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This paper presents a collaboratively adaptive vibration monitoring system that captures high-fidelity structural vibration signals induced by pedestrians. These signals can be used for various human activities’ monitoring by inferring information about the impact sources, such as pedestrian footsteps, door opening and closing, and dragging objects. Such applications often require high-fidelity (high resolution and low distortion) signals. Traditionally, expensive high resolution and high dynamic range sensors are adopted to ensure sufficient resolution. However, for sensing systems that use low-cost sensing devices, the resolution and dynamic range are often limited; hence this type of sensing methods is not well explored ubiquitously. We propose a low-cost sensing system that utilizes (1) a heuristic model of the investigating excitations and (2) shared information through networked devices to adapt hardware configurations and obtain high-fidelity structural vibration signals. To further explain the system, we use indoor pedestrian footstep sensing through ambient structural vibration as an example to demonstrate the system performance. We evaluate the application with three metrics that measure the signal quality from different aspects: the sufficient resolution rate to present signal resolution improvement without clipping, the clipping rate to measure the distortion of the footstep signal, and the signal magnitude to quantify the detailed resolution of the detected footstep signal. In experiments conducted in a school building, our system demonstrated up to 2× increase on the sufficient resolution rate and 2× less error rate when used to locate the pedestrians as they walk along the hallway, compared to a fixed sensing setting.

In this paper, the influence of the variation in transformer oil temperature on the accuracy of the all-acoustic non-iterative method for partial discharge location in a power transformer is researched. The research can improve power transformers’ testing and monitoring, particularly given the large transformer oil temperature variations during real-time monitoring. The research is based on quantifying the contribution of oil temperature to the standard combined measurement uncertainty of the non-iterative algorithm by using analytical, statistical, and Monte Carlo methods. The contribution can be quantified and controlled. The contribution varied significantly with different mutual placements of partial discharge and acoustic sensors. The correlation between the contribution and the mean distance between partial discharge and acoustic sensors was observed. Based on these findings, the procedure to quantify and control the contribution in practice was proposed. The procedure considers the specificity of the method’s mathematical model (the assumption that the oil temperature is constant), the non-iterative algorithm’s nonlinearity, and the large variations in transformer oil temperature. Existing studies did not consider the significant effect of the oil temperature on the combined measurement uncertainty of partial discharge location influenced by those phenomena. The research is limited to partial discharge located in the transformer oil.

The need of food preservation cannot be over-emphasised. Crops need to be processed and preserved in times of their abundance to ensure for life and specie sustainability in times of scarcity. Flat plate collectors (FPCs) are often made fixed and the positions of reflectors used on them are not normally specified; in this paper, a report of an experimental test of an indirect solar dryer whose FPC is operated manually in a single axis to track the sun is presented. To avoid incurring extra cost on the existing design, the FPC was rather made to be operated manually instead of the automation process. Using the Engineering Equation Solver (EES) and the TRNSYS 16 softwares, the angular positions of reflectors placed east and west on the FPC were simulated for the first quarter months of the year of the experiment – this included the month of the test. This is to ascertain the best positions for the reflectors in other to achieve maximum insolation. For the month of the test, March, the angular positions of the reflectors placed east and west of the FPC were found to be 40° and 80° respectively relative to the horizontal plane. The performance of the solar dryer in terms of the percentage moisture loss, drying rate, collector efficiency and drying efficiency was evaluated when the FPC was fixed and when it was made to track the sun and the results obtained there from were compared. In comparison, it was found that the dryer tested by manually tracking the sun increased the total percentage moisture loss by 5.11%; the total drying rate by 2.10×10-5kg/s; the average collector efficiency by 3.92% and the overall drying efficiency by 2.0% as compare to when the FPC was fixed, i.e. not tracking the sun. The indirect solar dryer with the ability to manually track the sun in a single axis using the meteorological conditions of Zaria, Nigeria was therefore found to have increased the performance of the system dryer as compare to when tracking of the sun was not done.

The traditional method of slicing okra with kitchen knife is labourious, time-consuming and also prone to finger injury. Both traditional method and existing mechanized okra slicer result in damaged and unequal slices of okra which may hinder proper drying of the okra for preservation. An okra slicer was designed, constructed and evaluated. The main parts of the machine were cutting discs, guided removable tray, loading hopper, the transmission system and the supporting frame. In the evaluation of the machine with okra, the performance indices investigated were slicing efficiency, throughput capacity, mechanical damage index and slicing uniformity. The highest slicing efficiency and throughput capacity for okra were 99.88 % and 194.11 kg/h respectively. The least mechanical damage index value of 0.30 % was obtained at a cutting speed of 1200 rpm. The mean slicing uniformity was 93.87 %. The machine developed in this study was able to produce uniform slices of okra of about 3.4 mm thickness. Hence, Industrial production and shelf life of dried okra could be enhanced.&nbsp

Following the recent public outcry over delays and long queues at the Wurukum Roundabout Makurdi due to increase in travel demand at the road intersection, it is not certain if the performance of the roundabout is satisfactory based on engineering specifications and judgment. Therefore, simulation of the 5-arm at-grade intersection was carried out using Assessment of Roundabout Capacity and Delay (ARCADY) and the Signalised (and unsignalised) Intersection Design and Research Aid (SIDRA INTERSECTION) Software. The geometric dimensions of the roundabout were measured and manual traffic counts were used to obtain average travel demand matric from the morning (8:30 – 9:30 am) and evening (4:30 – 5:30 pm) peak periods, and heavy vehicle proportion of Origin-Destination (O-D) flows on the roundabout. Simulation models of the Wurukum roundabout were built using ARCADY and SIDRA INTERSECTION software to measure its capacity and performance based on key parameters such as Level of Service (LOS), average geometric delay and queue length among others. Though significant variations were observed among estimated performance indices, results obtained from the simulated models and statistical analysis (test of hypothesis using Chi-square test) indicated that the roundabout operates at failed state classified as LOS F at its present condition. Recommended strategies to improve the capacity and performance of the roundabout included any of the following; construction of a fly-over bridge connecting the Northern and Southern approaches as permitted by site physical features, signalisation of the roundabout with traffic signs, proper pavement markings and adjustment of its geometric features, or redesign and construction of road network within Makurdi metropolis to divert and reduce traffic demand on the roundabout. &nbsp

The research area is characterized by problems of gully erosion which have resulted in the destruction of roads and uprooting trees of economic importance. Reduction in the area of arable and other agricultural land, which become divided into smaller parcels and leads to increased farming cost. Hydrogeological and engineering investigations were conducted in Zing and environs, Taraba State of Nigeria to characterize the rock materials that aid gully erosion in the area. The methods involve three (3) stages, reconnaissance survey, detailed field mapping and laboratory analysis. The area is underlain by porphyritic granite and Biotite granite. The geologic structures include fractures, dykes, and veins which trend NNW to SSE, NW-SE and NNE to SSW. The results of geotechnical parameters indicate that the plastic limit ranges between 0 to 24.2%, liquid limit ranges from 20.1% to 43.9%, plasticity index ranges between 11.2 to 19.7%. The coefficient of uniformity ranges between 4.2 and 11.5 while the coefficient of curvature ranged between 0.53 and 1.99. The optimum moisture content was from 8.3 to 9.8%, while maximum dry density is from 1.75 to 1.91mg/m³. The angle of internal friction was between 28° to 40°, while the cohesion is between 0 to 54KN/m². The statistical grain size methods gave hydraulic conductivity values ranging from 2.35 x 10-3m/s to 8.64 x 10-5m/s. The hydraulic head distribution map indicates that the gully sites are located in the discharge areas. The discharge areas are characterized by high hydrostatic pressure which decreases effective stress and in turn reduces the shear strength of materials, enhance, internal erosion in form of piping and cave ins in the discharge areas. From the results of the study, recommendations such as sand mining/excavation along the rivers should be avoided, ridging perpendicular to river bank are reduced, dumping of refuse on the river channels and floodplains should be discouraged and houses should not be constructed along the river banks.&nbsp

Data remain a very important ingredient required by any organization to make informed decision as it affects operations. Companies have been collecting data from various sources over the decades bringing about a very large volume of data warehouse. Unfortunately, most organizations build databases which are redundant and never used for any meaningful thing. While few companies use the data collected in their databases when taking strategic decisions others barely do same. However, for an organization to immensely derive benefits from the massive data warehouse, there is the need for an effective and efficient means of analysing the data with a view to extracting meaningful knowledge that is sufficient to achieve organizational goal. To achieve this, Artificial Neural Network (ANN) technique through the concept known as data mining is presented. The paper reviewed artificial neural network technique for data mining, examines the computational model behind this technique and analysed its use and application as a predicting or forecasting tool. Results shows that ANN’ has capability in data management, analysis and able to provide desirable knowledge for management decision making processes. It is therefore recommended that data mining tools like ANN and others be applied to organization’s databases which hitherto have not been minned in order to provide management with intelligence for decision making.

It is now becoming apparent that concrete should not only be strong but must also be durable. It is also believed that understanding the microstructure of the concrete will help produce strong and durable concrete, and thus enhance innovativeness in concrete application. This paper compares the durability performance and microstructure development of concrete produced with Portland limestone cement (PLC) grades 32.5R and 42.5R. The durability investigation was accomplished through coefficient of water absorption and sorptivity measurements. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to investigate the microstructure of the concrete samples. The results show that concrete produced with cement grade 42.5R showed higher durability potential than the ones produced with grade 32.5R using 28 days curing period. Similarly, it was also observed that concrete specimens produced with 32.5R and with water/cement ratio of 0.40 have better durability index at the later dayscuring of 90 days in comparison to grade 42.5R concrete specimens. It can be concluded that concrete produced using grade 42.5R cement has potential for better durability performance in relation to concrete produced with 32.5R

In this study, a manually operated meat mincing machine was designed, constructed and its performance evaluated. The machine consists of; a single start worm auger called the shaft, a four-blade crosshead knife, a perforated plate, handle, mincing cover and a mincing head which comprised a hopper and an anchor bracket. All components of the machine were fabricated from locally available materials (stainless and mild steel) and based on the determined design parameters. The auger, mincing head, the crosshead knife and perforated plate were constructed from stainless steel material. Mild steel was used for the construction of the anchor bracket, mincing head cover and handle of the machine. These components were fabricated using the process of measurement, marking, cutting and joining. Vernier caliper and steel rule were used for measurement, scriber used for marking, center lathe machine, drilling machine, hark saw, hand snip and hand files were used for cutting. While arc welding and bolting were used the joining process. The auger had a shaft diameter of 0.025 m, worm diameter of 0.05 m and a total length of 0.22 m. The mincing head had an internal diameter of 0.052 m and external diameter of 0.06 m. The result shows that the machine can mince fresh meat in seconds, of perboiled meat in seconds and of overcooked meat in seconds. The critical load of the auger which is the major component of the machine is with a maximum stress of The efficiency of the machine was 50% at a velocity ratio of 0.88 and mechanical advantage of 1.8 with a total production cost of seven thousand three hundred and ninety two naira (₦7,392). The machine will serve as a means of providing minced meat to children, elderly and the sick especially in rural areas that have no access to electricity.

The depletion of fossil fuel reserves coupled with the environmental challenges pose by fossil fuel utilization make it necessary to search for better alternative fuels that have less adverse impact to the environment. Biodiesel and its blends as an alternative fuel in compression ignition (CI) engines are receiving more attention from researchers. This study investigates a blend of biodiesels from cotton seed oil and pure diesel prepared in percentage by volume in a proportion of 0:100, 10:90, 20:80 and 30:70 respectively. They were labeled as B0, B10, B20, and B30, and run on a single-cylinder, four stroke and water-cooled165 F diesel engine. The results show higher brake power for all blends when compared with pure diesel, with the lowest difference of 0.43%for B10 at a torque of 10 Nm and highest of 2.06% for B30 at 2 Nm torque. Specific fuel consumption (SFC) was also higher for the blends as compared to pure diesel, but the SFC is compensated with higher brake power. Pure diesel is observed to be thermally more efficient than biodiesel blends at low torque. The thermal efficiency difference ranges between 6.6–13.3% at 2 Nm. But at the torque of 10 Nm, the thermal efficiency of all blends is higher than pure diesel with about 3.3%. B30 shows better engine performance than pure diesel and the other two blends, but with slightly higher fuel consumption.

Manufacturing companies operate in an environment characterized as increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. At the same time, their customer orientation makes it increasingly important to ensure high delivery reliability. Manufacturing sites within a supply network must therefore be resilient against events from the supply network. This requires deeper integration between the supply network and manufacturing control. Therefore, this article presents a concept to connect supply network and manufacturing more closely by integrating events from the supply network into manufacturing control’s decisions. In addition to the requirements, the concept describes the structure of the system as a control loop, a reinforcement learning-based controlling element as the central decision-making component, and the integration into the existing production IT landscape of a company as well as with latest internet of things (IoT) devices and cyber-physical systems. The benefits of the concept were elaborated in expert workshops. In summary, this approach enables an effective and efficient response to events from the supply network through smarter manufacturing control, and thus more resilient manufacturing.

An experimental study on a passive solar distiller in the Tikrit city on (latitude line"34 36o north, longitude line "45 43o east), and purpose of that study to raise the efficiency and productivity of the solar distiller. And then design the monoclinic solar distiller and add reflector plate and a solar concentrate. The Practical tests were conducted at a rate of every half-hour from the beginning of February to the beginning of the month of June. The study began by comparing the solar distiller that contain the concentrates and without contain it. Then study the influence of adding coal and chemical solutions, like blue Thymol solution and blue bromophenol solution to see the additions effect on the productivity and efficiency of distiller, and also The study was conducted to see the effect of the water depth on the productivity of distiller with take four water depths within the basin are (2,1.5,1,0.5) cm of water. The tests were conducted in weather conditions close. and the results of the study, That distilled added his concentrates improved its productivity by 46% and efficiency increases 43% with non-use of concentrates, and coal increased efficiency by 36% and productivity improved up to 38%, the addition of blue Thymol solution increases the efficiency by 19% and productivity by 16%, as well as bromophenol solution increase productivity by 23% and improve efficiency by 25%, when comparing the additions found that the best one is coal. Through the study of the depth of the water show that increases productivity and efficiency by reducing the depth of the water in the basin distiller. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.25130/tjes.24.2017.13

In this study a series of shaking table tests were carried out to investigate the effect of tunnel model depth and direction of ground acceleration on the horizontal acceleration of tunnel model and soil beside it, ground surface settlement, and the dynamic earth pressure on the tunnel wall. Square tunnel model embedded in both dry and saturated soil (Karbala Sand). It subjected to three input sinusoidal motions 0.05g, 0.1g, and 0.2g. Two relative densities used, 30% for the upper layer and 70% for the lower layer. The results obtained indicate that the direction of seismic loading has significant effect on the horizontal acceleration of tunnel model. The increase of tunnel model depth lead to decrease the horizontal acceleration of tunnel model. While, the settlement of soil surface increases with an increase of tunnel model depth and ground acceleration especially at 0.2g earthquake loading. The change of direction of seismic loading leads to a small change in the settlement for dry soil. The results appear that dynamic earth pressure (DEP) was positive in dry soil and negative in saturated soil in all test. In saturated soil, the effect of direction of ground acceleration and depth of tunnel model on DEP in 0.2g is quite little.

The development of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) has been attained in the past few years due to its important using in wide range of application. The readings of data derived from WSN nodes are not always accurate and may contain abnormal data. This paper proposed an anomaly detection and classification algorithm in WSNs. At first, an integration of Contourlet Transform (CT) algorithm and One Class Support Vector Machine (OCSVM) algorithm (CT-OCSVM) is utilized to detect outliers then Fuzzy Inference System (FIS) is used to identify the source of these outliers. The underlying aim of this paper focuses on treating the collected streams of data as raw datum of an image, which is then passed through some filters using CT to get compressed size of directional subbands coefficients. The coefficients of CT are examined by OCSVM algorithm to detect anomalies. Finally the source of anomalies is identified based on using FIS and by exploiting the spatial temporal correlation existing between the sensed data. The integrated algorithm is tested using different types of filters. Real datasets collected from a small WSN constructed in a local lab are used for testing the integrated algorithms. The simulation results have shown a high rate of accurate classification with high detection rate and low false alarm rate.

Seven simply supported steel beams were tested to explain the effect of existence of external prestressing strands on the shear behavior of steel beams. All of these beams have the same steel section, clear span length and strengthening by two external prestressing strands. The tested beams are divided into two groups according to existence of external prestressing strands, the first group consists of one steel beam as a reference, while, the second group deals with six steel beams strengthening by external prestressing strands divided according to the eccentricity location of prestressing strand (e) ranging from (0 to 165) mm at jacking stress (fpj=814.589 MPa). During the test, it was found that the shear load strain curves for tested beams were slightly stiffer than the reference beams and the percentage of stiffening increase with increase the eccentricity locations from the effective depth for shear zone, while, the maximum shear load increased about (0.173%, 26.086%, 33.043%, 48.521%, 13.739% and 69.565%) with increase the eccentricity location from (0 to 165) mm respectively as compare with the reference beam. On the other hand the maximum shear strain was decreased to 0.507%, 1.015%, 20.304%, 1.776% 25.634% and 28.172% with increase the eccentricity location from (0 to 165) mm respectively as compare with the reference beam.

In mobile networks, such as fifth generation (5G), the appealing characteristics of the small cells, like easy deployment, affordable, and low power usage, have led to improvement of Heterogeneous Network (HetNet) technique. In HetNet, the restricted resources are usually shared by the small cells, that in turns results in an interference issue challenges. The latter may be regarded as the main barrier for appropriate HetNet performance. In this paper, both Inter Cell Interference and Intra Cell Interference are studied and evaluated for Al-Najaf governorate 5G network. The network performance was investigated before and after interference mitigation. The simulation results are dependent to evaluate the effectiveness of all approaches and schemes that are implemented to cope with both inter and intra cell interference. The simulation of the network is performed by the aid of Integrated Communications System (ICS) telecom software. In Inter-Cell Interference, in term of modulation, it obviously shows that higher modulation occupies only small portion of the covered area due to interference. The modulation scheme 64 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) 3/4 occupies 13% from the total covered area with omni profile, while this scheme is being missed with 4-sectors profile due to interference. Intra-cell interference is materialized as Inter Carrier Interference( ICI) and Inter Symbol Interference(ISI), the effect of Cyclic Prefix( CP) on the network performance in terms of ICI is tested based on the simulation of the 3D reflection paths; for the adopted test area, the interfered area equals to 27.06% km2 according to 5.7μsec guard interval, while the interfered area is reduced to 6.42% km2 according to 11.4μsec guard interval. The interfered area is reduced by 21% due to ICI when the CP is extended from 5.7µsec to 11.4µsec. CP adopted in this work equals to (1/8), which is the mostly used.

In this research work, samples of low carbon steel AISI 1017 subjected to shot peening process for 15 minutes. These samples were cleaned and coated with epoxy. The coating process were carried out with epoxy, epoxy mixed with alumina powder, epoxy mixed with silicon carbide powder and the last case, the steel coated with epoxy mixed with alumina and silicon carbide powders. Results showed that the corrosion resistance of steel coated with epoxy and alumina were better as compared with other samples .

Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composite is an attractive material for strengthening various civil infrastructures. The strengthening system that based on FRP composites consists of many elements. These are: strengthening material (FRP), strengthened element (concrete, steel, wood, etc) and bonding agent. The latter is the most important elements which affect the performance of the whole strengthening system. Different types of bonding agent are used based on service conditions. Epoxy-based adhesive (EBA) is the most commonly used to strengthen concrete or steel structures. Due to the limitations of the application of EBA, cement-based adhesive (CBA) is utilized as an alternative bonding agent. The CBA have been developed by modifying its properties. The modification was conducted using different powder-state materials or by magnetic water treatment. The development of bonding agent that used in FRP strengthening system is addressed in this paper in order to highlight the most modern bonding agent which consider as a promising material to employ in the actual outdoor structures.

In this research, the technique of the jar using alum as coagulant was used as the most common in the world and abundance in the Iraqi environment, the preparation of artificial samples similar to the real dairy wastewater and taking the temperature of the laboratory as a reference in the completion of experiments. Experiments have seen the ability of aluminium sulphate to remove phosphorus from wastewater of the dairy plant by up to 95%. These removals are realized at certain working conditions in terms of the speed of rotation of the paddle which expressed as gradient velocity that achieved at 1076.915 sec-1 and the potential energy that can lead to better collision between the particles to achieve an increase in particle size and then sedimentation. This led to optimum dosage of aluminium equal to 0.5 mg/L at 20 °C.

Additives have gained wide use in the last few years, especially those required to manufacture high-strength concrete (HSC). Fire resistance is one of the characteristics that need to be satisfied with the design of structures. The main objective of this work was to study experimentally the performance of high-strength concrete (HSC) with Glenium51(GL51) additives subjected to fire. This study examined the influence of different parameters, as the additive's percentage and time of the burn. The results of 84 cubes without and with GL51 before and after burn and the results of 6 cylinders explain that HSC is improved by using GL51.

Pool boiling of Nano Al2O3, TiO2, and ZrO2 of concentrations 0.1, 0.4, 1.0, 2.5, 5.0 g/L in distilled water (which is taken as a base fluid) were experimentally studied in a test boiling chamber of stainless steel cylindrical vessel of 15 cm diameter and 30 cm length, provided with a 500 W heater. Results showed that the Nano-fluid heat transfer coefficients are higher than that for distilled water. The increments of heat transfer coefficient of Al2O3-H2O Nano-fluid was more than that for TiO2-H2O Nano- fluid which is more than that for ZrO2-H2O Nano fluid. The increment beyond 1 g/L were slight for nanomaterials used.

The achievement of precise measurements on the laminar diffusion flames plays a big role in the process of realizing a wide flames range. Despite most of fuel is likely burnt in the turbulent combustion, there is still data requirement for the data on the velocities of the laminar burning as input to several models of the turbulent combustion. And, in engines with an internal combustion, the first combustion is laminar, thus once more, there is a requirement for the velocity of the laminar burning. The burning velocity of the laminar diffusion flame was measured at three nozzles at different angles (30º, 45º, and 60º) and different distances between the nozzles burners (H = 20, 30, and 40 mm) with and without the N2, and wide range of equivalence ratios (0.65 ≤ϕ≤ 1.5). Schlieren photographs were captured to qualitatively assess the effect of angle of nozzles, distance, and N2 on the burning velocity of the diffusion flame. Burning velocity depends on the stagnation surface of the flame front, which in turn relies on the vertical distance (H) between the burners. Also, it was noticed that the increase in distance between the burners leads to a decrease in the velocity of the reactants since it is affected by the air surrounding.

The current study includes the effect of the type of porous medium on the heat transfer enhancement for double-pipe heat exchanger. Using the three types of the porous medium of balls (steel, ceramic and glass) with diameters (6.35, 6 and 7) mm respectively. The tests were carried out on a locally manufactured heat exchanger, consisting of a copper pipe with an inner diameter (20mm), an outer diameter (22mm) and a length of (1800mm), fixed inside a pipe made of galvanized iron with the same length of copper pipe with inner diameter (50mm) and thickness (5mm). The heat exchanger is insulated with a layer of glass wool to prevent leakage of heat to the area surrounding the exchanger. The tests carried out on the heat exchanger in four cases, the three cases for porous medium, also the case of exchanger without porous medium, and for all cases identical operating conditions, which is inlet temperature of hot, and cold water determined at (63 and 32)˚C and the number of Reynolds from (1100 to 9750) for cold water and (415 to 7500) for hot water. The experimental results showed that the highest thermal conductivity was obtained when the ceramic balls were used, which was estimated to be approximately (219.302) W/˚C and increased by (105.3%, 10.8%, 4.3%) for cases: without porous medium, glass balls and steel balls respectively. The effect of the pressure drop in the hot water side, was recorded the highest value for pressure drop when the ceramic balls were used and ranged from (0.5 to 19.5) mmHg and increased by (0.95%, 2.25%) when compared with the results of two cases for balls (steel and glass) respectively.

This research deals with production of light weight aggregate concrete by using clayey stone aggregate, normal material (cement , sand) and some of mineral admixtures (fly ash and steel fiber ). Many trial mix were doing some of these by weighing ratio and others by volumetric ratio . We get light weight aggregate concrete (LWAC) with 24.92 N/ mm2 compressive strength and we improved mechanical properties by adding same percentage of fly ash and steel fiber (0.5 ,1 ,1.5) % of each other as a percentage weighing ratio of cement content . compressive strength increased with (7.8 , 5.2 , 2.9) % , splitting tensile strength increased with (20 ,16.71, 12)% and flexural strength increased with (24.5 , 17.9 , 8) % when adding (0.5 ,1 ,1.5) % of each steel fiber and fly ash respectively. The practical results of the current study indicates that the using clayey stone to produce (LWAC) is success and we can improved mechanical properties of this (LWAC) was produced in this research by adding fly ash and steel fiber with previously percentage.

In modern buildings, transverse openings are often used beams for the purpose of supplying and service pipes. Due to the presence of the openings in the concrete beams lead to the formation of cracks around the openings due to the stresses concentration in a small area above and below of the opening. The repairing, maintenance, and upgrading of structural members, are maybe one of the most pivotal problems in civil engineering applications. In this research, an experimental work is conducted to study the behavior of the reinforced RPC T-beams that containing openings and repair this beams using CFRP strips. The Experimental program of the present study includes two parts, the first part includes testing of seven reinforced reactive powder concrete RPC T-beams, which casted and tested, one beam is without opening as a reference beam and the rest, were provided with an opening. and these beams are divided into two groups. The first group was used to study the effect of the openings shape (circular and square) and the second group was used to study the effect of the openings locations, which consists three locations (Lc/2, Lc/3 and Lc/4). These are measured from the support center to the openings center. While the second part including a repaired all beams in the first part the using carbon fiber polymer. The test results indicated that the presence of openings in the beams web caused a reduction in the reinforced RPC T-beams ultimate load carrying capacity with about (10-55)%, Also lead to increasing in deflection compared to control beam before repairing at same loading. Studying the shape effect showed that the beams with square openings have average ultimate load carrying capacity lower by 36% compared with the control beams. While beams with containing circular openings have average ultimate load carrying capacity lower 29%. From the test results, it could be concluded that the presence of the openings in the shear region led to a decrease in ultimate load carrying capacity a about 38% to 49% for opening of opening at (Lc/3 and Lc/4) respectively. While the presence of openings in the flexural region led to a decrease in the ultimate load carrying capacity rate of 11%. Related to the repairing study part it was found that the average ultimate load carrying capacity for repairing beams was 103% compared with the not repaired beams.

Reinforced concrete deep beams are structural members having depth much greater than normal in relation to their span, while the thickness in the perpendicular direction is much smaller than either span or depth. The strength of deep beams is usually controlled by shear, rather than flexure. In this study, the previous researches related to reinforced concrete deep beams will be reviewed. These researches approximately started in the second half of the past century. Large numbers of researchers studied the behavior of concrete deep beams and the determination of their capacity. Some of these researches are experimental investigations carried out by testing a number of deep beams with variation in some parameters, while the others are theoretical to estimate deep beam capacity by developing some theories and suggestion of equations for calculating its capacity and comparisons were made with those adopted by some codes. Because of the large number of these researches, their review requires large part of this study, and because the prior studies elaborately reviewed the pioneer researches, only the researches made since year 2000 will be reviewed in this study.

The aim of this paper is to analyze the influence of adding serial inductance in AC side of the 3ph -6 pulse bridge rectifier on the reduction of harmonic distortion rate. A simulated model with serial inductance was analyzed. The 3-phase 6-pulse diode bridge rectifier was chosen because it corresponds to the operation of the 6-pulse thyristor bridge rectifier at maximum load (while keeping the angle α = 0). Both the total harmonic distortion (THDi) and the power factor (PF) for the circuit have been measured. The results obtained of the THDi has been recorded for four values of serial inductance and results was compared with the (IEEE 519-1992) standard. Comparison results indicates that for values of inductive reactance (Xi) up to 67% cause a reduction of THDi which is above the standard values, while for (Xi) more than 67% cause a reduction in THDi within the acceptable standard level. Analyzing of results prove that the adding of serial inductance at the AC side leads to good reduction in harmonic distortion rate, but with some reduction in power factor value, which results in some energy losses.

The aim of this paper to study the effect of power on the drilling of soda lima glass (SLG) using under water laser drilling technique. A 1.15 mm thickness SLG sheets were immersed 1mm below the water surface, then irradiated with CW CO2 laser. The laser parameters used were (24, 25 and 26) W power, (5, 7.5 and 10) sec and exposure time and (1, 2and 3) pulses. Were determined using images for samples and study quality of holes using images. These ones of the dimensional of hole and crack length measured by image j program of the samples, it was watched that hole diameter and the length of cracks could be regulated by the power, time and no. of pulses. When power or pulses were increased, the hole diameter increased. The length of cracks decreased with increased no. of pulses and increased when the power increased. The small hole was 0.469mm found at working power (24) W, five seconds and one pulse for hole diameter. While, the minimum crack length was 0.4mm found at three pulse, five sec. and 24 W power. In addition, the parameters were analyzed statistically using design of expert software, Box Behnken design from surface response methodology and the results were significant.

The dairy industry is one of the basic industries that are important for the sustainability of life and because this industry uses and consumes a lot of water to produce milk, it discharges a lot of waste water. Because of the acute shortage of water needed to meet domestic, industrial and agricultural needs and increase pollution on the other, and of high fresh water demand in recent years, therefore; treatment of wastewater present very important. The most important pollutants of dairy wastewater discharged are phosphate. The present paper offers an ability of membrane distillation process (MD) for the treatment of dairy wastewater and removal of phosphate in Iraq. Artificial samples of wastewater prepared to implement the proposal. Opinions will be considered to make these wastewater samples within the standard properties of world dairy wastewater classifications. To alleviate membrane disturbances by organic and inorganic substances applied to physical deposition. The results showed the ability of the MD to remove a high concentration of phosphate from wastewater from dairy wastewater, with a clearance rate of 95 per cent. This value affected by temperature and temperature affects the effectiveness of The MD and is directly proportional to the flow.

Seepage is a flow that happens through / under hydraulic structures or through the porous media such as in the case of earth dams from upstream to downstream due to difference in the hydraulic head. Study of seepage flow is important for hydraulic engineering. Before the structures being built, the behaviors of the seepage flows must be predicted because the seepage flow causes harmful to hydraulic structures. In this paper, a homogenous earth dam with sand material is proposed and constructed with horizontal bed filter at the Toe of the dam is taken as a case study. Through this Comsol is used to interpret the seepage of flow and contaminants transportation through the dam. The general objective of this paper is thus to present a prediction model aimed at quantifying a selected concentration of contaminants in the reservoir, and then predicted in the body of the dam, and at the exit from the dam. Computation Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Module (Comsol version 4.2) with its sub-programs named (Free and Porous Media Flow and Species Transport through Porous Media) was used in the analysis and study the seepage flow and of the contaminants transportation. This software is based on the finite element techniques that were used for solving the governing equations of flow and transportation of contaminant through porous media. Also, it was used to determine the phreatic line, amount of seepage within the dam, the pressure head, the total head, and the amount of contaminates transported through the dam body. From the comsol software, it is deduced that when the water level is at the maximum height (20m), it needs 12 days and (18) hr, at normal height (15m) it needs 29 days, while at a minimum height (8 m) it needs 81 days to reach the drain zone.

Liquid two-phase flow has been studied widely by many authors. Two phase flow exist in petroleum industries, nuclear power generation and chemical plants. In the present study a review on two phase flow such as oil/water was discussed, also the patterns of the flow and types of measurement are presented. Also a review on the new trends using the computational fluid dynamic (CFD) to predict the liquid-liquid two phase are viewed.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the influence of adding eggshell and calcium carbonate powder reinforced with glass fibers and epoxy resin. Hand Lay-up method was utilized for the preparation of samples from epoxy resin as a matrix material with (6%weight fraction chopped glass fiber) and (2%,4%, 6% & 8% weight fraction eggshell, CaCO3 powder) as filler material. The tensile and impact properties are tested for the specimens containing calcium carbonate and eggshell powder reinforced with glass fiber and epoxy resins, also the result analyzed by (SPSS) to determine the specimens have best mechanical properties. The mean particle size analyzer of the eggshell powder and calcium carbonate powder were (12.6µm, 0.4-1µm) respectively. The results showed that the mean values of tensile test, modulus of elasticity, impact strength and fracture toughness (247.50,222.00MPa) (8.450,7.500 GPa) (8.150, 7. 500K.J/m2) (9.1675, 7.8345 MPa.m1/2) respectively increased with the addition (6% glass fiber+8%CaCO2, eggshell), while the mean values of the elongation percentage at break (%) decrease with the addition (6% glass fiber+8%CaCO2). The SPSS statistical shown the values was significantly increased whenever the value (Sig < 0.05).

The nonlinear pushover analysis was used to evaluate an existing 8-storey reinforced concrete framed hospital building under seismic force and presented in this manuscript. The ‘Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital' is one of the important hospitals at Delhi-India, it was selected for this research. The three-dimensional frame model was used to model the building with a fixed base. The beams and columns were modeled by using three-dimension line frame elements with the centre lines joined at nodes. Diagonal strut elements were used to model the brick masonry infills. The slabs were considered as rigid diaphragms. The plastic hinge rotation capacities as per Federal Emergency Management Agency 356 (FEMA 356) with Performance Levels were adopted in this study, considering the axial force-moment and shear force-moment interactions. The nonlinear pushover analysis of the selected building was done with infills and it was observed that the infills (due to their small number in the considered building) do not make any appreciable effect on the performance level, except their failure at an early stage. The Capacity Spectrum Method (CSM) and Displacement Coefficient Method (DCM) were used to estimate the performance point of the building. The values of various coefficients as per Federal Emergency Management Agency 440 (FEMA 440) were adopted. The DCM was observed to give slightly higher target displacements, as compared to CSM. It was observed in the nonlinear pushover analysis that the unreinforced masonry (URM) infills collapse before the performance point of the building for the Maximum Considered Earthquake (MCE). As the intervention inside the functioning hospital is extremely difficult, it was explored whether it is possible to safeguard the infills by stiffening the building by providing external buttresses. Two cases of retrofitting schemes with 1.2m wide and 3m wide buttresses in transverse direction were used and analysed. It was found that this is not a practicable approach, as the infills collapse even with 3m wide buttresses.

In this paper, the optimal control is analyzed to compare the results of the zero moment point of a bipedal walking robot. Seventeen degrees of freedom bipedal walking robot is manufactured of hard Aluminum sheets. The zero moment point is calculated experimentally and theoretically in the single support phase. MATLAB Simulink is used to simulate the results. The experimental results showed that the lower link takes the settling time is (1) sec, the middle link takes settling time (0.9) sec and the upper link takes (1.1) sec to arrive the desired zero moment point for the bipedal walking robot. The minimum performance index in the experimental parts occurs when the optimal feedback control gain is [35.5 30.4 5 -4]. Hence, the minimum performance index in the theoretical part is [35 31 5.2 -4]. The dimensions of the foot area are (12.3cm×6.3cm), 2.3cm thickness, and 32g weight. Also, the approximate balance area in the double support phase equals the area between the feet of the robot.

A new MIMO slot antenna is proposed in this paper, the proposed antenna consists of tuning stub with certain dimensions in the top layer of the FR-4 dielectric substrate to increase the matching between the feed line and slot in the ground plane, this antenna feeds with 50-ohm characteristic impedance microstrip feed line. The dimensions of the proposed antenna are (50×50×1.6) mm2, the FR-4 epoxy substrate has a relative dielectric constant of ɛr=4.3, the tangent loss of tan (δ) =0.025. A bandwidth of 9.083 GHz (25.917–35) GHz and gain (6.33) dBi compatible with 5G applications are achieved with this antenna. To get the desired gain and bandwidth, several slots are etched on the ground, Using CST tools, the simulation results are collected. And the proposed antenna is manufactured in the Ministry of Science and Technology's- Electronic Manufacturing Center, a reasonable agreement is reached between simulation and measured performance.

Due to the great importance of reliable indicators in electrical operating systems in all its different parts, it has been considered the most important factors in the design and maintenance of the electrical system, especially during its operation. The main reason for attention to reliability indicators relates to interruptions in the power system that are provided to consumers. The introduction of reliable indicators to solving an economic load dispatch (ELD) issue increases the possibility of providing customers with a required load with the highest degree of reliability. The ELD issue has been solved with reliability indicators. This means that the ELD problem with reliability is combined into one problem called combined the economic load dispatch with reliability (CELDR). Solving the above problem lowers the fuel cost while increasing the reliability of the generators while preparing the required load. The exchange market algorithm (EMA), in this work, has been implemented in a system of 26 generating units to solve the CELDR issue. Considering system reliability, inequality, and equality constraints. The results obtained show the direct effect of using reliability indicators in solving the above problem, where the best results were obtained using the EMA algorithm to solve the mentioned problem, compared to other algorithms.

Continuous progressive wheel resulted in scattered plans of the major objective to climb the ladder of success within a very short period of time. Within past years, Electronic Health Records (EHR) have been realized due to the growing number of hospitals worldwide. EHR systems can be in different forms, that refer to a wide range of electronic information systems used in healthcare. Medical institutions that might use EHRs are hospitals, pharmacies, general surgery practices, and other health care professionals. Clinical or medical coding is an important process to transform medical documents such as laboratory or radiologic results beside physician notes into universal alphanumeric codes that represents the medical diagnosis, procedure, service, or equipment. As archiving process is an important part of the clinical lab, besides searching for related information or previous tests’ results are boring work and in order to make this process easier, faster and accurate, this paper proposed the design and implementation of a web-based clinical laboratory management system, in which only authorized systems’ users such as lab assistant or physician can access patients’ records in order to ensure that the whole process is secure, accurate and reliable. This system is developed using MySQL for database design and PHP, html, CSS and JavaScript for user interfaces.

Heat Pipe (THP) has a continues evaporation/ condensation cycles of the working fluid. The flow patterns of the two phases is founds by previous published articles, as a non-steady complex spatial flow pattern. This type of the flow blocks the easy moving of the two-phases and limits the thermal performance of the THP. In this study, a copper tubes packing (TP) is simulated numerically to control/manage the flow streams of the two phases inside the THP. The simulated THP is 600mm length made of copper partially filled with water. The TP is consist of a two copper tubes attached contrary to each other with a neighboring openings. The upper tube (Riser tube) facilitate the moving of steam streams from evaporator section to the top of the condenser section. The lower tube (Down-comer tube) facilitate the moving of the condensate streams from the condenser section to the bottom of the evaporator section. The tested filling ratios are (40,50,55,60 and 70) % of evaporator section volume. The supplied heats are (50,75,100,150 and 200) W. The Computational Fluid Dynamics solution are done for a three dimensional model (3DCFD) using ANSYS/ Fluent R19.0 software. The simulation result of the steam volume fractions contours shows that the insertion of TP control the flow streams of both phases. Also prevent the formation of complex flow patterns then enhance the axial velocity vectors and reduce cross velocity vectors. The inserted TP provide a regular circulation paths for the working fluid phases and enhance evaporation /condensation processes. Hence it’s reduce the thermal resistance of the THP about 55% and enhance the thermal performance with the same percentage. In addition, the thermal performance of the enhanced TPTHP is not/a little influence due to the variation of the filling ratio.

In the present study, an experimental study and a numerical method are used to simulate the effect of utilizing finned helical coil heat exchanger horizontally oriented with and without internal hollow core inside the shell and monitoring the heat transfer intensification behavior and performance enhancement, by using ANSYS FLUENT 2019R3 package. The working fluid in the inlet side of the coil will be superheated vapor refrigerant (R410a) after the compression stage of the air conditioner (1TR) split type, the working fluid in the shell side is water with various flow rates (1,2 and 3) LPM. Found that when using a heat exchanger with internal hollow core reduces the time needed to reach the steady-state outlet temperature and directly proportional to the size of the core by 20% and slightly increasing the water outlet temperature by 5%.

The present study aims to Fabricate a promising Microbial Solar Cell (MSC) for electricity generation using (sludge, wastewater and mixed algae), two single chamber MSCs were applied, firstly the sludge and algae cell (SMSC) was used and factors such as pH, types of light source, temperature, configuration of electrode and mixing ratio have been studied. The best pH, light source, temperature, configuration of electrode, and mixing ratio of the sludge and algae experiment are found to be 7, sun light, 30 oC, square electrode, and 1:1 respectively would be used in the wastewater and algae cell (WWMSC) for finding the most effective substrates for electrical energy generation. By comparing the Voltage resulted from sludge Microbial Solar cell (SMSC) and wastewater Microbial Solar cell (WWMSC). It was found that (SMSC) produce higher electrical energy than (WWMSC) with a voltage equal to 180 mV.

In the reinforced concrete structures, fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) has been considered an alternative material to steel reinforcement with the advantages of corrosion resistance, non-conductivity, and high strength to weight ratio. This work is devoted to study the flexural behavior of normal and high strength concrete continuous beams reinforced with glass fiber reinforced polymers (GFRP) bars. Ten continuous beams, with dimensions 150 mm wide × 250 mm deep × 2300 mm long consisting of two equal spans were investigated in this study. The beams were divided into three groups according to the compressive strength of concrete (30, 50 and 70) MPa. Each group consists of three beams with different longitudinal reinforcement ratio (ρfmin, ρfb and 1.5ρfb; where ρfmin and ρfb are the reinforcement ratio at a minimum and balanced condition, respectively). The ultimate load, mid-span deflection, cracks size, concrete strains, GFRP reinforcement strains of the tested beams were verified and contrasted. The experimental results indicate that the increase in the longitudinal reinforcement ratio increases the ultimate load by 125% and decreases the crack size and mid-span deflection by 78% and 57%, respectively. The experimental data were compared with the proposed ACI 440.1R-15 and CSA S806-12 equations. the ultimate load were greater than the calculated results according to (ACI 440.1R-15) by (20%) for beams with (ρmin), while beams with (ρb and 1.5ρb) the ultimate load were less than the calculated results by (9%), cracks size were close to the results according to (ACI 440.1R-15) for normal strength beams, while for high strength beams results were less than the results according to (ACI 440.1R-15), while ISIS-Canada 07 showed good agreement for all tested beams.

In the reinforced concrete structures, fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) has been considered an alternative material to steel reinforcement with advantages of corrosion resistance, non-conductivity and a high strength to weight ratio. This work is devoted to study the flexural behavior of normal and high strength concrete continuous beams reinforced with glass fiber reinforced polymers (GFRP) rebars. Ten continuous beams, with dimensions 150 mm wide × 250 mm deep × 2300 mm length consisting of two equal span were investigated. The beams were divided into three groups according to the compressive strength of concrete (30, 50 and 70) MPa. Each group consists of three beams with different longitudinal ρf (ρfmin, ρfb and 1.5ρfb; where ρfmin and ρfb are the reinforcement ratio at minimum and balanced condition, respectively). Failure load, mid-span deflection, mid-span concrete strains, GFRP reinforcement strains, crack width and ductility of the tested beams were verified and been compared. The experimental results indicate that the increase in the longitudinal ρf increases the failure load by 125% and decreases the crack width and mid-span deflection by 78% and 57%, respectively.

Reactive powder concrete and high strength concrete have superior mechanical and structural properties, however, the major drawback of this new construction material is its high cost compared to traditional concrete. This study presents an experimental investigation on the structural behavior of hybrid rectangular cross section (coupled) reinforced concrete beams poured with normal and high strength concrete (HSC) at compression chord, normal strength concrete (NSC) at ribs, and reactive powder concrete (RPC) at tension chord. The experimental work consists of pouring and testing four specimens with dimensions (1100mm length, 100 mm width, and 400 mm height). First specimen, rectangular solid normal concrete beam for comparison with specimens, second specimen, coupled beam poured with normal strength concrete at top chord, and two other specimens of coupled beams cast with high strength concrete with two compressive strengths (50 MPa and 70 MPa) at top chord. The effect of top chord concrete type at each specimen on ultimate load capacity, energy absorption, deflection and cracking load are studied in this investigation. Experimental results showed that the ultimate load carrying capacity and energy absorption increased to 76.9 % and 108.33 % respectively, compared with the solid specimen and recorded a reduction in deflection values through loading life and cracking load when using higher compressive strength of high strength concrete in compression chord in addition to reactive powder concrete in tension zone.

In electrical power systems, unexpected outage of transmission systems, sudden increase of loads, the exit of generators from service, and equipment failure, leads to a contingency occurring on one or several transmission lines. The loads must be within the specified state and the transmission lines should not exceed the thermal limits. One of the important methods used to alleviate the contingency and reduce the congestion lines by injected a Distributed Generation (DG) within an optimal siting and optimal sizing in the distribution network that achieves improvement of the voltage profile as well as leads to reduce the losses. First, to achieve the best goals in this paper that is determined contingency lines, an index has been used called (Active Power Flow Performance Index) (PIRPF) and an equation called (Line Flow Sensitivity Index) (LFSI) is used for finding the optimum site for Distributed Generation. Second, to determine the optimum size for distributed generators, the Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used. Also, this research was distinguished by choosing new sites and sizes according to the GA to obtain the best desired results. Finally, these methodologies were applied to the IEEE-30 bus ring network using the MATPOWER Version 6.0, 16-Dec-2016 program within MATLAP R2018a environment.

The rapid development of smart home and deep learning attract many types of research to meet the needs of the homeowner that make the right decisions based on preset settings or based on user behavior in the smart home. And because some gases cause air pollution, affect human health, cause lung cancer, breathing problems. and cause a fire as well. Many gases in our home can pose many dangers. One of the risks of using LPG is leakage in cylinders, gas installations, stoves, or LPG heaters. This paper focused on using technological development to alert about a gas leak inside the home to preserve the general health of people. The proposed system, a gas sensor is used to measure the value of gas in the atmosphere. This part is an important part of the smart home, which is taking precautionary measures by using the gas sensor and controller, in addition to using a mobile network system to send an alert message to the user about gas leakage from the mentioned sources. The proposed system is characterized by its low cost and allows the homeowner to monitor the gas leak inside the home from outside.

Although the rapid development of reverse engineering techniques such as a modern 3D laser scanners, but can’t use this techniques immediately to generate a perfect surface model for the scanned parts, due to the huge data, the noisy data which associated to the scanning process, and the accuracy limitation of some scanning devices, so, the present paper present a points cloud pre-processing and sampling algorithms have been proposed based on distance calculations and statistical considerations to simplify the row points cloud which obtained using MATTER and FORM 3D laser scanner as a manner to obtain the required geometrical features and mathematical representation from the row points cloud of the scanned object through detection, isolating, and deleting the noised points. A MATLAB program has been constructed for executing the proposed algorithms implemented using a suggested case study with non-uniform shape. The results were proved the validity of the introduced distance algorithms for pre-processing and sampling process where the proficiency percent for pre-processing was (18.65%) with a single attempt, and the counted deviation value rang with the sampling process was (0.0002-0.3497mm).

In the field of food packaging, the addition of exfoliated layered silicates in polymers has been established to improve the polymers&rsquo, gas barrier properties. Using these polymers as coatings to protect smart textiles from oxidation and corrosion while maintaining their textile properties should significantly extend their lifetime and promote their market penetration. The aim of this study was to print new polymer dispersions containing layered silicates to protect screen-printed conductive structures, and to test the resulting samples. For this, appropriate printing parameters were determined by statistical design of experiments. According to these results, conductive structures were printed and protected with the selected coating. The abrasion resistance and the continuity of the protective layer of the printed samples were then measured. A continuous protective coating of approximately 70&ndash, 80 &micro, m thickness was applied on a conductive structure. The printed samples showed a very high resistance to abrasion (unchanged by 85,000 abrasion cycles) while remaining flexible and presenting a lower water vapor permeability (&lt, 2.5 g/m&sup2, d) than the coatings commonly used in the textile field.

Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Virtual reality (VR) have attracted growing attention within the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry in recent years. Integration of BIM and VR technology can develop workflow efficiency through enhanced common understanding and prepare students in architecture and engineering programs to become leaders of the AEC industry. However, the current shortage of AEC professionals trained in BIM and VR is still a barrier to collaborative working practice in this industry. This paper reviews previous work on the BIM, VR, and BIM-into-VR in AEC education/training to bridge this gap. It also presents an advanced framework to clarify creating and using the BIM model into VR workflow in the AEC industry through the integrated definition function (IDEF0) model. The authors further evaluated the BIM-into-VR applications in literature and real-life by surveying students’ learning performance in terms of eight characteristics relevant to the VR environment and students’ performance within two projects, one involving the “NASA Mars Habitat Project” and the other involving the “Norris Center Project” at Northwestern University. The results confirmed that BIM-into-VR usability and efficiency in improving students’ main learning performance characteristics: Learnability, Interoperability, Visualization, Real-world, Interaction, Creativity, Motivation, and Comfort. This study addresses the advantages of using BIM-into-VR in AEC programs. It also offers suggestions to AEC educators and students in implementing BIM-into-VR in different courses and creating a roadmap for their future as professionals in the AEC industry.

The lack of a standard test method for evaluating the resistance of pervious concrete to cycles of freezing and thawing in the presence of deicing salts is the motive behind this study. Different sample size and geometry, cycle duration, and level of submersion in brine solutions were investigated to achieve an optimized test method. The optimized test method was able to produce different levels of damage when different types of deicing salts were used. The optimized duration of one cycle was found to be 24 h with twelve hours of freezing at −18 °C and twelve hours of thawing at +21 °C, with the bottom 10 mm of the sample submerged in the brine solution. Cylinder samples with a diameter of 100 mm and height of 150 mm were used and found to produce similar results to 150 mm-cubes. Based on the obtained results a mass loss of 3%–5% is proposed as a failure criterion of cylindrical samples. For the materials and within the cycles of freezing/thawing investigated here, the deicers that caused the most damage were NaCl, CaCl 2 and urea, followed by MgCl 2 , potassium acetate, sodium acetate and calcium-magnesium acetate. More testing is needed to validate the effects of different deicers under long term exposures and different temperature ranges.

Extravascular lung water (EVLW) is a basic symptom of congestive heart failure and other conditions. Computed tomography (CT) is standard to assess EVLW, but it requires ionizing radiation and radiology facilities. Lung ultrasound reverberation artifacts called B-lines have been used to assess EVLW. However, B-line artifact analysis relies on visual interpretation and subjects to inter-observer variability. We developed lung ultrasound surface wave elastography (LUSWE) to measure lung surface wave speed. This research aims to develop LUSWE to measure the change of lung surface wave speed due to lung water in an ex vivo swine lung model. The surface wave speeds of a fresh ex vivo swine lung were measured at four frequencies of 100 Hz, 200 Hz, 300 Hz, and 400 Hz. An amount of water was then filled into the lung through its trachea. Ultrasound imaging was used to guide the water filling until significant changes were visible on the imaging. The lung surface wave speeds were measured. An additional 120 ml of water was then filled into the lung. The lung surface wave speeds were then measured again. The results demonstrated that the lung surface wave speed decreased with respect to water content.