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Thermo-Economic Analysis of Gas Turbine Power Plants Hybridization Using PTSC Technology
No full textA Master of Science thesis in Mechanical Engineering by Muad Mohamed Elgriw entitled, “Thermo-Economic Analysis of Gas Turbine Power Plants Hybridization Using PTSC Technology”, submitted in July 2020. Thesis advisor is Mohamed Gadalla. Soft copy is available (Thesis, Approval Signatures, Completion Certificate, and AUS Archives Consent Form).The effects of environmental change due to ozone depleting waste products are amongst the critical issues facing humanity. Therefore, searching for feasible and naturally well-disposed methods for producing electricity is vital. Among the increasing alternatives available is the concentrated solar power (CSP) which includes the use of parabolic trough solar collector (PTSC) technology. Nevertheless, conventional CSP plants that are based on stream-turbine cycles, which consume large amounts of water, are not preferable in the gulf region. In order to increase the efficiency of the cycle and still maintain a low water consumption, Air bottoming Hybrid gas turbine (ABHGT) is used as an alternative to the recovery of the waste heat with steam-turbines. This thesis will focus on Energy analysis of gas turbine power plants hybridization using PTSC technology. Thermo-economic and environmental analyses are done to four models to illustrate the optimum parameters and performance of power plants. The sensitivity analysis is applied to the ABHGT power plant to study its economic value and indicate the most sensitive parameters that have a dominant effect on the economic analysis. ABHGT running with LPG is analyzed at the sensitivity analysis. Although the natural gas is cheaper than LPG, it is not recommended to be used in the upcoming years due to the depletion effect. The levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of ABHGT at an optimal annual solar share of 22% is 58.35 (USD/MWh) whereas the LCOE of HGT at an optimal annual solar share of 22% is 65.37(USD/MWh). Reducing the CO2 emissions is one of the main objectives in the current thesis. An advanced adiabatic CAES is integrated with power plants to enhance the annual optimal solar share with reasonable LCOE. The Performance of Air bottoming Hybrid gas turbine with advanced adiabatic compressed air energy storage (CAES_ABHGT) is evaluated at 1, 3 and 7.5 hours of storage capacity. Thus, it can be seen that Mode C with a 7.5 hour storage capacity is the most promising model since it has the highest optimal annual solar share of 87% with reasonable LCOE of 94.5(USD/MWh) and a reduction of CO2 emissions by 83%.College of EngineeringDepartment of Mechanical EngineeringMaster of Science in Mechatronics Engineering (MSMTR
Towards a Performative Understanding of Deservingness: Merit, Gender and the BBC Pay Dispute
No full textDrawing largely on a high-profile case of unequal pay at the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) as an illustrative example, this conceptual paper considers differences and interrelationships between merit and deservingness, where the latter captures how, through appropriate performances, merit is given recognition and value. We propose a performative understanding of deservingness that highlights its gendered and embodied dimensions. Informed by Judith Butler’s account of gender performativity, we show that, while merit is conventionally conceptualized as a relatively fixed set of attributes (qualifications, skill) ‘attached’ to the individual, deservingness captures how, in gendered terms, value and recognition are both claimed and conferred. As we argue, a gendered, deserving subject does not pre-exist but is performatively constituted through embodied practices and performances of what is seen as worthy in a particular time and place
Sacred Spaces of New England: Artistic Research, Cultural Heritage, and Virtual Reality Panoramic Photography
No full textArtistic research is a methodology that integrates artistic activities within either the research process or its outcomes. By using New England's sacred spaces as a case study for the documentation and interpretation of cultural heritage, this paper provides an overview of the author's ongoing Sacred Spaces of New England project, examines how New England's sacred spaces are increasingly becoming "at-risk" heritage sites, and considers the value of documenting and mapping them using virtual reality panoramic photography and associated technologies
Security Assessment of Low-Resource Edge Devices for IoT Systems
No full textA Master of Science thesis in Computer Engineering by Shams Eddeen Yousef Shapsough entitled, “Security Assessment of Low-Resource Edge Devices for Iot Systems”, submitted in April 2020. Thesis advisors are Dr. Imran Zualkeman and Dr. Fadi Aloul. Soft copy is available (Thesis, Approval Signatures, Completion Certificate, and AUS Archives Consent Form).The rapid adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies is creating a large number of systems that employ low cost technologies to automate and control everyday operations in smart cities. This resulted in new security vulnerabilities that may endanger critical assets. This is especially true for applications related to Smart Grid (SG) such as renewable energy management, smart metering, and energy distribution and storage. Security issues in the bidirectional exchange of data between edge devices such as smart meters and utility datacenters, for example, can have severe ramifications if not secured properly. Most edge devices are wireless-enabled system-on chip with embedded operating systems that monitor energy at the generation, distribution, and consumption levels. The limitations and constraints in resources of these devices coupled with IoT communication protocols generate additional security challenges. This work investigates key security issues in IoT systems with special emphasis on edge devices. A generic IoT-based monitoring system utilizing ESP32, ESP8266 and particle photon as well as communication protocols such as Message Queueing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) and Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) is developed to simulate data exchange between monitoring edge devices in smart grids. The edge devices utilize single chip microcontrollers and communicate over WiFi. Multiple real-time operating systems firmware that are commonly used in edge devices have been utilized. Severity and impact of system vulnerabilities were investigated, and countermeasures were evaluated in terms of resource overhead. Three experiments were conducted which tackled penetration testing, baseline power consumption assessment for devices employing cryptography, resource overhead under stress conditions. The work found that edge devices are susceptible to a wide array of attacks, mainly, battery draining, eavesdropping, and data injection. Implementing Transport Layer Security (TLS) for data protection consumed only 1-20% more power than the non-TLS scenarios. However, latency suffered a significant increase of up to 3 folds for TLS, compared to non-TLS counterpart.College of EngineeringDepartment of Computer Science and EngineeringMaster of Science in Computer Engineering (MSCoE
Subtitling Swearwords from Arabic into English in Capernaum.
No full textA Master of Arts thesis in English/Arabic/English Translation and Interpreting (MATI) by Dana Bou Fakhereddine entitled, “Subtitling Swearwords from Arabic Into English in Capernaum”, submitted in April 2020. Thesis advisor is Dr. Said Faiq. Soft copy is available (Thesis, Approval Signatures, Completion Certificate, and AUS Archives Consent Form).Subtitling of swearwords is an intricate issue that subtitlers of films, shows, and other audiovisual products deal with. For Arabic, the directionality is usually from English to Arabic, but seldom vice-versa. This thesis examines this unique situation by assessing the subtitling of Arabic swearwords into English in the Lebanese award winning film Capernaum (كفرناحوم ) (2018), produced by the celebrated director Nadine Labaki. The thesis focuses on the cultural and pragmatic functions of different categories of swearwords and the subtitling strategies and procedures used by subtitlers to deal with these culture-specific language uses. The data, consisting of a transcribed Arabic script and an available English script, was collected and categorized according to four categories: praying, excreting, slurring and mother (kinship). The subtitling of the Arabic swearwords was analyzed and the subtitling strategies and procedures were identified. It is concluded that domestication is the main strategy used to deal with the subtitling of the film and that idiomatic translation, pragmatic translation, omission, and condensation are the most adopted procedures by the subtitlers in dealing with the Arabic swearwords. Additionally, it is noted that subtitling of Arabic swearwords poses a difficult challenge for subtitlers because of the variations in Arabic dialects, and lack of research on swearwords, which are increasingly used in audiovisual products.College of Arts and SciencesDepartment of Arabic and Translation StudiesMaster of Arts in English/Arabic/English Translation and Interpreting (MATI
On some bounds for frequencies of membranes and plates.
No full textA Master of Science thesis in Mathematics by Farah Hussein Ajeeb entitled, “On Some Bounds for Frequencies of Membranes and Plates”, submitted in May 2020. Thesis advisor is Dr. Cristian Enache. Soft copy is available (Thesis, Approval Signatures, Completion Certificate, and AUS Archives Consent Form).The problem of optimizing a domain dependent functional, while keeping a domain’s measure (its volume, perimeter, etc.) fixed, is called an isoperimetric problem. The isoperimetric inequalities have a long history in mathematics dating back to the Greeks and Dido’s problem, when the first classical isoperimetric inequality appeared in the Euclidean geometry. With the introduction of the calculus of variations in the 17th century, the isoperimetric inequalities found their way into mathematical physics. Among the isoperimetric problems, here we propose the investigation of those linking the shape of a membrane to the sequence of its frequencies. The starting point in this research field is the Faber-Krahn inequality, which states that among all fixed membranes of given area, the first frequency is minimal for the circular membrane. As for the second frequency of fixed membranes of given area, we know that it is minimized by the disjoint union of two identical circular membranes (Krahn’s inequality). For other types of membranes several results are known, but a lot of questions remain open. In this thesis we are going to present some classical isoperimetric inequalities, as well as some universal bounds, which are not isoperimetric, but in some cases they represent the best possible bounds obtained at their time. Finally, we will present some new universal bounds we have obtained for the frequencies of clamped and buckled plates.College of Arts and SciencesDepartment of Mathematics and StatisticsMaster of Science in Mathematics (MSMTH
Shear Strength of Fiber Reinforced Recycled Aggregate Concrete
No full textIn this paper, shear strength of fiber reinforced recycled concrete was investigated. A Self Consolidated Concrete (SCC) matrix with 100% coarse recycled aggregate and different types of fibers were used in the study. Steel (3D and 5D), synthetic and hybrid fibers with a volume fraction of 0.75% were added to the concrete matrix to prepare eight beams. In addition, two beams were cast without fibers as control specimens. All beams were prepared without shear reinforcement and were tested to evaluate concrete contribution to the shear capacity. In addition, optical images were captured to allow for full-field displacement measurements using Digital Image Correlation (DIC). The results showed about 23.44–64.48% improvement in the average concrete shear capacity for fiber-reinforced beams when compared to that of the control specimens. The percentage improvement was affected by fiber type and the steel fiber beams achieved the best performance. The addition of the fiber delayed the crack initiation and improved the post-cracking and ductile behavior of all beams. Moreover, the experimental results were compared to those predicted by codes and proposed equations found in the literature for concrete strength with and without fibers
Immunoliposomes: Synthesis, Structure, and Their Potential as Drug Delivery Carriers
No full textImmunoliposomes have emerged as attractive drug targeting vehicles for cancer treatment. This review presents the recent advances in the design of immunoliposomes encapsulating a variety of chemotherapeutic agents. We provided an overview of different routes that can be used to conjugate antibodies to the surfaces of liposomes, as well as several examples of stimuli-responsive immunoliposome systems and their therapeutic potential for cancer treatment
Isoniazid Conjugated Magnetic Nanoparticles Loaded with Amphotericin B as a Potent Antiamoebic Agent against Acanthamoeba castellanii
No full textThe pathogenic free-living amoeba, Acanthamoeba castellanii, is responsible for a rare but deadly central nervous system infection, granulomatous amoebic encephalitis and a blinding eye disease called Acanthamoeba keratitis. Currently, a combination of biguanides, amidine, azoles and antibiotics are used to manage these infections; however, the host cell cytotoxicity of these drugs remains a challenge. Furthermore, Acanthamoeba species are capable of transforming to the cyst form to resist chemotherapy. Herein, we have developed a nano drug delivery system based on iron oxide nanoparticles conjugated with isoniazid, which were further loaded with amphotericin B (ISO-NPs-AMP) to cause potent antiamoebic effects against Acanthamoeba castellanii. The IC₅₀ of isoniazid conjugated with magnetic nanoparticles and loaded with amphotericin B was found to be 45 μg/mL against Acanthamoeba castellanii trophozoites and 50 μg/mL against cysts. The results obtained in this study have promising implications in drug discovery as these nanomaterials exhibited high trophicidal and cysticidal effects, as well as limited cytotoxicity against rat and human cells.Sunway UniversityAmerican University of Sharja
Analytical study and parameter-sensitivity analysis of catalytic current at a rotating disk electrode
No full textA convective-diffusion equation with semi-infinite boundary conditions for rotating disk electrodes under the hydrodynamic conditions is discussed and analytically solved for electrochemical catalytic reactions. The steady-state catalytic current of the rotating disk electrode is derived for various possible values of parameters by using a new approach of the homotopy perturbation method. The theoretical approach in this paper is described, for the first time, on the basis of convection–diffusion equations for the kinetics of Fenton's reagent using a platinum rotating disk electrode. The obtained approximate analytical expression for the concentrations of ferric and ferrous ions for steady-state conditions are shown to be highly accurate when compared to numerical results and other approximations found in the literature. A sensitive analysis of parameters of the current and concentration is presented