Journal of Engineering Research最新文献

Ensuring the availability of a cost-effective method to predict soil behavior is imperative for newly developed construction sites. This research aims to create a model that can estimate the spatial distribution of soil properties and compaction characteristics using the Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) and Geographic Weighted Regression (GWR) methods within the study area, specifically in Koya city, situated in Erbil, Iraq. To determine these soil parameters, 27 soil samples were collected from the fields based on stratified random sampling, and then tested and analyzed in the laboratory. The IDW spatial interpolation technique and GWR method were then used to create a spatial distribution map of soil properties and compaction characteristics. In the GWR model, the calculated soil properties and compaction characteristics served as the dependent variable, while the Modified Normalized Difference Water Index (MNDWI) derived from the Landsat8 satellite image was the independent variable. This process resulted in a spatial distribution map showing the soil properties and compaction characteristics. The results indicated a strong correlation between the MNDWI water indexes and various soil parameters, including water content, liquid limit, plastic limit, optimum moisture content, and maximum dry density, with respective coefficient of determination (R²) values of 0.91, 0.97, 0.98, 0.95, and 0.96. Additionally, the assessment of the precision in this correlation indicates that the results maintain a satisfactory level of accuracy, as demonstrated by the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) values, which are 2.86 for water content, 5.4 for liquid limit, and 3.85 for plastic limit, 2.9 for optimum moisture, and 13.86 for maximum dry density. By integrating satellite-derived MNDWI water indexes with soil parameters, a fast, accurate, and cost-effective method for estimating soil parameters and modeling their spatial distribution in the study area can be developed. Additionally, the findings suggest that the IDW method, implemented using spatial analyst tools, performed exceptionally well for mapping the study area. In conclusion, the results of this research can be utilized by land use planners, municipalities, policymakers, and engineers to develop practical and effective plans.

Osteoporosis means a decrease in bone density, as a result of which bone strength decreases and becomes brittle, which increases the probability of fracture. Osteoporosis usually develops gradually and does not show any symptoms until a fracture occurs. Osteoporosis can occur in any bone of the body, but it is usually seen in the spine, pelvis, wrists, and ribs. Both men and women at any age may be affected by this disease, but according to statistics, the percentage of women suffering from osteoporosis is higher than men, and the probability of this disease increases with age. Recently, the metallic nanoparticles containing plant extracts have been used for the treatment of bone disorders such as osteoporosis. The obtained nanoparticle (Gold nanoparticles green-formulated by Glycine max L seed extract) was characterized by advanced chemical and physical techniques like TEM, FTIR, and SEM. The cytotoxicity effects of gold nanoparticles against normal cell line i.e. HUVEC were assessed. Administration of gold nanoparticles ‎following methyl prednisolone sodium succinate induced osteoporosis in Wistar rats indicated a raise in the bone mineral content markers serum levels and a reduction in bone resorption markers urinary and serum levels. An incline in tibia and femur strength was observed particularly with 5 µg/kg of gold nanoparticles‎. Calcium homeostasis maintenance, collagen formation and free radicals scavenging can plausibly be the gold nanoparticles action mode ‎thereby combating osteoporosis induced by glucocorticoids.

The main objective of electric utilities nowadays is reliability in distribution and customer service quality at a low operating cost. In this regard, automation in distribution systems has become more important in recent days. The process of feeder reconfiguration (FRC), is automated by utilizing real-time operation and control methods. The topology of the distribution network (DN) changes by opening or closing positions of the tie & sectionalizing switches. Transformation of the switch states makes the power flow in the DN for better system performance. An optimum installation of distribution generators (DGs) with properly reconfigured network may minimize system power loss with a better voltage profile. Different types of methods and algorithms are considered for network reconfiguration and several multi-objective functions are deemed to get optimum performance of the distribution system (DS) in past research. In this paper, a comprehensive study on the reconfiguration of the network is done to obtain a clear and better idea for further investigation.

Allergic conjunctivitis is the main usual red eye cause influencing many people. Allergic conjunctivitis is like an umbrella that includes different types of clinical manifestations, from a mild but annoying form of IgE-dependent allergy to inhaled allergens to very severe forms such as keratoconjunctivitis. Cornea involvement in allergic conjunctivitis needs the steroids use, which can cause severe eye complications. Research on allergic conjunctivitis should focus more on more severe forms of eye allergies to gain a better the pathophysiology understanding of the disease, diagnosis methods should be standardized and new treatment methods should be suggested. In the recent study, due to high therapeutic effects of Camellia sinensis, we used its aqueous extract for green-synthesizing of the silver nanoparticles and allergic conjunctivitis treatment in the in vivo condition. UV–Vis spectroscopy, FE-SEM and TEM were used for characterization of nanoparticles. This research therefore evaluated the AgNPs@Camellia sinensis antiallergic potential in ovalbumin-induced allergic conjunctivitis and attempted to predict its mode of action. ELISA determined serum ovalbumin-specific total IgE, IgE and IgG. Clinical scores for allergic conjunctivitis induced by intraperitoneal ovalbumin sensitization and topical conjunctival challenge in Dunkin-Hartley guinea pigs were estimated after treatment with 10, 20, 40 and 80 µg kg⁻¹ AgNPs@Camellia sinensis, 10 mg kg⁻¹ chlorpheniramine, 30 mg kg⁻¹ prednisolone, or 10 mL kg⁻¹ PBS. Serum ovalbumin-specific total IgE, IgE and IgG decreased significantly (p < 0.01). The conjunctival tissue in AgNPs@Camellia sinensis treated guinea pigs had mild mononuclear infiltration compared to the PBS-treated ones, which had intense conjunctival tissue inflammatory infiltration. The 40 and 80 mg kg⁻¹ AgNPs@Camellia sinensis treatment resulted in allergic conjunctivitis low clinical score.

The Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry in the State of Kuwait has witnessed a decline in efficiency with most projects going above budget and past project deadlines. Building Information Modeling (BIM) creates a collaborative common-data working environment between various stakeholders leading to improved productivity and efficiency while also minimizing technical challenges, and reducing design errors. Moreover, adding the concept of time to the model (4D BIM) for the purposes of planning and scheduling further optimizes inter-disciplinary collaboration. The first phase of this research aims to evaluate current BIM adoption rates and implementation depth in Kuwait through a survey distributed to organizations in the Union of Kuwait Engineering Offices and Consultant Houses. The results indicated that the rate of BIM adoption, represented by whether or not organizations have used BIM in previous/current projects is relatively high. Implementation depth, represented by the percentage of projects for which BIM is being used, is concluded to be low. In terms of willingness to adopt BIM, most organizations use and are considering using BIM as a visualization tool. The second phase aims to examine the applicability of generating predefined process templates for Tract Houses in the northwest Sulibikhat area constructed by the Public Authority of Housing Welfare (PAHW) used for 4D BIM. The Process Pattern Recognition approach is applied to a BIM-based construction schedule where the schedule is extracted, decomposed, processed, and filtered. Relevant and potentially relevant processes are identified and verified leading to defined process templates. This research contributes to the AEC industry by aiding in transitioning from current Computer-Aided-Design (CAD) practices to BIM technology.

Traffic light detection in real-world conditions is challenging because of the positioning of lights, variety in shapes and scales, and similarity with other objects. The paper presents a deep learning-based traffic light detection system by learning the fusion of handcrafted features. The handcrafted features for object detection focus on specific attributes such as shape, color, or texture. The objective of this work is to incorporate handcrafted features into the network learning process such that the resulting detector parameters are robust to input variations, sensor noise, and atmospheric noise. The proposed detection framework is based on the latest You only look once (YOLO) architecture, trained with the fusion of different information channels in the Integral Channel Features (ICF). The approach demonstrates a qualitative approach for identifying the optimal layer for additional feature injection in the network, and the selection of ICF channels to be applied for fusion. The validation of the proposed detector on the Bosch small traffic light dataset achieved the best mAP score of 55.70 % on the testing set. Further, a qualitative comparison of the proposed detector’s performance with that of other recent methods is presented, along with an analysis using auxiliary experiments.