• Computers and Concrete
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.87-97
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• 2023

The bending of a porous FG plate is discussed in this study using a novel higher quasi-3D hyperbolic shear deformation theory with four unknowns. The proposed theory takes into consideration the normal and transverse shear deformation effect and ensures the parabolic distribution of the transverse stresses through the thickness direction with zero-traction at the top and the bottom surfaces of the structure. Innovative porous functionally graded materials (FGM) have through-thickness porosity as a unique attribute that gradually varies with their qualities. An analytical solution of the static response of the perfect and imperfect FG plate was derived based on the virtual work principle and solved using Navier's procedure. The validity and the efficiency of the current model is confirmed by comparing the results with those obtained by others solutions. The comparisons showed that the present model is very efficient and simple in terms of computation time and exactness. The impact of the porosity parameter, aspect ratio, and thickness ratio on the bending of porous FG plate is shown through a discussion of several numerical results.

• Fiber Technology and Industry
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.490-508
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• 1998

One of the latest fields of research in the area of output devices is tactual display devices [13,31]. These tactual or haptic devices allow the user to receive haptic feedback output from a variety of sources. This allows the user to actually feel virtual objects and manipulate them by touch. This is an emerging technology and will be instrumental in enhancing the realism of wearable augmented environments for certain applications. Tactual displays have previously been used for scientific visualization in virtual environments by chemists and engineers to improve perception and understanding of force fields and of world models populated with the impenetrable. In addition to tactual displays, the use of wearable audio displays that allow sound to be spatialized are being developed. With wearable computers, designers will soon be able to pair spatialized sound to virtual representations of objects when appropriate to make the wearable computer experience even more realistic to the user. Furthermore, as the number and complexity of wearable computing applications continues to grow, there will be increasing needs for systems that are faster, lighter, and have higher resolution displays. Better networking technology will also need to be developed to allow all users of wearable computers to have high bandwidth connections for real time information gathering and collaboration. In addition to the technology advances that make users need to wear computers in everyday life, there is also the desire to have users want to wear their computers. In order to do this, wearable computing needs to be unobtrusive and socially acceptable. By making wearables smaller and lighter, or actually embedding them in clothing, users can conceal them easily and wear them comfortably. The military is currently working on the development of the Personal Information Carrier (PIC) or digital dog tag. The PIC is a small electronic storage device containing medical information about the wearer. While old military dog tags contained only 5 lines of information, the digital tags may contain volumes of multi-media information including medical history, X-rays, and cardiograms. Using hand held devices in the field, medics would be able to call this information up in real time for better treatment. A fully functional transmittable device is still years off, but this technology once developed in the military, could be adapted tp civilian users and provide ant information, medical or otherwise, in a portable, not obstructive, and fashionable way. Another future device that could increase safety and well being of its users is the nose on-a-chip developed by the Oak Ridge National Lab in Tennessee. This tiny digital silicon chip about the size of a dime, is capable of 'smelling' natural gas leaks in stoves, heaters, and other appliances. It can also detect dangerous levels of carbon monoxide. This device can also be configured to notify the fire department when a leak is detected. This nose chip should be commercially available within 2 years, and is inexpensive, requires low power, and is very sensitive. Along with gas detection capabilities, this device may someday also be configured to detect smoke and other harmful gases. By embedding this chip into workers uniforms, name tags, etc., this could be a lifesaving computational accessory. In addition to the future safety technology soon to be available as accessories are devices that are for entertainment and security. The LCI computer group is developing a Smartpen, that electronically verifies a user's signature. With the increase in credit card use and the rise in forgeries, is the need for commercial industries to constantly verify signatures. This Smartpen writes like a normal pen but uses sensors to detect the motion of the pen as the user signs their name to authenticate the signature. This computational accessory should be available in 1999, and would bring increased peace of mind to consumers and vendors alike. In the entertainment domain, Panasonic is creating the first portable hand-held DVD player. This device weight less than 3 pounds and has a screen about 6' across. The color LCD has the same 16:9 aspect ratio of a cinema screen and supports a high resolution of 280,000 pixels and stereo sound. The player can play standard DVD movies and has a hour battery life for mobile use. To summarize, in this paper we presented concepts related to the design and use of wearable computers with extensions to smart spaces. For some time, researchers in telerobotics have used computer graphics to enhance remote scenes. Recent advances in augmented reality displays make it possible to enhance the user's local environment with 'information'. As shown in this paper, there are many application areas for this technology such as medicine, manufacturing, training, and recreation. Wearable computers allow a much closer association of information with the user. By embedding sensors in the wearable to allow it to see what the user sees, hear what the user hears, sense the user's physical state, and analyze what the user is typing, an intelligent agent may be able to analyze what the user is doing and try to predict the resources he will need next or in the near future. Using this information, the agent may download files, reserve communications bandwidth, post reminders, or automatically send updates to colleagues to help facilitate the user's daily interactions. This intelligent wearable computer would be able to act as a personal assistant, who is always around, knows the user's personal preferences and tastes, and tries to streamline interactions with the rest of the world.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.61-70
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• 2015

This paper presents a web-based Java applet for understanding the concepts in digital logic circuits and student satisfaction survey was carried out in order to show its educational validity. Through our educational Java applet, the learners will be capable of learning the concepts and principles related to digital logic circuit experiments and how to operate virtual experimental equipments and virtual bread board. The proposed educational Java applet is composed of five important components: Principle Classroom to explain the concepts and principles for digital logic circuit operations, Simulation Classroom to provide a web-based simulator to the learners, Virtual Experiment Classroom to provide interactive Java applet about the syllabus of off-line laboratory class, Assessment Classroom, and Management System. With the aid of the Management System every classroom is organically tied together collaborating to achieve maximum learning efficiency. Finally, we have obtained several affirmative effects such as high learning standard, reducing the total experimental hours and the damage rate for experimental equipments.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.68 no.1
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• pp.53-66
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• 2018

This paper presents an analysis of the bending, buckling and free vibration of functionally graded sandwich beams resting on elastic foundation by using a refined quasi-3D theory in which both shear deformation and thickness stretching effects are included. The displacement field contains only three unknowns, which is less than the number of parameters of many other shear deformation theories. In order to homogenize the micromechanical properties of the FGM sandwich beam, the material properties are derived on the basis of several micromechanical models such as Tamura, Voigt, Reuss and many others. The principle of virtual works is used to obtain the equilibrium equations. The elastic foundation is modeled using the Pasternak mathematical model. The governing equations are obtained through the Hamilton's principle and then are solved via Navier solution for the simply supported beam. The accuracy of the proposed theory can be noticed by comparing it with other 3D solution available in the literature. A detailed parametric study is presented to show the influence of the micromechanical models on the general behavior of FG sandwich beams on elastic foundation.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.66 no.3
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• pp.353-368
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• 2018

In this work, a high order hyperbolic shear deformation theory with four variables is presented to study the vibratory behavior of functionally graduated plates. The field of displacement of the theory used in this work is introduced indeterminate integral variables. In addition, the effect of porosity is studied. It is assumed that the material characteristics of the porous FGM plate, varies continuously in the direction of thickness as a function of the power law model in terms of volume fractions of constituents taken into account the homogeneous distribution of porosity. The equations of motion are obtained using the principle of virtual work. An analytical solution of the Navier type for free vibration analysis is obtained for a FGM plate for simply supported boundary conditions. A comparison of the results obtained with those of the literature is made to verify the accuracy and efficiency of the present theory. It can be concluded from his results that the current theory is not only accurate but also simple for the presentation of the response of free vibration and the effect of porosity on the latter.

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.17-23
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• 2019

IaaS is well known as a very cost effective computing service which enables required infrastructures to be rented on demand without ownership of real hardwares. It is very suitable for price sensitive services due to pay-per-use style. Operators of such services would want to adjust utilization policy quickly by estimating costs for cloud infrastructures as soon as possible. However, swift response is not possible due to that cloud service providers provide a dozen or so hours delayed billing information. Our work proposes a realtime IaaS cost estimation model based on usages monitored by virtual machine instance. We operate PC laboratory service on a public cloud during full semester to validate our suggested model. From that experiment, an averaged disparity between estimation and actual cost is less than 5.2%.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.45-52
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• 2022

The identification of Plasmodium falciparum enoyl acyl-carrier protein reductase (pfENR) is considered as a potential biological target against malaria. Trema orientalis is considered a rich source of phytochemicals useful in malaria treatment. This study evaluated the in-vitro inhibitory activity of the extract and isolated compounds of T. orientalis leaf; the isolated compounds and the analogues of the most active compound were subjected to in-silico molecular docking studies on pfENR. The methanolic extract of T. orientalis was subjected to repeated chromatographic separation which led to the isolation of some compounds. The isolated compounds from the plant were examined for their antimalarial activity using β-hematin inhibition assay. Virtual screening via molecular docking and ADMET studies were conducted to gain insight into the mechanism of binding of ligand and to identify effective pfENR inhibitors. The isolated compounds and the analogues of the most active isolates were gotten from PubChem library for use in docking study. Hexacosanol and β-sitosterol showed inhibition of the β-hematin formation. The docking results showed that hexacosanol, β-sitosterol and the analogues of β-sitosterol displayed binding energy ranging between -6.1 kcal/mol and -11.6 kcal/mol. Sitosterol glucoside has the highest docking score. Some of the ligands showed more binding affinity than known bioactive compounds used as reference. Analogues of β-sitosterol has been shown to be potential inhibitors of pfENR, therefore, the findings from this study suggest that sitosterol glucoside and ergosterol peroxide could act as antimalarial agents after further lead optimisation investigations.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.551-568
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• 2023

In this research, a new two-dimensional (2D) and quasi three-dimensional (quasi-3D) higher order shear deformation theory is devised to address the bending problem of functionally graded plates resting on an elastic foundation. The displacement field of the suggested theories takes into account a parabolic transverse shear deformation shape function and satisfies shear stress free boundary conditions on the plate surfaces. It is expressed as a combination of trigonometric and exponential shear shape functions. The Pasternak mathematical model is considered for the elastic foundation. The material properties vary constantly across the FG plate thickness using different distributions as power-law, exponential and Mori-Tanaka model. By using the virtual works principle and Navier's technique, the governing equations of FG plates exposed to sinusoidal and evenly distributed loads are developed. The effects of material composition, geometrical parameters, stretching effect and foundation parameters on deflection, axial displacements and stresses are discussed in detail in this work. The obtained results are compared with those reported in earlier works to show the precision and simplicity of the current formulations. A very good agreement is found between the predicted results and the available solutions of other higher order theories. Future mechanical analyses of three-dimensionally FG plate structures can use the study's findings as benchmarks.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.233-250
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• 2023

This paper investigates the flexural analysis of isotropic, transversely isotropic, and laminated composite plates using a new higher-order normal and shear deformation theory. In the present theory, only five unknown functions are involved compared to six or more unknowns used in the other similar theories. The developed theory does not need a shear correction factor. It can satisfy the zero traction boundary conditions on the top and the bottom surfaces of the plate as well as account for sufficient distribution of the transverse shear strains. The thickness stretching effect is considered in the computation. A simply supported was considered on all edges of the plate. The plate is subjected to uniform and sinusoidal distributed load in the static analysis. Laminated composite, isotropic, and transversely isotropic plates are considered. The governing equations are obtained utilizing the virtual work principle. The differential equations are solved via Navier's procedure. The results obtained from the developed theory are compared with other higher-order theories considered in the previous studies and 3D elasticity solutions. The results showed that the proposed theory accurately and effectively predicts the bidirectional bending responses of laminated composite plates. Several parametric studies are presented to illustrate the various parameters influencing the static response of the laminated composite plates.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2022.06a
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• pp.579-586
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• 2022

Modular building is a fast-growing construction method, mainly due to its ability to drastically reduce the amount of time it takes to construct a building and produce higher-quality buildings at a more consistent rate. However, while modular construction is relatively safer than traditional construction methods, workers are still exposed to hazards that lead to injuries and fatalities, and these hazards could be controlled using emerging smart technologies. Currently, limited information is available at the intersection of modular construction, safety risk, and smart safety technologies. This paper aims to investigate what aspects of modular construction are most dangerous for its workers, highlight specific risks in its processes, and propose ways to utilize smart technologies to mitigate these safety risks. Findings from the archival analysis of accident reports in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Fatality and Catastrophe Investigation Summaries indicate that 114 significant injuries were reported between 2002 and 2021, of which 67 were fatalities. About 72% of fatalities occurred during the installation phase, while 57% were caused by crushing and 85% of crash-related incidents were caused by jack failure/slippage. IoT-enabled wearable sensing devices, computer vision, smart safety harness, and Augment and Virtual Reality were identified as potential solutions for mitigating identified safety risks. The present study contributes to knowledge by identifying important safety trends, critical safety risk factors and proposing practical emerging methods for controlling these risks.