A review of application of multi-criteria decision making methods in construction

Construction is an area of study wherein making decisions adequately can mean the difference between success and failure. Moreover, most of the activities belonging to this sector involve taking into account a large number of conflicting aspects, which hinders their management as a whole. Multi-criteria decision making analysis arose to model complex problems like these. This paper reviews the application of 22 different methods belonging to this discipline in various areas of the construction industry clustered in 11 categories. The most significant methods are briefly discussed, pointing out their principal strengths and limitations. Furthermore, the data gathered while performing the paper are statistically analysed to identify different trends concerning the use of these techniques. The review shows their usefulness in characterizing very different decision making environments, highlighting the reliability acquired by the most pragmatic and widespread methods and the emergent tendency to use some of them in combination

Damping of electromechanical oscillations in wide-area power systems such as the Trans-Canadian grid

This thesis presents two methods to damp electromechanical oscillations in large power systems such as Trans-Canadian grid. A control method, used in conjunction with Wide Area Measurement System (WAMS), is proposed to damp very low frequency inter-area modes of very large systems. This Global PSS requires knowledge of the eigenvectors of the targeted modes, and only a limited number of power stations are involved in its feedback loop. It does not destabilize other modes, and its robustness is assured. Besides mathematical proof, a series of simulations are conducted to validate the claims of the proposed Global PSS. The second solution is based on fast controllability of Voltage Source Converters (VSCs) connecting Renewable technologies to the power system. In this method, their injected Active and Reactive powers are modulated to improve power system damping. Mathematical formulations are developed to study the effectiveness of damping in relation to injection point along the transmission line. Taking nonlinearity, due to limit on active/reactive output power, into account, trade-offs of feedback gain constants with respect to saturation limits are studied. Phase-plane diagrams give clear picture of this nonlinearity, and simulation results confirm how high damping can be secured.Cette thèse présente deux méthodes pour amortir les oscillations électromécaniques dans les grands réseaux électriques tel que le réseau transcanadien. Une méthode de contrôle, utilisé avec un système étendu de measures (Wide Area Measurement System), est proposée pour amortir de très basses fréquences intermodes des très grands réseaux. Ce PSS global exige la connaissance des vecteurs propres des modes ciblés, et seulement un nombre limité de stations d'alimentation sont impliquées dans la boucle de rétroaction. Il ne déstabilise pas les autres modes, et sa robustesse est assurée. En plus de preuves mathématiques, des simulations sont effectuées pour valider les affirmations du PSS global proposé. La deuxième solution est basée sur la contrôlabilité rapide des convertisseurs à source de tension (Voltage Source Converter) reliant les technologies à énergie renouvelable aux réseaux électriques. Dans cette méthode, l'injection de puissance active et réactive est modulée pour améliorer l'amortissement du réseau électrique. Des formulations mathématiques sont développées pour étudier l'efficacité de l'amortissement en lien avec les points d'injections le long des lignes de transmission. En prenant compte des non-linéarités, causées par la limite d'injection de puissance active/réactive, les compromis pour les gains de rétroaction en rapport avec les limites de saturations sont étudiés. Des diagrammes de plan de phase donnent une illustration claire de cette non-linéarité et des résultats de simulations confirment comment un amortissement élevé peut être sécurisé

The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment based Therapy on Depression, Psychological Health and Life Expectancy of the Elderly with Nonclinical Depression

Elderly seems to be one of the challenging periods of life due to a decrease of physical and psychological functions and the elderly with nonclinical depression face many problems including an increase of depression and a decrease of health and life expectancy. Therefore, the current research aimed to determine the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment based therapy on depression, psychological health and life expectancy of the elderly with nonclinical depression. This study was a quasi-experimental with pretest and posttest with control group design. The research population included all the elderly with non-clinical depression referring to the psychological service centers and clinics in Ahvaz, Iran in the spring of 2020. The sample included 50 people selected according to including and excluding criteria, using purposive sampling method and were randomly assigned into two equal groups. The experimental group received 10 sessions of 90 minutes acceptance and commitment therapy and the control group was in a waiting list for training. The research tools were the geriatric depression scale (Yasavage & Sheikh), psychological health scale (Najjarian & Davodi) and life expectancy scale (Snyder et. al.). Data were analyzed using ANCOVA in SPSS-19. The findings indicated that the experimental group was significantly different in terms of all three variables of depression, psychological health and life expectancy. In the other words, acceptance and commitment therapy led to a reduction in depression and an improvement of psychological health and life expectancy in the elderly with nonclinical depression (p < 0.05). According to the results of the present study, therapists and health professionals can take advantages of acceptance and commitment therapy in health-related interventions, especially to reduce depression and improve psychological health and life expectancy. 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Determination of arsenic in agricultural products, animal products and drinking water of rural areas of Bijar and Gharve, Kurdestan Province

Environmental and food contamination with toxic element arsenic is one of the important issues that are threatening public health and other creatures. In this study, a total sample of 983 consisting agricultural and animal products as well as water samples was analyzed for arsenic contamination. According to the results, the highest concentration of arsenic (1.737 mg/l) was found in the piped water of Aliabad. Moreover, the highest level of arsenic contamination was detected in wheat obtained from Giklo and Gondak (0.14 mg/kg). Accordingly, highest arsenic level in barley, peas and lentils, was estimated in the samples of Gondak (0.11 mg/kg), Giklo (mg/kg 0.013) and Ghojagh (0.017 mg/kg), respectively. In addition, the highest mean concentration of arsenic in meat and milk samples was found in Ghojagh (0.167 mg/kg) and Gondak (0.0129 mg/l). The results revealed that the contamination level of arsenic in all crops, meat and milk samples were lower than the maximum acceptable limit adopted in many other countries. However, the concentration of arsenic in water samples was 174 times higher than the acceptable limit (0.01 mg/l) determined by the Iranian National Standard. Therefore, it is necessary to perform comprehensive studies on contaminations of water sources in this area

Ultra Sharp Transition-Band LPF with Miniaturized Size for GSM Applications

In this paper, a microstrip low-pass filter (LPF) using a bended transmission line is presented. The LPF has a simple topology, which is composed of a T-shaped stub as main resonator, one conventional rectangular resonator (as suppressing stub) and two T-shaped stubs. To approach a high operation and small dimensions, this structure is bent. The proposed LPF has a compact size (0.090 lambda_g × 0.119 lambdag) and presents an ultra sharp transition-band (ksi = 880.95 dB/GHz) from 0.945 to 0.987 GHz with –3 and –40 dB suppression levels, respectively. This filter, with 3- dB cut-off frequency (fc) of 0.945 GHz, is useful for GSM applications. The performance of each section is investigated based on LC equivalent circuit. The designed filter is fabricated and measured. Also, the results exhibit an excellent figure of merit (FOM) of 239756

Removal of hexavalent chromium from aqueous solution by adsorption on γ-alumina nanoparticles

The use of γ-alumina (γ-Al2O3) nanoparticles as adsorbent to remove Cr(VI) from aqueous solution was investigated using batch experiments. Adsorption experiments were carried out for various initial doses of Al2O3, initial concentrations of chromium(VI), contact times and pH. The structure and morphology of the sorbent was characterized by XRD, SEM, and TEM techniques. Results demonstrated that the removal efficiency of chromium(VI) was increased by increasing the contact time, initial concentration, and pH. The results of the study showed that adsorption of chromium by γ-alumina nanoparticles reached equilibrium after 60 min and after that a little change of chromium removal efficiency was observed. Furthermore, kinetics of chromium sorption was well fitted by pseudo-second order kinetic model, and well explained by the Freundlich isotherm (R2 > 0.992). Overall, alumina nanoparticles recognized as an effective sorbent to remove chromium(VI) from aqueous solutions

High performance microstrip low pass filter for wireless communications

A microstrip low-pass filter using T-shaped resonators is designed to achieve an ultra-sharp transition band and high suppression level. The performance of the resonators is investigated based on an LC equivalent circuit and a transfer function to compute the equations of the transmission zeros. This filter has an acceptable stopband with high insertion loss (28 dB) by adopting a rectangular suppressor. Also, the width of the transition band is 0.09 GHz (with – 3 and − 40 dB attenuation levels), that exhibits a very high sharpness (ξ = 411 dB/GHz). The proposed filter with a 3 dB cut-off frequency (fc) of 1.32 GHz presents a high return loss in the passband (17 dB) and high figure of merit of 57,073. The designed filter is fabricated and measured, demonstrating sufficient agreement between the simulation and experimental results.Saeed Roshani, Alireza Golestanifar, Amirhossein Ghaderi, Hesam Siahkamari, Derek Abbot

Effect of Molasses on Phenol Removal Rate Using Pilot-Scale Anaerobic Reactors

With the growing industrial and social development through time, toxic substances such as phenol and its derivatives are increasingly released into the environment from a variety of sources. The present study aims to investigate the effects of molasses on phenol removal. For this purpose, five pilot scale batch reactors (5 Erlenmeyer flasks equipped with the air and gas diffusion control system) were used in the laboratory scale. The volumes of the reactors were kept constant with a final volume content of 550 ml in each reactor. Phenol with a fixed concentration of 100 mg/l was tested under anaerobic conditions in each reactor in contact with beet molasses (organic matter used as the auxiliary substrate) with COD concentrations of 10000, 5000, 2000, 1000, and 500 mg/l over 5 retention times (10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 days). All the sampling and testing procedures wer e performed according to the standard methods. The results showed that in all the five experimental reactors, increasing retention time was accompanied by a continuous decline in initial phenol and COD concentrations. However, for each retention time, increasing COD concentration led to a decrease in COD removal efficiency such that increasing the initial COD concentration up to a certain level was associated with an increase in chemical oxygen demanding materials, but beyond this range, COD removal decreased slowly. It was also found that phenol removal increased with increasing retention time but it was not proportional to the concentration of the biodegradable COD. After 50 days of contact with 1000 mg/l of the supporting substrate, phenol removal in the reactors reached 98.62%. Another finding of the study was the fact that the highest phenol removal was achieved when 1000-2000 mg/l of biodegradable COD was used over 50 days of retention tim