The rapid development of human population, buildings and technology application currently has caused electric consumption to grow rapidly. Therefore, efficient energy management and forecasting ...energy consumption for buildings are important in decision-making for effective energy saving and development in particular places. This paper reviews the building electrical energy forecasting method using artificial intelligence (AI) methods such as support vector machine (SVM) and artificial neural networks (ANN). Both methods are widely used in the field of forecasting and their aim on finding the most accurate approach is ever continuing. Besides the already existing single method of forecasting, the hybridization of the two forecasting methods has the potential to be applied for more accurate results. Further research works are currently ongoing, regarding the potential of hybrid method of Group Method of Data Handling (GMDH) and Least Square Support Vector Machine (LSSVM), or known as GLSSVM, to forecast building electrical energy consumption.
Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) were loaded on graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) nanosheets prepared by ultrasonication-assisted liquid exfoliation of bulk g-C3N4 via green photoreduction of Au(III) under ...visible light irradiation using g-C3N4 as an effective photocatalyst. The nanohybrids show superior photocatalytic activities for the decomposition of methyl orange under visible-light irradiation to bulk g-C3N4, g-C3N4 nanosheets, and AuNP/bulk g-C3N4 hybrids.
Introducing new inexpensive materials for supercapacitors application with high energy density and stability, is the current research challenge. In this work, Silver doped carbon xerogels have been ...synthesized via a simple sol-gel method. The silver doped carbon xerogels are further surface functionalized with different loadings of nickel cobaltite (1 wt.%, 5 wt.%, and 10 wt.%) using a facile impregnation process. The morphology and textural properties of the obtained composites are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and nitrogen physisorption analysis. The silver doped carbon xerogels display a higher surface area and larger mesopore volume compared to the un-doped carbon xerogels and hierarchically porous structure is obtained for all materials. The hybrid composites have been utilized as electrode materials for symmetric supercapacitors in 6 M KOH electrolyte. Among all the hybrid composites, silver doped carbon xerogel functionalized with 1 wt.% nickel cobaltite (NiCo1/Ag-CX) shows the best supercapacitor performance: high specific capacitance (368 F g−1 at 0.1 A g−1), low equivalent series resistance (1.9 Ω), high rate capability (99% capacitance retention after 2000 cycles at 1 A g−1), and high energy and power densities (50 Wh/Kg, 200 W/Kg at 0.1 A g−1). It is found that the specific capacitance does not only depend on surface area, but also on others factors such as particle size, uniform particle distribution, micro-mesoporous structure, which contribute to abundant active sites and fast charge, and ion transfer rates between the electrolyte and the active sites.
•The mechanical and fracture properties of BFRC and GFRC are compared.•Insignificant increase in compressive strength in BFRC and GFRC.•Flexural strength higher in BFRC than GFRC.•Fracture energy ...improved with higher fiber dosage.•Better performance of BFRC in crack resistance and ductility than GFRC.
Basalt fiber (BF) is a novel kind of inorganic fiber which is manufactured from the extrusion of melted basalt rock and is commercially available. This study comparatively analyze the application of basalt and glass fibers as fiber reinforcement in high strength concrete. It was observed from the test results that there was no significant effect of fiber inclusion on the compressive strength and modulus of elasticity of concrete. The splitting tensile strength of basalt fiber reinforced concrete (BFRC) increased with increasing fiber dosage whereas there was no increase in strength for glass fiber reinforced concrete (GFRC) was observed beyond 0.50% fiber dosage. In a trend similar to splitting tensile strength, the flexural strength of BFRC increased with increasing fiber content in a gradual fashion but no such change was observed for GFRC after 0.50% fiber content. Fracture energy increased significantly after 0.25% dosage for both basalt and glass reinforced concrete. The KIC and CTODC results of the BFRC showed that BF inclusion improves the performance of concrete more when compared to GF with respect to crack resistance and ductility.
Since the spread of COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, modeling the related factors became mandatory, requiring new families of statistical distributions to be formulated. In the present paper we are ...interested in modeling the vaccination rate in some African countries. The recorded data in these countries show less vaccination rate, which will affect the spread of new active cases and will increase the mortality rate. A new extension of the inverted Nadarajah-Haghighi distribution is considered, which has four parameters and is obtained by combining the inverted Nadarajah-Haghighi distribution and the odd Lomax-G family. The proposed distribution is called the odd Lomax inverted Nadarajah-Haghighi (OLINH) distribution. This distribution owns many virtuous characteristics and attractive statistical properties, such as, the simple linear representation of density function, the flexibility of the hazard rate curve and the odd ratio of failure, in addition to other properties related to quantile, the r.sup.th -moment, moment generating function, Rényi entropy, and the function of ordered statistics. In this paper we address the problem of parameter estimation from frequentest and Bayesian approach, accordingly a comparison between the performance of the two estimation methods is implemented using simulation analysis and some numerical techniques. Finally different goodness of fit measures are used for modeling the COVID-19 vaccination rate, which proves the suitability of the OLINH distribution over other competitive distributions.
In this article, we demonstrate for the first time that ultrathin graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets (g-C3N4) possess peroxidase activity. Fe doping of the nanosheets leads to peroxidase mimetics ...with greatly enhanced catalytic performance and the mechanism involved is proposed. We further demonstrate the novel use of such Fe-g-C3N4 as a cheap nanosensor for simple, rapid, highly selective and sensitive optical detection of glucose with a pretty low detection limit of 0.5 μM.
Iron nanoparticles have been biosynthesized by a new Aspergillus flavipes isolate. Size of biosynthesized iron nanoparticles was in a range of 32.7 and 47.6 nm, their surface charge was - 33.5 ± 5.3 ...and they showed semihard ferromagnetic behavior. Salt concentration, volume of added culture filtrate and pH have been optimized using response surface methodology. A significant effect for the added culture filtrate and a mutual interaction between this factor and the pH has been detected. Model validation results showed 3.3% deviation from the statistically predicted values which reflects the accuracy of the employed model. Optimization process has increased the quantity of iron in the prepared samples and the amount of produced iron nanoparticles to a fourfold. The optimized conditions have stimulated the formation of nanoparticles in a tetrahedron shape rather than the truncated tetrahedron shape without affecting their size or surface charge. The biosynthesized iron nanoparticles have recorded a good decolorization activity for methylene blue. They showed 57 ± 4.3 decolorization percent after 6 h when tested with only 0.1 mg/ml concentration. Moreover, 50 ppm concentration has exerted a detectable antifungal activity against Alternaria solani. This study represents a new competitive green synthesis method for magnetic iron nanoparticle.
In2O3 materials are rarely used as photoanode in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The morphology and properties of In2O3 influences the overall power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the DSSCs. ...In2O3 nanotubes with one dimensional structure enhance the charge collection efficiency by providing direct transport pathway in DSSCs. In addition, the large surface area with hollow porous structure improves dye loading that increases the PCE. Moreover, the reasons for poor performance in In2O3-based DSSCs were also reviewed. Even though, the cell achieves a high Jsc, the Voc is still low. The main reason for this event is the injected electrons which are forced to drive a large force with a great energy gap between CB and LUMO of dye that leads to a high Jsc. While, the In2O3 materials with more positive potentials causes the Voc to decrease. Increasing the energy band gap of In2O3 is one of the solution to increase the Voc in the DSSCs. The review ends by analyzing the electron transport parameters of Rct, Rt, Cµ, τeff, Deff, and Ln. Investigating the electron transport properties may boost the light harvesting efficiency of In2O3-based DSSCs.
In this study, the stability of inhomogeneous nanocomposite cylindrical shells (INCCSs) under hydrostatic pressure in a thermal environment is presented. The effective material properties of the ...inhomogeneous nanocomposite cylindrical shell are modeled on the basis of the extended mixture rule. Based on the effective material properties, the fundamental relations and stability equations are derived for thermal environments. In this process, the first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) for the homogeneous orthotropic shell is generalized to the inhomogeneous shell theory. This is accomplished using the modified Donnell-type shell theory. The analytical expressions are obtained for hydrostatic buckling pressure of INCCSs in the framework of FSDT and classical shell theory (CST) by obtaining a solution based on Galerkin's procedure. The numerical examples presented include both comparisons and original results. The last section shows the influences of carbon nanotube (CNT) models, volume fraction, and shell characteristics on the hydrostatic buckling pressure in the thermal environment.
Vector Borne Diseases (VBDs) are considered emerging and re-emerging diseases that represent a global burden. The aim of this study was to explore and characterize vector-borne pathogens in different ...domestic animal hosts in Egypt. A total of 557 blood samples were collected from different animals using a convenience sampling strategy (203 dogs, 149 camels, 88 cattle, 26 buffaloes, 58 sheep and 33 goats). All samples were tested for multiple pathogens using quantitative PCR and standard PCR coupled with sequencing. We identified Theileria annulata and Babesia bigemina in cattle (15.9 and 1.1%, respectively), T. ovis in sheep and buffaloes (8.6 and 7.7%, respectively) and Ba. canis in dogs (0.5%) as well as Anaplasma marginale in cattle, sheep and camels (20.4, 3.4 and 0.7%, respectively) and Coxiella burnetii in sheep and goats (1.7 and 3%; respectively). New genotypes of An. centrale, An. ovis, An. platys-like and Borrelia theileri were found in cattle (1.1,3.4, 3.4 and 3.4%, respectively), An. platys-like in buffaloes (7.7%), An. marginale, An. ovis, An. platys-like and Bo. theileri in sheep (3.4, 1.7, 1.7 and 3.4%, respectively), An. platys, An. platys-like and Setaria digitata in camels (0.7, 5.4 and 0.7%, respectively) and Rickettsia africae-like, An. platys, Dirofilaria repens and Acanthocheilonema reconditum in dogs (1.5, 3.4, 1 and 0.5%, respectively). Co-infections were found in cattle, sheep and dogs (5.7, 1.7, 0.5%, respectively). For the first time, we have demonstrated the presence of several vector-borne zoonoses in the blood of domestic animals in Egypt. Dogs and ruminants seem to play a significant role in the epidemiological cycle of VBDs.
PDF
