The effect of a suspension system on the design parameters of asphalt layer in a flexible pavement using finite layers freeware "3D-Move Analysis V2.1" is evaluated. This is done trying to reproduce more closely the contact and stress of the design axle (80kN) having as new input variables the damping and dynamic movement which are not currently applied in Colombian practice. To validate, the elastic multilayer EverStress©5.0 software was used. The results of the strain can conclude that the asphalt pavement designs developed with analytical methods may be slightly oversized and consequently, the cost of construction of pavements increases. This study allows to analyze the sensitivity of various factors that may affect the design of asphalt pavements.

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In order to analyze the vertical dynamic tire loads of a semi-trailer truck acting on road surface equipped with air- and leaf- spring suspension systems, a half- vehicle dynamic model with 12 degrees of freedom is developed under random road excitation. A dynamic load coefficient (DLC) is chosen as objective function and Matlab/Simulink software is used to simulate and analyze the vehicle dynamic model. The performance dynamic wheel load of both air- and leaf- spring suspension systems are analyzed under different operating conditions such as different vehicle speeds, road surface roughness and vehicle loads. The obtained results indicate that the air-spring suspension systems reduced the dynamic tire loads acting on road surface better than the leaf-spring suspension systems under all operating conditions. Especially, the DLC values at all axles with air-spring suspension systems are significantly reduced by 3.72%, 55.91%, 50.53%, 31.47% and 25.45% in comparison with the leaf-spring suspension systems, respectively when vehicle moves on the ISO class B road surface roughness at v=20 m/s and full load.

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The main goal of this study is to investigate the nonlinear performance of concrete connections considering their actual flexural stiffness under lateral excitation. First, the joints were applied to cyclic lateral loading. From the developed experimental models, the actual relation between connections’ rotation and its corresponding moment were obtained. Second, an ANSYS model was developed to determine the connections’ rotation and its corresponding moment for the RC connections based on their size, concrete strength and rebar details. The connection rotation is equal that from the experimental models. The study concluded that modeling connections as rigid connections will significantly overestimate the stiffness of RC buildings and give erroneous structural responses.

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Nigeria is presently drifting towards making an ambitious commitment to renewable energy development. Small scale solar energy is currently being harnessed for rural electrification in Nigeria but the use of biomass especially agricultural residues for power generation is largely neglected. Therefore, in this paper, the assessment of the potential of three corn (maize) residues for power generation is conducted for the geo-political zones in the country. Different corn residues (stalk, cob, and straw) were processed into dried samples with particles diameter of 0.35-0.42 mm and used experimentally in IKA C2000 bomb calorimeter for the determination of lower heating values. Crop-to-residue ratios of the selected residues were also determined using standard laboratory analysis while a mathematical computational method was used for the estimation of the potential bioenergy of the residues. A total of 145.2 PJ (40.3 TWh) of the potential bioenergy estimated from the residues is equal to approximately one-half of the total electricity consumption of 26.26 TWh in the country in 2016. The energy potential also represents 4,604 MW of electricity and the current national electric power generating capacity fluctuates between 4000-5000 MW. A total of 9416991 Gg of emissions that could be saved using the residues for power generation was also calculated for all the geopolitical zones. Findings revealed that the bioenergy potential of 4,604 MW estimated from the selected corn residues can produce a substantial amount of the national electricity demand. The estimated emissions potential is mainly from carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO) and methane (CH4) known for their high level of anthropogenic environmental pollution.

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Detection of subsurface non uniformity is crucial in deciding the strength of objects for various industrial applications. Non stationary thermal wave imaging is emerging as a reliable qualitative assessment procedure to detect anomalies in a wide range of materials. This paper proposes a supervised machine learning based classification modality to detect the subsurface defects using quadratic frequency modulated thermal wave imaging and experimentation has been carried over glass fibre reinforced polymer material (GFRP) with 10 Teflon patches having different depths and sizes and Carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) with 25 bottom holes having different sizes and depths. In this paper three well known supervised machine learning techniques Decision tree (DT), Support vector machine (SVM) and k-nearest neighbour (KNN) classifiers are used for defect detection. Detection capability and reliability of defect detection have been assessed using signal to noise ratio and probability of detection respectively.

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Digital modulation is a special kind of modulation where the message signal is digital in nature and has three types that consist of the ASK (Amplitude Shift Keying), FSK (Frequency Shift Keying), and PSK (Phase Shift Keying). The ASK (Amplitude Shift Keying) is a modulation method to compress bits into each pulse of a signal transmission where the amplitude of the carrier wave is changed according to the digital input signal, therefore, making it analogous to AM (Analog Modulation). If the digital signal value is 1 then the carrier wave amplitude remains the same. When the digital signal value is 0 the amplitude of the carrier wave is much weaker. At present, the ASK is utilized at nearly every digital communication devices, cellular phones and televisions included. Certain devices like satellites and smart televisions manipulate two parallel ASK links which are 16 in level and has a 90-degree phase rotation. The 16 by 16 integration is further acknowledged as a 256 QAM. This research will design an ASK modulation digital signal conversion system.

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Horizontal layout bend was an important factor in the design of bridges structure depending on nature of bridge location within construction area. The aim of this study was to evaluate and optimize the different designs of bridge horizontal layout bends and compare the results with horizontal layout straight of bridge by depending on the application of static analysis according to finite element analysis method. Static analysis results showed that the straight model had the minimum values of static internal forces. Therefore, this model gave higher resistance to effects of applied loads and the horizontal layout straight of this type of bridges was suitable for design.

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The following paper presents the development of an algorithm for grouping and ordering of up to 10 different objects, where segmentation techniques are used for background elimination for the detection process, and a CNN (convolutional neuronal network) type DAG (Directed Acyclic Graph) for the classification of the elements. The algorithm detects and classifies the objects found on a table and controls an anthropomorphic manipulative robot to take each one and deliver it to a second robot, which takes the object and moves it to the grouping zone, where it orders each received element, one next to another, at a constant distance between them. A CNG type DAG with an accuracy of 100% was used, whose input is a rectangular image of 70x35 pixels that contains the object to be classified, and outputs the classification of each element, its location on the table, its dimensions (width and height), and its orientation in degrees, managing to interact and order up to 10 elements, both in simulation and in a physical environment.

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Inappropriate disposal of these untreated trashes can be injurious to humans and the environment. Air pollution, underground water contamination, land degradation, soil contamination and habitat deterioration can be caused by inappropriate waste disposal. The poor state of the management of solid wastes is accompanied by poor implementation of policies and lack of proper sensitization of the public which worsens the situation, resulting in pollution of urban surface and ground water resources. The review shows that municipal solid waste is made up of residential or household waste; commercial wastes/ institutional trash and municipal services wastes. Values for solid waste generation in two States are found to vary from 0.13 kg/capita/day in Ogbomosho, Oyo State to 0.71 kg/capita/day in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State. Typical composition of municipal solid waste in Nigeria is found to consist of paper, metal, glass, textile, plastic, ash dust, organic content and other micro-elements. Waste reduction is presented to be the most efficient way to reduce the negative health impacts and environmental influence of a waste. It is imperative that inappropriate method of solid waste management should be addressed through effective implementation of policies and proper sensitization of the public.

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There have been many researches which focus on the grid quality in computational fluid dynamics. Despite it is known that, for instance, the higher the grid number, the more accurate the results, systematic framework for the selection of grid numbers based on some flow parameters remains as an open-ended issue. This paper highlights some findings on the idea of such framework, and considers grid number and grid expansion factor as two of many factors which contribute to result accurateness. In particular, it takes scalar convection-dominated equation solution into account, in order to show that the grid number and expansion factor are predictable for a range of Peclet number of interests. Two methods are used to solve the equation. They are shooting method as well as that of finite-difference. Relationship between grid expansion factor and Peclet number, and that between grid number and Peclet number for both methods are then discussed. The results prove the predictability of the grid parameters of interest, and shed light on more general framework for the selection of grid parameters based on flow parameters.

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The article deals with the determination of static characteristics of concrete reinforcement for selected cross-sections. The aim of the paper is to provide a comprehensive processing of a set of laboratory data that can be used in probabilistic calculation or stochastic modeling. Specifically, three test series are processed that differ in diameter. At the same time, the selected diameters also have different manufacturing methods for B500A and B500B. Part of the contribution is regression analysis and determination of the confidence band. The test results are compared with the declared values of the manufacturer and the design standard.

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The repercussions of a 16 nm double-gate FinFET (DG-FinFET) design against two different optimization methods are investigated and examined. The drive current (ION) and leakage current (IOFF) ramifications towards the adjustment of six process parameter that incorporates polysilicon doping dose, polysilicon doping tilt, Source/Drain doping dose, Source/Drain doping tilt, VTH doping dose and VTH doping tilt for both L25 Orthogonal Array (OA) Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) as well as an L25 OA of Taguchi Statistical Method (TSM). However, with TSM, a consideration of noise factor in gate oxidation temperature and polysilicon oxidation temperature is included. The utilization of ATLAS and ATHENA modules enables respective design simulation as well as characterizations of device’s electrical attributes to be performed. Subsequent to the initial responses from the design simulation, implementation of both TSM and GRA have been implemented separately to assist in process parameter optimization in view to optimize the output responses. The factor percentage of Signal-to-noise ratio determined the process parameter’s effectivity. The most prominent factor is similar for both TSM and TSM-based GRA for which is the polysilicon doping tilt, whereby for L25 OA TSM, the I_ON and I_OFF obtained after the optimization are 1559.97 µA/µm and 33.03 pA/µm that brings the I_ON/I_OFF ratio to 47.23 ? 10⁶ as opposed to more insignificant 32.49 ? 10⁶ on pre-optimized simulation. Meanwhile small increment of ratio at 48.01 x 106 from respective values of 1656.27 µA/µm and 34.49 pA/µm for the TSM-based GRA proves that both optimization techniques have met the predictions of International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) 2013.

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The analysis of modern technologies for the creation of buildings as a whole or of individual structural elements of a complex geometric shape is carried out. The aim of the study is to develop a new architectural and construction system “Monofant” using a self-supporting skeleton for the construction of monolithic reinforced concrete buildings and structures of a complex geometric shape. The subject of the research is the formation of a self-supporting skeleton consisting of a reinforcement cage and non-removable liners-void formers. On the basis of the shape of the main carrier element in the form of a Mobius loop, the layout of liners-void formers is made. The form of liners is adopted in the form of three-sided prisms of two sizes, based on the condition of minimizing the number of elements of the internal fixed formwork, as well as ensuring the rigidity of the structure. A comparison of three variants of the assembly technology of a self-supporting skeleton for the erection of a structure in the form of a Mobius loop is made. The task of creating a technology of manufacturing foam polystyrene liners for the construction of lightweight reinforced concrete structures of a complex geometric shape is solved. A “virtual”catalogue of fixed polystyrene liners for various curvilinear surfaces is obtained.

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This paper presents analytical study of the Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Tubes Encased Concrete columns with and without reinforcement and comparing the results with conventional concrete. FRP encased concrete system was developed as a new structural component for a masonry building and heritage structures. FRP encased concrete columns are light in weight and good in compression, flexibility and an anti-corrosion material. An analytical model has been created to forecast the axial compressive behaviour of Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) columns using Finite Element software (FEM). The energy absorption capacity and stiffness characteristics are determined in this investigation. This study involves 12 specimens of height 500 mm and diameter 200 mm with different thickness. The significance of different thickness on the axial compressive behaviour of GFRP Tube columns has been studied. The static and non-linear loading analysis is done the specimen. The results proved that the mechanical strength of GFRP tube columns are 30% higher than conventional concrete columns.

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The paper focuses on the use of metamaterials for the improvement of existing microwave devices of the waveguide type. In particular, it describes theoretical and experimental studies of the transmission line based on coaxial waveguide containing metamaterial. Also, the possibility of using metamaterials for the creating a rejection filter based on such transmission line is shown.

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Debris-flows caused the highest number of deaths amongst the many types of landslides in Malaysia due to its high velocity, and the travel distance that it covers. As such, 8 events which occurred from 2001 till 2007 were chosen to ascertain the preparatory and triggering factors for debris-flows in Peninsular Malaysia. Site investigations and laboratory tests were conducted and documented in 2010 with detailed description of the debris-flow channels which are useful for deduction of the debris-flow mechanism and sediment discharge estimation. The influences of slope gradient, catchment area and geology on the initiation and deposition of debris-flows are examined and sediment discharge volumes are estimated based on field investigation and calculated based on Japanese guidelines. It is concluded that for the study sites, the bed gradient of initiation zones are more than 20o while the catchment area ranges from 0.2km2 to 3.5km2. The gradient of the banks along the flow path are typically close to 50o forming a V-Shape channel. All initiation locations occurred in weathered granitic rock and are also near to metamorphic formation. The particle size comprises of 75% cobbles and boulders and 25% sandy silt which is typical of weathered granite. The most prevalent mechanism of debris-flow in Peninsular Malaysia is gully bed erosion. Landslide induced debris-flows and collapse of natural dam are also possible. The potential sediment discharge volumes estimated based on the field studies show similar trend with the data in Japan with a sediment yield of about 14,200m3 per event per km2 of catchment area.

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The constant growth of the Internet, driven by the demand for timely access to data center networks; has meant that the technological platforms necessary to achieve this purpose are outside the current budgets. In this order to make and validate relevant, timely and relevant contributions; it is necessary that a wider community, access to evaluation, experimentation and demonstration environments with specifications that can be compared with existing networking solutions. This article introduces the NetFPGA, which is a platform to develop network hardware for reconfigurable and rapid prototyping. It’s introduces the application areas in high-performance networks, advantages for traffic analysis, packet flow, hardware acceleration, power consumption and parallel processing in real time. Likewise, it presents the advantages of the platform for research, education, innovation, and future trends of this platform. Finally, we present a performance evaluation of the tool called OSNT (Open-Source Network Tester) and shows that OSNT has 95% accuracy of timestamp with resolution of 10ns for the generation of TCP traffic, and 90% efficiency capturing packets at 10Gbps of full line-rate.

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