Evaluation of current practice and associated challenges towards integrated design

The AEC industry is highly interested in effective ICT adoption and deployment, including its utilization within the design process. However, its capabilities have not yet been fully exploited and it is an obvious area for further research. Architects and engineers tend to have some technological support to monitor and evaluate the possible impacts of decisions made throughout the design process. Many aspects are left out of consideration and the entire project is broken up into independent fragments or domains that are combined together at a later, post hoc stage. Impact of separate decisions on each others have to be interpreted on a person-to-person basis between the involved design stakeholders. This paper attempts to evaluate current design practice and associated challenges towards design integration with advanced technologies, such as BIM, by conducting an online survey targeted at designers and engineers, who are most affected by its emerging issues. The outcomes of this study are presented and analysed, concluding that the current design process fails to meet expectations and needs improvements. It goes further to propose the requirements for an integrated system as a means for an effective solution for the identified problem

Multiple Antenna Techniques for Terahertz Nano-Bio Communication

Using higher frequency bands becomes an essential demand resulting from the explosive wireless traffic needs and the spectrum shortage of the currently used bands. This paper presents an overview on the terahertz technology and its application in the area of multi-input multi-output antenna system and in-vivo nano-communication. In addition, it presents a preliminary study on applying multiple input-single output (MISO) antenna technique to investigate the signal propagation and antenna diversity techniques inside the human skin tissues, which is represented by three layers: stratum corneum (SC), epidermis, and dermis layers, in the terahertz (THz) frequency range (0.8-1.2) THz. The spatial antenna diversity is investigated in this study to understand MISO system performance for two different in-vivo channels resulting from the signal propagation between two transmitting antennas, located at the dermis layer, and one receiving antenna, located at epidermis layer. Three techniques are investigated: selection combining (SC), equal-gain combing (EGC), and maximum-ratio combining (MRC). The initial study indicates that using multiple antenna technique with THz might be not useful for in-vivo nano-communication

A Direct Algorithm for Pole Placement by State-derivative Feedback for Single-input Linear Systems

This paper deals with the direct solution of the pole placement problem for single-input linear systems using state-derivative feedback. This pole placement problem is always solvable for any controllable systems if all eigenvalues of the original system are nonzero. Then any arbitrary closed-loop poles can be placed in order to achieve the desired system performance. The solving procedure results in a formula similar to the Ackermann formula. Its derivation is based on the transformation of a linear single-input system into Frobenius canonical form by a special coordinate transformation, then solving the pole placement problem by state derivative feedback. Finally the solution is extended also for single-input time-varying control systems. The simulation results are included to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach

Eigenstructure Assignment by State-derivative and Partial Output-derivative Feedback for Linear Time-invariant Control Systems

This paper introduces a parametric approach for solving the problem of eigenstructure assignment via state-derivative feedback for linear control time-invariant systems. This problem is always solvable for any controllable systems if the open-loop system matrix is nonsingular. In this work, the parametric solution to the feedback gain matrix is introduced that describes the available degrees of freedom offered by the state-derivative feedback in selecting the associated eigenvectors from an admissible class. These freedoms can be utilized to improve the robustness of the closed-loop system. Finally, the eigenstructure assignment problem via partial output-derivative feedback is introduced. Numerical examples are included to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach

A Complete Parametric Solutions of Eigenstructure Assignment by State-Derivative Feedback for Linear Control Systems

In this paper we introduce a complete parametric approach for solving the problem of eigenstructure assignment via state-derivative feedback for linear systems. This problem is always solvable for any controllable systems iff the open-loop system matrix is nonsingular. In this work, two parametric solutions to the feedback gain matrix are introduced that describe the available degrees of freedom offered by the state-derivative feedback in selecting the associated eigenvectors from an admissible class. These freedoms can be utilized to improve robustness of the closed-loop system. Accordingly, the sensitivity of the assigned eigenvalues to perturbations in the system and gain matrix is minimized. Numerical examples are included to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Early outcome of pediatric pyeloplasty in kidneys with split renal function less than 10%: A prospective study of 25 cases

Objectives: To detect the outcome of pyeloplasty in kidneys with split renal function (SRF) less than 10% in the pediatric age group.Subjects and methods: We prospectively analyzed the data from 25 cases of ureteropelvic junction obstruction (UPJO) candidate for pyeloplasty with SRF less than 10%. Abdominopelvic ultrasonography and diuretic renogram using technetium-99 m diethylenetriamine Penta acetic acid (DTPA) were done in all cases. We studied the improvement in pelvic anteroposterior diameter (APD) postoperatively. We compared pre and postoperative SRF after six months and one year.Results: The median age was 24 months (3 months–11 years), male to female 2:1. The median preoperative SRF was 5% (range: 0%–10%) and the median APD of the renal pelvis was 3 cm (range: 2.2–5). There was significant improvement of median APD 0.8 cm (range: 0.5–1.9) (P value <0.05). There was a significant postoperative improvement in the median SRF (P-value <0.05) as the median SRF after 6 months and 1 year were 21% and 20%, respectively but there was no significant difference between SRF at six months and one year (P value 0.174).Conclusion: Pyeloplasty provides high rates of functional success even in very poorly functioning kidneys with SRF ≤10% by DTPA renogram in pediatric age group

Cooling Rate and Fibrous Type Striated Deformations Effects on the Mechanical Properties of Sn 8.6 wt. % Zn Alloy

Sn-Zn alloy has been taken as one of the most important lead free solder alloys due to the toxicity and the alpha radiation of lead impurities. The influence of cooling rate on the mechanical and structural properties of Sn ndash 8.6 wt. % Zn lead free solder alloy was studied.nbsp The microstructure of the quenched and slowly cooled samples of Sn ndash Zn alloy was examined by X ndash rays analysis and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). There is an appearance of fibrous type striated deformations on the surfaces of the quenched samples more than those on the surfaces of the slowly cooled samples. The hardening parameters were obtained through stress-strain relations in the temperature range 333-393K for slowly cooled and quenched samples. The quenching samples indicated an improvement in the mechanical properties. The energy activated the rate controlling mechanisms has been calculated and found to be 17.85 and 24.57 kJ/mol for slowly cooled and quenched samples respectively. These values were found to be close to those reported for the grain boundary sliding mechanism in Sn-based alloys.nbs

Deconfinement and freezeout boundaries in equilibrium thermal models

In different approaches, the temperature-baryon density plane of QCD matter is studied for deconfinement and chemical freezeout boundaries. Results from various heavy-ion experiments are compared with the recent lattice simulations, the effective QCD-like Polyakov linear-sigma model, and the equilibrium thermal models. Along the entire freezeout boundary, there is an excellent agreement between the thermal model calculations and the experiments. Also, the thermal model calculations agree well with the estimations deduced from the Polyakov linear-sigma model (PLSM). At low baryonic density or high energies, both deconfinement and chemical freezeout boundaries are likely coincident and therefore the agreement with the lattice simulations becomes excellent as well, while at large baryonic density, the two boundaries become distinguishable forming a phase where hadrons and quark-gluon plasma likely coexist.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in AHE

Characterization of OPC Matrix Containing Dealuminated Kaolin

The suitability of replacing Portland cement by dealuminated calcined kaolin as received waste obtained from an alum production factory through the extraction of aluminium, also by dealuminated samples treated with lime solution, is investigated. The chemical and mineralogical compositions of the samples are measured. Their pozzolanic reactivity and their surface areas were determined. The effect of replacement on  setting time,  flowability, rate of flowability loss and strength of mortars was tested and compared to control OPC samples and others containing silica fumes. It was found that the as received dealuminated kaolin and that treated with lime possess higher pozzolanic reactivity and show larger surface areas than silica fumes. The incorporation of the as received dealuminated kaolin (DK) in OPC paste accelerates the setting time; while the lime-treated samples lead to retardation. The flowability of the OPC mortar is little affected by the as received DK samples and is strongly reduced by the lime-treated one and silica fumes. The three admixtures cause strong flowability loss with time. The 56d-compressive and tensile strengths of the mortars improve with 5 and 10% OPC replacement by DK