International Journal of Computational Materials Science and Engineering

The rigid pavements and rigid base supporting rails can be considered as a strip footing resting over an embankment. In addition, there can also be single or double-strip footings resting over an embankment. These strip footings are influenced by the properties of the soil, slope angle of an embankment, setback distance, and spacing between the footings and the height of embankment. In this study, the bearing capacity factors for the single- and double-strip footings resting over an embankment are evaluated using the finite element method (FEM). The bearing capacity factors $N_c^{\prime }$ and $N_{\gamma }^{\prime }$ are evaluated for different soil friction angles $(\varphi )$, slope angles of embankment $(\beta )$, setback distances $(S)$, embankment heights $(D)$ and spacing between the footings $(t)$. Considering the practical aspect, i.e., the surcharge is not present for footing on an embankment, the $N_q^{\prime }$ is not evaluated in the study. Based on the analysis, it is observed that the bearing capacity factors $N_c^{\prime }$ and $N_{\gamma }^{\prime }$ increase with increase in friction angle of the soil and setback distance and reduce with increase in the slope angle of the embankment. The effect of depth of embankment on the $N_c^{\prime }$ and $N_{\gamma }^{\prime }$ is negligible for smaller friction angles $(\varphi \le 20^{\circ })$, whereas it increases marginally for higher friction angles $(\varphi >20^{\circ })$. Furthermore, the $N_c^{\prime }$ and $N_{\gamma }^{\prime }$ are influenced by the spacing between the footings. This study’s results are compared with the results available in the literature. This study’s results are presented as design charts, and these could be adopted in the practice in routine designs of shallow foundations.

In this paper, propagation of thermoelastic waves in semi-conducting nanostructure medium is studied. First, the governing equations are formulated with the help of coupled nonlocal elasticity theory, thermoelastic three-phase-lag model, and equation of motion. Heat equation with fractional order is incorporated to study thermal effects on the propagation of wave. The problem is solved using Fourier series and Laplace transform to obtain the exact expressions of physical fields. The distributions of the nondimensional carrier density and stresses are obtained and illustrated graphically. The effects of nonlocal parameter, fractional order parameter, and time parameter on these wave characteristics are concerned and discussed in detail. Some semiconductor materials as Silicon (Si) and Germanium (Ge) are used to make the numerical simulation and some comparisons in different thermal memories are made.

Soil liquefaction is considered as one of the most significant issues that leads to failure of shallow and deep foundations. However, the effect of liquefaction on the seismic response of piles still poorly understood. Therefore, this research examines the seismic response of a pile embedded in soil stratum of saturated fine-grained soils. Midas GTS/NX is used to carry out the number assessment. In addition, the modified UBCSAND soil constitutive model is used to depict the nonlinear features of saturated sand during earthquake waves. The developed three-dimensional model is first validated using the results of a shaking table test of a pile embedded in coarse-grained soil, where good agreement is obtained between the finite element model and the experimental results for the displacement, acceleration, and liquefaction ratio demonstrated good agreement. Furthermore, the orientations of the vectors produced by the numerical study, that matched a global circular flow characteristic, reflected the movement of the liquefied soil all around pile. The findings showed a considerable decrease in the pile frictional resistance during the seismic events as a consequence of increasing the pore water pressure and subsequent liquefaction. Regarding this, before the soil was entirely softened, resistance due to friction was observed near the ground, in correspondence with the loose sand layer. In addition, the pile showed excessive settling, which is due to the decrease of the soil stiffness caused by the increase of the pore water pressure. The results of this research provide an insight into the mechanism of the behavior of pile in saturated coarse-grained soils and thus, it helps to improve future research on the topic and also achieve better design of piles embedded in saturated coarse-grained soils.

The conventional first-principles density-functional theory (DFT) predicts a negative bandgap of the thermoelectric semiconductor Bi₂O₂Te, which needs to be corrected. To enable a higher-level precise calculation, in this report, we include the self-consistent on-site $U$ and inter-site $V$ interactions in our studies, the so-called $\mathrm{\text{DFT}}+U+V$ method, and demonstrate that it significantly improves the description of excited states of Bi₂O₂Te. The on-site interactions of Te-p and O-p play an essential role and substantially improve the band gap of Bi₂O₂Te. Inter-site interaction between Bi-s, Bi-p, and O-p within the [Bi₂O₂] layer and between the intercalated Te layer and the [Bi₂O₂] layer further increases the band gap. Thermoelectric coefficient calculations show a significant Seebeck coefficient and the power factor in p-type doping, which originates from the intercalated Te layer.

Due to their strong molecular hyperpolarizability, organic push–pull materials are gaining interest for nonlinear optical applications. We were able to characterize the intramolecular charge transfer and the distribution of the electron cloud within the molecular unit by exciting these materials under the influence of an electric field. The series products of conjugated monomers derived from acrylo–azobenzene containing in the para position the attracting groups (–H, –NO₂, –COOC₂H₅, –SO₃H and –COOH) exhibit good nonlinear optical activity. We computed the nonlinear optical characteristics of these compounds as well as exploiting the theoretical calculations of DFT and AM1 to determine their hyperpolarizabilities. Besides, we investigated the increase in hyperpolarizability in the push–pull model of organic compounds under the effect of the strength of attracting groups, the existence of the conjugated $\pi$-electron and the azo bridge.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is listed among the top 20 leading causes of death worldwide, highlighting the urgent need for effective methods of early disease prediction for chronic conditions. This paper presents a novel strategy for the early diagnosis of CKD, leveraging machine learning (ML) methods to support researchers in their pursuit of preventative approaches. The study incorporates data from 400 patients, analyzing a comprehensive set of 25 attributes. The missing values in the dataset handled by mean and mode statistics were employed for numerical and nominal dimensions respectively. The recursive feature elimination (RFE) with cross-validation (CV) technique was utilized to identify the most crucial attributes. The resulting predictive model achieved positive outcomes in terms of accuracy, precision, recall, and $F$-measure across all implemented classification algorithms (random forest (RF), Naive Bayes (NB), decision tree (DT), multi-layer neural network (MLNN), partial decision tree algorithm (PART), repeated incremental pruning to produce error reduction (RIPPER), $k$ Star and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost)). Notably, the XGBoost classification algorithm demonstrated an impressive accuracy of up to 99.5%. The utilization of predictive models is indispensable for healthcare professionals, as they play a pivotal role in enabling early detection of CKD and mitigating the risk of kidney failure occurrence. This research offers valuable insights into the development of reliable methods for the early identification of CKD, providing a promising avenue for enhancing patient outcomes and reducing the burden of this prevalent chronic condition.