Mitigating adjacent channel interference in vehicular communication systems

In the last few decades, dedicated wireless channels were specifically allocated to enable the development and implementation of vehicular communication systems. The two main protocol stacks, the WAVE stan- dards proposed by the IEEE in the United States and the ETSI ITS-G5 in Europe, reserved 10 MHz wide channels in the 5.9 GHz spectrum band. Despite the exclusive use of these frequencies for vehicular com- munication purposes, there are still cross channel interference problems that have been widely reported in the literature. In order to mitigate these issues, this paper presents the design of a two-stage FIR low-pass filter, targeting the integration with a digital baseband receiver chain of a custom vehicular communications platform. The filter was tested, evaluated and optimized, with the simulation results proving the effectiveness of the proposed method and the low delay introduced in the overall operation of the receiver chain. 2016 Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications. Production and Hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license

Performance of hot-mix asphalt using polymer-modified bitumen and marble dust as a filler

Marble dust waste powder generated by the marble cutting industry has a high alkalinity.In this research,the use of marble dust(MD)as a mineral filler substitute in hot mixed asphalt(HMA)was evaluated.The Marshall mix design was used to determine the optimum bitumen content(OBC)for all of the mixtures.For each of the four MD contents,i.e.,0,2%,4%,and 6%by weight of the total aggregates,four different bitumen percentages were used.The results of the Marshall stability test showed that the optimum filler content was 4%MD.Samples were prepared with 0 MD in the control mix and varying percentages of MD as an alternate filler.In addition,MD aided in increasing the Marshall stability,rutting resistance,and permanent deformation and reduced the fatigue life of asphalt mixtures.As the percentage of MD increases,the rutting resistance and stiffness at high temperatures both increase.As the percentage of MD increases,the fatigue life reduces.Rut resistance in high-temperature conditions can be improved by using MD in HMA as a partial substitute for stone dust(SD).In areas where extensive MD waste is present,MD can be incorporated into HMA mixtures instead of conventional fillers.

Tourism Development and Well-Being:The Role of Population and Political Stability

This study's primary purpose was to explore the role of tourism development in enhancing well-being in a highly populated developing economy by focusing on the case study of Pakistan Several econometric techniques and approaches were used on annual time series data covering the 1990-2016 period to investigate the causal relationship of well-being with tourism development,political stability,economics,and population growth.The findings suggested that tourism development enhances economic growth and well-being,hence providing support for the tourism-led growth hypothesis However,population growth and political instability exhibited a negative relationship with well-being;in addition,the level of political stability determined tourism activities.Hence,this study is unique due to its specific focus on the role of political stability and tourism development in the enhancement of wellbeing in a highly populated developing economy Moreover,the practical implications of the study have been provided in light of the main findings.

Influence of accelerated curing on the compressive strength of polymer-modified concrete

In recent building practice,rapid construction is one of the principal requisites.Furthermore,in designing concrete structures,compressive strength is the most significant of all parameters.While 3-d and 7-d compressive strength reflects the strengths at early phases,the ultimate strength is paramount.An effort has been made in this study to develop mathematical models for predicting compressive strength of concrete incorporating ethylene vinyl acetate(EVA)at the later phases.Kolmogorov-Smirnov(KS)goodness-of-fit test was used to examine distribution of the data.The compressive strength of EVA-modified concrete was studied by incorporating various concentrations of EVA as an admixture and by testing at ages of 28,56,90,120,210,and 365 d.An accelerated compressive strength at 3.5 hours was considered as a reference strength on the basis of which all the specified strengths were predicted by means of linear regression fit.Based on the results of KS goodness-of-fit test,it was concluded that KS test statistics value(D)in each case was lower than the critical value 0.521 for a significance level of 0.05,which demonstrated that the data was normally distributed.Based on the results of compressive strength test,it was concluded that the strength of EVA-modified specimens increased at all ages and the optimum dosage of EVA was achieved at 16%concentration.Furthermore,it was concluded that predicted compressive strength values lies within a 6%difference from the actual strength values for all the mixes,which indicates the practicability of the regression equations.This research work may help in understanding the role of EVA as a viable material in polymer-based cement composites.