Experimental Study of the Crack Control of Concrete by Self-healing of Synthetic Fiber Reinforced Cementitious Composites Synthetic Fiber

In this study, it is possible to disperse effectively cracked using synthetic fiber, an examination of the most suitable self-healing conditions was performed on the above crack width 0.1mm. As a result, effective crack dispersion using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers with polar OH- groups, as well as improved self-healing for cracks that are larger than 0.1 mm in width, posing concerns of CO2 gas and Cl- penetration, were observed. Also, CO32- reacts with Ca2+ in the concrete crack, resulting in the precipitation of a carbonate compound, CaCO3. Based on this, it is deemed possible for the recovery of effective watertightness to be made from cracks that are larger than 0.1 mm in width. In addition, it was determined that, as for the most suitable self-healing conditions in the inside and surface of the cracks, calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) solution with CO2 micro-bubble was more effective in promoting the self-healing capability than water with CO2 micro-bubble

Combustion Synthesis of Mullite/Metal Boride Composites

Formation of composite materials composed of mullite (3Al2O3×2SiO2) and transition metal borides (NbB2 and TaB2) was studied by self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS). Starting materials included not only metal oxides (Nb2O5 and Ta2O5) and boron oxide (B2O3) as the sources of metallic elements and boron, but also Al and Si powders as the reducing agents. The evolution of mullite from in situ formed SiO2 and Al2O3 and synthesis of NbB2 and TaB2 were investigated. The effect of excess Si addition was studied on the combustion temperature, flame-front propagation velocity, and phase composition of the final product. For formation of the NbB2/mullite composites, the combustion velocity about 2.5 mm/s and reaction temperature around 1500 oC decreased slightly as the Si content increased. However, a considerable decrease in combustion front velocity from 2.74 to 1.43 mm/s and in reaction temperature from 1600 to 1250 oC was observed for the production of the TaB2/mullite composites. The XRD patterns of the final products confirmed the role of excess Si in the improvement of silicothermic reduction of B2O3 and subsequent evolution of NbB2, TaB2, and mullite. The EDS analysis indicated an atomic proportion close to that of 3Al2O3×2SiO2 for the mullite grains synthesized in this study

Energy Efficient Fault Tolerant Sensor Node Failure Detection in WSNs

In WSNs, the large numbers of portable sensor nodes are deployed randomly and can fail due to battery problem, environmental conditions or are unattended. Faulty sensor node detection techniques are mainly affected due to energy consumption of sensor nodes in WSNs. Therefore, the primary goal of this investigation is to design energy efficient fault tolerant sensor node failure detection. A faulty sensor node is detected by measuring the Round Trip Delay (RTD) times of Round Trip Paths (RTPs) in WSNs. Fault tolerance is achieved by assigning unique source node or Cluster Head (CH) for each RTP in WSNs. Energy consumed by individual sensor node is minimized due to optimal involvement of sensor nodes in the detection process. The proposed method is implemented and tested on WSNs with six sensor nodes

Earth Dam Monitoring by Using Infrared Thermography Detection

Infrared thermography is applied for artificial earth dam surface monitoring. Using an infrared thermal imager is a nondestructive testing method for determining internal material changes by examining surface changes in radiation temperature. This study was conducted at the artificial earth dam experimental test site located in Landao Creek in Huisun Forest, Nantou County, central Taiwan. Infrared thermography analysis found different zones with larger radiation temperature changes. The seepage caused the earth dam soil to be wet, as can reflected by thermography. The seepage failure zone was found to coincide with dramatic changes in radiation temperature recorded using thermography. This study found that dam surface areas with large radiation temperature changes could be failure areas, and that the potential earth dam failure mode could be identified

A Way to Introduce Innovative Approach in the Field of Microelectronics and Nanotechnologies in the Chinese Education System

The innovation is more and more useful in order to develop new products such as the connecting objects. The field of microelectronics is particularly concerned by them since it combines the fast evolution of the technology, and their application to many domains. The educative system in China is mainly based on memorization of knowledge: the students are lacking of methodology, understanding and practice. In the same time, the pedagogy in higher education moves progressively towards a numerical approach. In this context, the main challenge is to give to the students, the methodology, the know-how, and thus an innovative behaviour. In this way, several suggestions are given: introduction of much more works on applications of the theoretical knowledge, training on the linking of knowledge, and improvement of the practice by laboratory works on dedicated platforms

Security Enhancement on Reconfiguring Coded Wavelength with Tunable Wavelength Filter Array Triggered Chaotic Sequences

In current study, the reconfigurable optical code-division multiple-access (OCDMA) scheme isimplemented that the chaos sequence is created non-linear time-variant sequence as secret key and then trigger tunable wavelength filter array as random wavelength allocation. In the encryption, the distribution of light carrier is designed and implemented by using tunable wavelength filter array triggered chaotic sequence. In addition, the arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) router is rewritten with maximal length code (M-sequence) to act as encoder. In the decryption, symmetric scheme and balanced photo-detector is presented and reconfigurable mechanism is followed the encryption synchronously either public or private channel. Hence, the multiple access interference (MAI) is cancelled completely while chaotic sequence is varied synchronously in transmitter and receiver. Compared to previous reconfigurable scheme by triggered register and switches after AWG router, the simulation results show that the secret key number of proposed cryptography is significantly increased to avoid eavesdropping attack in physical layer

Identifying Islamic Values in The Embodiment of Makassar Traditional Houses in Barombong Coastal

Indonesia is a country with majority Muslim population. However, in the architectural design, people was not significantly using the Islamic values and tend to be affected by western modern architecture on their house embodiment. Therefore, this research explores a house architecture based on Islamic values, by taking the case of traditional houses on the coast. The coastal areas chosen because it still has traditional houses condensed with local cultural community. Using observational techniques, interviews with selected informants and questionnaires, and supported by literature review, this research was analyzed by qualitative method. This paper aims to identify Islamic values in the embodiment of Makassar traditional houses in the Barombong coastal area, and enrich the concept of Islamic-valued on house architecture. The research findings are the embodiment of Makassar traditional houses in Barombong coastal area which are generally shaped the house terrace called as bale-bale and paladang, which are deemed to have Islamic values, like: (1) In Islam, the way to visit a house is coming from the front, instead of behind. Evidently, this way existed in traditional house,  (2) Role of the bale-bale as an extension of the main room which can be used to interact with neighbors and the community (hablunminannas) and paladang can serve as a transition zone to screen guests before welcoming them inside the house (privacy) and guests to greet before the residents of the house is ready to receive, (3) In the tradition of building houses, already recognized the concept of space-oriented four wind directions (sulapa’ appaka), which significantly according to the concept of Islam which require orientation to the qibla oriented home. The study concluded that with the local wisdom possessed by the Makassar traditional house on Barombong coastal area discovered the Islamic values in its realization

Preprocessing Algorithm for Deciphering Historical Inscriptions Using String Metric

The article presents the improvements in the preprocessing part of the deciphering method (shortly preprocessing algorithm) for historical inscriptions of unknown origin. Glyphs used in historical inscriptions changed through time; therefore, various versions of the same script may contain different glyphs for each grapheme. The purpose of the preprocessing algorithm is reducing the running time of the deciphering process by filtering out the less probable interpretations of the examined inscription. However, the first version of the preprocessing algorithm leads incorrect outcome or no result in the output in certain cases. Therefore, its improved version was developed to find the most similar words in the dictionary by relaying the search conditions more accurately, but still computationally effectively. Moreover, a sophisticated similarity metric used to determine the possible meaning of the unknown inscription is introduced. The results of the evaluations are also detailed

Comparison of Regenerative Braking Efficiencies of MY2012 and MY2013 Nissan Leaf

The use of kinetic energy recovery systems (KERS) is the best solution presently available to dramatically improve the energy economy of passenger cars. The paper presents an experimental analysis of the energy flow to and from the battery of a MY 2012 and a MY 2013 Nissan Leaf covering the Urban Dynamometer Driving Schedule (UDDS). The two vehicles differ for the integration of the electric drivetrain component, plus a different use of the electric motor and the regenerative brakes, in addition to a different weight. It is shown that while the efficiency propulsive power to vehicle / power from battery are basically unchanged, at about 87-89 %, the efficiency power to the battery / braking power to vehicle are significantly improved from values of about 70-80 % to values of 72-87 %. The analysis provides a state-of-the-art benchmark of the propulsion and regenerative braking efficiencies of electric vehicles

System Dynamics Approach for Bridge Deterioration Monitoring System

Bridge monitoring plays an important role in reducing catastrophic failure. Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) has been performed on one of the bridge components such as decks, girders, abutments/piers independently. However, the failure can be attributed either a component defect or combination among them. Bridge deterioration model requires the analysis of complex and dynamic variables. The system dynamic (SD) is a powerful simulation method to study the dynamic and complex systems. This paper aims to discuss the concept of bridge deterioration monitoring using SD approach.  The proposed model utilized variables from the previous studies to represent the bridge component interrelationship, while SD will be used to simulate the probability of bridge failure and to find the dominant bridge component that influences the failure. The model can also be used as guidance for bridge deterioration mitigation and repair program