Thermal insulators have a crucial role in reducing the operational building energy. They are commonly fabricated from petrochemical materials that mostly cause negative environmental impacts. This study aims to develop banana leaves-polystyrene composites (BL-PS) as a sustainable and low-cost thermal insulator. The BL powder was mixed with PS in different weight ratios (90:10, 80:20, 70:30, and 60:40). Thermal conductivity, electrical conductivity, SEM, XRD, FTIR, TGA, and DSC were carried out on BL and BL-PS composites that were prepared with 10 wt.% of PS powder (BL-PS1) and 30 wt.% of PS

Nano particles contribute as a partial substitute in the production of eco-friendly building materials. This research presents a quantitative assessment of the sustainability effect of partially replacing cement in the green concrete mix with two types of nano-waste particles. The assessment is achieved using two weighing criteria developed by a Sustainable Decision Support System (SDSS) model. This assesses the alternatives using scoring systems based on both the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) technique and Multi-Criteria decision analysis method. Ten sustainable aspects comprising four

Much research has focused on the development of optimal strategies for rehabilitation and replacement of water and sewer infrastructures. Condition assessment is an integral component in any asset management program for assessing the asset physical condition. Determining the condition of buried infrastructure tends to be cumbersome, costly and error-prone. As such, decision makers must balance the value of obtained information through condition assessments with the cost of obtaining this information. Such decisions must balance between conflicting needs and need to consider the sought level of

This work explores a novel simple technique to investigate the shelf life of fruit using Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS). EIS is a non-destructive analysis that focuses on studying the electrical impedance variations during ripening of fruit. The purpose of this study is the use of a biodegradable natural plastic packaging for extending fruit and vegetable shelf life. Polyethylene Terephthalate is currently used for food packaging such vegetables, fruit and meat. It is a tough and flexible plastic material with high impact strength, but it has the disadvantages of synthetic plastics

Double-dispersion impedance models are important for the accurate fitting of spectral impedance measurements in Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS). While the Cole–Cole model is the most widely known, it is possible to define double-dispersion Cole–Davidson and Havriliak–Negami models as well. In this work, we show that more freedom can be exercised when these three models are combined together and that this combination can be done in various forms. Experimental results using a two-stage optimization algorithm applied on the suggested models are provided. © 2021, European Biophysical

The need for portable and low-cost bio-impedance analyzers that can be deployed in field studies has significantly increased. Due to size and power constraints, reducing the hardware in these devices is crucial and most importantly is removing the need for direct phase measurement. In this paper a new magnitude-only technique based on modified Kramers–Kronig transforms is proposed and tested. Comparison with impedance measurements of fresh and aging tomato samples using a precise industry standard impedance analyzer is carried out and explained. Error and noise analysis of the proposed

In this paper, different integer and fractional-order models are studied from electrical point of view, these models are used to fit the measured impedance data for different types of fruits and vegetables. Experimental work is done on eight different models for six types of fruits to verify the best fitting model. Electric impedance is measured in the range of frequencies (200 mHz–200 Khz) using a non-destructive method, where the tissues are not damaged by electrode insertion. Moreover, two integer order models have been extended to the fractional order domain where data analysis and fitting

A novel non-uniform Kramers–Kronig Transform algorithm for bioimpedance phase extraction is proposed and tested in this work. The algorithm error is studied and compared with a previously proposed phase extraction technique, also based on the Kramers–Kronig transform. Results using simulated datasets and experimental datasets confirm the excellent performance of the algorithm. © 2020, European Biophysical Societies' Association.

This paper studies banana fruit ripping using the Cole-impedance model fitted over the measured bio-impedance data by monitoring the changes in the model parameters during the different ripping stages. A set of twenty bananas are tested for 84 hours, and impedance measurements are done every 12 hours using an SP150 electrochemical station. The changes in model parameters are related to the physical changes in the fruit as well as with the glucose concentration, which increases with time. © 2019 IEEE.

This paper demonstrates the possibility of extracting the single-dispersion and double-dispersion Cole-bio-impedance model parameters using oscillators (sinusoidal or relaxation). The method is based on replacing selected components in the oscillator structure with the biological sample under test and then using the Flower Pollination optimization Algorithm (FPA) to solve a set of nonlinear equations in order to extract the unknown model parameters. Minimum component sinusoidal oscillators and relaxation oscillators are used in this work and experimental results on three samples of four