Bending of thick functionally graded plates resting on Winkler–Pasternak elastic foundations

The static response of simply supported functionally graded plates (FGP) subjected to a transverse uniform load (UL) or a sinusoidally distributed load (SL) and resting on an elastic foundation is examined by using a new hyperbolic displacement model. The present theory exactly satisfies the stress boundary conditions on the top and bottom surfaces of the plate. No transverse shear correction factors are needed, because a correct representation of the transverse shear strain is given. The material properties of the plate are assumed to be graded in the thickness direction according to a simple power-law distribution in terms of volume fractions of material constituents. The foundation is modeled as a two-parameter Pasternak-type foundation, or as a Winkler-type one if the second parameter is zero. The equilibrium equations of a functionally graded plate are given based on the hyperbolic shear deformation theory of plates presented. The effects of stiffness and gradient index of the foundation on the mechanical responses of the plates are discussed. It is established that the elastic foundations significantly affect the mechanical behavior of thick functionally graded plates. The numerical results presented in the paper can serve as benchmarks for future analyses of thick functionally graded plates on elastic foundations.     

A Novel Hybrid Gradient-Based Optimizer and Grey Wolf Optimizer Feature Selection Method for Human Activity Recognition Using Smartphone Sensors

Human activity recognition (HAR) plays a vital role in different real-world applications such as in tracking elderly activities for elderly care services, in assisted living environments, smart home interactions, healthcare monitoring applications, electronic games, and various human–computer interaction (HCI) applications, and is an essential part of the Internet of Healthcare Things (IoHT) services. However, the high dimensionality of the collected data from these applications has the largest influence on the quality of the HAR model. Therefore, in this paper, we propose an efficient HAR system using a lightweight feature selection (FS) method to enhance the HAR classification process. The developed FS method, called GBOGWO, aims to improve the performance of the Gradient-based optimizer (GBO) algorithm by using the operators of the grey wolf optimizer (GWO). First, GBOGWO is used to select the appropriate features; then, the support vector machine (SVM) is used to classify the activities. To assess the performance of GBOGWO, extensive experiments using well-known UCI-HAR and WISDM datasets were conducted. Overall outcomes show that GBOGWO improved the classification accuracy with an average accuracy of 98%.     

Preparation of polypyrrole (PPy)-derived polymer/ZrO2 nanocomposites

New polypyrrole (PPy)-derived polymer/ZrO₂ nanocomposite materials are prepared by single-step oxidative polymerization of pyrrole (Py) and/or N-methylpyrrole (mPy) in the presence of HCl-functionalized ZrO₂ nanoparticles and ammonium persulfate. The physicochemical features of the PPy–ZrO₂, poly(Py-co-mPy)–ZrO₂ and PmPy–ZrO₂ hybrids were analyzed by XPS, FTIR, XRD and UV–Vis techniques. To explore the advantages of these nanocomposites for potential applications, their thermal, conductive and electrochemical properties were investigated. The characterization reveals that a chemical bonding, based on electrostatic interactions, is established between the polymers and the ZrO₂ nanoparticles. Interestingly, it is found that the growth of polymer on the surface of Cl-functionalized ZrO₂ becomes more significant as the Py moiety (–NH– species) content in the polymer increases. The thermal stability and conductivity of the polymers increase by hybridization with the ZrO₂ nanoparticles. This is assigned to the affective interaction of the polymers with the ZrO₂ nanoparticles. Particularly, the resulting nanocomposites keep high conductivities, ranging between 0.323 and 0.929 S cm⁻¹. Finally, voltammetric characterization shows that the PPy–ZrO₂ and poly(Py-co-mPy)–ZrO₂ nanocomposites are electroactive, thus demonstrating their capability for electrochemical applications. These results highlight the great influence of the nanoparticle interface and the nature of monomer on the nanocomposite formation and properties.

     

On the onset of non-linearity for diffusion models of binary mixtures of biological materials by asymptotic analysis

This paper develops an asymptotic theory for a large class of Boltzmann type equations suitable to model the evolution of multicellular systems in biology with special attention to the onset of nonlinear phenomena. The mathematical method shows how various levels of diffusion phenomena, linear and non-linear, can be obtained by suitable asymptotic limits. The time scaling corresponding to different speeds related to cell movement and biological evolution plays a crucial role and different macroscopic equations corresponds to different scaling.     

Development of Ferromagnetic Materials Containing Co2P,Fe2P Phases from Organometallic Dendrimers Precursors

The development of synthesis methods to access advanced materials, such as magnetic materials that combine multimetallic phosphide phases, remains a worthy research challenge. The most widely used strategies for the synthesis of magnetic transition metal phosphides (TMPs) are organometallic approaches. In this study, Fe-containing homometallic dendrimers and Fe/Co-containing heterometallic dendrimers were used to synthesize magnetic materials containing multimetallic phosphide phases. The crystalline nature of the nearly aggregated particles was indicated for both designed magnetic samples. In contrast to heterometallic samples, homometallic samples showed dendritic effects on their magnetic properties. Specifically, saturation magnetization (M_s) and coercivity (H_c) decrease as dendritic generation increases. Incorporating cobalt into the homometallic dendrimers to prepare the heterometallic dendrimers markedly increases the magnetic properties of the magnetic materials from 60 to 75 emu/g. Ferromagnetism in homometallic and heterometallic particles shows different responses to temperature changes. For example, heterometallic samples were less sensitive to temperature changes due to the presence of Co₂P in contrast to the homometallic ones, which show an abrupt change in their slopes at a temperature close to 209 K, which appears to be related to the Fe₂P ratios. This study presents dendrimers as a new type of precursor for the assembly of magnetic materials containing a mixture of iron- and cobalt-phosphides phases with tunable magnetism, and provides an opportunity to understand magnetism in such materials.     

Thermal stability of atmospheric plasma sprayed (Ni, Cu, Co)–YSZ and Ni–Cu–Co–YSZ anodes cermets for SOFC application

This paper reports the results of the thermal stability study of M–YSZ (M=Ni, Cu, Co, Cu–Co, Ni–Cu–Co) SOFC anode cermets materials at different heat treatment temperatures. The cermets were elaborated by atmospheric plasma spraying (APS) with optimized conditions and then submitted to heat treatments at 800 and 1000 °C, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction were used to characterize, respectively, the morphology and structure of obtained films, before and after thermal annealing. A correlation was made between the differential scanning calorimetry analysis results and those obtained by X-ray diffraction. Focusing, in this study, on YSZ matrix thermal stability, the obtained results were as follows: the monometallic cermets with the lowest amount of metal and the trimetallic one exhibited a good stability at 800 °C, whereas at 1000 °C, all considered cermets were unstable with a eutectoid decomposition of YSZ matrix.     

Lead ion adsorption from aqueous solutions in modified Algerian montmorillonites

The adsorption of lead (II) ions on three Algerian montmorillonites (sodium, non-sodium, and acidic-activated) was studied. Transmission electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray analysis, X-ray fluorescence and physical adsorption of gases were used to characterize the clays. This characterization has shown than the activation with acid increases the surface area as a consequence of the rupture of the laminar structure. The effect of the pH in the lead adsorption capacity was analyzed. The results show that adsorption is strongly depended on the pH. At low pH values, the mechanism that governs the adsorption behavior of clays is the competition of the metal ions with protons. Between pH 2 and 6, the main mechanism is an ion exchange process. The kinetics of the adsorption is tested with respect to pseudo-first-order and second-order models. The adsorption process, gives a better fit with the Langmuir isotherm, being the monolayer capacity ranging between 18.2 and 24.4?mg?g^?1. The adsorption of lead decreased in the order Acidic-M₂?>?M₂?>?M₁. Thermodynamic parameters such as ??H, ??S, and ??G were calculated. The adsorption process was found to be endothermic and spontaneous. The enthalpy change for Pb(II) by M₁ adsorption has been estimated as 60?kJ?mol^?1, indicating that the adsorption of Pb(II) by all montmorillonites used corresponds to a physical reaction. The adsorption capacity of washed Acidic-M₂ was very high compared to M₂ and M₁.     

Assessing the Effects of Porosity on the Bending,Buckling, and Vibrations of Functionally Graded Beams Resting on an Elastic Foundation by Using a New Refined Quasi-3D Theory

Mechanics of Composite Materials - A new refined quasi-3D shear deformation theory for bending, buckling, and free vibration analyses of a functionally graded porous beam resting on an elastic...