In this paper, an analytical solution describing the deflection of a cracked beam repaired with piezoelectric patch is introduced. The solution is derived using perturbation method. A novel analytical model to calculate the proper dimensions of piezoelectric patches used to repair cracked beams is also introduced. This model shows that the thickness of the piezoelectric patch depends mainly on the thickness of the cracked beam, the electro-mechanical properties of the patch material, the applied load and the crack location. Furthermore, the model shows that the length of the piezoelectric patches depends on the thickness of the patch as well as it depends on the length of the cracked beam and the crack depth. The additio

Due to the potential cost saving and minimal temperature stratification, the energy storage based on phase-change materials (PCMs) can be a reliable approach for decoupling energy demand from immediate supply availability. However, due to their high heat resistance, these materials necessitate the introduction of enhancing additives, such as expanded surfaces and fins, to enable their deployment in more widespread thermal and energy storage applications. This study reports on how circular fins with staggered distribution and variable orientations can be employed for addressing the low thermal response rates in a PCM (Paraffin RT-35) triple-tube heat exchanger consisting of two heat-transfer fluids flow in opposites directions throug

With the increasing rates of cancer worldwide, a great deal of scientific discourse is devoted to arguments and statements about cancer and its causes. Scientists from different fields try to seize any available chance to warn people of the risk of consuming and exposing to carcinogens that have, unfortunately, become essential parts of modern life. The present paper attempts to investigate the proximization strategy through which scientists construct carcinogen risk to enhance people’s preventive actions against these carcinogens. The paper targets the construction which depends on producing the conflict between the values of the people themselves and the contrasting values assigned to carcinogens. To achieve this aim, Cap’s (2

An adaptive nonlinear neural controller to reduce the nonlinear flutter in 2-D wing is proposed in the paper. The nonlinearities in the system come from the quasi steady aerodynamic model and torsional spring in pitch direction. Time domain simulations are used to examine the dynamic aero elastic instabilities of the system (e.g. the onset of flutter and limit cycle oscillation, LCO). The structure of the controller consists of two models :the modified Elman neural network (MENN) and the feed forward multi-layer Perceptron (MLP). The MENN model is trained with off-line and on-line stages to guarantee that the outputs of the model accurately represent the plunge and pitch motion of the wing and this neural model acts as the identifier. Th

A simple and novel membraneless paper-based microfluidic fuel cell was presented in this study. The occurrence of laminar flow was employed to ensure no mixing of the fuel and oxidant fluids along the bath of reaction. The acidic wastewater was used as a fuel. It was an air-breathing cell, so air and tab water were used as oxidants. Both the fuel and tab water flowed continuously under gravity. Whatman filter paper was used for preparation of the fuel cell channel and two carbon fibre electrodes were used and firmed on the edges of the cell. The performance of the cell was examined over three consecutive days. The results indicated that the present cell has the potential to generate electric power, but an extensive study is required to harv

Homomorphic encryption became popular and powerful cryptographic primitive for various cloud computing applications. In the recent decades several developments has been made. Few schemes based on coding theory have been proposed but none of them support unlimited operations with security.   We propose a modified Reed-Muller Code based symmetric key fully homomorphic encryption to improve its security by using message expansion technique. Message expansion with prepended random fixed length string provides one-to-many mapping between message and codeword, thus one-to many mapping between plaintext and ciphertext. The proposed scheme supports both (MOD 2) additive and multiplication operations unlimitedly.   We make an effort to prove

Objectives: Serratia marcescens is a gram-negative pathogen of many species. The ability of S. marcescens to form biofilms and its potent innate resistance to antimicrobials and cleaning solutions are both essential for its pathogenicity and survival. The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of glyceryl trinitrate (GTN) on the biofilm of S. marcescens, as an alternative for antibiotic therapy. Methods: Different specimens, including ear swabs, burns, mid-stream urine, wound swabs, and sputum, were collected from patients who were brought to Al-Ramadi Hospital, Iraq. All samples were cultured, and the colonies that were obtained were detected using the VITEK® 2 compact. The ability of biofilms to develop was e