Lateral load bearing capacity modelling of piles in cohesive soils in undrained conditions; an intelligent evolutionary approach

The complex behaviour of fine-grained materials in relation with structural elements has received noticeable attention from geotechnical engineers and designers in recent decades. In this research work an evolutionary approach is presented to create a structured polynomial model for predicting the undrained lateral load bearing capacity of piles. The proposed evolutionary polynomial regression (EPR) technique is an evolutionary data mining methodology that generates a transparent and structured representation of the behaviour of a system directly from raw data. It can operate on large quantities of data in order to capture nonlinear and complex relationships between contributing variables. The developed model allows the user to gain a clear insight into the behaviour of the system. Field measurement data from literature was used to develop the proposed EPR model. Comparison of the proposed model predictions with the results from two empirical models currently being implemented in design works, a neural network-based model from literature and also the field data shows that the EPR model is capable of capturing, predicting and generalising predictions to unseen data cases, for lateral load bearing capacity of piles with very high accuracy. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to evaluate the effect of individual contributing parameters and their contribution to the predictions made by the proposed model. The merits and advantages of the proposed methodology are also discussed

Ambient Fabrication of Organic–Inorganic Hybrid Perovskite Solar Cells

Organic–inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have attracted significant attention in recent years due to their high‐power conversion efficiency, simple fabrication, and low material cost. However, due to their high sensitivity to moisture and oxygen, high efficiency PSCs are mainly constructed in an inert environment. This has led to significant concerns associated with the long‐term stability and manufacturing costs, which are some of the major limitations for the commercialization of this cutting‐edge technology. Over the past few years, excellent progress in fabricating PSCs in ambient conditions has been made. These advancements have drawn considerable research interest in the photovoltaic community and shown great promise for the successful commercialization of efficient and stable PSCs. In this review, after providing an overview to the influence of an ambient fabrication environment on perovskite films, recent advances in fabricating efficient and stable PSCs in ambient conditions are discussed. Along with discussing the underlying challenges and limitations, the most appropriate strategies to fabricate efficient PSCs under ambient conditions are summarized along with multiple roadmaps to assist in the future development of this technology

An alkylated indacenodithieno[3,2-b]thiophene-based nonfullerene acceptor with high crystallinity exhibiting single junction solar cell efficiencies greater than 13% with low voltage losses

A new synthetic route, to prepare an alkylated indacenodithieno[3,2-b]thiophene-based nonfullerene acceptor (C8-ITIC), is reported. Compared to the reported ITIC with phenylalkyl side chains, the new acceptor C8-ITIC exhibits a reduction in the optical band gap, higher absorptivity, and an increased propensity to crystallize. Accordingly, blends with the donor polymer PBDB-T exhibit a power conversion efficiency (PCE) up to 12.4%. Further improvements in efficiency are found upon backbone fluorination of the donor polymer to afford the novel material PFBDB-T. The resulting blend with C8-ITIC shows an impressive PCE up to 13.2% as a result of the higher open-circuit voltage. Electroluminescence studies demonstrate that backbone fluorination reduces the energy loss of the blends, with PFBDB-T/C8-ITIC-based cells exhibiting a small energy loss of 0.6 eV combined with a high JSCof 19.6 mA cm-2

Discovering Communities for Microgrids with Spatial-Temporal Net Energy

Smart grid has integrated an increasing number of distributed energy resources to improve the efficiency and flexibility of power generation and consumption as well as the resilience of the power grid. The energy consumers on the power grid, e.g., households, equipped with distributed energy resources can be considered as “microgrids” that both generate and consume electricity. In this paper, we study the energy community discovery problems which identify energy communities for the microgrids to facilitate energy management, e.g., load balancing, energy sharing and trading on the grid. Specifically, we present efficient algorithms to discover such communities of microgrids considering both their geo-locations and net energy (NE) over any period. Finally, we experimentally validate the performance of the algorithms using both synthetic and real datasets

Family history in stone disease: how important is it for the onset of the disease and the incidence of recurrence?

The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible effect of a positive family history on the age at the onset of urinary stone disease and the frequency of subsequent symptomatic episodes relating to the disease. Between March 2006 and April 2009, patients with either a newly diagnosed or a previously documented stone disease were included in the study program. They were required to fill in a questionnaire and divided into two groups according to the positive family history of stone disease; group I comprised patients with a family history for urinary calculi and group II those without. Depending on the data obtained from questionnaires, all patients were evaluated in detail with respect to the age at the onset of the stone disease, stone passage and interventions over time, time to first recurrence (time interval between the onset of the disease and the first recurrence), number of total stone episodes and recurrence intervals. 1,595 patients suffering from urolithiasis with the mean age of 41.7 (14–69 years) were evaluated with respect to their past history of the disease. There were 437 patients in group I and 1,158 in group II. There was no statistically significant difference between the mean age value of two groups (P = 0.09). When both genders in group I were analyzed separately, female patients tended to have higher rate of family history positivity than males. Comparative evaluation of the age at the onset of the disease between the two groups did reveal that stone formation occured at younger ages in patients with positive family history [P = 0.01 (males), P = 0.01 (females)] and the mean age of onset of the disease was lower in males than females in group I (P = 0.01). Patients in group I had relatively more stone episodes from the onset of the disease [P < 0.01 (2–4 episodes), P < 0.01 (≥5 episodes)]. Male patients were associated with higher number of stone episodes (P = 0.01). Mean time interval between recurrences was noted to be significantly shorter in group I patients when compared with patients in group II [P < 0.01 (males), P = 0.02 (females)]. In conclusion, our results showed that urinary stone formation may occur at younger ages and that the frequency of symptom episodes may be higher in patients with a positive family history. We believe that the positive family history for urinary stone disease could give us valuable information concerning the onset as well as the severity of the disease

Topological insights in polynuclear Ni/Na coordination clusters derived from a schiff base ligand

This article presents the syntheses, crystal structures, topological features and magnetic properties of two NiII/NaI coordination clusters (CCs) formulated [NiII3Na(L1)3(HL1 (MeOH)2] (1) and [NiII6Na(L1)5(CO3)(MeO (MeOH)3(H2O)3]·4(MeOH) 2(H2O) [2 4(MeOH) 2(H2O)] where H2L1 is the semi rigid Schiff base ligand (E)-2-(2-hydroxy-3 methoxybenzylideneamino)-phenol). Compound 1 possesses a rare NiII3NaI cubane (3M4-1) topology and compound 2 is the first example in polynuclear Ni/Na chemistry that exhibits a 2,3,4M7-1 topology

Withanolides and related steroids

Since the isolation of the first withanolides in the mid-1960s, over 600 new members of this group of compounds have been described, with most from genera of the plant family Solanaceae. The basic structure of withaferin A, a C28 ergostane with a modified side chain forming a δ-lactone between carbons 22 and 26, was considered for many years the basic template for the withanolides. Nowadays, a considerable number of related structures are also considered part of the withanolide class; among them are those containing γ-lactones in the side chain that have come to be at least as common as the δ-lactones. The reduced versions (γ and δ-lactols) are also known. Further structural variations include modified skeletons (including C27 compounds), aromatic rings and additional rings, which may coexist in a single plant species. Seasonal and geographical variations have also been described in the concentration levels and types of withanolides that may occur, especially in the Jaborosa and Salpichroa genera, and biogenetic relationships among those withanolides may be inferred from the structural variations detected. Withania is the parent genus of the withanolides and a special section is devoted to the new structures isolated from species in this genus. Following this, all other new structures are grouped by structural types. Many withanolides have shown a variety of interesting biological activities ranging from antitumor, cytotoxic and potential cancer chemopreventive effects, to feeding deterrence for several insects as well as selective phytotoxicity towards monocotyledoneous and dicotyledoneous species. Trypanocidal, leishmanicidal, antibacterial, and antifungal activities have also been reported. A comprehensive description of the different activities and their significance has been included in this chapter. The final section is devoted to chemotaxonomic implications of withanolide distribution within the Solanaceae. Overall, this chapter covers the advances in the chemistry and biology of withanolides over the last 16 years.Fil: Misico, Rosana Isabel. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Química Orgánica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Unidad de Microanálisis y Métodos Físicos Aplicados a la Química Orgánica (i); ArgentinaFil: Nicotra, V.. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Departamento de Química Orgánica; ArgentinaFil: Oberti, Juan Carlos María. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Departamento de Química Orgánica; ArgentinaFil: Barboza, Gloria Estela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (p); Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas. Departamento de Farmacia; ArgentinaFil: Gil, Roberto Ricardo. University Of Carnegie Mellon; Estados UnidosFil: Burton, Gerardo. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Química Orgánica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Unidad de Microanálisis y Métodos Físicos Aplicados a la Química Orgánica (i); Argentin