This study evaluates the performance of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-assisted decode-and-forward (DF) relaying network. It investigates the use of Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) to ensure fairness, low latency, and added security. The impact of the transmission antenna selection technique on the network's performance, specifically the outage probability of each group of users, is analyzed. The study derives closed-form expressions for the outage probability considering the Rayleigh fading channel and evaluates the significance of NOMA ordering, channel state information (CSI), and successive interference cancellation (SIC) on the performance. Monte Carlo simulations validate the accuracy of the analytical expressions and show that factors such as imperfect CSI, SIC methods, and NOMA ordering all significantly impact outage performance in the relaying networks.
Career selection is a multi-criteria decision-making problem that can be challenging, especially when uncertainties are involved. To tackle such a problem, several decision-making techniques have been used to compare and rank the alternatives. Pythagorean Fuzzy Sets (PyFS), which are used to describe uncertainty, have also been used by some researchers in attempts to solve decision making applications. This paper introduces PyFS in type-2 Fuzzy Environments as type-2 PyFS (T2PyFS) to handle the uncertainty of a decision making problem more appropriately. Unlike conventional PyFS, T2PyFS incorporates secondary membership functions that capture higher-order uncertainty and hesitation in expert judgments, thereby providing a more realistic and flexible modeling framework. We define several arithmetic operations and algebraic properties related to it, and propose its level sets, we investigate related properties. We also develop the Hamming and Euclidean distance of our T2PyFS, and design three decision making algorithms based on the level sets, max-min-max composition and distance measure. Along the lines of academic performance, we apply the proposed decision making algorithms to quantify and compare the different criteria and alternatives systematically. Finally, we conclude this study with a comparative analysis of the proposed algorithms.
Numerous dairy farms in Nigeria have disposed of an extensive quantity of waste, resulting in pollution. Proper utilization or recycling of this waste into valuable products can reduce their environmental impact. This work emphasizes the development and characterization of a bifunctional acid-base heterogeneous catalyst from waste cow bones and termite clay. The catalyst not only helps in reducing the pollution from dairy farms but also enhances the reaction rate in the production of biodiesel, a green fuel, from a binary oil blend (1:1) comprising Cascabela thevetia nut oil and waste cooking oil. The catalyst was observed to be highly active, yielding 98.99 % biodiesel, with the produced fuel's physicochemical properties meeting the ASTM specifications. The structural, thermal, and elemental composition of the catalyst was studied using various analytical techniques, such as TGA/ DTA, EDX, FTIR, XRD, BET, and SEM. Kinetic analysis revealed pseudo-first-order behavior with an associated activation energy of 63.30 kJ/mol. This novel approach can provide a sustainable solution to dairy farm waste management as well as facilitate the efficient production of biodiesel, offering a greener substitute to conventional fuels.
The increasing level of microplastics (MPs) pollution has shown the necessity to find solutions to remediate this issue. Due to the existence of MPs in aquatic life and the increased consumption of aquatic creatures (shellfish and fish), concerns are raised regarding the detrimental impacts of MPs on the human body. The freshwater extracellular polymeric substance (EPS)-secreting Chroococcidiopsis cubana microalgae was selected for this study to remove polystyrene (PS) microplastics. The amount of EPS secretion and hetero-aggregation formation was found to be the primary mechanism of MPs removal. In this work, the removal efficiency was evaluated based on variations in microalgae (1*106 to 3*106 cells/mL) and MPs concentrations (80000 to 120,000 number/mL) over time, along with a life cycle assessment and cost analysis of the complete MPs removal process. For all experiments, the removal efficiency was higher than 75 %. Different types of characterization analysis (SEM, FTIR, and Fluorescence) confirmed the formation of hetero-aggregation, which led to the removal of a higher percentage of MPs. The effect of using pre-exposed microalgae on MPs removal efficiency was determined. A comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) of the entire process was conducted to assess the environmental effect of removing 1 kg of MPs. The results indicated lower values of global warming potential (5.55 kg CO2-Eq), human toxicity potential, water depletion potential and other environmental parameters. Overall, the LCA confirms that the process follows an environmentally friendly and sustainable approach, aligned with acceptable impact indicators.
The impact of the angle of incidence on the orthogonal component of ground excitation for low-rise, multistory, regular, and irregular plan asymmetric structural systems was acknowledged to be remarkable. In seismic design, structures are permitted to experience a specified level of inelastic deformation under the dual design philosophy and its extension into performance-based design. The interaction of bidirectional impact within an inelastic range was proposed as a justified response range for each story level, due to the bidirectional eccentric combination. This general class of eccentric variation led to the centre of stiffness and the centre of mass, which remain changeable for each low-rise multistory system at the story level. Considering the same, rotational components of twenty far-field and near-fault ground excitations around the structure have been performed under 360 degrees orientation, and the impact has been appraised for every 15 degrees interval to improve comprehension in a clockwise sense. This study prioritises nonlinear time-history analysis to detail inelastic deformations precisely with a bidirectional hysteresis model. The findings indicate that the impact of the angle of incidence has produced a significantly acceptable performance-based levels response for low-rise multistory regular or irregular plan systems under bidirectional interaction effect of column elements, and suggest significant guidelines for seismic design tuning.
