The Use of Geomatic Techniques to Monitor Environmental Deformation

Geospatial deformations are very important in some countries and may lead to catastrophes. For this purpose we need to find practical accurate ways to provide continuous monitoring and measurement to allow protection and secure safety. Some countries are suffering great losses such as Jordan where the major high way that connects the north to the middle of the country is closed most of the winter due to landslides that push the road away. In this work we are employing new Geomatics technique to analyze, monitor and measure the landslides. An application of geodetic monitoring of a major landslide on the highway linked Amman to the north (Jerash, Irbid). For the purpose of monitoring the landslide we designed a geodetic network, which consists of 4 points. Measurements were carried out over the period 2007 to 2012 (before and after rainy season) of 12 points within the network. The obtained results are compared to results published previously using different techniques of measurement over the two years period (2002-2004). In the new methodology, GPS receivers and total stations of high precision were used in addition to an orthophoto of two aerial photographs. The observations adjustment and the deformation analysis were executed using locally developed computer programs. The study enabled us to determine a value of 0.26 m/year as an average displacement of the landslide-prone area for the period of 2007-2012. Doi: 10.12777/ijse.4.2.2013.92-96 [How to cite this article: Rawashdeh, S., Ruzouq, R.E., and Qtaishat, K.S.. (2013). The use of geomatic techniques to monitor environmental deformation. International Journal of Science and Engineering, 4(2),92-96. Doi: 10.12777/ijse.4.2.2013.92-96

Silica Aerogels Doped with Ru(II) Tris 1,l0-Phenanthro1ine)-Electron Acceptor Dyads: Improving the Dynamic Range, Sensitivity and Response Time of Sol-Gel Based Oxygen Sensors

Complexes 1 and 2 were characterized in fluid and frozen solution and as dopants of silica aerogels. The intramolecular quenching efficiency of pendant 4-benzoyl-N-methylpyridinium group (4BzPy) is solvent dependent: emission is quenched completely in acetonitrile but not in alcohols. On the other hand, N-benzyl-N'-methylviologen (BzMeV) quenches the emission in all solvents completely. The differences are traced electrochemically to a stronger solvation effect by the alcohol in the case of 1. In fiozen matrices or absorbed on the surfaces of silica aerogel, both 1 and 2 are photoluminescent. The lack of quenching has been traced to the environmental rigidity. When doped aerogels are cooled to 77K, the emission shifts to the blue and its intensity increases in analogy to what is observed with Ru(II) complexes in media undergoing fluid-to-rigid transition. The photoluminescence of 1 and 2 from the aerogel is quenched by oxygen diffusing through the pores. In the presence of oxygen, aerogels doped with 1 can modulate their emission over a wider dynamic range than aerogels doped with 2, and both are more sensitive than aerogels doped with Ru(II) tris(1,l0- phenanthroline). In contrast to frozen solutions, the luminescent moieties in the bulk of aerogels kept at 77K are still accessible, leading to more sensitive platforms for oxygen sensors than other ambient temperature configurations

Anion-Dependent Construction of Two Hexanuclear 3D-4F Complexes with a Flexible Schiff Base Ligand

Two hexanuclear 3d-4f Ni-Eu and Cu-Eu complexes [Eu4Ni2L2(OAc)(12)(EtOH)(2)] (1) and [Eu4Cu2L2(OAc)(12)]center dot 2H(2)O (2) are reported which are formed from the salen type Schiff-base ligand H2L (H2L = N,N'-bis(3-methoxysalicylidene)butane-1,4-diamine). In both complexes, four Eu3+ cations are bridged by eight OAc- groups and the chain is terminated at each end by two ML (M = Ni and Cu) units. The structures of 1 and 2 were determined by single crystal X-ray crystallographic studies and the luminescence properties of the free ligand and metal complexes in solution were measured.HHMI Undergraduate Science Education Award 52005907National Science Foundation CHE-0629136, CHE-0741973, CHE-0847763Welch Foundation F-1631, F-816Hong Kong Baptist University FRG/06-07/II-16Hong Kong Research Grants Council HKBU 202407Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD)Open Foundation of Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Fine Petrochemical Technology KF1005UT-CNM and UT-AustinChemistr

Multispectral Deep Neural Network Fusion Method for Low-Light Object Detection

Despite significant strides in achieving vehicle autonomy, robust perception under low-light conditions still remains a persistent challenge. In this study, we investigate the potential of multispectral imaging, thereby leveraging deep learning models to enhance object detection performance in the context of nighttime driving. Features encoded from the red, green, and blue (RGB) visual spectrum and thermal infrared images are combined to implement a multispectral object detection model. This has proven to be more effective compared to using visual channels only, as thermal images provide complementary information when discriminating objects in low-illumination conditions. Additionally, there is a lack of studies on effectively fusing these two modalities for optimal object detection performance. In this work, we present a framework based on the Faster R-CNN architecture with a feature pyramid network. Moreover, we design various fusion approaches using concatenation and addition operators at varying stages of the network to analyze their impact on object detection performance. Our experimental results on the KAIST and FLIR datasets show that our framework outperforms the baseline experiments of the unimodal input source and the existing multispectral object detectors

CFD Analysis of Heat Exchanger Effectiveness and LMTD with Varying Pipe Length

This paper presents a new numerical analysis for 2D heat exchanger (HE) model by employing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to analyze the impact of pipe length on the efficiency and the Log Mean Temperature Difference (LMTD) of parallel and counterflow double-pipe heat exchangers while maintaining constant flow rates, inlet temperatures, and fluid properties. The findings demonstrate that heat exchanger efficiency and LMTD in both the parallel and counter-flow HEs are significantly influenced by pipe length, with longer heat exchangers improving heat transfer effectiveness by allowing more time for thermal exchange, larger heat exchange surface area, and achieving a more uniform temperature distribution. Counterflow heat exchangers also showed higher efficiencies at all lengths than parallel flow heat exchangers due to the larger temperature difference between the fluids. These insights are particularly valuable for engineers and designers seeking to optimize heat exchanger configurations for industrial applications, where enhancing heat transfer efficiency and minimizing energy losses are critical for cost-effective and sustainable thermal management systems

Early childhood obesity: a survey of knowledge and practices of physicians from the Middle East and North Africa

BACKGROUND: Childhood obesity is one of the most serious public health issues of the twenty-first century affecting even low- and middle-income countries. Overweight and obese children are more likely to stay obese into adulthood. Due to the paucity of data on local practices, our study aimed to assess the knowledge and practices of physicians from the Middle East and North Africa region with respect to early-onset obesity. METHODS: A specific questionnaire investigating the perception and knowledge on early-onset obesity was circulated to healthcare providers (general physicians, pediatricians, pediatric gastroenterologist, neonatologists) practicing in 17 Middle East and North African countries. RESULTS: A total of 999/1051 completed forms (95% response) were evaluated. Of all respondents, 28.9% did not consistently use growth charts to monitor growth during every visit and only 25.2% and 46.6% of respondents were aware of the correct cut-off criterion for overweight and obesity, respectively. Of those surveyed, 22.3, 14.0, 36.1, 48.2, and 49.1% of respondents did not consider hypertension, type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, fatty liver disease, and decreased life span, respectively, to be a long-term complication of early childhood obesity. Furthermore, only 0.7% of respondents correctly answered all survey questions pertaining to knowledge of early childhood overweight and obesity. CONCLUSION: The survey highlights the low use of growth charts in the evaluation of early childhood growth in Middle East and North Africa region, and demonstrated poor knowledge of healthcare providers on the short- and long-term complications of early-onset obesity. This suggests a need for both continued professional education and development, and implementation of guidelines for the prevention and management of early childhood overweight and obesity

Effects of some chemical detergents additions on concrete

Usually, the drainage network made of concrete and which fall under the infrastructure in cities. This research aims to study the corrosion of cement concrete under the influence of Washing Detergents, as well as determine the negative influence on some properties such as weight and mechanical resistance. The results showed that sodium phosphate salts by 27-35% of the weight of the detergent has led to weaken the resistance of the pressure of the cement mortar by 5%, and sodium sulphate salts and sodium chloride led to weaken on pressure resistance and inflexion by 15%. Corrosion Index showe proposed sharp decline very resistant to detour - the pressure resistance by up to 30%. Keywords: Concrete. Detergent. Corrosion. Resistance. Mechanical resistance, Weight. Index