Petrographical,Mineralogical, and Geochemical Studies on Core-samples From Sidi Salim-1 Well,Nile Delta,Egypt

Abstract

Core samples of sandstone and clay raised from the Neogene succession of Sidi Salim-1 well were petrographically, mineralogically, and geochemically studied with the objective of determining the depositional conditions.

The sandstone is composed of quartz, feldspars of which the deeper sands of Qawasim Formation show some alteration; with rock fragments of volcanic, metamorphic, and sedimentary origin, in addition to altered biotite. These components are embedded in amorphous pyrite, microcrystalline calcite, and primary dolomite, as well as partial cementation by gypsum (mainly in the Pliocene sands).

The clays are composed primarily of montmorillonite, kaolinite, and illite. These clays were provided from mafic igneous rocks, sedimentary rocks, and intermediate igneous rocks, and were deposited under reducing conditions in a brackish lagoon intermittently receiving varying amounts of fresh water.     

Tensile properties of open-cell nickel foams

Open-cell nickel foams with average pore size of 600 μm have been subjected to room temperature tensile tests to explore their tensile properties. Using a state of the art extensometer of non-contact type, foam properties as ultimate tensile strength (UTS), yield strength (YS) and the Young’s modulus (E) have been measured accurately. An extensometer of non-contact type was applied for the first time to help the foam’s mechanical properties to be determined accurately. The reason behind the usage of this kind of extensometer is to avoid completely any minor deformation that might be caused by the attachment of conventional extensometer to the sample’s surface prior to testing. The function of this extensometer is based on the usage of a laser (CCD) camera that detects and records the dimensional changes as soon as the load is applied. The fracture behavior of foam cells was observed to be ductile. Complete separation of struts or cell walls took place successively by necking.     

An efficient concept-based retrieval model for enhancing text retrieval quality

Most of the common techniques in text retrieval are based on the statistical analysis terms (words or phrases). Statistical analysis of term frequency captures the importance of the term within a document only. Thus, to achieve a more accurate analysis, the underlying model should indicate terms that capture the semantics of text. In this case, the model can capture terms that represent the concepts of the sentence, which leads to discovering the topic of the document. In this paper, a new concept-based retrieval model is introduced. The proposed concept-based retrieval model consists of conceptual ontological graph (COG) representation and concept-based weighting scheme. The COG representation captures the semantic structure of each term within a sentence. Then, all the terms are placed in the COG representation according to their contribution to the meaning of the sentence. The concept-based weighting analyzes terms at the sentence and document levels. This is different from the classical approach of analyzing terms at the document level only. The weighted terms are then ranked, and the top concepts are used to build a concept-based document index for text retrieval. The concept-based retrieval model can effectively discriminate between unimportant terms with respect to sentence semantics and terms which represent the concepts that capture the sentence meaning. Experiments using the proposed concept-based retrieval model on different data sets in text retrieval are conducted. The experiments provide comparison between traditional approaches and the concept-based retrieval model obtained by the combined approach of the conceptual ontological graph and the concept-based weighting scheme. The evaluation of results is performed using three quality measures, the preference measure (bpref), precision at 10 documents retrieved (P(10)) and the mean uninterpolated average precision (MAP). All of these quality measures are improved when the newly developed concept-based retrieval model is used, confirming that such model enhances the quality of text retrieval.     

Unemployment on the Agenda: A Panel Study of Agenda-Setting Effects During the 2006 Swedish National Election Campaign

The issue of unemployment and job creation dominated news coverage during the 2006 Swedish National Election campaign. The purpose of this study is to analyze individual-level agenda-setting effects in the 2006 Swedish National Election campaign. Apart from being one of the first agenda-setting studies conducted in Sweden, this study builds upon a panel survey with 1,007 respondents, which makes it possible to impose stricter control of the causal relationship between the media and public agendas. The overall findings show that agenda-setting effects were indeed present. Furthermore, attention to political news had stronger effects among people with low political interest compared with those who were highly interested. Education was not a contingent factor, though.     

Recognizing arabic handwritten characters using deep learning and genetic algorithms

Automated techniques for Arabic content recognition are at a beginning period contrasted with their partners for the Latin and Chinese contents recognition. There is a bulk of handwritten Arabic archives available in libraries, data centers, historical centers, and workplaces. Digitization of these documents facilitates (1) to preserve and transfer the country’s history electronically, (2) to save the physical storage space, (3) to proper handling of the documents, and (4) to enhance the retrieval of information through the Internet and other mediums. Arabic handwritten character recognition (AHCR) systems face several challenges including the unlimited variations in human handwriting and the leakage of large and public databases. In the current study, the segmentation and recognition phases are addressed. The text segmentation challenges and a set of solutions for each challenge are presented. The convolutional neural network (CNN), deep learning approach, is used in the recognition phase. The usage of CNN leads to significant improvements across different machine learning classification algorithms. It facilitates the automatic feature extraction of images. 14 different native CNN architectures are proposed after a set of try-and-error trials. They are trained and tested on the HMBD database that contains 54,115 of the handwritten Arabic characters. Experiments are performed on the native CNN architectures and the best-reported testing accuracy is 91.96%. A transfer learning (TF) and genetic algorithm (GA) approach named “HMB-AHCR-DLGA” is suggested to optimize the training parameters and hyperparameters in the recognition phase. The pre-trained CNN models (VGG16, VGG19, and MobileNetV2) are used in the later approach. Five optimization experiments are performed and the best combinations are reported. The highest reported testing accuracy is 92.88%.

     

The antioxidant activity of amino acids in two vegetable oils

Of 27 amino acids studied, most had some antioxidant activity when added in aqueous solution to either safflower oil or a mixture of sunflower and cottonseed oil (active oxygen and storage methods). Cysteine-HCl, glutamic acid-HCl (in the mixture), and glutamic acid-HCl (in safflower oil) behaved as prooxidants. When added as a solid, most amino acids were ineffective. The protection factors of these amino acids were less than 1.3 in safflower oil with methionine, proline, lysine and cysteine providing the highest activ-ity. In the oil mixture (which had a higher metal content) lysine, arginine, glutamic acid, methionine, and hydroxyproline were anti-oxidant with protection factors of up to 1.85. Chelation of metals by amino acids was presumably responsible for the antioxidant activity. The increase in cysteine concentration up to 1% has more than doubled the protection factor in Bint oil (compared with the 0.01% level), whereas with some other amino acids the increase was either small or slight.     

Strength of short concrete columns confined with CFRP sheets

The confinement of concrete columns provided by carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) sheets can be an efficient technique for their structural strengthening. The principal advantages of this technique are the high strength-to-weight ratio, good fatigue properties, non-corroding characteristics of the CFRP, and the facility of its application. An experimental research program, that included tests on 54 short column specimens, was carried out to investigate the gain in strength and ductility of concrete columns externally confined by CFRP wrapping. The variables studied were the column cross section shape (circular, square and rectangular) and the amount of confinement expressed in the number of CFRP sheet layers applied to the models (one or two layers). On the basis of the obtained results, equations were proposed to calculate the confined concrete strength and the ultimate confined concrete strain as a function of the confining lateral stress for each of the cross section geometry used, circular, square and rectangular. The estimations given by these equations and by those from formulas encountered in the literature were compared with the experimental ones and general conclusions were, finally, drawn.

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Résumé Le confinement de colonnes de béton assuré par des feuilles de plastique renforcé par des fibres de carbone (CFRP) peut être une technique efficace pour leur comportement structural. Les principaux avantages de cette technique sont la haute relation résistance-poids, des bonnes propriétés de fatigue, les caractéristiques non-corrosives du CFRP, et la facilité de leur application. Un programme expérimental comprenant des essais sur 54 colonnes courtes fut entrepris en vue de déterminer le gain de résistance et de ductilité de colonnes en béton confinées sur le plan externe en les recouvrant de feuilles de CFRP. Les variables étudiées étaient la forme de la section transversale (circulaire, carrée et rectangulaire), et la quantité de renforcement, mesurée par le nombre de feuilles de CFRP appliquées aux modèles (une ou deux couches). En prenant comme base les résultats obtenus, des équations ont été proposées pour calculer la résistance du béton confiné et sa déformation spécifique ultime en fonction de la contrainte latérale de confinement, pour chaque forme de section transversale utilisée, circulaire, carrée et rectangulaire. Les estimations données par ces équations et celles données par des formules trouvées dans la litérature ont été comparées avec les résultats expérimentaux et des conclusions générales ont finalement été établies.

     

Properties of controlled low-strength materials incorporating cement kiln dust and slag

This research evaluated the potential use of cement kiln dust (CKD) together with slag to replace the use of cement in the production of controlled low-strength material (CLSM). The low strength requirements of CLSM compared to conventional concrete enable the use of industrial by-products for the production of CLSM. In this study, the workability-related fresh properties of CLSM mixtures were observed through slump flow diameter, V-funnel flow time and filling capacity. Setting times, temperature rise, air content and unit weight of CLSM mixtures were also determined as part of fresh properties. The hardened properties that were monitored for 28 days included the unconfined compressive strength. The test results presented herein show that a combination of less than 50 kg/m³ slag and up to 300 kg/m³ CKD provides a good mix that satisfies the requirements of a CLSM with similar or better properties to that of CKD-based CLSM mix containing Portland cement. Suitable CLSM mixtures with reasonable fresh and hardened properties could also be developed by using CKD alone. However, reduced strength in such CLSM mixtures may limit their field application. The slag significantly assisted in increasing compressive strength of CKD-based CLSM mixtures. A CLSM mix containing a combination of slag and CKD was shown to have excellent characteristics for flowable backfill and excavatable base material. Therefore, producing CKD/slag based CLSM through the use of co-generated products from the cement and iron manufacturing processes can provide leadership for the construction industry in the transition for sustainable development.     

Robust Direct Power Control Schemes of DFIGs Driven by Variable-speed Wind Turbines

Despite its several advantages, a classic direct power control (DPC) technique of doubly fed induction generators (DFIGs) driven by variable-speed wind turbines has some drawbacks such as high power ripples and variable switching frequency. In this paper, two robust controllers are designed to improve the classical DPC performance without complicating the overall scheme. First, an integral sliding mode controller (ISMC) is designed to regulate the stator active and reactive powers. Two integral switching functions are selected for controlling stator active and reactive powers. The idea of total sliding mode controller is selected to avoid reaching phase stability problem. Second, a diagonal recurrent neural network (DRNN) controller is designed and trained based on DPC. The DRNN has several advantages compared to the classical static neural networks such as recurrence and simple construction. Simple off-line back-propagation algorithm is proposed to train the proposed DRNN. The stability of the proposed ISMC and DRNN controller is proved using the Lyapunov stability theorem. The grid side converter is controlled based on the DPC principle to ensure both constant DC-link voltage and grid side reactive power. The feasibility of the proposed DPC schemes is validated by simulation studies on a 1.5-MW wind power generation system. The performance of the proposed schemes is compared with a conventional DPC scheme under different operating conditions.     

Effect of electron irradiation on alternating current electrical properties of gelatin – cadmium sulfide nano-composite films

Gelatin was doped with 1 %, 3 %, 5 % and 10 % cadmium sulfide nanoparticles in weight concentrations forming the gelatin-cadmium sulfide nanocomposites and irradiated by various electron beam doses equals 50 kGy, 75 kGy, 100 kGy, and 150 kGy using 3 MeV – 3 mA electron accelerator. The applied alternating current electrical field frequency ranging from 70 Hz to 5 MHz is what caused the fluctuation in dielectric properties and alternating current electrical conductivity of these nanocomposites. The results showed that the films of 1 %, 3 %, 5 %, and 10 % for blank (nanocomposite film without electron beam irradiation) nanocomposites had the highest dielectric parameters (έ, ϵ′′, tan δ) at 0.5 kHz with values of (0.696, 0.0233, 0.034), (0.533, 0.0114, 0.0215), (0.402, 0.001196, 0.003), and (0.459, 0.00418, 0.0091), respectively. However, the lowest dielectric parameters were (0.645, 0.00618, 0.0066), (0.523, 0.00165, 0.0215), (0.417, 0.00035, 0.0008), and (0.455, 0.00066, 0.0015) at 5 MHz, respectively. The highest conductivity values for blank nanocomposites of 1 %, 3 %, 5 %, and 10 % were 1.79×10⁻⁴ S/m, 1.45×10⁻⁴ S/m, 1.16×10⁻⁴ S/m, 1.27×10⁻⁴ S/m at 5 MHz, and the lowest values were 1.92×10⁻⁸ S/m, 1.49×10⁻⁸ S/m, 1.13×10⁻⁸ S/m, 1.26×10⁻⁸ S/m at 0.5 kHz, respectively. For irradiated nanocomposites at 5 MHz, the dielectric constant order for 1 % was 100 kGy, 150 kGy, 50 kGy, and 75 kGy with values 0.63, 0.537, 0.532, and 0.523, respectively. For 10 % weight concentration, the order was 50 kGy, 100 kGy, 150 kGy, and 75 kGy with values 0.515, 0.477, 0.47, and 0.437, respectively. Otherwise the dielectric constant order for 3 % and 5 % was 100 kGy, 75 kGy, 150 kGy, and 50 kGy. The highest dielectric properties and conductivity values for blank and irradiated nanocomposites were observed at 100 kGy for 1 %, 3 %, and 5 %.