The use of suitable mass rearing methods is crucial to establish successful inundative or

inoculative biological control programs. The development of an artificial diet considerably

reduces costs of mass rearing. In this study, the efficacy of a new meridic artificial

diet for rearing the predatory bug, Orius albidipennis (Het., Anthocoridae), was studied.

The artificial diet was composed of some natural materials including lamb liver, hen yolk,

whey protein, honey, royal jelly and some specific vitamins. To determine the artificial diet

efficacy life table parameters of the bugs, using the two-sex life table method, fed artificial

and factitious diets, Ephestia kuehniella egg + date palm pollen, were compared. Results

showed that O. albidipennis could complete its life stages and reproduce when reared on the

recommended artificial diet. However, its fecundity and survival rate when fed the artificial

diet was lower than the controls. Overall, due to lower production costs the artificial diet

can be recommended for mass rearing of O. albidipennis despite the lower fecundity and

survival rate.

Time-Frequency (t-f) distributions are frequently employed for analysis of new-born EEG signals because of their non-stationary characteristics. Most of the existing time-frequency distributions fail to concentrate energy for a multicomponent signal having multiple directions of energy distribution in the t-f domain. In order to analyse such signals, we propose an Adaptive Directional Time-Frequency Distribution (ADTFD). The ADTFD outperforms other adaptive kernel and fixed kernel TFDs in terms of its ability to achieve high resolution for EEG seizure signals. It is also shown that the ADTFD can be used to define new time-frequency features that can lead to better classification of EEG signals, e.g. the use of the ADTFD leads to 97.5% total accuracy, which is by 2% more than the results achieved by the other methods.

The main purpose of this study is to analyze the thermomechanical behavior of the dry contact between the brake disc and pads during the braking phase. The simulation strategy is based on softawe ANSYS11. The modeling of transient temperature in the disc brake is actually used to identify the factor of geometric design of the disc to install the ventilation system in vehicles. The thermal-structural analysis is then used with coupling to determine the deformation established and the Von Mises stress in the disc, the contact pressure distribution in pads. The results are satisfactory compared to those of the specialized literature.

The increased power density, reduced switching losses with minimum electromagnetic interference (EMI), and high efficiency are essential requirements of power converters. To achieve these characteristics, soft power converters employing soft switching techniques are indispensable. In this paper, a ZCS/ZVS PWM AC/DC converter topology has been emphasized, which finds applications in high power systems such as automobile battery charging and renewable energy systems. This converter scheme maintains zero current and zero voltage switching conditions at turn on and turn off moments of semiconductor switches, respectively and soft operation of rectifier diodes that lead to negligible switching and diode reverse recovery losses. Moreover, it improves power quality and presents high input power factor, low total harmonic distortion of the input current (THDI) and improved efficiency. The validity of theoretical analysis of the proposed converter has been carried out experimentally on a 10 kW laboratory prototype. Experimental results prove that the soft switching operation of the semiconductor switches and diodes is maintained at 98.6% rated load efficiency. In addition, the performance evaluation has been performed by comparative analysis of the proposed converter with some prior art high power AC/DC converters. Efficiencies of the proposed and prior art high power topologies have been determined for different load conditions. The highest efficiency, power factor and lower THDI of the proposed converter topology complies with international standards.

In this paper cluster consensus is investigated for general fractional-order multi agent systems with nonlinear dynamics via adaptive sliding mode controller. First, cluster consensus for fractional-order nonlinear multi agent systems with general formis investigated. Then, cluster consensus for the fractional-order nonlinear multi agent systems with first-order and general form dynamics is investigated by using adaptive sliding mode controller. Sufficient conditions for achieving cluster consensus for general fractional-order nonlinear multi agent systems are proved based on algebraic graph theory, Lyapunov stability theorem andMittag-Leffler function. Finally, simulation examples are presented for first-order and general form multi agent systems, i.e. a single-link flexible joint manipulator which demonstrates the efficiency of the proposed adaptive controller.

Combine harvesters are the source a large amount of noise in agriculture. Depending on different working conditions, the noise of such machines can have a significant effect on the hearing condition of drivers. Therefore, it is highly important to study the noise signals caused by these machines and find solutions for reducing the produced noise. The present study was carried out is order to obtain the fractal dimension (FD) of the noise signals in Sampo and John Deere combine harvesters in different operational conditions. The noise signals of the combines were recorded with different engine speeds, operational conditions, gear states, and locations. Four methods of direct estimations of the FD of the waveform in the time domain with three sliding windows with lengths of 50, 100, and 200 ms were employed. The results showed that the Fractal Dimension/Sound Pressure Level [dB] in John Deere and Sampo combines varied in the ranges of 1.44/96.8 to 1.57/103.2 and 1.23/92.3 to 1.51/104.1, respectively. The cabins of Sampo and John Deere combines reduced and enhanced these amounts, respectively. With an increase in the length of the sliding windows and the engine speed of the combines, the amount of FD increased. In other words, the size of the suitable window depends on the extraction method of calculating the FD. The results also showed that the type of the gearbox used in the combines could have a tangible effect on the trend of changes in the FD.

This paper investigates the influence of isolation systems on the seismic behavior of urban reinforce concrete bridge. The performance of the Hesarak Bridge constructed in Karaj city, Iran with two isolation systems; i.e. the existing elastomeric rubber bearing (ERB) and a proposed lead rubber bearing (LRB) is discussed. The numerical model was implemented in the well-known FEM software CSIBridge. The isolated bridge has been analyzed using nonlinear time history analysis method with seven pairs of earthquake records and the results are compared for the two isolation systems. The LRB isolators are shown to have superior seismic performance in comparison with the existing ERB systems based on the response evaluation including force on the isolator, pier base shear, deck acceleration, bending moment, pier displacement, and energy dissipation.