Digital Commons Network^™

Optimal Design And Techno-Economic And Environmental Analysis Of A Hybrid Solar Pv-Battery-Generator System For Off-Grid Telecom Towers And Rural Households: Case Of Misughaa Village In Tanzania, Ibrahim Mwammenywa, Martha Mwaikenda

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Telecommunication services are pivotal for the socio-economic development of communities, regions, and countries. Extensive and reliable telecom infrastructure enables populations to leverage development opportunities and bridge the urban-rural divide. However, extending these services to rural areas often necessitates the deployment of telecommunication towers in locations lacking national grid access. Consequently, service providers typically rely on diesel generators (DG) for power, which introduces significant challenges. These challenges include a high operational expenditure (OPEX), rendering telecom services unaffordable for rural communities, and substantial environmental pollution from greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study aims to present an optimal design, encompassing sizing and economic …

The Impact Of Gender Sensitization On Requirements Elicitation: A Controlled Experiment, Ruthbertha Kateule, Salome Maro, Leonard Peter Binamungu

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Previous studies in software engineering have reported the importance of considering gender aspects in various software engineering activities, including requirements engineering, however, to the best of our knowledge, no work has investigated the impact of gender sensitisation on eliciting gender inclusive software requirements. The objective of this study was to understand the impact of gender sensitisation on software requirements elicitation. We conducted a controlled experiment using 40 undergraduate students from three different computing programs at the University of Dar es Salaam. The 40 participants were divided into 9 groups with both males and females. The participants were asked to elicit …

Enhancing Community Engagement Through ‘Nitunze Kilombero’ Mobile App: Case Of Climate Land Use And Cover Management For Kilombero Basin, Ghanima Chanzi, Subira Munishi

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

The Kilombero Basin in southeastern Tanzania faces significant challenges due to rapid land use and land cover (LULC) changes driven by climate change, population growth, and unsustainable farming practices. This study assessed the role of community engagement and digital reporting through the 'NITUNZE KILOMBERO', mobile application in supporting water resources management in the basin. The App facilitates real-time reporting of environmental issues, provides educational resources, and enables collaboration between local communities and authorities. A mixed-methods approach, including household surveys and key informant interviews, was employed to assess the app's effectiveness. Results indicate high community awareness of LULC impacts, with 85% …

Load Flow And Fault Performance Evaluation Of Interconnected Minigrids In Uganda Using Digsilent Powerfactory, Prossy Mutesi, Santos Kihwele, Emmanuel Matee

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

The increasing demand for decentralized, reliable electricity in rural Sub-Saharan Africa has catalyzed the deployment of minigrids as an intermediate electrification strategy. This study investigates two solar photovoltaic (PV) mini-grids: Kyamugarura and Kanyegaramire, located in western Uganda, approximately 3km apart. Each mini grid initially consisted of 13 kW installed photovoltaic (PV) capacity, supplying power to households and small businesses. Due to rising demand and regular evening blackouts, both mini-grids are being upgraded to 57 kWp each. The integration of these upgraded systems into the national utility grid is proposed and simulated to evaluate performance improvements under two medium-voltage interconnection options: …

Influence Of Geocell Technical Parameters On Bearing Characteristics Of Highway Subgrades In Oasis Areas, Zhu Chunsheng, Shu Xingyu, Lu Huiyu, Yang Xiaohua

Journal of China & Foreign Highway

To study the effects of technical parameters, such as geocell specifications and laying types, on the bearing capacity and deformation of highway subgrades in oasis flood irrigation areas, the shear properties of plain soil and geocell-reinforced layers with different specifications were studied through large-scale direct shear tests. Based on indoor compression tests and field load tests, numerical simulation parameters, such as the deformation modulus of different foundation soil layers, were calibrated. A numerical model of the geocell-reinforced highway subgrade was established using, and the effects of geocell specifications and laying types on the vertical settlement of the subgrade, the displacement …

Study On Effects Of Phase Change Materials On Thermal Erosion Resistance Of Airport Pavement, Li Ping, Li Yunlong, Zheng Zhipeng, Wang Zhijian, Yi Chengxi

Journal of China & Foreign Highway

To investigate the effect of phase change materials (PCMs ) on improving the thermal erosion resistance of airport pavements and to provide recommendations for selecting optimal PCMs to obtain airport pavements with longer service lives, three PCMs, PCM-G- 98 (A), LB- 2 (B), and TH-HC- 120 (C), were purchased based on literature summaries and market research. Based on microscopic test results and the actual preparation conditions of modified asphalt, PCMs A and B were selected. Subsequently, based on a self-made high-content SBS modified asphalt (S), four groups of composite modified asphalts (S-A- 5, S-A- 10, S-B- 5, and S-B- 10) …

Optimization Design And Experimental Study On Strength Of Ternary Industrial Solid Waste Mixtures, Yang Shu, Ai Yi, Sheng Shanwang, Li Chuangmin

Journal of China & Foreign Highway

This paper aims to explore whether fly ash, lithium slag, and slag powder (ternary industrial solid wastes) can effectively replace cement as cementitious materials for interlocking large-particle crushed stone bases. A uniform design table U9(94) was used to design the test scheme for the mixing ratios of ternary industrial solid waste mixtures; the correlation between the mortar strength and the ternary industrial solid waste mixtures was analyzed by Pearson correlation; with the help of the mathematical statistical software SPSS 26.0, mathematical models for the flexural strength and compressive strength of the ternary industrial solid waste mixture mortar specimens were established. …

Calculation Of Tensile Force For Cable-Stayed Buckling Bracket Combined With Temporary Tie Rod Structure Of V-Shaped Pier, Zhao Xiaolu, Yang Guang, Liu Junle, Qiu Zhiwei, Meng Lingxin, Peng Weibing

Journal of China & Foreign Highway

To solve the problem of excessive tensile stress of the cross-section during the cantilever casting process of high piers with inclined legs, a determination method of tensile force based on the linear programming theory and unstressed state control was proposed. Based on the internal force equilibrium method and the principle of influence matrix, the method optimized the tensile force with “stress control as the primary and alignment control as the auxiliary”. The unstressed state control method was adopted for forward iteration, and the effect of tangential displacement between segments was considered to verify the alignment of the inclined legs. Finally, …

Research On Improving Bearing Capacity Of Full-Scale Prestressed Concrete Small Box Girders, Huang Jianyun, Gao Linli, Liu Zufeng, Ma Jinku, Ma Ming, Wang Xiaoguang

Journal of China & Foreign Highway

To solve the problems of lacking comparative research on the improvement effects of different reinforcement methods when formulating reinforcement schemes for prestressed concrete small box girders and that existing bearing capacity improvement tests mostly focus on scale models with insufficient reliability of results, full-scale model tests and numerical simulation analysis of five 30 m span prestressed concrete small box girders with different joint reinforcement measures were conducted in this paper. Finite element models for two single reinforcement measures were established, and the improvement effects of different reinforcement methods on the bearing capacity of prestressed concrete small box girders were studied. …

Ventilation Design And On-Site Effect Testing For Construction Of Multiple Working Faces In Tianshan Shengli Tunnel, Xiong Ziyi, Jia Haiyang, Suo Feiyu, Liu Weiwei, Chen Jianxun, Yang Ziyao, Wang Heqi

Journal of China & Foreign Highway

To explore the ventilation optimization and energy saving issues in the construction of multiple working faces in extra-long highway tunnels, the air volumes required for a single working face under drilling and blasting construction conditions and TBM tunneling conditions were determined respectively based on theoretical calculations. Combined with the tunnel construction organization scheme, two ventilation schemes were proposed, and they were compared and selected according to the configured power of axial fans. Based on the recommended scheme, the layout scheme of pollutant-discharging jet fans was designed, and its feasibility was finally verified by on-site measurements of pollutant concentrations. The research …

A Prediction Method For Scale Of Karst Cave Water Inrush And Mud Outburst Based On Comprehensive Advanced Geological Prediction, Yang Weilin, Xiao Huabo, Meng Lubo, Zhang Caihong, Chen Weidong, Wang Hao

Journal of China & Foreign Highway

To improve the accuracy of water inrush and mud outburst disaster prediction during tunnel construction through karst caves, a method of first forecasting the unfavorable geological conditions of karst caves and subsequently predicting water inrush and mud outburst geological disasters was proposed in this paper. First, a karst cave advanced prediction model based on the polynomial naive Bayes algorithm was established to predict the scale grade of karst caves. Secondly, taking the scale prediction results of karst caves as the input condition for water inrush and mud outburst, a support vector machine (SVM) grade prediction model for karst cave water …

Research On Recognition Of Highway Toll Vehicles Based On Dual-View Feature Fusion Network, Xiao Qiang, Chen Xinjia, Chen Jing, Zhao Bin, Yan Kaifeng, Ding Hongwei

Journal of China & Foreign Highway

To solve the practical problems in vehicle type classification on toll roads, a deep learning network based on dual-view feature fusion, named ETCLNet, was proposed in this paper. A dual-branch architecture was adopted by the network to extract the features of vehicle head and side body images, respectively, and combined with an innovatively designed multi-scale feature extraction module, namely IPFE, and an adaptive weighting-based bilinear feature fusion (AWBF) mechanism, efficient and fine-grained vehicle feature representation was achieved. Through the design of parallel multi-scale convolutions and residual connections, the problem of gradient vanishing was effectively alleviated, and the adaptability to complex …

Analysis Of Temperature Field Of Steel Box Girders During Steam Curing Construction Process Of Steel-Uhpc Composite Bridge Decks, Wu Shang, Zhang Yongjian

Journal of China & Foreign Highway

To clarify the influence of high-temperature steam curing of steel-ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) lightweight composite bridge deck paving on the temperature field of the steel box girder, taking a certain bridge in Hunan Province as an example, finite element numerical simulation and actual bridge testing were conducted on the temperature field of the steel box girder during the high-temperature steam curing process of the bridge deck paving. The numerical calculations were generally consistent with the test results. The analysis results indicate that under the superimposed effect of solar radiation heating and high-temperature steam curing heating, the maximum temperature of the …

Road Design Methods For Brt Projects Based On French Standard System : A Case Study Of A Project In West Africa, Wang Meng, Wu Cheng

Journal of China & Foreign Highway

With the continuous advancement of China ’s “Belt and Road Initiative”, Chinese enterprises have become increasingly involved in international engineering markets, undertaking numerous transportation infrastructure projects, particularly in Africa and Southeast Asia. However, international engineering projects commonly face the challenge of inconsistent design standard systems across different countries, posing significant difficulties for Chinese enterprises during project implementation. To address this issue, the differences in BRT road design under Chinese and French standards were focused on in this study, and their respective design philosophies and methods were analyzed. Taking a BRT project in a West African country as an example, field …

Material Point Method Simulation Of Soil Landslide Considering Interface Friction Effect, Zuo Zhipeng, Hu Shengliang, Li Maowen, Tong Chenxi, Li Haichao

Journal of China & Foreign Highway

During the high-speed and long-runout sliding failure process of large landslides, severe friction and heat generation in the sliding zone induce an interface friction effect between the debris flow and the bedrock, influencing the final accumulation morphology of the landslide. In this paper, a two-dimensional landslide model of the Yangbaodi landslide in Shenzhen was established using the material point method. A contact algorithm was introduced through a multi-background grid method to conduct numerical simulations on the initiation, sliding, and accumulation processes of the landslide. The results show that after initiation, the landslide moves over a long distance in a flow-like …

Research On Mechanical Properties And Particle Breakage Of Construction Solid Waste Concrete Under Cyclic Loading, Li Xuejian, Song Yang, Dong Chenxi, Li Shengkai, Li Wangyuan

Journal of China & Foreign Highway

To investigate the mechanical properties and particle breakage effect of construction solid waste, a series of static and dynamic direct shear tests were carried out using a dynamic interface shear tester. Different coarse particle contents (40%, 50%, and 60%), amplitudes (45 kPa, 60 kPa, and 75 kPa), and frequencies (0.5 Hz, 1 Hz, and 2 Hz) were used as variables, and the variation rules of shear stress‒shear displacement curves, shear strength parameters, and particle breakage under three normal stresses (50 kPa, 100 kPa, and 150 kPa) were analyzed. The results indicate that under the same initial normal stress, with the …

Comparative Study On Pouring Timing Of Sealing Hinge Concrete For Concrete-Filled Steel Tube Arch Bridge, Wang Xiaoliang, Fu Kaige, Zhang Song, Wang Zhongqiang, Chen Zhuoyi

Journal of China & Foreign Highway

The pouring timing of sealing hinge concrete for concrete-filled steel tube arch bridges directly affects the construction duration and the stress state of arch ribs. To clarify the structural response differences at different pouring timings, the Beiliuhe Extra-large Bridge on the Pingxi ‒ Cenxi Expressway in Guangxi Province was taken as the engineering background in this paper. A finite element model was established using Midas Civil, and the following four pouring timings of sealing hinge concrete were comparatively analyzed: immediately after the butt welding of sealing hinge steel pipes; after the closure of arch ribs and before the pouring of …

Study On Calculation Method For Incremental Launching Based On Nonlinear Analysis, Mo Shanfeng, Huang Cailiang, Qin Hui

Journal of China & Foreign Highway

In view of the shortcomings of traditional incremental launching calculation methods and the assembly construction control of incremental launching beams, an incremental launching calculation method based on nonlinear analysis was proposed in this paper. This method could truly simulate the running state where the incremental launching pier remains stationary, and the beam moves forward. The assembly alignment of all segments of the beam and the real alignment of the beam under specified working conditions could be directly output. The prefabricated alignment of the main beam (i.e., unstressed alignment) did not need to be consistent with the slide alignment. When the …

Bio-Inspired Visual Intelligence: Improving Efficiency And Robustness Through Foveal-Peripheral Sampling And Learned Saccades, Jiayang Liu

Dissertations - ALL

Deep neural networks have achieved state-of-the-art performance across a wide range of computer vision tasks, yet their deployment in real-world and safety-critical domains remains limited by two major challenges: vulnerability to adversarial perturbations and high computational cost. While adversarial training can improve robustness under certain threat models, it is computationally expensive and often generalizes poorly to black-box or transferable attacks. At the same time, conventional vision pipelines process uniformly sampled high-resolution images, introducing substantial data redundancy, latency, and energy overhead. In contrast, the human visual system achieves efficient and robust perception through space-variant foveal-peripheral sampling, attention-guided saccadic eye movements, and …

Agentic Ai-Enabled Physics-Informed Machine Learning Framework For Intelligent Building Modeling, Control, And Automation, Zixin Jiang

Dissertations - ALL

Buildings account for a significant share of global energy consumption, and meeting the 2050 net-zero decarbonization targets requires retrofitting approximately 10,000 buildings per day in the United States alone. However, current human-centered workflows for building modeling, simulation, control, and operation remain too slow and labor-intensive to support deployment at this scale. This dissertation proposes an integrated two-pillar framework consisting of a physics-informed machine learning framework for integrated building modeling, control, and simulation, and a multi-agent agentic AI framework for automating building energy engineering workflows built on top of that foundation. The first pillar introduces a Physics-Informed Modularized Neural Network (PI-ModNN) …

(R2142) Queueing System With Batched Services, Server-Controlled Re-Service, Set-Up Time And Multiple Vacation, S. Karpagam, N. Aarthy, B. Somasundaram

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

To analyze a bulk queueing system with server-controlled admission for reservice, low-batch service, multiple vacation and set-up time. The study explores how the server dynamically adjusts between low-batch and bulk services based on the queue size. After completing a bulk service, the departing batch may request reservice with a certain probability. However, accepting the request is not mandatory, and the server admits it with some probability. Whenever the queue becomes empty, whether after reservicing, completing service with no reservice request, or ending the low-batch service, the server enters a random-length vacation. If the queue still has less than ‘a’ customers …

(R2187) Analysis Of Neurological Impairments In Hospitalized Patients Using Cubic Neutrosophic Sets, B. Anitha, M. Lavanya

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

This study introduces an MCDM-based framework for identifying neurological diseases in hospitalized patients using symptom-based evaluations. A team of interns, guided by the chief doctor, was responsible for determining each patient’s precise condition from the presented neurological symptoms. To enhance diagnostic accuracy, the interns employed the TOPSIS and WASPAS methods to assess and rank the potential disease options. The combined analysis yielded a clear identification of the highest ranked disease for every patient, highlighting the effectiveness of these MCDM techniques in supporting clinical decision making.

Hybrid Patrol–Staging Optimization For Freeway Service Patrols Under Cost Control: A Deterministic Milp With Dynamic Segment Adjustment & Environmental Co-Benefit, Mauricio Micolta

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

Freeway Service Patrol (FSP) programs are central to Traffic Incident Management (TIM), delivering rapid response, clearance, and motorist assistance on high-volume corridors. The prevailing continuous roaming patrol model provides broad coverage but generates substantial non-productive vehicle-miles traveled (VMT), increases responders’ exposure to risk, and treats Service Level Agreement (SLA) compliance as a statistical outcome rather than a fixed operational constraint. Existing literature lacks a framework that simultaneously optimizes corridor segmentation, jointly deploys patrol and staged units across space, time, and direction, and enforces response-time SLA as a binding constraint.

This dissertation introduces the Segmental-Spatio-Temporal Hybrid Service Model (SSTHSM), a two-tier …

Multi-Modal Survival Prediction On Breast Cancer Mammograms And Enabling Multi-Institutional Collaborations With Federated Learning, Nikolas Koutsoubis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cancer remains one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide, and machine learning is well positioned to leverage the large volumes of routinely collected clinical and imaging data to improve patient outcomes. Realizing this potential at scale requires three capabilities that current practice does not yet deliver in combination: models that integrate the multiple data modalities clinicians use, training procedures that respect institutional data-sharing constraints, and tooling that enables sharing of de-identified data when federated approaches are not sufficient. This dissertation develops methods and infrastructure addressing each of these capabilities in the context of breast cancer and oncology more broadly. …

Journal Acknowledgements And Editorial Board, Academy Editors

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Keynote Address And Meeting Program, Academy Editors

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Business Meeting Report (Secretary's And Treasurer's Report), Academy Editors

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Binucleation And Seasonal Cycle Of Sertoli Cells In The Western Lesser Siren, Siren Nettingi (Caudata: Sirenidae), S. E. Trauth

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

I examined binucleation and the seasonal cycle of Sertoli cells in the Western Siren (Siren nettingi) using light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. My primary objective in this study was to report, for the first time, the presence of double nuclei in Sertoli cells in a salamander. This study also represents the sixth contribution in a series of investigations that highlight the novel nature of all aspects of spermatogenesis in this unique salamander. My findings add to a growing list of extraordinary morphological and reproductive features that distinguish this salamander from all other vertebrates.

Advances In Research On Methods For Intelligent Identification Of Seismic Facies, Liu Xingye, Yu Peilin, He Hengjun

Coal Geology & Exploration

Background The intelligent identification of seismic facies can significantly improve the efficiency of sedimentary system characterization and hydrocarbon reservoir interpretation. However, influenced by factors such as non-stationary geological bodies, high costs of sample labeling, and limited training samples, conventional methods for intelligent identification are generally insufficient to achieve high identification accuracy and widespread application concurrently. Advances This study presents a systematic review of three types of technologies for the intelligent identification of seismic facies, namely unsupervised, supervised, and semi-supervised learning, with each type including deep learning methods. The three technological types are comparatively verified using 3D seismic data from a …

Two-Stage Calibration And Optimization Method For Microscopic Traffic Simulation Model Parameters Based On Neural Network Surrogate Models, Yijia Liu, Chenjing Zhou, Dong Pan, Jian Rong, Yang Xiao

Journal of System Simulation

A two-stage calibration and optimization method is proposed to address the problem that parameter calibration methods for microscopic traffic simulation models are time-consuming. In the first stage, a surrogate model based on neural networks is trained to establish the mapping relationship between model parameters and evaluation indicators, and a genetic algorithm (GA) is combined to screen candidate parameters. In the second stage, after obtaining the approximate optimal parameters, by employing this set of parameters as initial values, a genetic algorithm is re-executed by combining the real simulation model for optimization to further improve calibration accuracy. Experimental results show that the …