Search results for: organic loading rate

Authors: Dylan Santos De Pinho, Nabil Ouerhani

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Energy consumption of machine-tools is becoming critical for machine-tool builders and end-users because of economic, ecological and legislation-related reasons. Many machine-tool builders are seeking for solutions that allow the reduction of energy consumption of machine-tools while preserving the same productivity rate and the same quality of machined parts. In this paper, we present the first results of a project conducted jointly by academic and industrial partners to reduce the energy consumption of a Swiss-Type lathe. We employ genetic algorithms to find optimal machining parameters – the set of parameters that lead to the best trade-off between energy consumption, part quality and tool lifetime. Three main machining process parameters are considered in our optimization technique, namely depth of cut, spindle rotation speed and material feed rate. These machining process parameters have been identified as the most influential ones in the configuration of the Swiss-type machining process. A state-of-the-art multi-objective genetic algorithm has been used. The algorithm combines three fitness functions, which are objective functions that permit to evaluate a set of parameters against the three objectives: energy consumption, quality of the machined parts, and tool lifetime. In this paper, we focus on the investigation of the fitness function related to energy consumption. Four different energy consumption related fitness functions have been investigated and compared. The first fitness function refers to the Kienzle cutting force model. The second fitness function uses the Material Removal Rate (RMM) as an indicator of energy consumption. The two other fitness functions are non-deterministic, learning-based functions. One fitness function uses a simple Neural Network to learn the relation between the process parameters and the energy consumption from experimental data. Another fitness function uses Lasso regression to determine the same relation. The goal is, then, to find out which fitness functions predict best the energy consumption of a Swiss-Type machining process for the given set of machining process parameters. Once determined, these functions may be used for optimization purposes – determine the optimal machining process parameters leading to minimum energy consumption. The performance of the four fitness functions has been evaluated. The Tornos DT13 Swiss-Type Lathe has been used to carry out the experiments. A mechanical part including various Swiss-Type machining operations has been selected for the experiments. The evaluation process starts with generating a set of CNC (Computer Numerical Control) programs for machining the part at hand. Each CNC program considers a different set of machining process parameters. During the machining process, the power consumption of the spindle is measured. All collected data are assigned to the appropriate CNC program and thus to the set of machining process parameters. The evaluation approach consists in calculating the correlation between the normalized measured power consumption and the normalized power consumption prediction for each of the four fitness functions. The evaluation shows that the Lasso and Neural Network fitness functions have the highest correlation coefficient with 97%. The fitness function “Material Removal Rate” (MRR) has a correlation coefficient of 90%, whereas the Kienzle-based fitness function has a correlation coefficient of 80%.

Keywords: adaptive machining, genetic algorithms, smart manufacturing, parameters optimization

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Authors: Ridoy Das, Myriam Neaimeh, Yue Wang, Ghanim Putrus

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Electric vehicles are a popular transportation medium renowned for potential environmental benefits. However, large and uncontrolled charging volumes can impact distribution networks negatively. Smart charging is widely recognized as an efficient solution to achieve both improved renewable energy integration and grid relief. Nevertheless, different decision-makers may pursue diverse and conflicting objectives. In this context, this paper proposes a multi-objective optimization framework to control electric vehicle charging to achieve both energy cost reduction and peak shaving. A weighted-sum method is developed due to its intuitiveness and efficiency. Monte Carlo simulations are implemented to investigate the impact of uncertain electric vehicle driving patterns and provide decision-makers with a robust outcome in terms of prospective cost and network loading. The results demonstrate that there is a conflict between energy cost efficiency and peak shaving, with the decision-makers needing to make a collaborative decision.

Keywords: electric vehicles, multi-objective optimization, uncertainty, mixed integer linear programming

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Authors: N. Singh, G. K. Darbha

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Since the last decade, a wave of research has begun to study the prevalence and impact of ever-increasing plastic pollution in the environment. The wide application and ubiquitous distribution of plastic have become a global concern due to its persistent nature. The disposal of plastics has emerged as one of the major challenges for waste management landfills. Microplastics (MPs) have found its existence in almost every environment, from the high altitude mountain lake to the deep sea sediments, polar icebergs, coral reefs, estuaries, beaches, and river, etc. Microplastics are fragments of plastics with size less than 5 mm. Microplastics can be classified as primary microplastics and secondary microplastics. Primary microplastics includes purposefully introduced microplastics into the end products for consumers (microbeads used in facial cleansers, personal care product, etc.), pellets (used in manufacturing industries) or fibres (from textile industries) which finally enters into the environment. Secondary microplastics are formed by disintegration of larger fragments under the exposure of sunlight, mechanical abrasive forces by rain, waves, wind and/or water. A number of factors affect the quantity of microplastic present in freshwater environments. In addition to physical forces, human population density proximal to the water body, proximity to urban centres, water residence time, and size of the water body also affects plastic properties. With time, other complex processes in nature such as physical, chemical and biological break down plastics by interfering with its structural integrity. Several studies demonstrate that microplastics found in wastewater sludge being used as manure for agricultural fields, thus having the tendency to alter the soil environment condition influencing the microbial population as well. Inadequate data are available on the fate and transport of microplastics under varying environmental conditions that are required to supplement important information for further research. In addition, microplastics have the tendency to absorb heavy metals and hydrophobic organic contaminants such as PAHs and PCBs from its surroundings and thus acting as carriers for these contaminants in the environment system. In this study, three kinds of microplastics (polyethylene, polypropylene and expanded polystyrene) of different densities were chosen. Plastic samples were placed in sand with different aqueous media (distilled water, surface water, groundwater and marine water). It was incubated at varying temperatures (25, 35 and 40 °C) and agitation levels (rpm). The results show that the number of plastic fragments enhanced with increase in temperature and agitation speed. Moreover, the rate of disintegration of expanded polystyrene is high compared to other plastics. These results demonstrate that temperature, salinity, and mechanical abrasion plays a major role in degradation of plastics. Since weathered microplastics are more harmful as compared to the virgin microplastics, long-term studies involving other environmental factors are needed to have a better understanding of degradation of plastics.

Keywords: environmental contamination, fragmentation, microplastics, temperature, weathering

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Authors: Ayad A. Abdulkafi, Shahir F. Nawaf, Mohammed K. Hussein, Ibrahim K. Sileh, Fouad A. Abdulkafi

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Visible light communication (VLC) is a new approach of optical wireless communication proposed to support the congested radio frequency (RF) spectrum. VLC systems are combined with orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) to achieve high rate transmission and high spectral efficiency. In this paper, we investigate the Pilot-Assisted Channel Estimation for DC biased Optical OFDM (PACE-DCO-OFDM) systems to reduce the effects of the distortion on the transmitted signal. Least-square (LS) and linear minimum mean-squared error (LMMSE) estimators are implemented in MATLAB/Simulink to enhance the bit-error-rate (BER) of PACE-DCO-OFDM. Results show that DCO-OFDM system based on PACE scheme has achieved better BER performance compared to conventional system without pilot assisted channel estimation. Simulation results show that the proposed PACE-DCO-OFDM based on LMMSE algorithm can more accurately estimate the channel and achieves better BER performance when compared to the LS based PACE-DCO-OFDM and the traditional system without PACE. For the same signal to noise ratio (SNR) of 25 dB, the achieved BER is about 5×10^-4 for LMMSE-PACE and 4.2×10^-3 with LS-PACE while it is about 2×10^-1 for system without PACE scheme.

Keywords: channel estimation, OFDM, pilot-assist, VLC

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Authors: Chieh-Nan Chen, Ji-Yu Lin, I-Ming Chu

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Polypeptide thermosensitive hydrogel is an excellent candidate as a smart device to deliver drugs and cells due to its remarkable biocompatibility, low gelation concentration, and respond to temperature stimuli, it can be easily injected as a polymer solution into the patient’s body where it undergoes gelation due to an elevation in temperature. Poly (ethylene glycol) monomethyl ether-poly (ethyl-l-glutamate) (mPEG-PELG) contains a hydrophobic side chain –C2H5 which is useful in encapsulating and stabilizing hydrophobic drugs. In this study, we plan to focus on the hydrophobic anti-carcinogenic and anti-inflammatory drug curcumin, which due its insolubility in water, requires a proper carrier for delivery into the body. Our main concept is to use mPEG-PELG to stabilize curcumin, inject the curcumin-loaded hydrogel into the tumor site, and allow the enzymatically-sensitive hydrogel to be degraded by bodily fluids and release the drug. The polymers of interest have been successfully synthesized and characterized by 1H-NMR, FT-IR, SEM, and CMC. Curcumin loading content and drug release were assayed using HPLC. Preliminary results show that these materials have potential as a delivery vehicle for poorly soluble drugs.

Keywords: curcumin, drug release, hydrogel, polypeptide material

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Authors: Prasanna Kumar Khaund, Sukanya Talukdar

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A concrete gravity dam is a major hydraulic structure and it is very essential to consider the earthquake forces, to get a proper design base width, so that the entire weight of the dam resists the overturning moment due to earthquake and other forces. The main objective of this study is to obtain the design base width of a dam for different seismic conditions by varying the earthquake coefficients in both vertical and horizontal directions. This shall be done by equating the factor of safety against overturning, factor of safety against sliding and factor of safety against shear friction factor for a dam with their limiting values, under both tail water and no tail water condition. The shape of the Mettur dam in India is considered for the study. The study has been done taking a constant head of water at the reservoir, which is the maximum reservoir water level and a constant height of tail water. Using linear approximation method of Newton Raphson, the obtained equations against different factors of safety under different earthquake conditions are solved using a programme in C++ to get different values of base width of dam for varying earthquake conditions.

Keywords: design base width, horizontal earthquake coefficient, tail water, vertical earthquake coefficient

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Authors: Ali Almadan, Anoop Krishnan, Ajita Rattani

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Facial recognition is a widely adopted technology in surveillance, border control, healthcare, banking services, and lately, in mobile user authentication with Apple introducing “Face ID” moniker with iPhone X. A lot of research has been conducted in the area of face recognition on datasets captured by surveillance cameras, DSLR, and mobile devices. Recently, face recognition technology has also been deployed on body-worn cameras to keep officers safe, enabling situational awareness and providing evidence for trial. However, limited academic research has been conducted on this topic so far, without the availability of any publicly available datasets with a sufficient sample size. This paper aims to advance research in the area of face recognition using body-worn cameras. To this aim, the contribution of this work is two-fold: (1) collection of a dataset consisting of a total of 136,939 facial images of 102 subjects captured using body-worn cameras in in-door and daylight conditions and (2) evaluation of various deep-learning architectures for face identification on the collected dataset. Experimental results suggest a maximum True Positive Rate(TPR) of 99.86% at False Positive Rate(FPR) of 0.000 obtained by SphereFace based deep learning architecture in daylight condition. The collected dataset and the baseline algorithms will promote further research and development. A downloadable link of the dataset and the algorithms is available by contacting the authors.

Keywords: face recognition, body-worn cameras, deep learning, person identification

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Authors: Koushik Roy, Sourav Gur, Sudib K. Mishra

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Evidence of pulse type features in near-fault ground motions has raised serious concern to the structural engineering community, in view of their possible implications on the behavior of structures located on the fault regions. Studies in the recent past explore the effects of pulse type ground motion on the special structures, such as transmission towers in view of their high flexibility. Identically, long period sloshing of liquid in the storage tanks under dynamic loading might increase their failure vulnerability under near-fault pulses. Therefore, the behavior of the elevated liquid storage tank is taken up in this study. Simple lumped mass model is considered, with the bilinear force-deformation hysteresis behavior. Set of near-fault seismic ground acceleration time histories are adopted for this purpose, along with the far-field records for comparison. It has been demonstrated that pulse type motions lead to significant increase of the responses; in particular, sloshing of the fluid mass could be as high as 5 times, then the far field counterpart. For identical storage capacity, slender tanks are found to be more vulnerable than the broad ones.

Keywords: far-field motion, hysteresis, liquid storage tank, near fault earthquake, sloshing

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Authors: Shweta Kumari, Parmjit S. Panesar, Manab B. Bera

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The hydrolysis of lactose using β-galactosidase is one of the most promising biotechnological applications, which has wide range of potential applications in food processing industries. However, due to intracellular location of the yeast enzyme, and expensive extraction methods, the industrial applications of enzymatic hydrolysis processes are being hampered. The use of permeabilization technique can help to overcome the problems associated with enzyme extraction and purification of yeast cells and to develop the economically viable process for the utilization of whole cell biocatalysts in food industries. In the present investigation, standardization of permeabilization process of novel yeast isolate was carried out using a statistical model approach known as Response Surface Methodology (RSM) to achieve maximal b-galactosidase activity. The optimum operating conditions for permeabilization process for optimal β-galactosidase activity obtained by RSM were 1:1 ratio of toluene (25%, v/v) and ethanol (50%, v/v), 25.0 oC temperature and treatment time of 12 min, which displayed enzyme activity of 1.71 IU /mg DW.

Keywords: β-galactosidase, optimization, permeabilization, response surface methodology, yeast

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Authors: N. Hammouda, K. Belmokre

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The paints are used extensively today in the industry to protect the metallic structures of the aggressive environments. This work is devoted to the study of corrosion resistance and aging behavior of a paint coating providing external protection for oil tankers. To avoid problems related to corrosion of these vessels, two protection modes are provided: An electro chemical active protection (cathodic protection of the hull). A passive protection by external painting. Investigations are conducted using stationary and non-stationary electro chemical tools such as electro chemical impedance spectroscopy has allowed us to characterize the protective qualities of these films. The application of the EIS on our damaged in-situ painting shows the existence of several capacitive loops which is an indicator of the failure of our tested paint. Microscopic analysis (micrograph) helped bring essential elements in understanding the degradation of our paint condition and immersion training corrosion products.

Keywords: epoxy paints, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, corrosion mechanisms, seawater

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Authors: Ji-Wook Mauk, Yu-Suk Kim, Hyung-Joon Kim

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This study carried out comparative seismic performance of reinforced concrete frames infilled by masonry walls with different heights. Partial and fully infilled RC frames were modeled for the research objectives and the analysis model for a bare reinforced concrete frame was established for comparison. Non-linear static analyses for the studied frames were performed to investigate their structural behavior under extreme loading conditions and to find out their collapse mechanism. It was observed from analysis results that the strengths of the partial infilled RC frames are increased and their ductility is reduced, as infilled masonry walls are higher. Especially, Reinforced concrete frames with a higher partial infilled masonry wall would experience shear failures. Non-linear dynamic analyses using 10 earthquake records show that the bare and fully infilled reinforced concrete frames present stable collapse mechanism while the reinforced concrete frames with a partially infilled masonry wall collapse in more brittle manner due to short-column effects.

Keywords: fully infilled RC frame, partially infilled RC frame, masonry wall, short-column effect

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Authors: M. Talebzadegan, S. Bina, I. Riazi

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The purpose of this paper is to present an active solar energy system to supply heating demands of the teaching staff dormitory of the Islamic Azad University of Ramhormoz. The design takes into account the solar radiations and climate data of Ramhormoz town and is based on the daily warm water consumption for health demands of 450 residents of the dormitory, which is equal to 27000 lit of 50-C° water, and building heating requirements with an area of 3500 m² well-protected by heatproof materials. First, heating demands of the building were calculated, then a hybrid system made up of solar and fossil energies was developed and finally, the design was economically evaluated. Since there is only roof space for using 110 flat solar water heaters, the calculations were made to hybridize solar water heating system with heat pumping system in which solar energy contributes 67% of the heat generated. According to calculations, the net present value “N.P.V.” of revenue stream exceeds “N.P.V.” of cash paid off in this project over three years, which makes economically quite promising. The return of investment and payback period of the project is 4 years. Also, the internal rate of return (IRR) of the project was 25%, which exceeds bank rate of interest in Iran and emphasizes the desirability of the project.

Keywords: Solar energy, Heat Demand, Renewable , Pollution

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Authors: Saad Nawaz, Yu Gang, Miao Haibin

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Titanium alloys are attractive materials for aerospace industry due to their exceptional strength to weight ratio that is maintained at elevated temperatures and their good corrosion resistance. Major applications of titanium alloys were military aerospace industry, but since last decade the trend has now shifted towards commercial industry. On the other hand, titanium alloys are notorious for being poor thermal conductor that leads to them being difficult materials for machining. In this experimental study, Stellram Indexable milling cutter XDLT09-D41 is used for rough down milling of Ti6Al4V for small depth of cut under different combinations of parameters and application of high-pressure coolant. The machining performance was evaluated in terms of tool wear, tool life, and thermal crack. The tool wear was mostly observed at the tool tip and at bottom part of tool thermal deformations were observed which propagated with respect to time. Flank wear due to scratching of the cutting chips and diffusion wear because of high thermal stresses were observed specially at the bottom of the cutting tool. It was found that maximum tool life was obtained at the speed of 40m/min, feed rate of 358mm/min and depth of cut of 0.8mm. In the end, it was concluded that machining of Ti6Al4V is a thermally dominant process which leads to high thermal stresses in machining zone that results in increasing tool wear rate and deformation propagation.

Keywords: tool wear, cutting speed, flank wear , tool life

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Authors: You-Kai Jhang, Yang-Cheng Lu

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Major contributions of this study are threefold: designing a new model of planar-membrane humidifier for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC), an index to measure the Effectiveness (εT) of that humidifier, and an air compressor system to replicate related planar-membrane humidifier experiments. PEMFC as a kind of renewable energy has become more and more important in recent years due to its reliability and durability. To maintain the efficiency of the fuel cell, the membrane of PEMFC need to be controlled in a good hydration condition. How to maintain proper membrane humidity is one of the key issues to optimize PEMFC. We developed new humidifier to recycle water vapor from cathode air outlet so as to keep the moisture content of cathode air inlet in a PEMFC. By measuring parameters such as dry side air outlet dew point temperature, dry side air inlet temperature and humidity, wet side air inlet temperature and humidity, and differential pressure between dry side and wet side, we calculated indices obtained by dew point approach temperature (DPAT), water flux (J), water recovery ratio (WRR), effectiveness (εT), and differential pressure (ΔP). We discussed six topics including sealing effect, flow rate effect, flow direction effect, channel effect, temperature effect, and humidity effect by using these indices. Gas cylinders are used as sources of air supply in many studies of humidifiers. Gas cylinder depletes quickly during experiment at 1kW air flow rate, and it causes replication difficult. In order to ensure high stable air quality and better replication of experimental data, this study designs an air supply system to overcome this difficulty. The experimental result shows that the best rate of pressure loss of humidifier is 0.133×10³ Pa(g)/min at the torque of 25 (N.m). The best humidifier performance ranges from 30-40 (LPM) of air flow rates. The counter flow configured humidifies moisturizes the dry side inlet air more effectively than the parallel flow humidifier. From the performance measurements of the channel plates various rib widths studied in this study, it is found that the narrower the rib width is, the more the performance of humidifier improves. Raising channel width in same hydraulic diameter (Dh ) will obtain higher εT and lower ΔP. Moreover, increasing the dry side air inlet temperature or humidity will lead to lower εT. In addition, when the dry side air inlet temperature exceeds 50°C, the effect becomes even more obvious.

Keywords: PEM fuel cell, water management, membrane humidifier, heat and mass transfer, humidifier performance

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Authors: Dorsa Rahi, Arghavan Tonkanbonbi, Soheila Manifar, Behzad Jafvarnejad

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Background and Aim: Intraoral manipulation is performed during endotracheal intubation for general anesthesia, which can traumatize the soft and hard tissue in the oral cavity and cause postoperative pain and discomfort. Dental trauma is the most common complication of intubation. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of dental complications due to intubation in patients hospitalized in Imam Khomeini Hospital during 2018-2019. Materials and Methods: A total of 805 patients presenting to the Cancer Institute of Imam Khomeini Hospital for preoperative anesthesia consultation were randomly enrolled. A dentist interviewed the patients and performed a comprehensive clinical oral examination preoperatively. The patients underwent clinical oral examination by another dentist postoperatively. Results: No significant correlation was found between dental trauma (tooth fracture, tooth mobility, or soft tissue injury) after intubation with the age or gender of patients. According to the Wilcoxon test and McNemar-Bowker Test, the rate of mobility before the intubation was significantly different from that after the intubation (P=0.000). Maxillary central incisors, maxillary left canine and mandibular right and left central incisors had the highest rate of fracture. Conclusion: Mobile teeth before the intubation are at higher risk of avulsion and aspiration during the procedure. Patients with primary temporomandibular joint disorders are more susceptible to post-intubation trismus.

Keywords: oral trauma, dental trauma, intubation, anesthesia

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Authors: Jim J. Catina, Jackee M. Gwynn, Jin S. Kang

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Additive manufacturing (AM) for hybrid rocket engines is becoming increasingly attractive due to its ability to create complex grain configurations with improved regression rates when compared to cast grains. However, the presence of microvoids in parts produced through the additive manufacturing method of Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) results in a lower fuel density and is believed to cause a decrease in regression rate compared to ideal performance. In this experiment, FDM was used to create hybrid rocket fuel grains with a star configuration composed of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). Testing was completed to determine the effect of heat treatment as a post-processing method to improve the combustion performance of hybrid rocket fuel grains manufactured by FDM. For control, three ABS star configuration grains were printed using FDM and hot fired using gaseous oxygen (GOX) as the oxidizer. Parameters such as thrust and mass flow rate were measured. Three identical grains were then heat treated to varying degrees and hot fired under the same conditions as the control grains. This paper will quantitatively describe the amount of improvement in engine performance as a result of heat treatment of the AM hybrid fuel grain. Engine performance is measured in this paper by specific impulse, which is determined from the thrust measurements collected in testing.

Keywords: acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, additive manufacturing, fused deposition modeling, heat treatment

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Authors: Wang Jianguo, Ding Xiao, Liu Dong, Wang Haiping, Yang Yanhui, Hu Yang

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The hot deformation behavior of Inconel 718 alloy was studied by uniaxial compression tests under the deformation temperature of 940~1040℃ and strain rate of 0.001-10s⁻¹. The double cone compression (DCC) tests develop strains range from 30% to the 79% strain including all intermediate values of stains at different temperature (960~1040℃). DCC tests were simulated by finite element software which shown the strain and strain rates distribution. The result shows that the peak stress level of the alloy decreased with increasing deformation temperature and decreasing strain rate, which could be characterized by a Zener-Hollomon parameter in the hyperbolic-sine equation. The characterization method of hot processing window containing recrystallization volume fraction and average grain size was proposed for double cone compression test of uniform coarse grain, mixed crystal and uniform fine grain double conical specimen in hydraulic press and screw press. The results show that uniform microstructures can be obtained by low temperature with high deformation followed by high temperature with small deformation on the hydraulic press and low temperature, medium deformation, multi-pass on the screw press. The two methods were applied in industrial forgings process, and the forgings with uniform microstructure were obtained successfully.

Keywords: inconel 718 superalloy, hot processing windows, double cone compression, uniform microstructure

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Authors: Tais Silva Lopes, Danilo Caneppele, Elizabeth Romagosa

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Surubim-do-Paraíba, Steindachneridion parahybae is a species of South American fish in critical conditions of extinction. Researches have been developed with the objective of conserving the biological material of this species. We evaluated the cooling of mature oocytes in the cryoprotective solutions containing the following alcohols: methanol, Propylene glycol and DMSO, each at concentrations of 1M, 2M and 4M, totaling nine treatments. After being submitted to treatments, the oocytes were maintained for 120 minutes in cooling to -5.52±2.58⁰C. A sample of oocytes was submitted to negative control (NC), kept in 90% L-15 solution, and positive control (PC), fertilized and taken directly to the incubator. Fertilization and hatching rates were evaluated. In order to compare the sensitivity of oocytes to embryos of the same species, the embryos maintained as CP in the previous assay were used in the free-flow stage (about 22 hours post fertilization) and submitted to the same treatments (prepared in distilled water) and also cooled for 120 min. The evaluation was done by the hatch rate. There was no fertilization rate of the oocytes submitted to the cooling with propylene glycol; the other cryoprotectants presented values of at most 3.7% of fertilization (Methanol 1M), and no treatment completed development until hatching. The cooled embryos had a significant percentage of normal larvae in all treatments, but inversely proportional to the increase in the concentration of the alcohols. DMSO 1M was the most promising treatment for embryo cooling, with 41.7% ± 20.2 of normal larvae, while mature oocytes were highly sensitive to cold.

Keywords: cryoconservation, cooling, embryos, freezing, oocytes, south American fish

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Authors: Laura Alvarez-Alonso, Francisco Garcia-Carro, Jorge Loredo

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Population growth and industrial development imply an increase in the energy demands and the problems caused by emissions of greenhouse effect gases, which has inspired the search for clean sources of energy. Hydrogen (H₂) is expected to play a key role in the world’s energy future by replacing fossil fuels. The properties of H₂ make it a green fuel that does not generate pollutants and supplies sufficient energy for power generation, transportation, and other applications. Supercritical Water Gasification (SCWG) represents an attractive alternative for the recovery of energy from wastes. SCWG allows conversion of a wide range of raw materials into a fuel gas with a high content of hydrogen and light hydrocarbons through their treatment at conditions higher than those that define the critical point of water (temperature of 374°C and pressure of 221 bar). Methane used as a transport fuel is another important gasification product. The number of different uses of gas and energy forms that can be produced depending on the kind of material gasified and type of technology used to process it, shows the flexibility of SCWG. This feature allows it to be integrated with several industrial processes, as well as power generation systems or waste-to-energy production systems. The final aim of this work is to study which conditions and equipment are the most efficient and advantageous to explore the possibilities to obtain streams rich in H₂ from oily wastes, which represent a major problem both for the environment and human health throughout the world. In this paper, the relative complexity of technology needed for feasible gasification process cycles is discussed with particular reference to the different feedstocks that can be used as raw material, different reactors, and energy recovery systems. For this purpose, a review of the current status of SCWG technologies has been carried out, by means of different classifications based on key features as the feed treated or the type of reactor and other apparatus. This analysis allows to improve the technology efficiency through the study of model calculations and its comparison with experimental data, the establishment of kinetics for chemical reactions, the analysis of how the main reaction parameters affect the yield and composition of products, or the determination of the most common problems and risks that can occur. The results of this work show that SCWG is a promising method for the production of both hydrogen and methane. The most significant choices of design are the reactor type and process cycle, which can be conveniently adopted according to waste characteristics. Regarding the future of the technology, the design of SCWG plants is still to be optimized to include energy recovery systems in order to reduce costs of equipment and operation derived from the high temperature and pressure conditions that are necessary to convert water to the SC state, as well as to find solutions to remove corrosion and clogging of components of the reactor.

Keywords: hydrogen production, organic wastes, supercritical water gasification, system integration, waste-to-energy

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Authors: Martina Drdlová, Michal Frank, Radek Řídký, Jaroslav Buchar, Josef Krátký

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The main aim of the presented experiments is to improve behaviour of sandwich structures under dynamic loading, such as crash or explosion. This paper describes experimental investigation on the response of new advanced materials to low and high velocity load. Blast wave energy absorbers were designed using two types of porous lightweight raw particle materials based on expanded glass and ceramics with dimensions of 0.5-1 mm, combined with polymeric binder. The effect of binder amount on the static and dynamic properties of designed materials was observed. Prism shaped specimens were prepared and loaded to obtain physico-mechanical parameters – bulk density, compressive and flexural strength under quasistatic load, the dynamic response was determined using Split Hopkinson Pressure bar apparatus. Numerical investigation of the material behaviour in sandwich structure was performed using implicit/explicit solver LS-Dyna. As the last step, the developed material was used as the interlayer of blast resistant litter bin, and it´s functionality was verified by real field blast tests.

Keywords: blast energy absorber, SHPB, expanded glass, expanded ceramics

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Authors: M. A. Motin, M. A. Aziz, M. Hafiz Mia, M. A. Hasem

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The redox behavior of catechol in the presence of nicotinamide as nucleophiles has been studied in aqueous solution with various pH values and different concentration of nicotinamide using cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry. Cyclic voltammetry of catechol in buffer solution (3.00 < pH < 9.00) shows one anodic and corresponding cathodic peak which relates to the transformation of catechol to corresponding o-benzoquinone and vice versa within a quasi reversible two electron transfer process. Cyclic voltammogram of catechol in the presence of nicotinamide in buffer solution of pH 7, show one anodic peak in the first cycle of potential and on the reverse scan the corresponding cathodic peak slowly decreases and new peak is observed at less positive potential. In the second cycle of potential a new anodic peak is observed at less positive potential. This indicates that nicotinamide attached with catechol and formed adduct after first cycle of oxidation. The effect of pH of catechol in presence of nicotinamide was studied by varying pH from 3 to 11. The substitution reaction of catechol with nicotimamide is facilitated at pH 7. In buffer solution of higher pH (>9), the CV shows different pattern. The effect of concentration of nicotinamide was studied by 2mM to 100 mM. The maximum substitution reaction has been found for 50 mM of nicotinamide and of pH 7. The proportionality of the first scan anodic and cathodic peak currents with square root of scan rate suggests that the peak current of the species at each redox reaction is controlled by diffusion process. The current functions (1/v-1/2) of the anodic peak decreased with the increasing of scan rate demonstrated that the behavior of the substitution reaction is of ECE type.

Keywords: redox interaction, catechol, nicotinamide, substituion reaction, pH effect

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Authors: Katarzyna Drela, Miroslaw Wielgos, Mikolaj Wrobel, Barbara Lukomska

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Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have a great potential in regenerative medicine. Since the initial number of isolated MSCs is limited, in vitro propagation is often required to reach sufficient numbers of cells for therapeutic applications. During long-term culture MSCs may undergo genetic or epigenetic alterations that subsequently increase the probability of spontaneous malignant transformation. Thus, factors that influence genomic stability of MSCs following long-term expansions need to be clarified before cultured MSCs are employed for clinical application. The aim of our study was to investigate the potential for spontaneous transformation of human neonatal cord blood (HUCB-MSCs) and adult bone marrow (BM-MSCs) derived MSCs. Materials and Methods: HUCB-MSCs and BM-MSCs were isolated by standard Ficoll gradient centrifugations method. Isolated cells were initially plated in high density 106 cells per cm2. After 48 h medium were changed and non-adherent cells were removed. The malignant transformation of MSCs in vitro was evaluated by morphological changes, proliferation rate, ability to enter cell senescence, the telomerase expression and chromosomal abnormality. Proliferation of MSCs was analyzed with WST-1 reduction method and population doubling time (PDT) was calculated at different culture stages. Then the expression pattern of genes characteristic for mesenchymal or epithelial cells, as well as transcriptions factors were examined by RT-PCR. Concomitantly, immunocytochemical analysis of gene-related proteins was employed. Results: Our studies showed that MSCs from all bone marrow isolations ultimately entered senescence and did not undergo spontaneous malignant transformation. However, HUCB-MSCs from one of the 15 donors displayed an increased proliferation rate, failed to enter senescence, and exhibited an altered cell morphology. In this sample we observed two different cell phenotypes: one mesenchymal-like exhibited spindle shaped morphology and express specific mesenchymal surface markers (CD73, CD90, CD105, CD166) with low proliferation rate, and the second one with round, densely package epithelial-like cells with significantly increased proliferation rate. The PDT of epithelial-like populations was around 1day and 100% of cells were positive for proliferation marker Ki-67. Moreover, HUCB-MSCs showed a positive expression of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT), cMYC and exhibit increased number of CFU during the long-term culture in vitro. Furthermore, karyotype analysis revealed chromosomal abnormalities including duplications. Conclusions: Our studies demonstrate that HUCB-MSCs are susceptible to spontaneous malignant transformation during long-term culture. Spontaneous malignant transformation process following in vitro culture has enormous effect on the biosafety issues of future cell-based therapies and regenerative medicine regimens.

Keywords: mesenchymal stem cells, spontaneous, transformation, long-term culture

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Authors: Jun Su Park, Byung Kwan Oh, Jin Woo Hwang, Yousok Kim, Hyo Seon Park

Abstract:

For the structural safety, the maximum stress calculated from the stress distribution of a structure is widely used. The stress distribution can be estimated by deformed shape of the structure obtained from measurement. Although the estimation of stress is strongly affected by the location and number of sensing points, most studies have conducted the stress estimation without reasonable basis on sensing plan such as the location and number of sensors. In this paper, an optimal sensing technique for estimating the stress distribution is proposed. This technique proposes the optimal location and number of sensing points for a 2-D frame structure while minimizing the error of stress distribution between analytical model and estimation by cubic smoothing splines using genetic algorithm. To verify the proposed method, the optimal sensor measurement technique is applied to simulation tests on 2-D steel frame structure. The simulation tests are performed under various loading scenarios. Through those tests, the optimal sensing plan for the structure is suggested and verified.

Keywords: genetic algorithm, optimal sensing, optimizing sensor placements, steel frame structure

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Authors: R. Ziaie Moayed, M. Hossein Zade

Abstract:

Out of all methods for ground improvement, stone column became more popular these days due to its simple construction and economic consideration. Installation of stone column especially in loose fine graded soil causes increasing in load bearing capacity and settlement reduction. Encased granular stone columns (EGCs) are commonly subjected to vertical load. However, they may also be subjected to significant amount of shear loading. In this study, three-dimensional finite element (FE) analyses were conducted to estimate the shear load capacity of EGCs in sandy soil. Two types of different cases, stone column and geosynthetic encased stone column were studied at different normal pressures varying from 15 kPa to 75 kPa. Also, the effect of diameter in two cases was considered. A close agreement between the experimental and numerical curves of shear stress - horizontal displacement trend line is observed. The obtained result showed that, by increasing the normal pressure and diameter of stone column, higher shear strength is mobilized by soil; however, in the case of encased stone column, increasing the diameter had more dominated effect in mobilized shear strength.

Keywords: encased stone column, laterally load, ordinary stone column, validation

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Authors: A. Elain, M. Le Fellic, A. Le Pemp, N. Hachet

Abstract:

Iodinated Compounds (IC) are widely detected contaminants in most aquatic environments including sewage treatment plant, surface water, ground water and even drinking water, up to the µg.L-1 range. As IC contribute in the adsorbable organic halides (AOX) level, their removal or dehalogenation is expected. We report here on the biodegradability of a mixture of IC from an industrial effluent using a microbial consortium adapted to grow on IC as well as the native microorganisms. Both aerobic and anaerobic treatments were studied during batch experiments in 500-mL flasks. The degree of mineralization and recovery of iodide were monitored by HPLC-UV, TOC analysis and potentiometric titration. Providing ethanol as an electron acceptor was found to stimulate anaerobic reductive deiodination of IC while sodium chloride even at high concentration (22 g.l-1) had no influence on the degradation rates nor on the microbial viability. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S RNA gene sequence (MicroSeq®) was applied to provide a better understanding of the degradative microbial community.

Keywords: iodinated compounds, biodegradability, deiodination, electron-accepting conditions, microbial consortium

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Authors: Shubham Bhonde, Nekzad Doctor, Shashwat Gawande

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For the use and the import of Keys and ID Transmitter as well as Body Control Modules with radio transmission in a lot of countries, homologation is required. Final deliverables in homologation of the product are certificates. In considering the world of homologation, there are approximately 200 certificates per product, with most of the certificates in local languages. It is challenging to manually investigate each certificate and extract relevant data from the certificate, such as expiry date, approval date, etc. It is most important to get accurate data from the certificate as inaccuracy may lead to missing re-homologation of certificates that will result in an incompliance situation. There is a scope of automation in reading the certificate data in the field of homologation. We are using deep learning as a tool for automation. We have first trained a model using machine learning by providing all country's basic data. We have trained this model only once. We trained the model by feeding pdf and jpg files using the ETL process. Eventually, that trained model will give more accurate results later. As an outcome, we will get the expiry date and approval date of the certificate with a single click. This will eventually help to implement automation features on a broader level in the database where certificates are stored. This automation will help to minimize human error to almost negligible.

Keywords: homologation, re-homologation, data science, deep learning, machine learning, ETL (extract transform loading)

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Authors: S. F. Afzali, W. L. Wong

Abstract:

The epizootic ulcerative syndrome (EUS) causes by the oomycete fungus, Aphanomyces invadans; known to be one of the infectious fish diseases for farmed and wild fishes in fresh and brackish-water from the Asia-pacific region, America and Africa. Although, EUS had been documented by the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) since 1995, hitherto, there is neither standard chemical agents that can be used for successful treatment of this destructive infection in the time of outbreak; nor available vaccine for prevention. Plant-based remedies in controlling fish diseases are gaining much attention recently as an alternative to chemical treatments, which possess negative effects to the environment and human. In present study, Sonneratia alba, a mangrove plant belongs to the Sonneratiaceae family, was screened in vitro and in vivo for its antifungal activity against A. invadans mycelium growth and its effects on fish innate immune system and disease resistant. The in vitro tests was performed using the disc diffusion methods with measurements of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and inhibition zone. For in vivo study, the S. alba extract supplemented diets were administrated at 0.0, 1.0%, 3.0%, and 5.0% on healthy goldfish, Carassius auratus, which challenged with A. invadans zoospores (100 spores/ml). To compare the significant differences in the hematological and immunological parameters obtained from the experiments, the data were analysed using the SPSS. The methanol extract of S. alba effectively inhibited the mycelial growth of A. invadans at a minimum concentration of 1000 ppm for agar and filter paper diffusion experiments. In the agar diffusion test, 500 ppm of the extract inhibited the fungus mycelial growth up to 96 hours after exposure. The mycelial growth from the edge of the pre-inoculated A. invadans agar discs treated with S. alba extracts at concentrations of 100, 500 and 1000 ppm were 15, 8 and 0 mm respectively. The results of the filter paper disc test showed that the S. alba extract at its minimal inhibitory concentration (1000 ppm) has similar qualitative inhibitory effect as malachite green at 1 ppm and formalin at 250 ppm. According to the in vivo tests findings, in the infected fish fed with 3.0% and 5.0% supplementation diet, the numbers of white blood cell and myeloperoxidase activity significantly increased after the second week of treatment. Whilst the numbers of red blood cell significantly decreased in the infected fish fed with 0.0 and 1.0% supplementation diet. After the third week of feeding, significant increases in the total protein, albumin level, lysozyme activity were recorded in the infected fish fed with 3.0% and 5.0% supplementation diet. Also, the enriched diets increased the survival rate as compared to the untreated group that suffered from 90% mortality. The present study indicated that S. alba extract may inhibit the mycelial growth of A. invadans effectively, suggesting an alternative to other chemotherapeutic agents, which brought much environmental and health concerns to the public, for EUS treatment.

Keywords: fungal pathogen, goldfish, organic extract, treatment

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Authors: Nadia E. Christiana, Azzahra A. N. Ginting, Ardhito Nurcahya, Havisa P. Novira

Abstract:

One of the quickest ways to do a short trip in urban areas is by walking, either individually, in couple or groups. Walkability nowadays becomes one of the parameters to measure the quality of an urban neighborhood. As a Central Business District and public transport transit hub, Dukuh Atas area becomes one of the highest numbers of commuters that pass by the area and interchange between transportation modes daily. Thus, as a public transport hub, a lot of investment should be focused to speed up the development of the area that would support urban transit activity between transportation modes, one of them is revitalizing pedestrian walkways. The purpose of this research is to formulate the visual design concept of 'Walkable City' based on the results of the observation and a series of rankings. To achieve this objective, it is necessary to accomplish several stages of the research that consists of (1) Identifying the system of pedestrian paths in Dukuh Atas area using descriptive qualitative method (2) Analyzing the sidewalk walkability rate according to the perception and the walkability satisfaction rate using the characteristics of pedestrians and non-pedestrians in Dukuh Atas area by using Global Walkability Index analysis and Multicriteria Satisfaction Analysis (3) Analyzing the factors that determine the integration of pedestrian walkways in Dukuh Atas area using descriptive qualitative method. The results achieved in this study is that the walkability level of Dukuh Atas corridor area is 44.45 where the value is included in the classification of 25-49, which is a bit of facility that can be reached by foot. Furthermore, based on the questionnaire, satisfaction rate of pedestrian walkway in Dukuh Atas area reached a number of 64%. It is concluded that commuters have not been fully satisfied with the condition of the sidewalk. Besides, the factors that influence the integration in Dukuh Atas area have been reasonable as it is supported by the utilization of land and modes such as KRL, Busway, and MRT. From the results of all analyzes conducted, the visual design and the application of the concept of walkable city along the pathway pedestrian corridor of Dukuh Atas area are formulated. Achievement of the results of this study amounted to 80% which needs to be done further review of the results of the analysis. The work of this research is expected to be a recommendation or input for the government in the development of pedestrian paths in maximizing the use of public transportation modes.

Keywords: design, global walkability index, mass rapid transit, walkable city

Procedia PDF Downloads 180

Authors: Kun Chen, Yan Wang, Yangyu Zhao, Shufang Li, Lian Chen, Xiaoyue Guo, Jue Zhang, Jing Fang

Abstract:

The coupling strength between uterine electromyography (UEMG) and Fetal heart rate (FHR) signals during peripartum reflects the fetal biophysical activities. Therefore, UEMG-FHR coupling characterization is instructive in assessing placenta function. This study introduced a physiological marker named elevated frequency of UEMG-FHR coupling (E-UFC) and explored its predictive value for pregnancies complicated by pre-eclampsia and small for gestational age (SGA). Placental insufficiency patients (n=12) and healthy volunteers (n=24) were recruited and participated. UEMG and FHR were recorded non-invasively by a trans-abdominal device in women at term with singleton pregnancy (32-37 weeks) from 10:00 pm to 8:00 am. The product of the wavelet coherence and the wavelet cross-spectral power between UEMG and FHR was used to weight these two effects in order to quantify the degree of the UEMG-FHR coupling. E-UFC was exacted from the resultant spectrogram by calculating the mean value of the high-coherence (r > 0.5) frequency band. Results showed the high-coherence between UEMG and FHR was observed in the frequency band (1/512-1/16Hz). In addition, E-UFC in placental insufficiency patients was weaker compared to healthy controls (p < 0.001) at group level. These findings suggested the proposed approach could be used to quantitatively characterize the fetal biophysical activities, which is beneficial for early detection of placental insufficiency and reduces the occurrence of adverse pregnancy.

Keywords: uterine electromyography, fetal heart rate, coupling analysis, wavelet analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 180

Authors: William Kelly, Sorelle Veigne, Xianhua Li, Zuyi Huang, Shyamsundar Subramanian, Eugene Schaefer

Abstract:

The ambr15™ bioreactor is a single-use microbioreactor for cell line development and process optimization. The ambr system offers fully automatic liquid handling with the possibility of fed-batch operation and automatic control of pH and oxygen delivery. With operating conditions for large scale biopharmaceutical production properly scaled down, micro bioreactors such as the ambr15™ can potentially be used to predict the effect of process changes such as modified media or different cell lines. In this study, gassing rates and dilution rates were varied for a semi-continuous cell culture system in the ambr15™ bioreactor. The corresponding changes to metabolite production and consumption, as well as cell growth rate and therapeutic protein production were measured. Conditions were identified in the ambr15™ bioreactor that produced metabolic shifts and specific metabolic and protein production rates also seen in the corresponding larger (5 liter) scale perfusion process. A Dynamic Flux Balance model was employed to understand and predict the metabolic changes observed. The DFB model-predicted trends observed experimentally, including lower specific glucose consumption when CO₂ was maintained at higher levels (i.e. 100 mm Hg) in the broth. A Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) model of the ambr15™ was also developed, to understand transfer of O₂ and CO₂ to the liquid. This CFD model predicted gas-liquid flow in the bioreactor using the ANSYS software. The two-phase flow equations were solved via an Eulerian method, with population balance equations tracking the size of the gas bubbles resulting from breakage and coalescence. Reasonable results were obtained in that the Carbon Dioxide mass transfer coefficient (kLa) and the air hold up increased with higher gas flow rate. Volume-averaged kLa values at 500 RPM increased as the gas flow rate was doubled and matched experimentally determined values. These results form a solid basis for optimizing the ambr15™, using both CFD and FBA modelling approaches together, for use in microscale simulations of larger scale cell culture processes.

Keywords: cell culture, computational fluid dynamics, dynamic flux balance analysis, microbioreactor

Procedia PDF Downloads 262