Application of a distributed verification in Islamic microfinance institutions:a sustainable model

The literature gap in microfinance paradox of double bottom line(financial performance vs.outreach)has always been an interesting area of research.This paper proposes a theoretical model most suitable for Islamic Microfinance Institutions(MFIs)which enables Islamic MFIs’to operate together with the existing financial models compliant with Islamic Shariah Law.This model is based on a distributed verification/decision-making process that might be realized(but not necessary)through block-chain.Among the available distributed verification techniques,blockchain technology is an attractive emerging computing paradigm due to its decentralized,immutable,shared,and secure data structure characteristics.This model proposes three significant propositions.First,sharing information through blockchain will allow a transparent network in MFI operations,which will raise confidence for donors resulting in a causal effect of a relatively lower profit rate to be charged by the MFIs.Second,the consensus mechanism will enable risk-sharing,a character of Islamic finance;thus,the MFIs will operate without any collateral for low-risk firms.Third,the double bottom line of MFIs’long-lasting paradox would be solved.As for practical implication of this proposed model,the causal impact of lower cost investment by the lenders would increase social welfare because of no collateral and no initial wealth requirement.The proposed model proposes a credit rationing approach where profit can be negative.No collateral will be used when calculating the creditworthiness of a borrower.

Prediction of Strength Properties of Soft Soil Considering Simple Soil Parameters

Cohesion is an important soil strength parameter for the overall structure and quality of building foundations as well as slope stability. For a civil engineering project, cohesion (c) can be determined directly from mainly unconfined compression tests, direct shear tests, and triaxial tests of soil. However, it’s quite challenging to collect soil samples as there are time and cost constraints, as well as a diversity of soil deposits. Hence, this research aims to demonstrate a simplified method in order to determine the strength parameter of cohesive soil. Here, we propose an alternative solution adopting statistical correlations and machine learning techniques to establish correlations between the liquid limit, plastic limit, moisture content and %fine of soil with the strength parameter. In laboratory testing, these parameters can be obtained easily and these tests are relatively simple, quick to perform and also comparatively inexpensive. Hence, several test results were used from 100 boreholes which were soft soil or silty clay-type soil. Using the collected in-situ and lab test results of soil samples, a Multiple Linear Regression (MLR), Random Forest Regression (RFR) and Machine Learning (ML) model will be developed to establish a relationship between cohesion and the available test results. In order to assess the performances of both models, several performance indicators like: correlation coefficient (R2), mean squared error (MSE), root mean square error (RMSE), and mean average error (MAE) will be used. These correlation coefficients will be used to demonstrate the prediction capacity and accuracy of both models. It should be noted that this approach will substitute the conventional testing required for strength parameters, which is both expensive and time-consuming.

Influence of Salt-Lime Stabilization on Soil Strength for Construction on Soft Clay

Construction on soft soil is one of the most challenging situations faced by geotechnical engineers. The heterogeneous and complex nature of soil, especially those containing organic clay, often makes it impossible for the construction specification to be addressed properly. Generally, clay exhibits low strength, high compressibility, and strength reduction when subjected to mechanical disturbance. This means that construction on clay soil is vulnerable to bearing capacity failure induced by low inherent shear strength. All these properties can be improved by the effective stabilization of soil. This study analyzed the effectiveness of incorporating salt-lime mixtures at various dosages in improving the strength increment of the soil. The results indicate that among different combinations of salt and lime, the best performance in terms of strength increase was achieved by adding 10% NaCl with 3% lime in the soil. The outcome of this study focuses on enhancing the ultimate strength of soil and its implementation in the field of foundation engineering.

Evaluating the Influence of Sea Level Rise on Beel Kapalia’s Livelihood and Local Adaptation Strategies: Perspectives from the Local Community

Bangladesh is vulnerable to climate change-induced sea level rise due to its location and socioeconomic position. The study examines the Beel Kapalia region in polder no. 24 of the Monirampur upazila of Jessore district, Khulna division. To assess local attitudes on sea level rise-related permanent flooding, Kapalia, Monoharpur, Nehalpur, Balidaha, and Panchakori were polled. This flooding has disrupted residents’ lifestyles, making them vulnerable to increasing sea levels. Viability and adaptability were assessed using livelihood capitals. Participants’ thoughts and knowledge about their resilience in several livelihood factors were gathered using participatory rural appraisal (PRA) instruments and a questionnaire survey in the area. Major discoveries include the impact of permanent floods on Beel Kapalia’s livelihoods, vulnerability and resilience assessments in numerous villages, and community viewpoints on regional adaptation methods to mitigate these consequences. The study found that a sustained 30.5 cm inundation would reduce local human, natural, physical, financial, and social capital resilience to 69.6%, 30.7%, 69.1%, 68.9%, and 69.1%. A constant 61 cm inundation would lower resistance to 40.9%, 8.7%, 42.4%, 45.6%, and 43.8%. Residents believe they can weather a 30.5 cm inundation with local adaptation measures, but if the water level rises to 61 cm, they may be displaced.

Comprehensive Analysis of the Effects of Superplasticizer Variation on the Workability and Strength of Ready-Mix Concrete

This experimental study aims to examine the influence of many crucial parameters on the workability and compressive strength of Ready-Mix Concrete (RMC). The study utilized two distinct varieties of superplasticizers obtained from the local market. The fine aggregates utilized in this study were sourced from Sylhet sand, whereas the coarse aggregates were comprised of boulder crushed stone chips. The experimental procedures adhered to the requirements outlined by ASTM. A comprehensive investigation was conducted on a range of concrete compositions that used diverse chemical admixtures. The slump test was performed at regular intervals of 15 minutes until the slump value reached or fell below 3 cm after the mixing of the concrete. In the scenario involving two-stage admixture dosage, the second stage of admixture was introduced once the slump reached or dropped below 3 cm, following which the casting process was initiated. The process of curing concrete specimens consists of two distinct stages: the main stage and the final stage. Cylindrical specimens, with a diameter of 4 inches and a height of 8 inches, were manufactured for the purpose of evaluating their compressive strength at both 7 and 28 days. During the experimental trials, the water-cement (w/c) ratio was kept consistent, while different dosages of admixture were applied. The findings of the study indicate that the utilization of a two-stage dose of admixture resulted in enhanced and extended workability, along with higher strength of the concrete in comparison to specimens that did not incorporate any admixture. This research study enhances the comprehension of optimizing qualities of ready-mix concrete (RMC) by varying the superplasticizer, providing useful insights for the building sector.

A Novel Topology of Single-Phase AC-DC Integrated Boost-SEPIC (IBS) Converter Using Common Part Sharing Method (CPSM) for High Step-Up Applications

A novel topology of Integrated Boost-SEPIC (IBS) AC-DC converter using common part sharing method (CPSM) has been proposed in this paper. Conventional boost converters with bridge rectifier configuration are inefficient due to limited voltage step-up ratio which may not be applicable for high step-up applications as in the case of micro generators. The proposed IBS topology is based on the common part sharing method capable of operating both for positive and negative half cycle of the input signal. Result and simulation were conducted using PSIM environment. The proposed AC-DC IBS topology eliminates the requirement of bridge rectifier achieving high efficiency (about 99%), improved power factor (0.75, leading) and lower THD (about 38.8%) which is within IEEE standard.

A Comparative Study of Dispersion Characteristics Determination of a Trapezoidally Corrugated Slow Wave Structure Using Different Techniques

The linear dispersion relation of a trapezoidally corrugated slow wave structure （TCSWS） is analyzed and presented. The size parameters of the TCSWS are chosen in such a way that they operate in the x-band frequency range. The dispersion relation is solved by utilizing the Rayleigh-Fourier method by expressing the radial function in terms of the Fourier series. A highly accurate synthetic technique is also applied to determine the complete dispersion characteristics from experimentally measured resonances （cold test）. Periodic structures resonate at specific frequencies when the terminals are shorted numerical calculation, synthetic technique and cold appropriately. The dispersion characteristics obtained from test are compared, and an excellent agreement is achieved.

Bio-inspired optimization algorithms for optical parameter extraction of dielectric materials: A comparative study

Particle swarm optimization(PSO) and invasive weed optimization(IWO) algorithms are used for extracting the modeling parameters of materials useful for optics and photonics research community. These two bio-inspired algorithms are used here for the first time in this particular field to the best of our knowledge. The algorithms are used for modeling graphene oxide and the performances of the two are compared. Two objective functions are used for different boundary values. Root mean square(RMS) deviation is determined and compared.

Heavily doped silicon:A potential replacement of conventional plasmonic metals

The plasmonic property of heavily doped p-type silicon is studied here.Although most of the plasmonic devices use metal-insulator-metal(MIM)waveguide in order to support the propagation of surface plasmon polaritons(SPPs),metals that possess a number of challenges in loss management,polarization response,nanofabrication etc.On the other hand,heavily doped p-type silicon shows similar plasmonic properties like metals and also enables us to overcome the challenges possessed by metals.For numerical simulation,heavily doped p-silicon is mathematically modeled and the theoretically obtained relative permittivity is compared with the experimental value.A waveguide is formed with the p-silicon-air interface instead of the metal-air interface.Formation and propagation of SPPs similar to MIM waveguides are observed.

Comparison of the LTE Performance Parameters in Different Environments under Close Loop Spatial Multiplexing (CLSM) Mode in Downlink LTE-A

LTE-A present deployment strategies are likely to overcome the User Equipment (UE) performance degradation, in certain parts of the topology incorporated with coverage block holes, due to the presence of high rise buildings. It also promises to serve the increase of high user density, which otherwise results in capacity exhaustion of the macro cells. LTE-A addresses these challenges with new features such as small cell and femto cell in its recent releases. Small cell is a low-cost alternative to macro cell in rural and hard-to-reach areas and its installation at strategic points overcomes the capacity and coverage problem. In contrast, Heterogeneous network with its ubiquitous coverage can deliver high-speed data. In this paper, several LTE Key performance indicators e.g. average UE throughput, average area throughput, spectral efficiency, fairness index are analyzed between small cell network and Heterogeneous network in close loop spatial multiplexing mode (CLSM). Besides, we also emphasize on the point to find out the best suited network architecture for overpopulated and densely urban region under proportional fair scheduling algorithm.

Development of Genetic Algorithm (GA) Based Optimized PID Controller for Stability Analysis of DC-DC Buck Converter

This paper delineates a conventional buck converter controlled by optimized PID controller where Genetic Algorithm (GA) is employed with a view to enhancing the performance by analyzing the performance parameters. Genetic Algorithm is a probabilistic search algorithm which is substantially used as an optimization technique in power electronics. A bunch of modifications have already been introduced to enhance the performance depending upon the applications. However, in this paper, modified genetic algorithm has been used in order to tune the key parameters in the converter. Hence, an analysis is carried out where the performance of the converter is illustrated in terms of rise time, settling time and percentage of overshoot by deploying GA based PID controller and the overall comparative study is presented. Responses of the overall system are accumulated through rigorous simulation in MATLAB environment.

Downlink Performance of Beamforming for High Mobility Users in 5G Cellular Network

5G cellular infrastructures are supposed to provide higher data rate and lower latency along with the prospects of other various novel applications. But the signal strength seems to fluctuate unexpectedly due to doppler shift resulting in negative impacts on downlink performance parameters over the network for high-speed users. One potential solution to overcome this problem can be the concentration of energy to a particular location using multiple antennas at the base station so that receiving power can be increased for the intended user while suppressing interferences from others. So, this paper has investigated the performance of beamforming with closed loop spatial multiplexing over a specific range of velocity of users. However, the simulation results also demonstrate that by scaling the number of transmitting antennas, beamforming can elevate average throughput, improve quality of service for cell edge users and ensure better spectral efficiency under any existing scheduler with no complexities involved in system designing. Moreover, through the estimations of the channel conditions obtained from the precoding matrix of closed loop spatial multiplexing, the strength of the transmitted signal can be amplified accordingly to improve mean throughput and minimize the bit error rate. Therefore, the proposed scheme of scaling transmitting antennas through CLSM along with beamforming seems to circumvent the repercussions of doppler shift on downlink (DL) performance of high velocity cellular users.

Design of a Simple Integrated Coupler for SPP Excitation in a Dielectric Coated Ag Thin Film

A simple integrated coupler is proposed for the efficient excitation of surface plasmon polariton （SPP） mode in a thin metal film. The SPP mode is generated in a single Ag-dielectric interface by the incident field and coupled with an Ag thin film. The coupling efficiency at different wavelengths using two different dielectrics, gallium lanthanum sulfide （GLS） and aluminum gallium arsenide （AIGaAs） is calculated by analyzing the SPP propagation dynamics with the finite difference time domain method. A maximum coupling efficiency of 70~ is obtained at a wavelength of 46Ohm when GLS is used, whereas the corresponding value obtained for A1GaAs is 60~o at 56Onto. The proposed structure can be used to excite SPPs in a nano-thin film from an external bulky source and is easier to fabricate since a single interface metal-dielectric configuration is used to excite the metal-thin film.

Technical Investigation on V2G,S2V,and V2I for Next Generation Smart City Planning

The paper investigates a few of the major areas of the next generation technological advancement,“smart city planning concept”.The areas that the paper focuses are vehicle to grid(V2G),sun to vehicle(S2V),and vehicle to infrastructure(V2I).For the bi-directional crowd energy single entity concept,V2G and building to grid(B2G)are the primary parts of distributed renewable generation(DRG)under smart living.This research includes an in-depth overview of this three major areas.Next,the research conducts a case analysis of V2G,S2V,and V2I along with their possible limitations in order to find out the novel solutions for future development both for academia and industry levels.Lastly,few possible solutions have been proposed to minimize the limitations and to develop the existing system for future expansion.

Dual Mode-Multiple Output SEPIC Converter Integrated with Passive Ripple Cancelling Circuit for Standalone PV Energy Harvesting System

This document addresses an exhaustive standalone Photovoltaic (PV) energy harvesting system considering two crucial issues: system efficiency and cost effectiveness. It contributes a compact resolution with a combined feature of Dual Mode-Multiple Output (DMMO) associated with input ripple reduction technique. Control strategy incorporates with aspect of Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) and output voltage levels regulation. A theoretical analysis is conducted to evaluate the effect of ripple current on PV power. Proposed dual mode converter achieves efficiency of 98.36% and 97.76% respectively for mode-1 and mode-2 operation. However, simulation is performed applying MATLAB/SIMULINK tools to analyze the feasibility of the recommended system.

Extraction of optimized parameters for Si_(0.6)Ge_(0.4)material and SPP mode propagation through Si_(0.6)Ge_(0.4)/Ag/Si_(0.6)Ge_(0.4)waveguide

The Lorentz model and modified Debye model(MDM)parameters for Si0.6Ge0.4are presented.A nonlinear optimization algorithm is developed.The obtained parameters are used to determine the complex relative permittivity of Si0.6Ge0.4,and compared with the experimental data for validation.Finally the obtained parameters are used to analyze the properties of symmetric surface plasmon polariton(SPP)mode propagation in a dielectric-metal-dielectric(DMD)material constructed with silver(Ag)and Si0.6Ge0.4for further verifying the extracted parameters.

A software-based approach in designing a rooftop bifacial PV system for the North Hall of Residence, IUT

Bifacial rooftop photovoltaic panels appear to be an excellent means of power generation in this era of urbanization,especially for land-limited countries like Bangladesh.This paper presents a software-based approach to design and simulate a bifacial solar-panel-based energy model on the rooftop of the North Hall of Residence of the Islamic University of Technology,Gazipur.This vertically mounted model investigates the feasibility and applicability of such an energy model in a university residence,situated in a load-shedding-prone area.Hence,three prominent software platforms,namely PVSOL,PVsyst and System Advisor Model(SAM),are brought into action and rigorous simulations are performed for three different orientations;promising outcomes are observed in terms of annual energy yield,bifacial gain(BG)and consumption coverage of the grid and PV model.The annual energy demand of the North Hall is~444733.5 kWh.The three orientations can generate annually 92508.62,94643.48 and 86758.94 kWh,respectively.Hence,it is evident that the proposed orientations can supply almost 19-21%of the site’s annual demand.Monthly BG analysis shows an overall increase in energy gain of 13%,15.6%and 6%for Orientation-1,Orientation-2 and Orientation-3,respectively.A rigorous comparative analysis and deviation analysis among the software results has been accomplished to gain more insight into the feasibility of the proposed system.Thus,we have focused on a detailed software-based estimation of energy production for different orientations of the PV panels,considering several factors,which will provide prior knowledge and assessment before going for hardware implementation in the future.

Propagation of Surface Plasmon Polariton in the Single Interface of Gallium Lanthanum Sulfide and Silver

surface-plasmon-polariton (SPP ) 的繁殖特征在银(Ag ) 和镓镧硫化物(图文集) 的单个接口的模式被学习了经分解并且数字地。获得的数字结果与分析的显示出一个优秀协议。沿着繁殖的方向的空间回声点的地点为电介质和金属被决定。

Experimental Investigation of Micro Heat Pipes of Different Cross-Sections Having Same Hydraulic Diameter

微热的效果尖叫(MHP ) 它的热表演上的剖面图和取向试验性地在这研究被调查。测试用五张不同剖面图被进行(圆形、半圆形、椭圆、半椭圆、矩形) 有 3 的一样的水力的直径的微热管子，公里在三个不同倾斜角度放了(0 °， 45 °， 90 °) ，在水被用作工作液体的地方。MHP 的蒸发器节被一个电的加热器加热，冷凝器节被水的循环在在 condenser 节和水夹克衫之间的环隙凉下来。在 MHP 的不同地点的温度用五个校准的 K 类型热电偶被测量。热供应用被一个精确电流计和一个伏特计测量的一个电压管理者被改变。当 MHP 被弄平，热性能趋于败坏，这被发现。因此在 MHP 的所有剖面图之中，圆形的以流动驱散由半椭圆、半圆形、椭圆、矩形的剖面图跟随了的热展出最好的热表演。而且，它的热转移能力也与它的倾斜角度减少减少。最后，关联被开发它在 +7% 以内盖住所有试验性的数据。

Nature-inspired Hybrid Optimization Algorithms for Load Flow Analysis of Islanded Microgrids

Load flow analysis is a significant tool for proper planning,operation,and dynamic analysis of a power system that provides the steady-state values of voltage magnitudes and angles at the fundamental frequency.However,due to the absence of a slack bus in an islanded microgrid,modified load flow algorithms should be adopted considering the system frequency as one of the solution variables.This paper proposes the application of nature-inspired hybrid optimization algorithms for solving the load flow problem of islanded microgrids.Several nature-inspired algorithms such as genetic algorithm(GA),differential evolution(DE),flower pollination algorithm(FPA),and grasshopper optimization algorithm(GOA)are separately merged with imperialistic competitive algorithm(ICA)to form four hybrid algorithms named as ICGA,ICDE,ICFPA,and ICGOA.Performances of these algorithms are tested on the 6-bus test system and the modified IEEE 37-bus test system.A comparison among the proposed algorithms is carried out in terms of statistical analysis conducted using SPSS statistics software.From the statistical analysis,it is identified that on an average,ICDE takes less number of iterations and consequently needs less execution time compared with other algorithms in solving the load flow problem of islanded microgrids.