Search results for: VOF (volume of fluid method)

Authors: Sobiya George, Anna Dora Gudmundsdottir

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The 2-hydroxychalcones form an important group of organic compounds not only because of their pharmacological properties but also because they are intermediates in the biosynthesis of flavanones. We studied the photoreactivity of 2-hydroxychalcone derivatives in aprotic solvent acetonitrile and found that their photochemistry is concentration-dependent. Irradiation of 2-hydroxychalcone derivatives with 365 nm light emitting diode (LED) in dilute concentration selectively forms flavanones, whereas, at higher concentrations, an additional photoproduct is observed. However, the application of the continuous photo-flow method resulted in the selective formation of flavanones even at higher concentrations. To understand the reaction mechanism and explain the concentration-dependent photoreactivity of 2-hydroxychalcones, we preformed trapping studies with tris(trimethylsilyl)silane, nanosecond laser flash photolysis, and time dependent-density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations.

Keywords: flavanones, hydroxychalcones, laser flash photolysis, TD-DFT calculations

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Authors: Y. S. Baraya, B. Umar, A. Aliyu, A. A. Raji, K. A. N. Esievo

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This study was performed to determine the presence of anaemia in randomly selected apparently healthy camels (Camelus dromedarius) brought for slaughter at the Sokoto metropolitan abattoir, Sokoto State, Nigeria. The camels were derived from both sexes, different age groups, functional usages and kept at various localities within and outside Sokoto town. In the study area, studies involving camels were limited in particular the emphasis on the anaemic status of camels brought daily for human consumption. A total of eighty (80) blood samples were collected once a week from these camels within the period of eight (8) weeks to investigate the haematological variations especially packed cell volume (PCV). The PCV analysis revealed anaemia in more than fifty (50) % of the camels studied. However, the actual cause of the anaemia was not investigated but could be caused by infectious agent like protozoan parasite Trypanosoma specie and non-infectious cause such as nutritional deficiency. The PCV examination as a simple, inexpensive and reliable procedure could be part of the routine ante-mortem assessment to evaluate camels for the existence of anaemia since many of the causes of anaemia besides being affecting the meat quality could also be of zoonotic significance.

Keywords: anaemia, camels, packed cell volume, Sokoto abattoir

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Authors: D. Suman, M. Venkateshwara Rao

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Cancer is a disease caused by an uncontrolled division of abnormal cells in a part of the body, which is affecting millions of people leading to death. Even though there have been tremendous developments taken place over the last few decades the effective therapy for cancer is still not a reality. The existing techniques of cancer therapy are chemotherapy and radio therapy which are having their limitations in terms of the side effects, patient discomfort, radiation hazards and the localization of treatment. This paper describes a novel method for cancer therapy by using RF-hyperthermia application of nanoparticles. We have synthesized ferromagnetic nanoparticles and characterized by using XRD and TEM. These nanoparticles after the biocompatibility studies will be injected in to the body with a suitable tracer element having affinity to the specific tumor site. When RF energy is applied to the nanoparticles at the tumor site it produces heat of excess room temperature and nearly 41-45°C is sufficient to kill the tumor cells. We have designed a RF source generator provided with a temperature feedback controller to control the radiation induced temperature of the tumor site. The temperature control is achieved through a negative feedback mechanism of the thermocouple and a relay connected to the power source of the RF generator. This method has advantages in terms of its effect like localized therapy, less radiation, and no side effects. It has several challenges in designing the RF source provided with coils suitable for the tumour site, biocompatibility of the nanomaterials, cooling system design for the RF coil. If we can overcome these challenges this method will be a huge benefit for the society.

Keywords: hyperthermia, cancer therapy, RF source generator, nanoparticles

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Authors: Lucie Speyer, Vincent Lecocq, Séverine Humbert, Antoine Hugon

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Mesoporous alumina is commonly used as a catalyst support for the hydrotreating of heavy petroleum cuts. The process of fabrication usually involves: the synthesis of the boehmite AlOOH precursor, a kneading-extrusion step, and a calcination in order to obtain the final alumina extrudates. Alumina is described as a complex porous medium, generally agglomerates constituted of aggregated nanocrystallites. Its porous texture directly influences the active phase deposition and mass transfer, and the catalytic properties. Then, it is easy to figure out that each step of the fabrication of the supports has a role on the building of their porous network, and has to be well understood to optimize the process. The synthesis of boehmite by precipitation of aluminum salts was extensively studied in the literature and the effect of various parameters, such as temperature or pH, are known to influence the size and shape of the crystallites and the specific surface area of the support. The calcination step, through the topotactic transition from boehmite to alumina, determines the final properties of the support and can tune the surface area, pore volume and pore diameters from those of boehmite. However, the kneading extrusion step has been subject to a very few studies. It generally consists in two steps: an acid, then a basic kneading, where the boehmite powder is introduced in a mixer and successively added with an acid and a base solution to form an extrudable paste. During the acid kneading, the induced positive charges on the hydroxyl surface groups of boehmite create an electrostatic repulsion which tends to separate the aggregates and even, following the conditions, the crystallites. The basic kneading, by reducing the surface charges, leads to a flocculation phenomenon and can control the reforming of the overall structure. The separation and reassembling of the particles constituting the boehmite paste have a quite obvious influence on the textural properties of the material. In this work, we are focused on the influence of the kneading step on the alumina catalysts supports. Starting from an industrial boehmite, extrudates are prepared using various kneading conditions. The samples are studied by nitrogen physisorption in order to analyze the evolution of the textural properties, and by synchrotron small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), a more original method which brings information about agglomeration and aggregation of the samples. The coupling of physisorption and SAXS enables a precise description of the samples, as same as an accurate monitoring of their evolution as a function of the kneading conditions. These ones are found to have a strong influence of the pore volume and pore size distribution of the supports. A mechanism of evolution of the texture during the kneading step is proposed and could be attractive in order to optimize the texture of the supports and then, their catalytic performances.

Keywords: alumina catalyst support, kneading, nitrogen physisorption, small-angle X-ray scattering

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Authors: P. Thachitasing, N. Jansawang, W. Rakrai, T. Santiboon

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The aim of this study is to investigate of the comparing the instructional design models between the Think-Pair-Share and Conventional Learning (5E Inquiry Model) Processes to enhance students’ learning achievements and their problem solving skills on stoichiometry issue for concerning the 2-instructional method with a sample consisted of 80 students in 2 classes at the 11th grade level in Chaturaphak Phiman Ratchadaphisek School. Students’ different learning outcomes in chemistry classes with the cluster random sampling technique were used. Instructional Methods designed with the 40-experimenl student group by Think-Pair-Share process and the 40-controlling student group by the conventional learning (5E Inquiry Model) method. These learning different groups were obtained using the 5 instruments; the 5-lesson instructional plans of Think-Pair-Share and STEM Education Method, students’ learning achievements and their problem solving skills were assessed with the pretest and posttest techniques, students’ outcomes of their instructional the Think-Pair-Share (TPSM) and the STEM Education Methods were compared. Statistically significant was differences with the paired t-test and F-test between posttest and pretest technique of the whole students in chemistry classes were found, significantly. Associations between student learning outcomes in chemistry and two methods of their learning to students’ learning achievements and their problem solving skills also were found. The use of two methods for this study is revealed that the students perceive their learning achievements to their problem solving skills to be differently learning achievements in different groups are guiding practical improvements in chemistry classrooms to assist teacher in implementing effective approaches for improving instructional methods. Students’ learning achievements of mean average scores to their controlling group with the Think-Pair-Share Model (TPSM) are lower than experimental student group for the STEM education method, evidence significantly. The E1/E2 process were revealed evidence of 82.56/80.44, and 83.02/81.65 which results based on criteria are higher than of 80/80 standard level with the IOC, consequently. The predictive efficiency (R2) values indicate that 61% and 67% and indicate that 63% and 67% of the variances in chemistry classes to their learning achievements on posttest in chemistry classes of the variances in students’ problem solving skills to their learning achievements to their chemistry classrooms on Stoichiometry issue with the posttest were attributable to their different learning outcomes for the TPSM and STEMe instructional methods.

Keywords: comparisons, students’ learning achievements, think-pare-share model (TPSM), stem education, problem solving skills, chemistry classes, stoichiometry issue

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Authors: Rahul Paul, Peter Mctaggart, Luke Skinner

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Maintaining public safety and network reliability are the core objectives of all electricity distributors globally. For many electricity distributors, managing vegetation clearances from their above ground assets (poles and conductors) is the most important and costly risk mitigation control employed to meet these objectives. Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) is widely used by utilities as a cost-effective method to inspect their spatially-distributed assets at scale, often captured using high powered LiDAR scanners attached to fixed wing or rotary aircraft. The resulting 3D point cloud model is used by these utilities to perform engineering grade measurements that guide the prioritisation of vegetation cutting programs. Advances in computer vision and machine-learning approaches are increasingly applied to increase automation and reduce inspection costs and time; however, real-world LiDAR capture variables (e.g., aircraft speed and height) create complexity, noise, and missing data, reducing the effectiveness of these approaches. This paper proposes a method for identifying each conductor from LiDAR data via clustering methods that can precisely reconstruct conductors in complex real-world configurations in the presence of high levels of noise. It proposes 3D catenary models for individual clusters fitted to the captured LiDAR data points using a least square method. An iterative learning process is used to identify potential conductor models between pole pairs. The proposed method identifies the optimum parameters of the catenary function and then fits the LiDAR points to reconstruct the conductors.

Keywords: point cloud, LİDAR data, machine learning, computer vision, catenary curve, vegetation management, utility industry

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Authors: Yan-Wen Wang, Chu-Yang Chou, Jen-Cheng Wang, Min-Sheng Liao, Hsuan-Hsiang Hsu, Cheng-Ying Chou, Chen-Kang Huang, Kun-Chang Kuo, Joe-Air Jiang

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Performance-related parameters of high concentration photovoltaic (HCPV) modules (e.g. current and voltage) are required when estimating the maximum power point using numerical and approximation methods. The maximum power point on the characteristic curve for a photovoltaic module varies when temperature or solar radiation is different. It is also difficult to estimate the output performance and maximum power point (MPP) due to the special characteristics of HCPV modules. Based on the p-n junction semiconductor theory, a brand new and simple method is presented in this study to directly evaluate the MPP of HCPV modules. The MPP of HCPV modules can be determined from an irradiated I-V characteristic curve, because there is a non-linear relationship between the temperature of a solar cell and solar radiation. Numerical simulations and field tests are conducted to examine the characteristics of HCPV modules during maximum output power tracking. The performance of the presented method is evaluated by examining the dependence of temperature and irradiation intensity on the MPP characteristics of HCPV modules. These results show that the presented method allows HCPV modules to achieve their maximum power and perform power tracking under various operation conditions. A 0.1% error is found between the estimated and the real maximum power point.

Keywords: energy performance, high concentrated photovoltaic, maximum power point, p-n junction semiconductor

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Authors: Safitri Nur Wulandari, M. Ivan Adi Perdana, Prathisto L. Panuntun Unggul, R. Dary Wira Mahadika

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In road construction on the soft soil, we need a soil improvement method to improve the soil bearing capacity of the land base so that the soil can withstand the traffic loads. Most of the land in Indonesia has a soft soil, where soft soil is a type of clay that has the consistency of very soft to medium stiff, undrained shear strength, Cu <0:25 kg/cm2, or the estimated value of NSPT <5 blows/ft. This study focuses on the analysis of the effect on preloading load (embarkment) to the amount of settlement ratio on the under of embarkment that will impact on the building cracks around of embarkment. The method used in this research is a superposition method for embarkment distribution on 27 locations with undisturbed soil samples at some borehole point in Java and Kalimantan, Indonesia. Then correlating the results of settlement plate monitoring on the field with Asaoka method. The results of settlement plate monitoring taken from an embarkment of Ahmad Yani airport in Semarang on 32 points. Where the value of Cc (index compressible) soil data based on some laboratory test results, while the value of Cc is not tested obtained from empirical formula Ardhana and Mochtar, 1999. From this research, the results of the field monitoring showed almost the same results with an empirical formulation with the standard deviation of 4% where the formulation of the empirical results of this analysis obtained by linear formula. Value empirical linear formula is to determine the effect of compression heap area as high as 4,25 m is 3,1209x + y = 0.0026 for the slope of the embankment 1: 8 for the same analysis with an initial height of embankment on the field. Provided that at the edge of the embankment settlement worth is not equal to 0 but at a quarter of embankment has a settlement ratio average 0.951 and at the edge of embankment has a settlement ratio 0,049. The influence areas around of embankment are approximately 1 meter for slope 1:8 and 7 meters for slope 1:2. So, it can cause the building cracks, to build in sustainable development.

Keywords: building cracks, influence area, settlement plate, soft soil, empirical formula, embankment

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Authors: Y. Y. Babanyara, D. B. Ibrahim, T. Garba

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Proper management of medical waste is a crucial issue for maintaining human health and the environment. The waste generated in the hospitals has the potential for spreading infections and causing diseases. The study is aimed at assessing the medical waste management practices in Nigeria. Three instruments, questionnaire administration, in-depth interview and observation method for data collection were adopted in the study. The results revealed that the hospital does not quantify medical waste. Segregation of medical wastes is not conducted according to definite rules and standards. Wheeled trolleys are used for on-site transportation of waste from the points of production to the temporary storage area. Offsite transportation of the hospital waste is undertaken by a private waste management company. Small pickups are mainly used to transport waste daily to an off-site area for treatment and disposal. The main treatment method used in the final disposal of infectious waste is incineration. Non-infectious waste is disposed off using land disposal method. The study showed that the hospital does not have a policy and plan in place for managing medical waste. The study revealed number of problems the hospital faces in terms of medical waste management, including; lack of necessary rules, regulations and instructions on the different aspects of collections and disposal of waste, failure to quantify the waste generated in reliable records, lack of use of coloured bags by limiting the bags to only one colour for all waste, the absence of a dedicated waste manager, and no committee responsible for monitoring the management of medical waste. Recommendations are given with the aim of improving medical waste management in the hospital.

Keywords: medical waste, treatment, disposal, public health

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Authors: Samah Benmerbi, Kamal Amroun, Abdelkamel Tari

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The increasing number of Web service (WS)providers throughout the globe, have produced numerous Web services providing the same or similar functionality. Therefore, there is a need of tools developing the best answer of queries by selecting and composing services with total transparency. This paper reviews various QoS based Web service selection mechanisms and architectures which facilitate qualitatively optimal selection, in other fact Web service composition is required when a request cannot be fulfilled by a single web service. In such cases, it is preferable to integrate existing web services to satisfy user’s request. We introduce an automatic Web service composition method based on hypergraph decomposition using hypertree decomposition method. The problem of selection and the composition of the web services is transformed into a resolution in a hypertree by exploring the relations of dependency between web services to get composite web service via employing an execution order of WS satisfying global request.

Keywords: web service, web service selection, web service composition, QoS, hypergraph decomposition, BE hypergraph decomposition, hypertree resolution

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Authors: Liliana Patricia Olivo Arias

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The present study focused on the hydrodynamic study in a three-phase fluidized bed reactor and the influence of important aspects, such as volume fractions (Hold up), velocity magnitude of gas, liquid and solid phases (hydrogen, gasoil, and gamma alumina), interactions of phases, through of drag models with the k-epsilon turbulence model. For this purpose was employed a Euler-Euler model and also considers the system is constituted of three phases, gaseous, liquid and solid, characterized by its physical and thermal properties, the transport processes that are developed within the transient regime. The proposed model of the three-phase fluidized bed reactor was solved numerically using the ANSYS-Fluent software with different mesh refinements on bed expansion zone in order to observe the influence of the hydrodynamic parameters and convergence criteria. With this model and the numerical simulations obtained for its resolution, it was possible to predict the results of the volume fractions (Hold ups) and the velocity magnitude for an unsteady system from the initial and boundaries conditions were established.

Keywords: three-phase fluidized bed system, CFD simulation, mesh dependency study, hydrodynamic study

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Authors: Rajeshwar Singh

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The presence of multicollinearity is common in handling with several explanatory variables simultaneously due to exhibiting a linear relationship among them. A great problem arises in understanding the impact of explanatory variables on the dependent variable. Thus, the method of least squares estimation gives inexact estimates. In this case, it is advised to detect its presence first before proceeding further. Using the ridge regression degree of its occurrence is reduced but principal components regression gives good estimates in this situation. This paper discusses well-known techniques of the ridge and principal components regressions and applies to get the estimates of coefficients by both techniques. In addition to it, this paper also discusses the conflicting claim on the discovery of the method of ridge regression based on available documents.

Keywords: conflicting claim on credit of discovery of ridge regression, multicollinearity, principal components and ridge regressions, variance inflation factor

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Authors: Svitov David, Alyamkin Sergey

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The usage of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) in conjunction with the margin-based softmax approach demonstrates the state-of-the-art performance for the face recognition problem. Recently, lightweight neural network models trained with the margin-based softmax have been introduced for the face identification task for edge devices. In this paper, we propose a distillation method for lightweight neural network architectures that outperforms other known methods for the face recognition task on LFW, AgeDB-30 and Megaface datasets. The idea of the proposed method is to use class centers from the teacher network for the student network. Then the student network is trained to get the same angles between the class centers and face embeddings predicted by the teacher network.

Keywords: ArcFace, distillation, face recognition, margin-based softmax

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Authors: Abbasali Abouei Mehrizi, Hamid Hassanzadeh Afrouzi

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Reducing the drag force increases the efficiency of the aircraft and its better performance. Flow control methods delay the phenomenon of flow separation and consequently reduce the reversed flow phenomenon in the separation region and enhance the performance of the lift force while decreasing the drag force and thus improving the aircraft efficiency. Flow control methods can be divided into active and passive types. The use of synthetic jets actuator (SJA) used in this study for NACA GA (W) -2 airfoil is one of the active flow control methods to prevent stall phenomenon on the airfoil. In this research, the relevant airfoil in different angles of attack with and without jets has been compared by OpenFOAM. Also, after achieving the proper SJA position on the airfoil suction surface, the simultaneous effect of two SJAs has been discussed. It was found to have the best effect at 12% chord (C), close to the airfoil’s leading edge (LE). At 12% chord, SJA decreases the drag significantly with increasing lift, and also, the average lift increase was higher than other situations and was equal to 10.4%. The highest drag reduction was about 5% in SJA=0.25C. Then, due to the positive effects of SJA in the 12% and 25% chord regions, these regions were considered for applying dual jets in two post-stall angles of attack, i.e., 16° and 22°.

Keywords: active and passive flow control methods, computational fluid dynamics, flow separation, synthetic jet

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Authors: Lu Xi, Li Pan, Wen Mengmeng

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The stiffness of each component has different influences on the stiffness of the machine tool. Taking the five-axis gantry machining center as an example, we made the modal analysis of the machine tool, followed by raising and lowering the stiffness of the pillar, slide plate, beam, ram and saddle so as to study the stiffness matching among these components on the standard of whether the stiffness of the modified machine tool changes more than 50% relative to the stiffness of the original machine tool. The structural optimization of the machine tool can be realized by changing the stiffness of the components whose stiffness is mismatched. For example, the stiffness of the beam is mismatching. The natural frequencies of the first six orders of the beam increased by 7.70%, 0.38%, 6.82%, 7.96%, 18.72% and 23.13%, with the weight increased by 28Kg, leading to the natural frequencies of several orders which had a great influence on the dynamic performance of the whole machine increased by 1.44%, 0.43%, 0.065%, which verified the correctness of the optimization method based on stiffness matching proposed in this paper.

Keywords: machine tool, optimization, modal analysis, stiffness matching

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Authors: D. Ravinder

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Nickel ferrites and Ni doped Lithium nano ferrites [Li0.5Fe0.5]1-xNixFe2O4 with x= 0.8 and 1.0 synthesized by citrate-gel auto combustion method. The broad peaks in the X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD) indicate a crystalline behavior of the prepared samples. Low temperature magnetization studies i,e Field Cooled (FC) and Zero Field Cooled (ZFC) magnetic studies of the investigated samples are measured by using vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The magnetization of the prepared samples as a function of an applied magnetic field 10 T was measured at two different temperatures 5 K and 310 K. Field Cooled (FC) and Zero Field Cooled (ZFC) magnetization measurements under an applied field of 100 Oe and 1000 Oe in the temperature range of 5–375 K were carried out.

Keywords: ferro-spinels, field cooled (FC), Zero Field Cooled (ZFC) and blocking temperature, superpara magnetism, drug delivery applications

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Authors: Sanjeev Kumar Raghuwanshi, Yadvendra Singh

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The objective of this paper is to develop and optimize the Fiber Bragg (FBG) grating based Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) sensor for monitoring the hazardous toxic chemicals and gases in underground mines or any industrial area. A fully cladded telecommunication standard FBG is proposed to develop to produce surface plasmon resonance. A thin few nm gold/silver film (subject to optimization) is proposed to apply over the FBG sensing head using e-beam deposition method. Sensitivity enhancement of the sensor will be done by adding a composite nanostructured Graphene Oxide (GO) sensing layer using the spin coating method. Both sensor configurations suppose to demonstrate high responsiveness towards the changes in resonance wavelength. The GO enhanced sensor may show increased sensitivity of many fold compared to the gold coated traditional fibre optic sensor. Our work is focused on to optimize GO, multilayer structure and to develop fibre coating techniques that will serve well for sensitive and multifunctional detection of hazardous chemicals. This research proposal shows great potential towards future development of optical fiber sensors using readily available components such as Bragg gratings as highly sensitive chemical sensors in areas such as environmental sensing.

Keywords: surface plasmon resonance, fibre Bragg grating, sensitivity, toxic gases, MATRIX method

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Authors: C. Hamamura, V. Gialluca

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Much of the Eclectricity Distributors has about 70% of its electricity interruptions arising from cause "trees", alone or associated with wind and rain and with or without falling branch and / or trees. This contributes inexorably and significantly to outages, resulting in high costs as compensation in addition to the operation and maintenance costs. On the other hand, there is little data structure and solutions to better organize the trees pruning plan effectively, minimizing costs and environmentally friendly. This work describes the development of an algorithm to provide data of trees associated to power grid. The method is accomplished on several steps using satellite imagery and geographically vectorized grid. A sliding window like approach is performed to seek the area around the grid. The proposed method counted 764 trees on a patch of the grid, which was very close to the 738 trees counted manually. The trees data was used as a part of a larger project that implements a system to optimize tree pruning plan.

Keywords: image pattern recognition, trees pruning, trees recognition, neural network

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Authors: J. W. Ahn, I. Y. Choi, T. V. Dinh, J. C. Kim

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A cooler has been widely employed in the extractive system of the continuous emission monitoring system (CEMS) to remove water vapor in the gas stream. The effect of the cooler on analytical target gases was investigated in this research. A commercial cooler for the CEMS operated at 4 C was used. Several gases emitted from a coal power plant (i.e. CO2, SO2, NO, NO2 and CO) were mixed with humid air, and then introduced into the cooler to observe its effect. Concentrations of SO2, NO, NO2 and CO were made as 200 ppm. The CO2 concentration was 8%. The inlet absolute humidity was produced as 12.5% at 100 C using a bubbling method. It was found that the reduction rate of SO2 was the highest (~21%), followed by NO2 (~17%), CO2 (~11%) and CO (~10%). In contrast, the cooler was not affected by NO gas. The result indicated that the cooler caused a significant effect on the water soluble gases due to condensate water in the cooler. To overcome this problem, a correction factor may be applied. However, water vapor might be different, and emissions of target gases are also various. Therefore, the correction factor is not only a solution, but also a better available method should be employed.

Keywords: cooler, CEMS, monitoring, reproductive, sampling

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Authors: Reza Babajanivalashedi, Stefania Lo Feudo, Jean-Luc Dion

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Liquid sloshing is a crucial problem for the dynamic of moving containers in the packaging industries. Sloshing issues have been so far mainly modeled within the framework of fluid dynamics or by using equivalent mechanical models with different kinds of movements and shapes of containers. Nevertheless, these approaches do not allow to determinate the shape of the free surface of the liquid in case of the irregular shape of the moving containers, so that experimental measurements may be required. If there is too much slosh in the moving tank, the liquid can be splashed out on the packages. So, the free surface oscillation must be controlled/reduced to eliminate the splashing. The purpose of this research is to propose an optimization algorithm for finding an optimum command law to reduce surface elevation. In the first step, the free surface of the liquid is simulated based on the separation variable and weak formulation models. Then Genetic and Gradient algorithms are developed for finding the optimum command law. The optimum command law is compared with existing command laws, and the results show that there is a significant difference in surface oscillation between optimum and existing command laws. This algorithm is applicable for different varieties of bottles in case of using the camera for detecting the liquid elevation, and it can produce new command laws for different kinds of tanks to reduce the surface oscillation and remove the splashing phenomenon.

Keywords: sloshing phenomenon, separation variables, weak formulation, optimization algorithm, command law

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Authors: Atchara Sankom, Warapa Mahakarnchanakul, Ronnarit Rittiron, Tanaboon Sajjaanantakul, Thammasak Thongket

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Vegetables are frequently contaminated with pesticides residues resulting in the most food safety concern among agricultural products. The objective of this work was to develop a method to detect the organophosphate (OP) pesticides residues in vegetables using Near Infrared (NIR) spectroscopy technique. Low concentration (ppm) of OP pesticides in vegetables were investigated. The experiment was divided into 2 sections. In the first section, Chinese kale spiked with different concentrations of chlorpyrifos pesticide residues (0.5-100 ppm) was chosen as the sample model to demonstrate the appropriate conditions of sample preparation, both for a solution or solid sample. The spiked samples were extracted with acetone. The sample extracts were applied as solution samples, while the solid samples were prepared by the dry-extract system for infrared (DESIR) technique. The DESIR technique was performed by embedding the solution sample on filter paper (GF/A) and then drying. The NIR spectra were measured with the transflectance mode over wavenumber regions of 12,500-4000 cm⁻¹. The QuEChERS method followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was performed as the standard method. The results from the first section showed that the DESIR technique with NIR spectroscopy demonstrated good accurate calibration result with R² of 0.93 and RMSEP of 8.23 ppm. However, in the case of solution samples, the prediction regarding the NIR-PLSR (partial least squares regression) equation showed poor performance (R² = 0.16 and RMSEP = 23.70 ppm). In the second section, the DESIR technique coupled with NIR spectroscopy was applied to the detection of OP pesticides in vegetables. Vegetables (Chinese kale, cabbage and hot chili) were spiked with OP pesticides (chlorpyrifos ethion and profenofos) at different concentrations ranging from 0.5 to 100 ppm. Solid samples were prepared (based on the DESIR technique), then samples were scanned by NIR spectrophotometer at ambient temperature (25+2°C). The NIR spectra were measured as in the first section. The NIR- PLSR showed the best calibration equation for detecting low concentrations of chlorpyrifos residues in vegetables (Chinese kale, cabbage and hot chili) according to the prediction set of R2 and RMSEP of 0.85-0.93 and 8.23-11.20 ppm, respectively. For ethion residues, the best calibration equation of NIR-PLSR showed good indexes of R² and RMSEP of 0.88-0.94 and 7.68-11.20 ppm, respectively. As well as the results for profenofos pesticide, the NIR-PLSR also showed the best calibration equation for detecting the profenofos residues in vegetables according to the good index of R² and RMSEP of 0.88-0.97 and 5.25-11.00 ppm, respectively. Moreover, the calibration equation developed in this work could rapidly predict the concentrations of OP pesticides residues (0.5-100 ppm) in vegetables, and there was no significant difference between NIR-predicted values and actual values (data from GC-MS) at a confidence interval of 95%. In this work, the proposed method using NIR spectroscopy involving the DESIR technique has proved to be an efficient method for the screening detection of OP pesticides residues at low concentrations, and thus increases the food safety potential of vegetables for domestic and export markets.

Keywords: NIR spectroscopy, organophosphate pesticide, vegetable, food safety

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Authors: Rashid S. Mohammad, Shicheng Zhang, Sun Lu, Syed Jamal-Ud-Din, Xinzhe Zhao

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A compositional reservoir simulation model (CMG-GEM) was used for cyclic CO₂ injection process in unconventional tight reservoir. Cyclic CO₂ injection is an enhanced oil recovery process consisting of injection, shut-in, and production. The study of cyclic CO₂ injection and hydrocarbon recovery in ultra-low permeability reservoirs is mainly a function of rock, fluid, and operational parameters. CMG-GEM was used to study several design parameters of cyclic CO₂ injection process to distinguish the parameters with maximum effect on the oil recovery and to comprehend the behavior of cyclic CO₂ injection in tight reservoir. On the other hand, permeability reduction induced by asphaltene precipitation is one of the major issues in the oil industry due to its plugging onto the porous media which reduces the oil productivity. In addition to asphaltene deposition, solubility of CO₂ in the aquifer is one of the safest and permanent trapping techniques when considering CO₂ storage mechanisms in geological formations. However, the effects of the above uncertain parameters on the process of CO₂ enhanced oil recovery have not been understood systematically. Hence, it is absolutely necessary to study the most significant parameters which dominate the process. The main objective of this study is to improve techniques for designing cyclic CO₂ injection process while considering the effects of asphaltene deposition and solubility of CO₂ in the brine in order to prevent asphaltene precipitation, minimize CO₂ emission, optimize cyclic CO₂ injection, and maximize oil production.

Keywords: tight reservoirs, cyclic O₂ injection, asphaltene, solubility, reservoir simulation

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Authors: Marc Toutain, Pascale Leconte, Antoine Gauthier

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Introduction: Eating Disorders (ED), such as anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating, are psychiatric illnesses that mostly affect young people. The main symptoms concern eating (restriction, excessive food intake) and weight control behaviors (laxatives, vomiting). Psychological comorbidities (depression, executive function disorders, etc.) and problematic behaviors toward physical activity (PA) are commonly associated with ED. Acquaintances on ED risk factors are still lacking, and more community sample studies are needed to improve prevention and early detection. To our knowledge, studies are needed to specifically investigate the link between ED risk level, PA, and psychological risk factors in a community sample of adolescents. The aim of this study is to assess the relation between ED risk level, exercise (type, frequency, and motivations for engaging in exercise), and psychological factors based on the Jacobi risk factors model. We suppose that a high risk of ED will be associated with the practice of high caloric cost PA, motivations oriented to weight and shape control, and psychological disturbances. Method: An online survey destined for students has been sent to several middle schools and colleges in northwest France. This survey combined several questionnaires, the Eating Attitude Test-26 assessing ED risk; the Exercise Motivation Inventory–2 assessing motivations toward PA; the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale assessing anxiety and depression, the Contour Drawing Rating Scale; and the Body Esteem Scale assessing body dissatisfaction, Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale assessing self-esteem, the Exercise Dependence Scale-Revised assessing PA dependence, the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness assessing interoceptive awareness and the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale assessing perfectionism. Machine learning analysis will be performed in order to constitute groups with a tree-based model clustering method, extract risk profile(s) with a bootstrap method comparison, and predict ED risk with a prediction method based on a decision tree-based model. Expected results: 1044 complete records have already been collected, and the survey will be closed at the end of May 2022. Records will be analyzed with a clustering method and a bootstrap method in order to reveal risk profile(s). Furthermore, a predictive tree decision method will be done to extract an accurate predictive model of ED risk. This analysis will confirm typical main risk factors and will give more data on presumed strong risk factors such as exercise motivations and interoceptive deficit. Furthermore, it will enlighten particular risk profiles with a strong level of proof and greatly contribute to improving the early detection of ED and contribute to a better understanding of ED risk factors.

Keywords: eating disorders, risk factors, physical activity, machine learning

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Authors: Luca Collini, Michele Antolotti, Diego Schiavi

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At present, complex geometries within production time shrinkage, rapidly increasing demand, and high-quality standard requirement make the non-destructive (ND) control of additively manufactured components indispensable means. On the other hand, a technology gap and the lack of standards regulating the methods and the acceptance criteria indicate the NDT of these components a stimulating field to be still fully explored. Up to date, penetrant testing, acoustic wave, tomography, radiography, and semi-automated ultrasound methods have been tested on metal powder based products so far. External defects, distortion, surface porosity, roughness, texture, internal porosity, and inclusions are the typical defects in the focus of testing. Detection of density and layers compactness are also been tried on stainless steels by the ultrasonic scattering method. In this work, the authors want to present and discuss the radiographic and the ultrasound ND testing on additively manufactured Ti₆Al₄V and inconel parts obtained by the selective laser melting (SLM) technology. In order to test the possibilities given by the radiographic method, both X-Rays and γ-Rays are tried on a set of specifically designed specimens realized by the SLM. The specimens contain a family of defectology, which represent the most commonly found, as cracks and lack of fusion. The tests are also applied to real parts of various complexity and thickness. A set of practical indications and of acceptance criteria is finally drawn.

Keywords: non-destructive testing, selective laser melting, radiography, UT method

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Authors: Bahia Braktia, Ahlem Ghamri

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Years ago, faculties and administrators realized that students entering college were not prepared for the academic sphere; however, as a type of collaborative learning, peer-review gave students a social context in which they could learn more efficiently. Peer-review has proven its effectiveness in higher education. Numerous studies have been conducted on peer review and its effects on the quality of students’ writing, and several publications recommended peer-review as part of the feedback process. Student writers showed a tendency towards making significant meaning-level revisions and surface-level revisions. Last but not least, studies reported that peer-review helps students develop their self-assessment skills as well as critical thinking. The use of peer-review has become well known and widely adopted to the L2 classroom environment. However, little is known about peer review on translation students. The purpose of this study was to investigate the students' perspective on peer-review, and whether this method affected the quality of their translation. A mixed method design was adopted. Students were requested to translate two texts from Arabic into English, and they gave and received structured feedback to their classmates' translations. A survey was administered, followed by semi-structured interviews, to examine the students' attitudes toward peer-review. The results of the study showed that peer-review was considered a good proofreading method for most students. The students also showed a positive attitude toward it, and they reported that they benefited from the interaction with their peers. The findings implied that the inclusion of peer-review can be an effective pedagogical practice for teaching translation and writing to foreign language learners.

Keywords: language teaching, feedback, peer-review, translation

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Authors: Marine Segui, Ruxandra Mihaela Botez

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OpenVSP is an aerodynamic solver developed by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) that allows building a reliable model of an aircraft. This software performs an aerodynamic simulation according to the angle of attack of the aircraft makes between the incoming airstream, and its speed. A reliable aerodynamic model of the Cessna Citation X was designed but it required a lot of computation time. As a consequence, a prediction method was established that allowed predicting lift and drag coefficients for all Mach numbers and for all angles of attack, exclusively for stall conditions, from a computation of three angles of attack and only one Mach number. Aerodynamic coefficients given by the prediction method for a Cessna Citation X model were finally compared with aerodynamics coefficients obtained using a complete OpenVSP study.

Keywords: aerodynamic, coefficient, cruise, improving, longitudinal, openVSP, solver, time

Procedia PDF Downloads 230

Authors: Ren-Jy Ben, Jo-Chi Jao, Chiu-Ya Liao, Ya-Ru Tsai, Lain-Chyr Hwang, Po-Chou Chen

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Cancer is still one of the serious diseases threatening the lives of human beings. How to have an early diagnosis and effective treatment for tumors is a very important issue. The animal carcinoma model can provide a simulation tool for the study of pathogenesis, biological characteristics and therapeutic effects. Recently, drug delivery systems have been rapidly developed to effectively improve the therapeutic effects. Liposome plays an increasingly important role in clinical diagnosis and therapy for delivering a pharmaceutic or contrast agent to the targeted sites. Liposome can be absorbed and excreted by the human body, and is well known that no harm to the human body. This study aimed to compare the therapeutic effects between encapsulated (doxorubicin liposomal, LipoDox) and un-encapsulated (doxorubicin, Dox) anti-tumor drugs using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Twenty-four New Zealand rabbits implanted with VX2 carcinoma at left thigh were classified into three groups: control group (untreated), Dox-treated group and LipoDox-treated group, 8 rabbits for each group. MRI scans were performed three days after tumor implantation. A 1.5T GE Signa HDxt whole body MRI scanner with a high resolution knee coil was used in this study. After a 3-plane localizer scan was performed, Three-Dimensional (3D) Fast Spin Echo (FSE) T2-Weighted Images (T2WI) was used for tumor volumetric quantification. And Two-Dimensional (2D) spoiled gradient recalled echo (SPGR) dynamic Contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI was used for tumor perfusion evaluation. DCE-MRI was designed to acquire four baseline images, followed by contrast agent Gd-DOTA injection through the ear vein of rabbits. Afterwards, a series of 32 images were acquired to observe the signals change over time in the tumor and muscle. The MRI scanning was scheduled on a weekly basis for a period of four weeks to observe the tumor progression longitudinally. The Dox and LipoDox treatments were prescribed 3 times in the first week immediately after VX2 tumor implantation. ImageJ was used to quantitate tumor volume and time course signal enhancement on DCE images. The changes of tumor size showed that the growth of VX2 tumors was effectively inhibited for both LipoDox-treated and Dox-treated groups. Furthermore, the tumor volume of LipoDox-treated group was significantly lower than that of Dox-treated group, which implies that LipoDox has better therapeutic effect than Dox. The signal intensity of LipoDox-treated group is significantly lower than that of the other two groups, which implies that targeted therapeutic drug remained in the tumor tissue. This study provides a radiation-free and non-invasive MRI method for therapeutic monitoring of targeted liposome on an animal tumor model.

Keywords: doxorubicin, dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI, lipodox, magnetic resonance imaging, VX2 tumor model

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Authors: M. Vieira, V. Infante, P. Serrão, A. Ribeiro

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The Portuguese guitar is a pear-shaped plucked chordophone particularly known for its role in Fado, the most distinctive traditional Portuguese musical style. The acknowledgment of the dynamic behavior of the Portuguese guitar, specifically of its modal and mode shape response, has been the focus of different authors. In this research, the experimental results of the dynamic behavior of the guitar, which were previously obtained, are correlated with a vibro-acoustic finite element model of the guitar. The modelling of the guitar offered several challenges which are presented in this work. The results of the correlation between experimental and numerical data are presented and indicate good correspondence for the studied mode shapes. The influence of the air inside the chamber, for the finite element analysis, is shown to be crucial to understand the low-frequency modes of the Portuguese guitar, while, for higher frequency modes, the geometry of the guitar assumes greater relevance. Comparison is made with the classical guitar, providing relevant information about the intrinsic differences between the two, such as between its tones and other acoustical properties. These results represent a sustained base for future work, which will allow the study of the influence of different location and geometry of diverse components of the Portuguese guitar, being as well an asset to the comprehension of its musical properties and qualities and may, furthermore, represent an advantage for its players and luthiers.

Keywords: dynamic behavior of guitars, instrument acoustics, modal analysis, Portuguese guitar

Procedia PDF Downloads 397

Authors: Hala Alshamlan, Ghada Badr, Yousef Alohali

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Cancer is one of the dreadful diseases, which causes considerable death rate in humans. DNA microarray-based gene expression profiling has been emerged as an efficient technique for cancer classification, as well as for diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment purposes. In recent years, a DNA microarray technique has gained more attraction in both scientific and in industrial fields. It is important to determine the informative genes that cause cancer to improve early cancer diagnosis and to give effective chemotherapy treatment. In order to gain deep insight into the cancer classification problem, it is necessary to take a closer look at the proposed gene selection methods. We believe that they should be an integral preprocessing step for cancer classification. Furthermore, finding an accurate gene selection method is a very significant issue in a cancer classification area because it reduces the dimensionality of microarray dataset and selects informative genes. In this paper, we classify and review the state-of-art gene selection methods. We proceed by evaluating the performance of each gene selection approach based on their classification accuracy and number of informative genes. In our evaluation, we will use four benchmark microarray datasets for the cancer diagnosis (leukemia, colon, lung, and prostate). In addition, we compare the performance of gene selection method to investigate the effective gene selection method that has the ability to identify a small set of marker genes, and ensure high cancer classification accuracy. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to compare gene selection approaches for cancer classification using microarray gene expression profile.

Keywords: gene selection, feature selection, cancer classification, microarray, gene expression profile

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Authors: Robin Ratnasingham, Maher Elshakankiri

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This research report will look at how to make a smart washroom to increase public hygiene and cleanliness. The system would use IoT devices to pick up various activities in the washroom and notify the appropriate stakeholders or devices to regulate the condition of the washroom. As more people are required to physically go back to the office or school, ensuring a clean and sanitized washroom is even more important now than before. It would help prevent virus outbreaks and safeguard the organization from shutdowns or slowdowns in their business. A framework of the suggested smart washroom was introduced to help reduce the chances of a virus outbreak. Most organizations outsource renovation or implementation to an external party. Using the smart washroom framework, we looked at vendors that provide smart washroom solutions. There are IoT vendors that cannot match the framework, and there are vendors that can support the framework design. This segment is a niche market, and most of the devices are similar in their basic functions. However, all the vendors have unique characteristics to give them a competitive advantage over the rest of the IoT washroom companies. Ultimately, the organization would need to decide if they want to add IoT devices to enable smart capability or renovate the washroom to create a fluid IoT smart washroom design. The report would introduce an IoT smart washroom framework to help organizations design a cohesive preventive measure network for the daily maintenance routine. The framework is designed to help understand how to manage washroom cleanliness more efficiently and to provide guidance in achieving this goal. The leading result is eliminating potential viral outbreaks that could jeopardize the organization.

Keywords: IoT, smart washroom, public hygiene, cleanliness, virus outbreaks, safeguard

Procedia PDF Downloads 90