bladder was seen in 17% patients and out of those 13% were females. Most of the patients were discharged from hospital by the third post-operative day. Only one patient developed bile leak but that was due to cystic duct slipped ligature. Conclusions: The incidence of injury to biliary ducts during laparoscopic cholecystectomy can be minimized by application of “critical view of safety”. Key words: Critical view of safety (CVS), Laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC), Common bile duct (CBD)

Objective: To develop a generic web scraping tool that can extract cricket player’s data for research purposes. Methods: Cricket as a sport has greatly plagued the world with its importance and entertaining nature. For a team the performance of each individual player has great importance for their victory. In this paper, an automated data scraping mechanism is devised to extract and store data of cricket players from a cricket website. This website contain web-enabled database of cricket players where the data is contained on multiple web pages and proposed mechanism is designed to extract this variation as per requirement of researcher. Findings: This tool will be helpful for data scientists/researchers to extract dataset as per their requirements. Applications: This generic tool will be applicable in analyzing the formation of cricket team as per rating of individual player. Moreover, this tool will contribute as an essential ingredient for research related in the domain of cricket analytics. Keywords: Cricket Analytics, Information Extraction, Scrapper, Web Content Extraction

In this paper, we have build-up a new optimization algorithm with novel stochastic search approach mimicking features of evolution and mutualistic cooperation observed among plants and animal pollinators in nature. The framework, based on the mathematics of the optimization mechanism of the plant-pollinator dynamics inspired the metaphorical design of the search strategies. We name our algorithm as a Plant pollinator optimization (PPO) and propose its variants by adding a few purposeful features of Evolutionary Algorithms. The competitive performance of the proposed approach and its variants is tested against 14 benchmark problems and superior performance of the proposed approach has been reported. The results are compared with that of hybrids of Particle Swarm Optimization adopted from literature. Subsequently, the results are used to draw statistical inferences regarding the convergence characteristics, exploratory features and consistency of the algorithm. The implementation of PPO on a realistic discrete optimization problem of dynamic scheduling and chartering of oil tankers further demonstrates the suitability of the proposed algorithm.

The focus of this research is the mechanical behavior of dissimilar material friction stir blind riveted (FSBR) joints after a 6-month exposure to a marine environment with two different material configurations, i.e., CFRP (carbon fiber-reinforced plastic) composite/Al and Mg/CFRP composite. Quasi-static tensile tests along with fractographic and acoustic emission (AE) analyses were employed to explore the effect of corrosion on the mechanical behavior of each individual constituent material and the entire joints. All the exposed constituent materials showed significant degradation in terms of maximum load and nominal stiffness, along with the change in failure mode for the exposed joints. However, the exposed joints exhibited similar strengths as the as-fabricated ones, where the fracture area of all joints was localized at the joining region between the rivet and workpiece (tension failure mode). The joint strengths were similar because of the metallurgical bonding and mechanical interlocking (occurred during the stirring process) which consequently eliminated the gap and prevented the corrosion at the bonding interface between the rivet and workpieces. This observation revealed FSBR as a promising joining technology for the dissimilar material joining applications in corrosion prone environments. In addition, compared to the as-fabricated joints, more AE hit signals were observed during the tension test for the exposed joints due to the fracture of introduced brittle corrosion products.

Pashto is a language that belongs to the Indo-European family, mostly spoken in South Asian countries, especially in Pakistan and Afghanistan. To build software that enables us to translate Pashto sentences into various languages and building Natural Language Understand (NLU) applications to make interactive Pashto software requires a well-defined corpus and Parts of Speech (POS) tagging approach. Therefore, a well-defined corpus is developed by scraping data from different websites. We have prepared dataset according to the guidelines written for Persian and Arabic languages, as these languages are somehow similar to these languages. Training of POS tagging using BiLSTM with GloVe embedding shows the effectiveness of our proposed approach and achieved 97% accuracy.

This study contains the analysis of a cylinder block assembly of an aircraft brake system that failed due to the formation of cracks. The failure analysis was performed using a two-prong strategy (i) experimental, which included the analysis of the fracture surfaces along with microstructure and composition, and (ii) numerical (finite element analysis, FEA), to find the stress state. Visual inspection revealed relatively long cracks emanating from a sharp corner (junction) which traversed 87 mm in one direction and 52 mm in another. At a mirror-symmetric location, another smaller crack (∼16 mm) revealed the initial growth stage. During detailed fractography of the region containing long cracks, clear beach marks indicating progressive failure were observed pointing towards the same sharp corner. Microstructure and compositional analysis revealed the cylinder block assembly material to be heat treated Al 2024 having no inherent nonconformities. The hardness was also found to be conformant to the typical of the Al 2024. The stresses are produced as a consequence of (a range of) hydraulic pressures acting on its pistons which were estimated using FEA. The stress was confirmed to be concentrated (having Kt∼2.25) at the same junction(s) as identified during fractography. Due to the cyclic nature of the applied loads, the resulting stresses initiated the fatigue crack(s) at the stress concentration locations (junctions). Fatigue life calculation using unnotched SN diagrams (Kt=1, R∼0)) showed that failures could potentially occur between 283-112 (x103) load cycles, depending on the value of stress amplitude, and it matched with the estimated values in our case. Thus, a combination of cyclic brake applications and the presence of stress concentration locations resulted in fatigue crack initiation and propagation leading to the ultimate rejection of the cylinder block.

Drought stress adversely affects plant growth and development and significantly reduces crop productivity and yields. The phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) rapidly accumulates in response to drought stress and mediates the expression of stress-responsive genes that help the plant to survive dehydration. The protein Powerdress (PWR), which interacts with Histone Deacetylase 9 (HDA9), has been identified as a critical component regulating plant growth and development, flowering time, floral determinacy, and leaf senescence. However, the role and function of PWR and HDA9 in abiotic stress response had remained elusive. Here we report that a complex of PWR and HDA9 interacts with ABI4 and epigenetically regulates drought signaling in plants. T-DNA insertion mutants of PWR and HDA9 are insensitive to ABA and hypersensitive to dehydration. Furthermore, the expression of ABA-responsive genes (RD29A, RD29B, and COR15A) is also downregulated in pwr and hda9 mutants. Yeast two-hybrid assays showed that PWR and HDA9 interact with ABI4. Transcript levels of genes that are normally repressed by ABI4, such as CYP707A1, AOX1a and ACS4, are increased in pwr. More importantly, during dehydration stress, PWR and HDA9 regulate the acetylation status of the CYP707A1, which encodes a major enzyme of ABA catabolism. Taken together, our results indicate that PWR, in association with HDA9 and ABI4, regulates the chromatin modification of genes responsible for regulation of both the ABA-signaling and ABA-catabolism pathways in response to ABA and drought stress

Chromatin modification is a key mechanism of gene expression in eukaryotes, and involve interactions among several proteins. Recently, we reported that HOS15, a cullin-based E3 ligase receptor, is involved in chromatin remodeling, and regulates gene expression and cold tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana. To identify the protein complexes that function in conjunction with HOS15, we performed FLAGtag affinity purification using transgenic Arabidopsis plants expressing HOS15-FLAG, and isolated HOS15-interacting proteins. To identify these proteins, matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) analysis was conducted, and 16 proteins were identified. Database searches revealed that these proteins were histone variants, histone deacetylases, mRNA splicing regulators, a protein kinase, and proteins of unknown function. The ability of these proteins binding to HOS15 was confirmed using yeast two-hybrid, co-immunoprecipitation (Co-IP), and luciferase complementation imaging (LCI) assays. Our data suggest that specific interactions between HOS15 and those proteins involve in chromatin remodeling and RNA processing regulates plant development and abiotic stress in Arabidopsis.

The morphology of joint surface revealed that a narrow process window exists for acquiring multilayer defect-free joints with micro friction stir welding (μFSW). The optimal welding condition for realization of the maximum tensile load was predicted: a rotation rate of 20,000 rpm, welding speed of 3 mm/s, plunge depth of 0.85 mm, and use of a stepped pin. Significant grain refinements and material hardening in the weld zone were observed in multilayer defect-free joints, with a decrease in the bonding length between adjacent layers from the top layer to the bottom layer. A more distinct thermomechanically affected zone was found on the retreating side than on the advancing side. Peel tests revealed different maximum peel loads and fracture modes for different pairs of adjacent layers, indicating nonuniform bonding strengths in different layers; and the strengths were dependent on the tool geometry, layer position, and welding position (advancing or retreating side).

In this research, bonding mechanisms and mechanical properties were investigated for a newly developed multilayer dissimilar material joining technique, micro friction stir blind riveting (viz. μFSBR), where the multilayer micro joint was made consisting of one Cu layer and three Al layers (each layer having 0.203 mm thickness) connected through Al rivet. Different microscopy techniques were employed (i.e. scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy) to unearth the bonding mechanisms of the three interfaces (i.e. Al rivet and Cu sheet interface, Cu sheet and Al sheet interface, and Al rivet and Al sheet interface) which revealed intricate yet distinct bonding phenomenon for each interface. A nano-scale diffusion layer in addition to two-way material flow consequential heterogeneous lamellar structures and mechanical interlocking was formed at the Al rivet and Cu sheet interface; Cu particles diffused into a non-uniform thickness thin oxide layer at the Cu sheet and Al sheet interface; and Al sheet experienced grain refinement near the interface close to Al rivet with a nano-scale gap. These observations revealed that both mechanical and metallurgical bonding occurred simultaneously in μFSBR. The formation of different bonding mechanisms resulted in superior bonding strength and absorbed energy compared to conventional micro blind riveting joints, which was further confirmed through layer by layer tensile tests.

This paper investigated the corrosion behavior of Al/CFRP (carbon fiber-reinforced plastic) and Mg/CFRP FSBR (friction stir blind riveting) joints after six-month exposure to a marine environment. It was found that Mg in the Mg/CFRP joint experienced severe uniform corrosion in most regions but not inside the crevice. Severe corrosion occurred on Al in the coupled regions due to crevice corrosion and/or galvanic corrosion. Magnesium carbonate-hydrates were identified by several characterization techniques (FTIR, XRD and XPS) as the corrosion products formed on Mg in both coupled and un-coupled regions; and dawsonite and bayerite were found on Al in the coupled regions.

Friction stir blind riveting (FSBR) is a new dissimilar material joining method that takes advantage of both friction stir welding and mechanical blind riveting. However, no research has been conducted to investigate the stirring effects on energy transformation, material flow and temperature evolution in FSBR, which are critical to help understand the FSBR process. This paper described a hybrid numerical model integrating both finite element method (FEM) and smooth particle hydrodynamics(SPH) approach to predict the stirring effects in FSBR lap joint of Mg/Al. In this SPH-FEM model, only rivet plunging process was simulated, and the following mandrel pulling process was not considered. The Johnson-Cook equation was used to describe the constitutive material properties. The model was validated by comparing thrust forces and torques from numerical prediction and experimental results. From the simulation, it was found that (1) the main input energy was consumed by the torque to generate interfacial friction heat and the heat generated from workpiece deformation was negligible; (2) the maximum welding temperature in Mg (~620°C) was higher than that in Al (~590°C), and both maximum temperatures are close to the melting points; and (3) the evolution of material flow illustrated the formation process of interlocking between Mg and Al.

Roll bonding (RB) describes solid-state manufacturing processes where cold or hot rolling of plates or sheet metal is carried out for joining similar and dissimilar materials through the principle of severe plastic deformation. This review covers the mechanics of RB processes, identifies the key process parameters, and provides a detailed discussion on their scientific and/or engineering aspects, which influence the microstructure–mechanical behavior relations of processed materials. It further evaluates the available research focused on improving the metallurgical and mechanical behavior of bonded materials such as microstructure modification, strength enhancement, local mechanical properties, and corrosion and electrical resistance evolution. Moreover, current applications and advantages, limitations of the process and developments in dissimilar material hot roll bonding technologies for producing titanium to steel and stainless steel to carbon steel ultra-thick plates are also discussed. The paper concludes by deliberating on the bonding mechanisms, engineering guidelines and process–property–structure relationships, and recommending probable areas for future research.

This research explored the mechanisms of increased electrical conductivity in pure copper (Cu) which was first joined with aluminum via micro friction stir blind riveted and then exposed to post heating. The increased Ʃ3 boundaries with reduced random grain boundaries are the main reason contributing for this improvement. In this research, microstructural characterization, resistance measurement, and hardness testing were performed at the stir zone (SZ) and thermomechanical affected zone (TMAZ) of Cu in as-fabricated and heat-treated joints. A ratio between the fraction of Ʃ3 boundaries to total fraction of Ʃ9 and Ʃ27 boundaries was introduced to confirm that the increases of Ʃ3 boundaries in TMAZ at 300 °C were caused by the twinning mechanism whereas were through the regeneration mechanism in the SZ (heated at both 300 °C and 500 °C) and TMAZ (heated at 500 °C). Although electrical conductivity was improved by this grain boundary engineering approach, the high-temperature heating caused a dramatic reduction in microhardness due to the substantial strain relief and grain growth.

Due to the low welding energy efficiency of ultrasonic composite welding, preheating is proposed to concentrate the welding energy to joining interface. By analyzing the maximum shear load, fracture surface, and microstructure of the joint cross-sections, it is found that preheating can localize welding pressure because of the softening of the welding layers, which can further concentrate weld area and reduce the generation of welded edges. Preheating enhances the welding energy efficiency, reflected by improved weld attributes (weld area and the degree of bonding) and joint quality as preheating temperature increased. With extended preheating time, the maximum shear load increases, and then drops owing to the porosity generated in the weld layer when the joints are over-heated.

In a woven fabric composite, arrangement and behavior of the fibers contained in the yarn and the yarns themselves lead to an intricate deformation mechanism. The current research, therefore, intends to propose a simplified mathematical micromechanics model for calculating mechanical properties of the plain weave composite using finite element analysis (FEA). A repetitive volume element (RVE) cell approach has been adopted for properties evaluation of plain weave composites. The FEA allows the modeling and portrayal of fabrics by taking into account various geometric parameters such as the yarn undulation, the probability of existence of consonances in a unit cell and interaction between warp and fill tows. These factors help in generating a mesh close to the actual fabric/composite. Additionally, a technique to represent the internal layout of composite structure employing actual dimensions of yarn geometry using conventional measurement devices, rather than using the demanding method of obtaining measurements from photomicrographs of sectioned laminates, is also proposed. The geometric symmetries as reported in the available literature were also incorporated during the model formulation. The theory of comparative displacements was then used to construe these symmetries into appropriate mechanical terms. Consequently, this leads to the formulation of boundary conditions for the RVE. The proposed finite element micromechanics model is different from the existing models in a way that it defines the yarn cross-sectional path based upon computational fluid dynamics technique rather than conventionally obtained photomicrographic results or the proposed sinusoidal paths by various researchers. Experiments were then performed on the laminates used for obtaining the geometric parameters with the aim of supporting the validity of the suggested model. The results of computational analysis were found to be in good agreement with the outcomes of experimental investigation.

This study unearths a novel approach utilizing conventional subtractive manufacturing technology (5-axis CNC milling center) to realize additively manufactured complex geometries without employing support structures. The proposed approach was based on benefiting from the precision and accuracy of subtractive manufacturing while leveraging the freedom of design of additive manufacturing (AM) process. The desired objectives were achieved in a three-stepped methodology where initially the CNC machine was modified to adapt the 3D printing protocols while in the second step, additional hardware was retrofitted on the conventional CNC machine making it compatible to print 3D parts. A “geometric subsection” approach was adopted as the third step where the desired printed part was divided in different subsections based on the overhang angles and the rotational axes of the CNC machine was then utilized in a manner to eliminate the need for support structures. The manufactured AM part can then be post-processed employing the same machining platform. The proposed approach thereby also served as a next step in evolution of done-in-one processes by printing near-net shape components through additive manufacturing and then promptly acquiring the net shape through subtractive manufacturing techniques.

This paper investigated the atmospheric corrosion behavior of Al-Mg friction stir blind riveting joints exposed at a severe marine test environment. Besides the severe corrosion that occurred on Mg alloy AZ31B-H23, Al alloy 5754-O also corroded in the coupled region because of the alkaline condition generated by the cathodic reaction inside of the crevice. The highly alkaline environment, however, passivated Mg deep inside the crevice. The corrosion products on Mg were identified as magnesium carbonates and that on Al was mainly gibbsite, which was an unusual corrosion product of Al exposed to atmospheric conditions.

Process physics-based quality criteria and online monitoring algorithm were developed in this research by considering in-situ force and torque signals which were further linked to the joint structure and strength behavior. Thin joints consisting of one Cu layer and three Al layers were manufactured by micro friction stir blind riveting (μFSBR) process, where a micro rivet rotating at high speed traveled through the thickness of stacked layers to form a point joint by frictional heat and mechanical interlocking. In this research, μFSBR joints were manufactured with different levels of process parameters (spindle speed, feed rate and stacking sequence of Cu layer), while real-time data of penetration force and torque was collected. The joint quality and strength behavior were evaluated through load-displacement curves, in which two joint integrity scenarios, "no initial load drop" and "initial load drop" were observed. The defined scenarios were distinguished quantitatively through proposed process-physics based quality indices, namely, force-torque synchronization parameter and stirring time ratio derived from the real-time data. It was demonstrated that the defined quality indices successfully diagnosed the joint integrity. Furthermore, an online monitoring algorithm based on the pattern recognition protocol of force signals was formulated, in which a “pseudo sinusoidal” pattern was typified for "initial load drop" scenarios contrary to the sinusoidal pattern of “no initial load drop” cases. The developed algorithm was validated through a cross-sectional analysis where defects were observed at the occurrence of a "pseudo sinusoidal" pattern. In addition, the contact conditions were dominant with three stages, i.e. sliding, stick-slip and sticking, which were demarcated by comparing the normalized force and torque curves.

This research illustrates the rationale of adopting a preferred printing sequence by examining crack generation predominated by resultant interfaces and microstructural inhomogeneity, through underlying governing mechanisms in directed energy deposition of 316L stainless steel/Inconel 625 (SS316L/IN625) bimetals. For this purpose, microstructural and crystallographic characterizations augmented by numerical simulations were employed on additively manufactured two distinct interfaces, i.e. Type-I (IN625 deposition on SS316L) and Type-II (SS316L deposition on IN625). Changing the printing sequence generated these two types of interfaces with unique morphologies, which was found attributable to the compositional variations and mismatch in thermal properties. Type-I interface was typified by gradual-change composition in the transition zone, causing the IN625 grains to grow epitaxially on the grains of SS316L. Type-II interface was characterized as a compositional sudden-change zone (CSCZ) adjacent to SS316L, leading to merging bidirectional nucleation and grain growth from the bottom IN625 and upper CSCZ, and lack of epitaxial growth. Additionally, high cracking susceptibility occurred near the Type-II interface rather than the Type-I interface, which was related to solidification and liquidation cracking, and further promoted ductility dip cracking. This research will provide a guideline for the additive manufacturing of bimetals with the consideration of printing sequence to control interface formation for a crack-free structure.

The use of the traditional grid with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) gave birth to Smart Grid (SG). New services and applications are built by utility companies to facilitate electricity consumers which generate a huge amount of data that is processed on the cloud. Fog computing is used on the edge of the cloud to reduce the load on cloud data centers. In this paper, a four-layered architecture is proposed to reduce electricity shortage between consumer and electricity providers. Clusters layer consist of clusters of buildings which are connected to Micro Grid (MG) layer. MG layer is further connected to fog and cloud layer. Three load balancing algorithms Round Robin (RR), Honey Bee Optimization (HBO) and State-Based Load Balancing (SBLB). Results demonstrate that SBLB outperforms RR and HBO in terms of Response Time (RT) and Processing Time (PT).

To survive salt stress, plants must maintain a balance between sodium and potassium ions. High-affinity potassium transporters (HKTs) play a key role in reducing Na+ toxicity through K+ uptake. Eutrema parvula (formerly known as Thellungiella parvula), a halophyte closely related to Arabidopsis, has two HKT1 genes that encode EpHKT1;1 and EpHKT1;2. In response to high salinity, the EpHKT1;2 transcript level increased rapidly; by contrast, the EpHKT1;1 transcript increased more slowly in response to salt treatment. Yeast cells expressing EpHKT1;2 were able to tolerate high concentrations of NaCl, whereas EpHKT1;1-expressing yeast cells remained sensitive to NaCl. Amino acid sequence alignment with other plant HKTs showed that EpHKT1;1 contains an asparagine residue (Asn-213) in the second pore-loop domain, but EpHKT1;2 contains an aspartic acid residue (Asp-205) at the same position. Yeast cells expressing EpHKT1;1, in which Asn-213 was substituted with Asp, were able to tolerate high concentrations of NaCl. In contrast, substitution of Asp-205 by Asn in EpHKT1;2 did not enhance salt tolerance and rather resulted in a similar function to that of AtHKT1 (Na+ influx but no K+ influx), indicating that the presence of Asn or Asp determines the mode of cation selectivity of the HKT1-type transporters. Moreover, Arabidopsis plants (Col-gl) overexpressing EpHKT1;2 showed significantly higher tolerance to salt stress and accumulated less Na+ and more K+ compared to those overexpressing EpHKT1;1 or AtHKT1. Taken together, these results suggest that EpHKT1;2 mediates tolerance to Na+ ion toxicity in E. parvula and is a major contributor to its halophytic nature.

This paper aims at providing a state-of-the-art review of an increasingly important class of joining technologies called solid-state welding. Among many other advantages such as low heat input, solid-state processes are particularly suitable for dissimilar materials joining. In this paper, major solid-state joining technologies such as the linear and rotary friction welding, friction stir welding, ultrasonic welding, impact welding, are reviewed, as well as diffusion and roll bonding. For each technology, the joining process is first depicted, followed by the process characterization, modeling and simulation, monitoring/diagnostics/NDE, and ended with concluding remarks. A discussion section is provided after reviewing all the technologies on the common critical factors that affect the solid-state processes such as the joining mechanisms, chemical and materials compatibility, surface properties, and process conditions. Finally, the future outlook is presented.

A survey was performed to measure the distribution of invasive parthenium (P. hysterophorus) weed in the university campus, Peshawar, the capital city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in 2016. The University Campus included: The University of Peshawar, Islamia College University, The University of Agriculture Peshawar, Pakistan Forest Institute and the New Developmental Research Farm, The University of Agriculture Peshawar were the main studied areas. In the selected areas P. hysterophorus distribution was measured in the academic, residential and research farm areas. Moreover, the survey also investigated the impact of parthenium weed upon native weeds flora inside the University campus. A 1m2 quadrat was used to collect the data. During the survey, a total of 32 weeds species were recorded belonging to 18 different families and 32 genera, the life cycle of 23 weeds were annual while 9 weeds have perennial life cycle. The data were recorded on absolute density (%), relative density (%), absolute frequency (%), relative frequency (%) and importance values (%) of parthenium weed and others flora. The data showed that parthenium weed was most dominant species having 76.8 m-2 plants density in the NDF and (32.0 m-2) plants in Islamia University. However, the highest frequency (100%) of P. hysterophorus was observed for The University of Agriculture, while minimum (80%) occurred in Agronomy field. Moreover the relative frequency of P. hysterophorus was maximum (25%) seemed for Islamia College; whereas, its minimum (12.9%) at Agronomy field. Lastly, the Importance Value of Parthenium indicates the highest (45.98%) at Dairy farm followed by (40.33 %) at Horticulture field’s area. In conclusion, the Parthenium weed become more problematic and replaces all the native flora in the non-crop area specially Dicanthium annulatum a native grass specie on the on the ridges of the field being replaced by parthenium. Due to no proper management and high growth rate, nowadays it becomes as super weed in the KPK and especially in the Pakistan. So, the management of Parthenium weed requires the call attention from the Govt. policy maker and proper quarantine inspection to conserve the native flora and field crops to get maximum crop yield.

To survive salt stress, plants must maintain a balance between sodium and potassium ions. High-affinity potassium transporters (HKTs) play a key role in reducing Na+ toxicity through K+ uptake. Eutrema parvula (formerly known as Thellungiella parvula), a halophyte closely related to Arabidopsis, has two HKT1 genes that encode EpHKT1;1 and EpHKT1;2. In response to high salinity, the EpHKT1;2 transcript level increased rapidly; by contrast, the EpHKT1;1 transcript increased more slowly in response to salt treatment. Yeast cells expressing EpHKT1;2 were able to tolerate high concentrations of NaCl, whereas EpHKT1;1-expressing yeast cells remained sensitive to NaCl. Amino acid sequence alignment with other plant HKTs showed that EpHKT1;1 contains an asparagine residue (Asn-213) in the second pore-loop domain, but EpHKT1;2 contains an aspartic acid residue (Asp-205) at the same position. Yeast cells expressing EpHKT1;1, in which Asn-213 was substituted with Asp, were able to tolerate high concentrations of NaCl. In contrast, substitution of Asp-205 by Asn in EpHKT1;2 did not enhance salt tolerance and rather resulted in a similar function to that of AtHKT1 (Na+ influx but no K+ influx), indicating that the presence of Asn or Asp determines the mode of cation selectivity of the HKT1-type transporters. Moreover, Arabidopsis plants (Col-gl) overexpressing EpHKT1;2 showed significantly higher tolerance to salt stress and accumulated less Na+ and more K+ compared to those overexpressing EpHKT1;1 or AtHKT1. Taken together, these results suggest that EpHKT1;2 mediates tolerance to Na+ ion toxicity in E. parvula and is a major contributor to its halophytic nature.

This paper focuses on progressive damage investigation and failure analysis of carbon fiber reinforced laminates under varying strain rates in tensile mode. Samples specimen prepared for experiments were made from unidirectional ply with 70/30 fiber-matrix volume fraction and cross-ply (0°-90°) balanced stacking. These laminates were subjected to uniaxial longitudinal tensile loading in a Universal Testing Machine (UTM) with varying strain rates. Results acquired from the experiments were used to plot stress versus strain curves for different strain rates. These plots were subsequently analyzed to investigate the effect of varying loading rates on the mechanical properties and failure behavior of these composites. Experimental data revealed a considerable increase in the tensile strength with increasing strain rate. The tensile modulus and strain to failure were also found to exhibit slight increase with the increasing strain rate.

This study presents detailed analyses of variant joining processes under the category of friction stir riveting (FSR) that are applied to assemble similar or dissimilar materials by integrating the advantages of both friction stir process and mechanical fastening. It covers the operating principle of FSR methods along with the insights into various process parameters responsible for successful joint formation. The paper further evaluates the researches in friction stir-based riveting processes, which unearth the enhanced metallurgical and mechanical properties, for instance microstructure refinement, local mechanical properties and improved strength, corrosion, and fatigue resistance. Advantages and limitations of the FSR processes are then presented. The study is concluded by summarizing the key analyses and proposing the potential areas for future research.

This study presents a detailed analysis of friction stir riveting (FSR) processes that are used for joining similar as well as dissimilar materials. It covers the operating principle of FSR methods along with the insight into various process parameters responsible for successful joints formation. The paper further evaluates the research in friction stir-based riveting processes which unearth the enhanced metallurgical and mechanical properties for instance microstructure modification, local mechanical properties and improved strength, corrosion and fatigue resistance. The results of the study show that use of FSR process yields refined microstructures and improved mechanical properties in materials, which will entail a significant rise in the usage of friction stir-based riveting processes.