August Wilson’s major concern is to communicate the African American cultural awareness; to establish a counter-culture based on self-confidence and assertiveness. He advocates an encouraging attitude to elevate the African Americans’ spiritual consciousness and to teach them how to sublimate their aims in life. He aspires to win the everlasting battle against racial discrimination, oppression, injustice, and identity confusion. Sublimation, as a defense mechanism, will be Wilson’s new ammunition to re-read and to re-interpret the psychic constitution of his people, to help them get out of their self-imposed fences and this is the core of Wilson’s new culture. Sublimation is the process in which the psyche directs the negative drives towards a goal, a process that generally aims at the ‘progress of the spirit’; at a better and truer self. Wilson is perfectly aware of the ground on which he should stand as an African American and as a playwright he is willing to help his people find their own ground. The psychic constitutions of Wilson’s main characters in Fences have been threatened by various social and psychological delinquencies, yet they are finally able to reconcile their inner self and be productive through following a new culture based on the concept of sublimation.
Background: The world is in front of two emerging problems being scarceness of virgin re-sources for bioactive materials and the gathering of waste production. Employment of the surplus waste in the mainstream production can resolve these problems. The current study aimed to prepare and characterize a natural composite CaO-SiO2 based bioactive material derived from naturally sustained raw materials. Then deposit this innovative novel bioactive coating composite materials overlying Yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia substrate. Mate-rials and method; Hen eggshell-derived calcium carbonate and rice husk-derived silica were extracted from natural resources to prepare the composite coating material. The manufac-tured powder was characterized
... Show More
(12)
(11)
Steel Reinforced Concrete (RC) frequently faces durability problems. In certain areas, Glass Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) rebars are considered a non-corrodible substitute for steel reinforcement. Elevated temperatures have a significant impact on the mechanical characteristics and the adhesiveness of GFRP rebars to concrete, particularly when the polymeric matrix's glass transition temperature is approached or surpassed. Three simply supported reinforced concrete slabs were considered in the experimental program. Each specimen had identical dimensions of 1500×540×120 mm. For the fire resistance requirements, a 45 mm clear concrete cover and an exception of a 200 mm unexposed (cool) anchor zone at the ends were considered. The
... Show More
(6)
(4)
Ag-doped NiO thin films were fabricated by dip coating and subsequently annealed at 373, 473, 573, and 673 K to elucidate the influence of annealing temperature on their structural, morphological, optical, and NO2-sensing characteristics. X-ray diffraction confirmed the formation of polycrystalline Ag/NiO films, with progressively improved crystallinity and larger crystallite size at elevated annealing temperatures. Atomic force microscopy revealed a homogeneous surface morphology with grain growth, with the average grain diameter increasing from 26.40 to 34.2 nm. Optical analysis showed high visible-region transmittance (65–70%) and a gradual reduction in the optical band gap from 2.75 to 2.07 eV with increasing annealing temperature. Ga
... Show More
(1)
This study investigates the influence of phosphoric acid (H3PO4) molarity (2 M, 4 M, and 6 M) on the structural, thermal, optical, and electrical properties of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/20% graphene oxide (GO) composite films. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed a semi-crystalline nature for PVA, with characteristic peaks at 19.7 degrees and 42 degrees, and crystalline peaks for GO at 10.1 degrees and 39.8 degrees. The addition of H3PO4 to the PVA/GO composite resulted in the disappearance of GO crystalline peaks, suggesting reduced crystallinity. Differential scanning calorimetry revealed a reduction in both glass transition and melting temperatures as H3PO4 concentration increased. Pure PVA exhibited Tg and Tm values of 68.9 degrees C and 1
... Show More
(2)
(1)
(2)
(3)
(10)
(9)
(3)
(3)
The removal of congo red (CR) is a critical issue in contemporary textile industry wastewater treatment. The current study introduces a combined electrochemical process of electrocoagulation (EC) and electro-oxidation (EO) to address the elimination of this dye. Moreover, it discusses the formation of a triple composite of Co, Mn, and Ni oxides by depositing fixed salt ratios (1:1:1) of these oxides in an electrolysis cell at a constant current density of 25 mA/cm2. The deposition ended within 3 hours at room temperature. X-ray diffractometer (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) characterized the structural and surface morphology of the multi-oxide sedim
... Show More
(8)
(1)
Hydrate dissociation equilibrium conditions for carbon dioxide + methane with water, nitrogen + methane with water and carbon dioxide + nitrogen with water were measured using cryogenic sapphire cell. Measurements were performed in the temperature range of 275.75 K–293.95 K and for pressures ranging from 5 MPa to 25 MPa. The resulting data indicate that as the carbon dioxide concentration is increased in the gas mixture, the gas hydrate equilibrium temperature increases. In contrast, by increasing the nitrogen concentration in the gas mixtures containing methane or carbon dioxide decreased the gas hydrate equilibrium temperatures. Furthermore, the cage occupancies for the carbon dioxide + methane system were evaluated using the Van der Wa
... Show More
(97)
(95)
A systematic approach is presented to achieve the stable grasping of objects through a two-finger robotic hand, in which each finger cavity was filled with granular media. The compaction of the latter, controlled by vacuum pressure, was used to adjust the structural and contact stiffness of the finger. The grasping stability was studied under the concurrent effect of an external torque and applied vacuum pressure. Stable grasping was defined as the no slippage condition between the grasped object and the two fingers. Three control schemes were adopted and applied experimentally to ensure the effectiveness of the grasping process. The results showed that stable and unstable grasping regions exist for each combination of applied torqu
... Show More
(6)
(6)