Volume 15, Issue 3, March 2024 Edition - IJSER Journal Publication


Publication for Volume 15, Issue 3, March 2024 Edition - IJSER Journal Publication

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Examining Pakistan's Potential for Small Modular Reactors to Promote Energy Security and Sustainability []


The potential of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) to meet Pakistan's energy difficulties and improve its energy security and sustainability is examined in this research study. SMRs are appealing choices for decentralised power generation because of their distinctive qualities, which include reduced size, modular design, and improved safety measures. The advantages of SMRs for Pakistan are outlined in the study, including how they can help the country fulfil its increasing energy needs, improve grid stability, lessen its dependency on foreign fuels, and cut down on greenhouse gas emissions. It assesses various SMR designs, taking into account aspects like safety, scalability, and economic viability. These designs include NuScale, Rolls-Royce, GE Hitachi, and CAREM. The adoption and integration of SMRs into Pakistan's energy portfolio is encouraged by suggestions made for policymakers, industry stakeholders, and other pertinent actors. These include creating regulatory frameworks, funding research and development, encouraging public-private partnerships, improving the development of human capital, and involving stakeholders. Pakistan can shift to a more robust and sustainable energy future by utilising the special benefits of SMRs and putting supportive laws and programmes into place.

The impact of educational technology in mitigating learning loss due to students’ irregular attendance []


The paper examined the impact of technology in mitigating learning loss from irregular attendance of students in their classes. It also examined the relationship of irregularity to the student’s academic performance in Uganda’s tertiary institutions and Universities. This study followed a descriptive study based on quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data was obtained from students selected by non-proportional stratified sampling. Qualitative data was obtained from the campus Academic Registrars, lecturers, Heads of Departments, ICT personnel, and students selected purposively. Separate mixed questionnaires were employed for quantitative data and open-ended questionnaires to collect qualitative data. The study indicated the portion of the irregularity of students in their classes and the main reasons for their irregular attendance. The study indicated a positive significant relationship between the class attendance of students and their academic performance. The study indicated how educational technology mitigates learning loss. Keywords: Educational technology, Irregular Attendance, mitigation, Academic performance.

Design and Analysis of A Rectangular Microstrip Patch Antenna for various frequency bands []


Abstract: The aim of this work is to design a rectangular microstrip patch antenna using a transmission line model. The design was carried out using different frequencies of operation and dielectric constant. The selected frequencies were bands – L (1.6 GHz), S-band (3.5 GHz), C band (7 GHz), X band (10 GHz), and Ku-band (15 GHz). The dielectric constant and the frequency were varied at a separate time to determine the parameters of the designed antennas. Finally, the values of the frequency and the dielectric constant were varied at the same time while the length, width, height, and other parameters were determined. It was observed from the results that the size of the antenna reduces as the frequency increases. It was also observed that the bandwidth of a patch antenna depends on the value of the dielectric constant. It is concluded that a patch antenna with a lower dielectric constant performs better than that with a higher dielectric constant. This result will be useful to antenna designers on the appropriate parameters to use to enable an antenna to function efficiently when designing an antenna. It will also aid satellite communication Engineers, communication Engineers, and radio scientists on the appropriate type of antenna to use in various wireless communication technologies especially when space and weights are important factors to consider.

Behavior of Concrete Members with Compression Mechanical Splice []


Mechanical bar splices or what commonly known as couplers, have been used in reinforced concrete structures for a long time to directly connect steel bars in lieu of conventional lap splicing. Generally, when mechanical splices are mentioned, the focus drawn toward the tensile properties of the splice and neglect the compression side, because almost all the time it is the most critical stress at any given section. But what if this was not the case and the section is subjected to compressive stress only, Using the same splice that are mint to satisfy a more critical and Stricter case (tensile stress) with the same precautions for a more forgiven case (compression stress) will result in over conservative implementation of the splice. This research will focus on the compression side as the main and critical stress, to develop an economical splice that can satisfy the design requirement without any unnecessary precautions. This thesis will evaluate the potential application of mechanical reinforcing bar splices that are intently used to resist mainly compression stresses, and what if it is feasible to use it in the construction market. An experimental investigation was performed to determine what is the best performing mechanical splice of many that vary in shape and mechanism, but come to gather of being cheap, easy to install and questionable in tension. Twenty-six specimens in total were fabricated and examined. The specimens’ tests were divided in to two phases, The first phase consist of seventeen specimens that will be tested in a progressive sequence, where will change the coupler conditions (length and bolts spacing); aiming to narrow the coupler shape, length and installation condition. This phase will test the couplers bare with it been submerged in concrete; to have a clear illustration on how the coupler will perform later on if it were to be chosen to continue in the following tests in the second phase, where it will be used in a reinforced concrete member. The second phase of testing will consist of Nine specimens, we will take the chosen coupler from the previse phase of tests and utilize it in a real-world application, in reinforced concrete member. The first three specimens will be the control specimen, the mechanical threaded spliced specimen and a lap spliced specimen, where the couplers that are focused on in this thesis will not be used. The rest will incorporate the chosen coupler from the First phase of Tests. The fourth, fifth and sixth specimens will study the stirrups density twice. The seventh and eighth specimens will change the staggering distance. And the last specimen we will change the main RFT diameter, as a trail to find the limits for the selected coupler. The test results shows that the members using the selected splice increased the capacity of the member. Therefore, research in this point should continue to have a clear understanding for all aspects and behavior, that hopefully lead to adopting it in a broader scale. The test results show that the members with bars that were spliced with the chosen sleeve coupler performed better than all of the legacy bar connecting method (lap and mechanical) and better than a member with a plain continuous bar. Changing the staggering distance has almost no effect on the capacity of the member neither on it is mode of failure, and that is cannot be said about the density stirrup. as predicted, increasing the stirrups density will increase the member capacity period. Conclusion, the sleeve compression splice is a valid cheaper and easier alternative for the legacy expensive couplers in some use cases that mainly resist compression stresses.

Impact of CSR on FP of Ethiopian Commercial banks (a case study at Wegagen Bank S.c) []


Corporate social responsibility has become an important area of modern corporate research theory, and the development of CSR activities all over the world is remarkable. While the relationship between corporate social responsibility and corporate financial performance is still ambiguous. This study aimed to see the impact of corporate social responsibility on financial performance of commercial banks with a case study at wegagen bank s.c.in the banking industry specifically. Descriptive method was employed in this study and also this study used both the quantitative and qualitative research design. The study uses a non-probability Purposive sampling technique during the process of data collection from respondents. Data were collected using both primary and secondary sources (documentary review, questionnaires and interview). Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) used to analyze data where statistical tools applied were correlation regression, percentages and trend analysis. There are different types of CSR activities that the bank is providing to the community and CSR is positively related to financial performance of the bank which implies that in order to improve financial performance organizations should engage themselves into CSR activities to the society and Industry type has strong effect on the relationship between CSR and financial performance of a given company Resource or budgets both in financial and non financial like human power, lack of researches in the area, problem of implementation and follow up and lack of credibility are challenges whereas building corporate image, increasing depositors and deposits, getting foreign currency from abroad by being partner for NGO’s by donating and forcing them to open account in the bank and attracting new customers seen as an opportunity.

Experimental Investigation into Viscosity and Thermal Conductivity of bio nanofluid produced from Periwinkle shell nanoparticles []


In this research for the first time, periwinkle shell nanoparticles produced for nanofluid application and the viscosity and thermal conductivity of the resultant nanofluids were measured. A Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) were used to analyze the sizes of the particles produced (100nm). This paper presents new findings on the synthesis of bio material to obtain nanoparticles and subsequently produced bio nanofluids. Nanofluids are prepared by dispersing Periwinkle shell- nanoparticles in deionized water. An ultrasonic sonicator was used to ensure proper mixtures of different volume fractions (0.3%, 0.6 %, 0.9 % 1.2 % and 1.5%) of Periwinkle shell nanoparticles into base fluid (DI water). A Viscometer machine (SV-10) was used to measure the viscosity of the prepared nanofluids conveniently and water bath-thermometer setup was used to measure the thermal conductivity of various volume fractions of the Nanofluid. The experimental results show that all the values of viscosities and thermal conductivity obtained in this study at different volume fractions of the prepared nanofluids were found to be substantially higher than the values of the base fluids (deionized water). The experiments were conducted at varying temperature range (30 0C through 70 0C).

Microbial Quality and Public Health Risks Associated with Roof-Harvested Rainwater from different Rooftops in Isuikwuato local Government Area, Abia State, Nigeria. []


The study assessed the microbial quality of roof-harvested rainwater in Isuikwuato LGA, Abia State. This study adopted the survey research design. Rainwater was randomly collected from the predominant roofing sheets (Aluminium sheets, Asbestos and Corrugated Iron sheets (zincs)) from the various communities. Water samples were analysed for bacteriological content (Total Coliform count, TCC and Total Microbial Load, TML) using standard methods for the examination of water. All samples collected had detectable Coliform count per 100ml sample of water. The result indicates that samples with the highest percentage of Coliform count were those from corrugated Asbestos rooftops, followed by those from Aluminium rooftops while Zinc had the least probable number of Coliform count. Thus, higher Coliform counts were observed in the non-metallic roofing material. The presence of Coliform bacteria in the rainwater samples collected for all roof types is an indication that the harvested water have proven to be inadequate in terms of quality. For total microbial load of the water samples, SPL 1 for Aluminium roofing sheets had 1.6/100ml, Asbestos 3.4/100ml, Zinc 2.1/100ml microbial loads while two organisms (Eshericia coli and klebsiella spp) were isolated for Aluminium and Zinc roofing sheets, Klebsiella spp & streptococci spp were isolated for Asbestos roofing sheet. In all, SPL 4 (Asbestos) is the highest polluted in terms of the number of organisms isolated. Generally, the results indicate clearly the poor microbial quality of most harvested rainwater samples from this study and other previous studies. Thus, the harvested rainwater should not be consumed without suitable pre-treatment that improves the quality of the water.

Attribute Based Encryption System []


With this effort, we hope to improve attribute-based encryption's (ABE) suitability for access control to cloud-stored data. In order to do this, we focus on granting the encrypted complete control over the access privileges, enabling workable key management even in the presence of many independent authorities, and supporting workable user revocation, which is crucial in real-world applications. Our main accomplishment is an identity-based user revocation component added to the decentralised CP-ABE scheme. By removing the computational load of a revocation event from the service provider, our revocation system is made practical at the cost of some ongoing, but tolerable overhead of the encryption and decryption techniques used by the users. Consequently, a potentially large number of users bear the burden of the computing overhead.

A proposed design of E-Voting System with consuming of existing GSM infrastructure in the Aspects of Bangladesh []


The foundation of a strong democracy is an informed and engaged citizenry. What is the better way to involve citizen or engaged citizen through the power of today’s information and communication technology? Citizens around the world recognized and embrace the benefits of e-government service. Now government are initiating strategies that support e-democracy and doing so to engage more citizens in democracy process. This addresses the highly formal process of e-democracy in particular e-voting to offer governments and democratic base entities worldwide the infrastructures application and service necessary to implement and manage reliable, secure e-voting system. By integrating an electronic voting scheme with the mobile infrastructure. Using GSM base mobile technology, we are able to exploit existing secure mobile e-voting system. As like as Bangladesh is also a democratic country. Therefore, it is possible to apply this process.

Progressive Collapse Analysis of Performance-Based Designed RC Building []


Progressive collapse begins with a local failure in any one or more load-bearing structural members that spreads from one element to another element. The event is due to a change in the original load-sharing path of the structural member. The whole process leads ultimately to the collapse of the complete structure or a considerable portion. Any abnormal loading or events like vehicle collision, bomb blast, gas explosion, or earthquakes can trigger this situation. Most structural systems are reinforced concrete, which behaves on accidental action according to its inherent strength and stiffness characteristics. Redundancy plays a significant role in saving it before the collapse. Engineers analyse and suggest member sizes of the buildings through documented guidelines of the code applicable in that country. After construction, the building performance does not remain the same and deteriorates after prolonged use. In such a case, it is impossible to regulate the buildings' performance with age. The building may change to a lower performance level and be more vulnerable to collapse. Hence, the structure's behaviour is observed differently according to its robustness and redundancy. In the present study, a sample building was designed considering IO, LS and CP performance levels and examined by Push Over Analysis. Then We conducted collapse analysis using SAP 2000 on three different models in an exterior and interior column loss situation. The collapsed state has been critically examined. The IO stage building designed in Zone V of the Indian subcontinent has performed well and shows inherent collapse potential.

A Robust Power Grid Scheduling Method Based on Improved Transformer and Reinforcement Learning []


The integration of renewable energy with explosive growth in scale, inherently intermittent and stochastic, poses severe challenges to grid dispatch, while contemporary artificial intelligence technologies, rising in parallel with computational power, may serve as potent tools to address complex grid control issues. Particularly, reinforcement learning-based methods have been widely utilized and have achieved certain successes in both theoretical research and practical applications in grid dispatch. However, deploying reinforcement learning models into real-world grid dispatch tasks requires ensuring their robustness against sudden disturbances, an area that requires further investigation. In this paper, we propose a method of adversarial training that integrates historical information encoding. Specifically, we employ adversarial Markov policies to learn attack strategies, then utilize adversarial training methods to enhance the model's robustness against adversary attacks. Building upon this, we utilize GTrXL (a variant of Transformer) to encode current and historical state information, enabling the model to make more robust decisions over longer observation horizons. We experimented with the proposed method in the IEEE-14 environment provided by the L2RPN competition and compared it with the algorithms of the competition's award-winning participants, verifying the effectiveness of our approach.

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