International Journal of Engineering
Volume:35 Issue: 8, Aug 2022

Content-based image retrieval (CBIR) is a process of retrieving images based on their content in a dataset automatically. CBIR is a common solution to search images similar to a desired image among all images in dataset. To do this, many methods have been developed to extract images features. Here, a new Dominant Color Descriptor (DCD) method is proposed to improve CBIR accuracy. In the first step, Canny edges of images are extracted. In the next step, edges are widened by employing morphological operations. Finally, pixels that are not at the edges are weighted less than the pixels which are located at edges. Indeed, pixels in regions with low color variations are less weighted and more informative pixels are more weighted in providing DCD features. To show the effectiveness of the proposed method, experiments are performed on three datasets Corel-1k, Corel-10k and Caltech256. Results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms competitive methods.

The global outbreak of COVID-19 began in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and affected the entire world in a short time. Over time, the emergence of new species of the disease, the pace of response to it have also been strongly affected, and with the emergence of the newest species called Omicron. Knowing and reviewing the system and publishing publications in the community is essential for sound policies. System dynamics can be adopted as an approach to the behavior evaluation of the COVID-19 pandemic. The present study introduces a system dynamic model to explore the effects of different factors on the pandemic and therapeutic and non-therapeutic modalities. Vaccination is evaluated as the main approach to prevent the disease. The influential factors of pandemic prevention and control are examined based on the SEIR model and policies such as vaccination. The safest way to prevent this epidemic is vaccination. Therefore, a policy that benefits the entire population and will be necessary is producing and purchasing vaccines. From 19 July 2021, the rate of vaccine imports to Iran has increased significantly, and therefore it is predicted that by the end of 2022, Iran's general vaccination will end, after which the number of cases and mortality rates will decline. Vaccines are the ultimate solution to contagious diseases to control their spread and provide safety to deal with the infection. The results suggested that the fatality rate of the susceptible population was reduced by vaccination and protective protocols.

Climate change, greenhouse gases, and global warming are global issues today. Of course, this global issue cannot be separated from the issue of emissions. Various methods to solve generator scheduling problems by considering emissions or Economic Emission Dispatch (EED) have been published, but not to the extent of calculating the cost to reduce emissions. The main objective of this research is to determine the cost of reducing the emission of electricity generation in Indonesia through solving the EED problem. The method proposed to solve the EED problem is an annealing simulation algorithm and tested using an electrical system of eight generators, four different loads, and five combinations of cost and emission weights. This method is tested with various loads (conditions), and each condition is tested with various combinations of cost weights and emission weights. The results obtained are compared with the results of the calculation of the Cuckoo algorithm, and the whale optimization algorithm. The simulation results show that it costs US$258.81 to reduce 1 ton of emissions. This paper can be used as a material for further consideration for the government and generator providers in making policies related to the operation of power plants by considering emissions.

Among many accessories of a passenger car, engine cooling Radiator Fan Module (RFM) is an important source of noise and vibration. Modal parameters provide the basis for the noise generation mechanism and noise propagation phenomena. The objective of the current research work is to characterize RFM through its modal behavior to investigate the contribution of structural vibration to noise radiation during its operating state. Hence, the experimental modal analysis and the noise measurement of RFM are carried out. Additionally a finite element modal analysis of RFM is performed to validate the finite element model that can be used for vibro-acoustic and computational fluid dynamic studies. Below 500 Hz total of eight critical modal frequencies, three for fan and five for shroud are determined and between 500 Hz to 2000Hz seven modes for fan and fifteen modes for shroud are determined. From the correlation study, it is witnessed that the contribution of modal behaviour for noise radiation is observed with 20 dB(A) variation below 500 Hz, along the diagonal grid points whereas beyond 500 Hz the variation was negligible. Importantly, blade passing frequencies corresponding to the fan speeds between 500 to 3000 rpm are compared with resonance frequencies obtained and they do not coincide with modal frequencies.

The control of movement rehabilitation robots is necessary for the recovery of physically disabled patients and is an interesting open problem. This paper presents a mathematical model of the upper limb rehabilitation robot using the Euler-Lagrange approach. Since the PID controller is one of the most popular feedback controllers in the control strategy due to its simplicity, we propose an ACO-PID controller for an upper limb rehabilitation robot. The main part of designing the PID controller is determining the gains of the controller. For this purpose, we use the Ant Colony Optimization Algorithm (ACO) to tune the coefficients. To evaluate the validity of the proposed controller, we have compared it to the Fuzzy-PID controller and the PID controller adjusted with the Ziegler-Nichols method (ZN-PID). The results show that the performance of the ACO-PID controller is better than the others. Also, the adaptive PID controllers (ACO-PID and Fuzzy-PID) ensure accurate tracking, finite-time convergence, and stability. The results show that the mean absolute error and normalized root mean square (NRMS) of tracking error using the ACO-PID are less than that using the Fuzzy-PID and ZN-PID controller.

Reinforcing cement mortars with fibers is an essential step to enhance their flexural strength. This study compares the fresh properties and mechanical characteristics of cement mortars reinforced with polypropylene fibers and recycled polypropylene fibers. The reinforcing fibers ratio were (0, 0.5,1, and 1.5) % by weight of cement mortar for both types of fibers. The casted samples were tested by means of flow test for fresh mortar, compressive strength, flexural strength, and toughness for hardened mortars. The results from this experimental program show that both types of fibers caused a reduction in the mortar flow and enhanced its mechanical characteristics. The results were statistically tested to measure the significance of the difference. The cement mortar reinforced with recycled fibers exhibited approximately similar results as compared to the mixtures containing raw polypropylene fibers at 95% confidence level. However, it shows a significant increase in flexural strength when comparing to the mixtures with new polypropylene fibers.

In several real-world categorization problems, labeled data is generally hard to acquire when there is a huge number of unlabeled data. Hence, it is very important to devise a novel approaches to solve these problems, thereby choosing the most valuable instances for labeling and creating a superior classifier. Several existing techniques are devised for the binary categorization issues, only a limited number of algorithms are designed for handling the multi-label cases. The multi-label classification problem turns out to be more complex when the sample belongs to multiple labels from the group of accessible classes. In World Wide Web, text data is generally present nowadays, and is an obvious example for such type of tasks. This paper develops a novel technique to perform the multi-label text categorization by modifying the Error-Correcting Output Coding (ECOC) approach. Here, a cluster of binary complimentary classifiers are employed to facilitate the ECOC more effective for the multi-class problems. In addition, a weighted posterior probability is computed to enhance the multi-label text classification performance more effectively. Moreover, the performance of the proposed ECOC with weighted probability is analyzed using the performance metrics, like precision, recall, and f-measure with maximal precision of 0.897, higher recall value of 0.896, and maximum f-measure of 0.895.

Achieving the stability of buildings and facilities against any external influence, such as winds, storms, or earthquakes, depends primarily on the foundations supporting them, which are responsible for transferring those loads to the soil layers beneath them. Accordingly, the design of the foundations to be safe withstand these static and dynamic loads without causing dangers or failures on these structures has recently become the focus of the attention of many researchers. The task of this paper is to predict the behavior of shallow raft foundations supporting loads of structures under the influence of earthquakes in Baquba city and what results from them from downfall and displacement risks. To simulate the soil-foundation model for the study, numerical modeling was used depending finite element approach. Different thickness of raft foundation under different earthquake acceleration-time records that simulate with a Linear Elastic model (LE) built on layered soil represented by Mohr-Coulomb model (MC). The results from this analysis showed properties of soil are used for this study play a vital role in the ground response to the propagation waves. Also observed from the results that an increase in both lateral and vertical displacement as the duration of earthquake increases and raft thickness decreases, but these displacements decreased when the thickness of raft foundation increased from 0.8m to 1.6m are about 9% and 68%, respectively.

This research examined the effect of nanographene oxide in enhancing the mechanical properties of polyamine resin for better adhesion of carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) to a fiber-reinforced concrete beam. To this purpose, 33 fiber-reinforced concrete beams retrofitted with CFRP of lengths 50 cm, 35 cm, and 20 cm and widths 3 cm, 6 cm, and 10 cm were experimentally studied. Graphene oxide weight percentages of 1, 2, and 3 percent were considered, and the corresponding cases were compared with the case of a retrofitted beam without graphene oxide. According to the results of experiments on 12 of the beams, as the nanomaterial in the adhesive increases from 1% to 2% and 3%, the values of maximum load-carrying capacity, maximum mid-span deflection, beam stiffness, and beam toughness exhibited 46,19, 27, and 5 percent, respectively, relative to the case of the beam reinforced with CFRP and without graphene oxide. Subsequently, given the close results of the beams reinforced with 2% and 3% graphene oxide, 2% graphene oxide was used in the rest of the samples to investigate the effect changes in the number of layers, length, and width of the CFRP on the mechanical properties of the concrete beam. The results indicated that an increase in the number of layers, length, and width of CFRP results in an increase in the load-carrying capacity and deformability of the fiber-reinforced concrete beam.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce an integrated and specialized approach to tackling a challenging issue, known as “Last-mile Transportation”. This issue, which is classified in terms of the decision-making level at the tactical level, is a model of the operational and application processes of prominent businesses in online commerce in developed countries, while it has attracted little attention from an operation-research aspect. This is a single-echelon network that includes a central distributor, parcel lockers, and customers, allowing customers to take advantage of three flexible product delivery options after purchasing the product. In the first option, the parcels are delivered at the door and in the time window specified by the customer; In the second option, customers pick up the parcels from the desired lockers with a discount, and in the third option, customers leave the choice of delivery type to the company under gaining an attractive discount. Offering online targeted discounts based on a selected option to encourage as many customers as possible for cooperation with the company and the guarantee of gradual development of the parcel-locker network by a management lever are other innovations of this study. To solve this model, a Benders decomposition algorithm has been modified by variable neighborhood search (VNS) and local branching strategies. The results obtained from the analysis of parameters related to problem innovations indicate the efficiency and validity of this presented model in different scenarios and the proposed solution algorithm in large-sized instances.

The main objective of designing the supply chain is to increase profitability. For this reason, a state-of-the-art model of a three-echelon closed-loop supply chain is proposed that consists of the manufacturer, retailer, and collection centers. For the first time, a new separate and autonomous channel is considered in this model for the sale of Reman products aiming at increasing the manufacturer's profitability. In this model, location, inventory, and pricing of the product are also taken into consideration. Lingo software is utilized to solve nonlinear objective functions at a small scale, and metaheuristic genetic algorithms and particle swarm optimization were utilized to solve at a large scale. The research results depict that the state-of-the-art model design of the closed-loop supply chain network is credible and the optimal location of supply chain components, optimal response of product flow, and product price are determined in a proper manner. As a result, the profitability of the whole closed-loop supply chain network increased. Sensitivity analysis of mathematical model depicts that this model shows higher sensitivity to retailer replacement factor, price and purchasing power of collection centers. Also, the genetic algorithm shows better performance on a large scale in terms of response quality. On the other hand, the time required by particle swarm optimization to reach a response is far better than the genetic algorithm. Ultimately, practical suggestions for the managers are presented considering the state-of-the-art model design of a closed-loop supply chain network.

The multi-skill resource constrained project scheduling problem (MS-RCPSP) is an important and challenging issue in project management. Two key factors that turn this topic into a challenging problem are the assumptions that are considered to approximate the model to a problem existing in real- world and its exact solution. In this paper, we study this problem which has a set of resources and each of them masters a set of skills. To consider real-word situations, we take into account calendars specifying time intervals during which the resources are available. The problem with and without calendars constraint are modeled with mathematical programming (MP) and constraint programming (CP). The MP is based on the model which was proposed in the literature. Computational results show that the proposed approach can efficiently solve real-size instances, and the performance of CP approach is evaluated by comparing Time-Indexed Model (TIM) and Branch and Price (B&P) approaches and computational results show the superiority of CP in terms of computational time.

Multi-purpose forest fire fighting vehicles include a combination of fire fighting equipment such as a high-pressure water pump, create corridor fire insulation cutting machine, vacuum and high wind speed bowling machine, extinguish the fire sandblast apparatus that is mounted on the URAL 4320 active three axles vehicle. When installing fire fighting equipment on vehicles, increases the load, affecting the vehicle's load distribution, angularity, and stability. Therefore, to ensure structural rigidity, the suspension system is redesigned to increase rigidity. However, alteration of the suspension stiffness will change the dynamic load acting on the chassis. This research presents the results of research on the influence of suspension stiffness on dynamic loads acting on the chassis of a multi-purpose forest fire fighting vehicle. The survey results show that increasing the suspension stiffness will increase the dynamic load acting on the chassis, reduce the durability of the chassis in particular and the details of the vehicle in general. The research results are the basis for evaluating the working life of the chassis in subsequent studies.

The current research was carried out with the aim of increasing the penetration depth and improving the mechanical properties of weld region by addition of active fluxes of titanium oxide (TiO2) and silicon oxide (SiO2). Tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding is applied on Aluminum 6061 alloy and active fluxes including SiO2 and TiO2 with 2.5, 7.5, and 10 wt% were incorporated. Up to now, TIG welding on aluminum 6061 with SiO2 and TiO2 fluxes has not been carried out. Mechanical properties were determined using tensile and Vickers micro-hardness experiments. The results showed that the highest tensile strength corresponds to the base metal and in welded specimens was related to 10% TiO2 active flux. The ratio of tensile strength using titanium active flux and without flux mode is 90%. The use of both active titanium oxide and silicon oxide flux make the welded specimen granular and increases its strength. The effect of addition of titanium oxide is more noticeable than that of the silicon oxide flux since titanium oxide plays a key role on the granularity than the silicon oxide.

Feature extraction is widely used in image processing applications such as face recognition, character recognition, fingerprint identification and medicine. Edge features is among the most important features for such applications. Canny edge detector is the most popular one and has many benefits in comparison with other methods. Since pixels in hexagonal domain have many benefits in comparison with square domain, this paper presents an efficient Canny edge detector in hexagonal domain. The proposed method includes square to hexagonal transformation and edge detection based on a new algorithm. The proposed method has been evaluated on synthetic and real image datasets with different signal to noise ratios (SNRs). Detected edges in synthetic images show that the proposed hexagonal edge detector outperforms existing methods in 44 cases out of 60 cases with respect to figure of merit (FoM). Finally, results of real images demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method in qualitative analysis of sub-images.

This paper presents the laboratory axial load test results of two different geometries of model aluminum pile groups, such as equal section piles, and enlarged base (Belled) piles embedded in locally available river sand. For belled piles, the enlarged diameter is achieved by providing a 3-degree outer extension angle at the middle of equal section piles to all three L/D ratios. The load versus settlement tests are carried out on 1X1 and 1X2 of both pile groups having a length to diameter ratios (L/D) of 12, 17, and 22.  The spacing to diameter (S/D) of 3, 4, and 5 times of D and 3, 4, and 5 times of Db.  (Where D is 31mm equal section outer diameter of model pile and Db is 46.7mm enlarged base diameter of belled pile respectively). To avoid overlapping stress zone at bottom of piles during application of load. All the tests are conducted in a brick masonry testing tank of 1X1X1m. The vertical load is applied on a single pile and group of both piles by using a 30kN capacity of hydraulic inverted jack, run by a 1HP single phase motor. The load-bearing capacity is evaluated and a comparison is made between straight piles and belled piles. It is observed that the load-carrying capacity is higher in a belled model pile at a lesser L/D ratio. However, the load-carrying capacity increased 40% higher than straight piles, because of the extension angle. In addition, (S/D) and (S/Db) make significant variations in bearing capacity.

The primary raw material of the steel industry is iron. This paper aims to optimize magnetite recovery from wet tailings by increasing the iron content in the concentrate of the line. To manage tailings, a Wet Tailing Processing (WTP) line constructed at Gol-e-Gohar Iron Ore Company to recover the magnetite. The dominant crystalline phases in these tailings were quartz, albite, talc, hematite, and calcite. The line feed is 45 microns, which is not suitable for the gravity method. Thus, separation can achieve using only the magnetic method. Because of the high iron content in the tailings, a wet magnetic separator is used. According to the results, the proposed medium-intensity separator and the associated circuit modifications increase iron recovery from 7 to 30 percent; resulting in 150 tons of annual production; preventing loss of iron through concentrator plant tailings, and increasing the Blain number by 50 to 100 units in the hematite plant. Furthermore, water consumption is significantly reduced by replacing old wet tailings of the concentrator plant with new wet tailings as the feed, which is another significant achievement of this research. Instead of fresh water, saline water with flow rate of 250 cubic meters per hour are used.

Extensive studies have focussed on the issue of the failure of punching shear in flat slabs and ways to strengthen it internally, externally and the importance of this structure (flat slab), and the danger of punching shear failure in the areas of connection of the column - slab. Therefore, this study was based on strengthening the bearing capacity of the flat slab to failure of punching shear with high-performance concrete (UHPC); because it is expensive, so it is not feasible to use it for the whole slab. Therefore, the aim of the study was to replace reinforcement punching shear with UHPC and to determine its optimal use in the shear area. Six samples of flat slabs reinforced with maximum flexural steel loaded with a column  in the middle, four forms of UHPC casting instead of shear reinforcement and at two different depths were used. The results showed an  improvement in the punching shear strength of the sample cast with UHPC instead of punching shear reinforcement (ACI 318-19) and with all thickness of the slab, it to arrived twice compared to reference sample (NSC) with reinfored flexural steel only. This is the perfect application for the UHPC. It was also noted that casting UHPC with half the thickness of the slab does not give good results compared to those casting with all thicknesses, despite doubling the distance of the UHPC from all faces of the column; but it changes the failure pattern and keeps it away from the danger areas near the unwanted columns.

This paper investigates the potential benefits of Ternary blended High-performance concrete containing Silica fume (SF) and Alccofine (AL) as partial cement replacements. The experimental program contains a total of 14 mixes with a water to binder ratio of 0.4 and varying percentages (0-20%) of Silica fume and Alccofine both as binary and ternary blended. Fresh and hardened properties of concrete were evaluated based on slump, compressive strength, flexural strength, split tensile strength and water absorption tests. Ternary mixes containing SF and AL increased concrete compressive strength by 14-27% and tensile strength by 26-43% compared to the reference mix. Rise in early strength development for all the ternary blended mixes is attributed to the presence of highly reactive alccofine. Higher replacement of Alccofine more than 10% led to a steady decrease in strength due to dilution effect, whereas for silica fume, the strength dilution was gradual beyond 15% replacement. Denser particle packing reduced water absorption in ternary mixes. A mix containing 15% SF and 5% AL showed 65.7% reduction in water absorption compared to reference mix. Synergy assessment were done for all the ternary mixes, peak result was obtained for a mixture containing 10% SF and 10% AL. Based on the experimental data, empirical models were developed and compared with the existing codes and earlier researches. Empirical models proposed in this study have the least Integral Absolute Error (IAE) of 0.47% and 1.55% in predicting flexural strength and split tensile strength based on compressive strength of concrete.

Energy efficiency is an essential aspect of motor technologies. The replacement of conventional Single Phase Induction Motor (SPIM) by Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM), Synchronous Reluctance Motor (SynRM), or Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM) for energy-efficient operation leads to high capital expenses. This paper presents a cost-effective design method to improve the efficiency of the existing SPIM. It implements a novel idea by transforming it to Line Start Synchronous Reluctance Motor (LS-SynRM). A rotor of 0.5 HP, SPIM is successfully redesigned using finite element analysis (FEA). A comprehensive parametric sensitivity analysis in terms of barrier position and width focused on the work. Moreover, introducing a permanent magnet in the rotor barrier has also been investigated. Parametric analysis determines the optimum size of the permanent magnet. However, the best-fit significant rotor parameters have been estimated. Results revealed substantial improvement in the performance of derived LS-SynRM and Permanent Magnet Assisted LS-SynRM (PMaLS-SynRM).

The innovation of the present paper is the analytical study of Brownian motion effects on nanofluid flow and electromagnetic force between parallel disks with a heat source. Nanoparticle effects on nondimensional temperature field and velocity of fluid flow were analyzed using Akbari-Ganji’s Method and radial basis function approximation based on Hardy multiquadric function. Akbari-Ganji’s Method (AGM) is a strong analytical method that solves any linear and nonlinear differential equation with any degree of variables. Radial basis functions is an approximation method for analyzing functions and equations at high degrees, especially when it is necessary to apply the interpolation problem for scattered data on irregular geometry. The results signified that the maximum difference between AGM and RBF methods, for nondimensional horizontal velocity on CuO nanofluid at  and is 0.2251 and the minimum difference for the nondimensional vertical velocity of Al2O3 nanofluid at   is equal to 0.0018. Also, the effects of the Hartmann number (Ha) on nondimensional horizontal and vertical velocities field for Al2O3 nanoparticles at  have a slight difference from the other Hartmann values using the AGM method. The maximum of nondimensional horizontal velocities at  and  is equal to 1.9354.

Finding the correct battery size is important to the project's financial success. Many studies utilize complicated simulations to identify the optimal battery size. It is also difficult to reuse the outcomes of such optimization in other projects. In this paper, by introducing the factor β as the energy to power ratio, a simple techno-economic model is proposed to allow a quick evaluation of the feasibility of a building-integrated battery energy storage system (BI-BESS) and can apply to all commercial buildings that use the same tariff structure and is independent on the building load profile. Because the battery's energy and power are coupled, defining β allows both metrics to be addressed, resulting in high accuracy. For validating the results, the load profile from a commercial building based on Malaysia's tariff structure is used, and the optimal size of the battery is obtained from the proposed techno-economic model with the help of a Benefit-cost ratio (BCR) and simple iterative model for peak shaving. The results reveal that after finding the optimal BCR=1.08, the optimal battery size is achieved at 66.84 kWh. However, considering the market interests in the payback period, the economic feasibility of installing BESS is evaluated at BCR= 1.7, which is higher than our results. Hence, the impact of battery cost reduction is assessed.