Search results for: voltage-gated sodium channel

Authors: Xin Shi, Wei Tan, Guorui Zhu

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The contraction-expansion array (CEA) microfluidic device is widely used for particle focusing and particle separation. Without the introduction of external fields, it can manipulate particles using hydrodynamic forces, including inertial lift forces and Dean drag forces. The focusing pattern of the particles in a CEA channel can be affected by the structural parameter, block ratio, and flow streamlines. Here, two typical focusing patterns with five different structural parameters were investigated, and the force mechanism was analyzed. We present nine CEA channels with different aspect ratios based on the process of changing the particle equilibrium positions. The results show that 10-15 μm particles have the potential to generate a side focusing line as the structural parameter (¬R𝓌) increases. For a determined channel structure and target particles, when the Reynolds number (Rₑ) exceeds the critical value, the focusing pattern will transform from a single pattern to a double pattern. The parameter α/R𝓌 can be used to calculate the critical Reynolds number for the focusing pattern transformation. The results can provide guidance for microchannel design and biomedical analysis.

Keywords: microfluidic, inertial focusing, particle separation, Dean flow

Procedia PDF Downloads 79

Authors: Byeongcheol Kang, Junyi Kim, Hyungsik Jung, Hyungjun Yang, Jaewoo An, Jonggeun Choe

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It is important to figure out reservoir properties for better production management. Due to the limited information, there are geological uncertainties on very heterogeneous or channel reservoir. One of the solutions is to generate multiple equi-probable realizations using geostatistical methods. However, some models have wrong properties, which need to be excluded for simulation efficiency and reliability. We propose a novel method of model selection scheme, based on distance-based clustering for reliable application of production optimization algorithm. Distance is defined as a degree of dissimilarity between the data. We calculate Hausdorff distance to classify the models based on their similarity. Hausdorff distance is useful for shape matching of the reservoir models. We use multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) to describe the models on two dimensional space and group them by K-means clustering. Rather than simulating all models, we choose one representative model from each cluster and find out the best model, which has the similar production rates with the true values. From the process, we can select good reservoir models near the best model with high confidence. We make 100 channel reservoir models using single normal equation simulation (SNESIM). Since oil and gas prefer to flow through the sand facies, it is critical to characterize pattern and connectivity of the channels in the reservoir. After calculating Hausdorff distances and projecting the models by MDS, we can see that the models assemble depending on their channel patterns. These channel distributions affect operation controls of each production well so that the model selection scheme improves management optimization process. We use one of useful global search algorithms, particle swarm optimization (PSO), for our production optimization. PSO is good to find global optimum of objective function, but it takes too much time due to its usage of many particles and iterations. In addition, if we use multiple reservoir models, the simulation time for PSO will be soared. By using the proposed method, we can select good and reliable models that already matches production data. Considering geological uncertainty of the reservoir, we can get well-optimized production controls for maximum net present value. The proposed method shows one of novel solutions to select good cases among the various probabilities. The model selection schemes can be applied to not only production optimization but also history matching or other ensemble-based methods for efficient simulations.

Keywords: distance-based clustering, geological uncertainty, particle swarm optimization (PSO), production optimization

Procedia PDF Downloads 143

Authors: Fariha Akhter Chowdhury, Mohammad Nurul Islam, Anamika Saha, Sabrina Mahboob, Abu Syed Md. Mosaddek, Md. Omar Faruque, Most. Fahmida Begum, Rajib Bhattacharjee

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Urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the most common infectious diseases in Bangladesh where Escherichia coli is the prevalent organism and responsible for most of the infections. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is known to act as a major virulence factor of E. coli. The present study aimed to purify, extract and visualize LPS of E. coli clinical isolates from urine samples of patients with UTI. The E. coli strain was isolated from the urine samples of 10 patients with UTI and then the antibiotic sensitivity pattern of the isolates was determined. The purification of LPS was carried out using the hot aqueous-phenol method and separated by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, which was directly stained using the modified silver staining method and Coomassie blue. The silver-stained gel demonstrated both smooth and rough type LPS by showing trail-like band patterns with the presence and lacking O-antigen region, respectively. Coomassie blue staining showed no band assuring the absence of any contaminating protein. Our successful extraction of purified LPS from E. coli isolates of UTI patients’ urine samples can be an important step to understand the UTI disease conditions.

Keywords: Escherichia coli, electrophoresis, polyacrylamide gel, silver staining, sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE)

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Authors: Munnujahan Ara

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In this paper, we investigate the effect of friendly jamming power allocation strategies on the achievable average secrecy rate over a bank of parallel fading wiretap channels. We investigate the achievable average secrecy rate in parallel fading wiretap channels subject to Rayleigh and Rician fading. The achievable average secrecy rate, due to the presence of a line-of-sight component in the jammer channel is also evaluated. Moreover, we study the detrimental effect of correlation across the parallel sub-channels, and evaluate the corresponding decrease in the achievable average secrecy rate for the various fading configurations. We also investigate the tradeoff between the transmission power and the jamming power for a fixed total power budget. Our results, which are applicable to current orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communications systems, shed further light on the achievable average secrecy rates over a bank of parallel fading channels in the presence of friendly jammers.

Keywords: fading parallel channels, wire-tap channel, OFDM, secrecy capacity, power allocation

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Authors: André C. Silva, Débora N. Sousa, Elenice M. S. Silva, Thales P. Fontes, Raphael S. Tomaz

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Starches are widely used as depressant in froth flotation operations in Brazil due to their efficiency, increasing the selectivity in the inverse flotation of quartz depressing iron ore. Starches market have been growing and improving in recent years, leading to better products attending the requirements of the mineral industry. The major source of starch used for iron ore is corn starch, which needs to be gelatinized with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) prior to use. This stage has a direct impact on industrials costs, once the lowest consumption of NaOH in gelatinization provides better control of the pH in the froth flotation and reduces the amount of electrolytes present in the pulp. In order to evaluate the gelatinization degree of different starches and flour were subjected to the addiction of NaOH and temperature variation experiments. Samples of starch (corn, cassava, HIPIX 100, HIPIX 101 and HIPIX 102 commercialized by Ingredion) and flour (cassava and potato) were tested. The starch samples were characterized through Scanning Electronic Microscopy and the amylose content were determined through spectrometry, swelling and solubility tests. The gelatinization was carried out through titration with NaOH, keeping the solution temperature constant at 40 ^oC. At the end of the tests, the optimal amount of NaOH consumed to gelatinize the starch or flour from different botanical sources was established and a correlation between the content of amylopectin in the starch and the starch/NaOH ratio needed for its gelatinization.

Keywords: froth flotation, gelatinization, sodium hydroxide, starches and flours

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Authors: Ahmad K. Samaila, Basant K. Jha

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This study is devoted to investigate the effect of transpiration on transient as well as steady-state natural convection flow of a reactive viscous fluid in a vertical channel formed by two infinite vertical parallel porous plates. The Boussinesq assumption is applied and the nonlinear governing equations of energy and momentum are developed. The problem is solved numerically using implicit finite difference method and analytically for steady-state case using perturbation method. Solutions are presented in graphical form for fluid temperature, velocity, and skin-friction and wall heat transfer rate for various parametric values. It is found that velocity, temperature, rate of heat transfer as well as skin-friction are strongly affected by mass leakage through the porous plates.

Keywords: transpiration, reactive viscous fluid, porous plates, natural convection, suction/injection

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Authors: Mohamed M. Zaki, Maha M. Hady

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Salmonella spp. have been categorized as the world’s biggest threats to human health and poultry products are mostly incriminated sources. In Egypt, it was found that S. enteritidis and S. typhimurium are the most prevalent ones in poultry farms. It is recommended to eliminate salmonella from living bird by competing for salmonella contamination in feed in order to establish a healthy gut. The Feed acidifiers are the group of feed additives containing low-molecular-weight organic acids and/ or their salts which act as performance promoters by lowering the pH in the gut, optimizes digestion and inhibit bacterial growth. The inclusion of organic acid in pure form nonetheless effective in feed, yet, it is difficult to handle in feed mills as it is corrosive and produce more losses during pelleting process. The current study aimed at to evaluate the impact of incorporation of sodium diformate (SDF) and a commercial acidifier, CA (a mixture of butyric and propionic acids and their ammonium salts) at 0.4% dietary levels on broilers performance and the control S. enteritidis infection. Two hundreds and seventy unsexed cobb chickens were allotted in one of three treatments (90/ group) which were, the control (no acidifier, C- &C+), the 0.4% SDF (SDF- & SDF +) and the 0.4% CA (CA- & CA +) dietary levels for 35 days. Before the allocation of the groups, ten extra birds and a diet sample were bacteriologically examined to ensure negative contamination with salmonella. The birds were raised on deep-litter separated pens and had free access to feed and water all the time. The experimentally formulated diets were kept at 40C. After 24h access to the different dietary treatments, all the birds in the positive groups (n=15/ replicate) were inoculated intra-crop with 0.2 ml of 24 h broth culture of S. entertidis containing 1X 107 organisms while the negative-treated groups were inoculated with the same amount of the negative broth and second inoculation was done at 22 d of age. Colocal swabs were collected individually from all birds 2 h pre-inoculation to assure the absence of salmonella, then 1, 3, 5, 7, 21 days post-inoculation to recover salmonella. Performance parameter (body weight gain and feed efficiency) were calculated. Mortalities were recorded and reisolation of the salmonella was adopted to ensure it was the inoculated ones. The results revealed that the dietary acidification with sodium diformate significantly improved broilers performance and tends to produce heavier birds as compared to the negative control and CA groups. Moreover, the dietary inclusion of both acidifiers at level of 0.4% was able to eliminate mortalities completely at the relevant inoculation time. Regarding the shedding of S. enteritidius in positive groups, the SDF treatment resulted in significant (p<0.05) cessation of the shedding at 3 days post-inoculation compared to 7 days post-inoculation for the CA-group. In conclusion, sodium diformate at 0.4% dietary level in broiler diets has a valuable effect not only on broilers performance but also by eliminating S. enteritidis the main source of salmonella contamination in poultry farms which is feed.

Keywords: acidifier, broilers, Salmonalla spp, sodium diformate

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Authors: Peter O. Osifo, Hein W. J. P. Neomagus, Hein V. D. Merwe

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Chitosan materials from different sources of raw materials were characterized in order to determine optimal preparation conditions and parameters for membrane production. The membrane parameters such as molecular weight, viscosity, and degree of deacetylation were used to evaluate the membrane performance for zinc ion adsorption. The molecular weight of the chitosan was found to influence the viscosity of the chitosan/acetic acid solution. An increase in molecular weight (60000-400000 kg.kmol-1) of the chitosan resulted in a higher viscosity (0.05-0.65 Pa.s) of the chitosan/acetic acid solution. The effect of the degree of deacetylation on the viscosity is not significant. The effect of the membrane production parameters (chitosan- and acetic acid concentration) on the viscosity is mainly determined by the chitosan concentration. For higher chitosan concentrations, a membrane with a better adsorption capacity was obtained. The membrane adsorption capacity increases from 20-130 mg Zn per gram of wet membrane for an increase in chitosan concentration from 2-7 mass %. Chitosan concentrations below 2 and above 7.5 mass % produced membranes that lack good mechanical properties. The optimum manufacturing conditions including chitosan concentration, acetic acid concentration, sodium hydroxide concentration and crosslinking for chitosan membranes within the workable range were defined by the criteria of adsorption capacity and flux. The adsorption increases (50-120 mg.g-1) as the acetic acid concentration increases (1-7 mass %). The sodium hydroxide concentration seems not to have a large effect on the adsorption characteristics of the membrane however, a maximum was reached at a concentration of 5 mass %. The adsorption capacity per gram of wet membrane strongly increases with the chitosan concentration in the acetic acid solution but remains constant per gram of dry chitosan. The optimum solution for membrane production consists of 7 mass % chitosan and 4 mass % acetic acid in de-ionised water. The sodium hydroxide concentration for phase inversion is at optimum at 5 mass %. The optimum cross-linking time was determined to be 6 hours (Percentage crosslinking of 18%). As the cross-linking time increases the adsorption of the zinc decreases (150-50 mg.g-1) in the time range of 0 to 12 hours. After a crosslinking time of 12 hours, the adsorption capacity remains constant. This trend is comparable to the effect on flux through the membrane. The flux decreases (10-3 L.m-2.hr-1) with an increase in crosslinking time range of 0 to 12 hours and reaches a constant minimum after 12 hours.

Keywords: chitosan, membrane, waste water, heavy metal ions, adsorption

Procedia PDF Downloads 387

Authors: Hasan Farahneh

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Smart asset management along roadsides and in deserted areas is a topic of deprived attention. We find most of the work in emergency reporting services in intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and rural areas but not much in asset reporting. Currently, available asset management mechanisms are based on scheduled maintenance and do not effectively report any emergency situation in a timely manner. This paper is the continuation of our previous work, in which we proposed the usage of Foglets and VLC link between smart vehicles and road side assets. In this paper, we propose a hybrid communication system for asset management and emergency reporting architecture for smart transportation. We incorporate Foglets along with visible light communication (VLC) and radio frequency (RF) communication. We present the channel model and parameters of a hybrid model to support an intelligent transportation system (ITS) system. Simulations show high improvement in the system performance in terms of communication range and received data. We present a comparative analysis of a hybrid ITS system.

Keywords: Internet of Things, Foglets, VLC, RF, smart vehicle, roadside asset management

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Authors: Xuerui Niu, Bolin Wang, Xinchuang Zhang, Xiaohua Ma, Bin Hou, Ling Yang

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The application of discrete GaN-based power switches requires the collaboration of silicon-based peripheral circuit structures. However, the packages and interconnection between the Si and GaN devices can introduce parasitic effects to the circuit, which has great impacts on GaN power transistors. GaN-based monolithic power integration technology is an emerging solution which can improve the stability of circuits and allow the GaN-based devices to achieve more functions. Complementary logic circuits consisting of GaN-based E-mode p-channel heterostructure field-effect transistors (p-HFETs) and E-mode n-channel HEMTs can be served as the gate drivers. E-mode p-HFETs with recessed gate have attracted increasing interest because of the low leakage current and large gate swing. However, they suffer from a poor interface between the gate dielectric and polarized nitride layers. The reliability of p-HFETs is analyzed and discussed in this work. In circuit applications, the inverter is always operated with dynamic gate voltage (VGS) rather than a constant VGS. Therefore, dynamic electrical stress has been simulated to resemble the operation conditions for E-mode p-HFETs. The dynamic electrical stress condition is as follows. VGS is a square waveform switching from -5 V to 0 V, VDS is fixed, and the source grounded. The frequency of the square waveform is 100kHz with the rising/falling time of 100 ns and duty ratio of 50%. The effective stress time is 1000s. A number of stress tests are carried out. The stress was briefly interrupted to measure the linear IDS-VGS, saturation IDS-VGS, As VGS switches from -5 V to 0 V and VDS = 0 V, devices are under negative-bias-instability (NBI) condition. Holes are trapped at the interface of oxide layer and GaN channel layer, which results in the reduction of VTH. The negative shift of VTH is serious at the first 10s and then changes slightly with the following stress time. However, different phenomenon is observed when VDS reduces to -5V. VTH shifts negatively during stress condition, and the variation in VTH increases with time, which is different from that when VDS is 0V. Two mechanisms exists in this condition. On the one hand, the electric field in the gate region is influenced by the drain voltage, so that the trapping behavior of holes in the gate region changes. The impact of the gate voltage is weakened. On the other hand, large drain voltage can induce the hot holes generation and lead to serious hot carrier stress (HCS) degradation with time. The poor-quality interface between the oxide layer and GaN channel layer at the gate region makes a major contribution to the high-density interface traps, which will greatly influence the reliability of devices. These results emphasize that the improved etching and pretreatment processes needs to be developed so that high-performance GaN complementary logics with enhanced stability can be achieved.

Keywords: GaN-based E-mode p-HFETs, dynamic electric stress, threshold voltage, monolithic power integration technology

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Authors: Avantika Vats, Kushal Thakur

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This paper displays the point at issue, improvement, and utilization of a Monarch Butterfly Optimization (MBO) rather than a Genetic Algorithm (GA) in cognitive radio for the channel portion. This approach offers a satisfactory approach to get the accessible range of both the users, i.e., primary users (PUs) and secondary users (SUs). The proposed enhancement procedure depends on a nature-inspired metaheuristic algorithm. In MBO, all the monarch butterfly individuals are located in two distinct lands, viz. Southern Canada and the northern USA (land 1), and Mexico (Land 2). The positions of the monarch butterflies are modernizing in two ways. At first, the offsprings are generated (position updating) by the migration operator and can be adjusted by the migration ratio. It is trailed by tuning the positions for different butterflies by the methods for the butterfly adjusting operator. To keep the population unaltered and minimize fitness evaluations, the aggregate of the recently produced butterflies in these two ways stays equivalent to the first population. The outcomes obviously display the capacity of the MBO technique towards finding the upgraded work values on issues regarding the genetic algorithm.

Keywords: cognitive radio, channel allocation, monarch butterfly optimization, evolutionary, computation

Procedia PDF Downloads 72

Authors: Eusebio Jr. Lina, Ederlina Nocon

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Cyclic codes are a fundamental subclass of linear codes that enjoy a very interesting algebraic structure. The class of skew cyclic codes (or θ-cyclic codes) is a generalization of the notion of cyclic codes. This a very large class of linear codes which can be used to systematically search for codes with good properties. A linear code with complementary dual (LCD code) is a linear code C satisfying C ∩ C^⊥ = {0}. This subclass of linear codes provides an optimum linear coding solution for a two-user binary adder channel and plays an important role in countermeasures to passive and active side-channel analyses on embedded cryptosystems. This paper aims to identify LCD codes from the class of skew cyclic codes. Let F_q be a finite field of order q, and θ be an automorphism of F_q. Some conditions for a skew cyclic code to be LCD were given. To this end, the properties of a noncommutative skew polynomial ring F_q[x, θ] of automorphism type were revisited, and the algebraic structure of skew cyclic code using its skew polynomial representation was examined. Using the result that skew cyclic codes are left ideals of the ring F_q[x, θ]/〈x^n-1〉, a characterization of a skew cyclic LCD code of length n was derived. A necessary condition for a skew cyclic code to be LCD was also given.

Keywords: LCD cyclic codes, skew cyclic LCD codes, skew cyclic complementary dual codes, theta-cyclic codes with complementary duals

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Authors: Doo Ki Lee, Kumaresh Selvakumar, Man Young Kim

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Catalytic combustion is an environmentally friendly technique to combust fuels in gas turbines. In this paper, the behavior of surface reaction rate on catalytic combustion is studied with respect to the heterogeneous oxidation of methane-air mixture in a catalytic reactor. Plug flow reactor (PFR), the simplified single catalytic channel assists in investigating the catalytic combustion phenomenon over the Pt catalyst by promoting the desired chemical reactions. The numerical simulation with multi-step elementary surface reactions is governed by the availability of free surface sites onto the catalytic surface and thereby, the catalytic combustion characteristics are demonstrated by examining the rate of the reaction for lean fuel mixture. Further, two different surface reaction mechanisms are adopted and compared for surface reaction rates to indicate the controlling heterogeneous reaction for better fuel conversion. The performance of platinum catalyst under heterogeneous reaction is analyzed under the same temperature condition, where the catalyst with the higher kinetic rate of reaction would have a maximum catalytic activity for enhanced methane catalytic combustion.

Keywords: catalytic combustion, heterogeneous reaction, plug flow reactor, surface reaction rate

Procedia PDF Downloads 273

Authors: Olumuyiwa I. Ojo, Kola Amao, Josiah A. Adeyemo, Fred A. O. Otieno

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A study was carried out to assess the environmental impact of Kampe (Omi) irrigation scheme with respect to public health hazards, the rising water table, salinity and alkalinity problems on the project site. A structured questionnaire was used as the main tool to gather information on the effect of the irrigation project on the various communities around the project site. The different sections of the questionnaire enabled the gathering of information ranging from general to more specific information. The results obtained from the study showed that the two effects are obvious: the 'positive effects' which include increasing the socioeconomic development of the entire communities, resulting in an increase in employment opportunities and better lifestyle and the 'negative effects' in which malaria (100% occurrence) and schistosomiasis (66.7%) were found to be active diseases caused by irrigation activities. Increase in height of water table and salinity is eminent in the irrigation site unless adequate drainage is provided. The collection and experimental analyses of representation soil and water samples from each scheme were used to assess the current status of each receptor. Results obtained indicate the absence of soil with sodium adsorption ration (SAR) values ranging from 3.0 to 3.89, exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) ranged from 3.8% to 5.5% while pH values ranged from 6.60 to 7.00. Drainage facilities of the project site are inadequate, therefore making it difficult to leach the soil and flood history is occasional.

Keywords: irrigation, impact, soil analysis, Nigeria

Procedia PDF Downloads 294

Authors: Aya Belal, Ahmed Maher Eltair, Maggie Ahmed Mashaly

Abstract:

Geopolymer concrete is gaining recognition as a sustainable alternative to conventional Portland Cement concrete due to its environmentally friendly nature, which is a key goal for Smart City initiatives. It has demonstrated its potential as a reliable material for the design of structural elements. However, the production of Geopolymer concrete is hindered by batch-to-batch variations, which presents a significant challenge to the widespread adoption of Geopolymer concrete. To date, Machine learning has had a profound impact on various fields by enabling models to learn from large datasets and predict outputs accurately. This paper proposes an integration between the current drift to Artificial Intelligence and the composition of Geopolymer mixtures to predict their mechanical properties. This study employs Python software to develop machine learning model in specific Decision Trees. The research uses the percentage oxides and the chemical composition of the Alkali Solution along with the curing conditions as the input independent parameters, irrespective of the waste products used in the mixture yielding the compressive strength of the mix as the output parameter. The results showed 90 % agreement of the predicted values to the actual values having the ratio of the Sodium Silicate to the Sodium Hydroxide solution being the dominant parameter in the mixture.

Keywords: decision trees, geopolymer concrete, machine learning, smart cities, sustainability

Procedia PDF Downloads 87

Authors: Esmeralda Hysenbelliu

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The aim of this paper is to present the QoE (Quality of Experience) IPTV SDN-based media streaming server enhanced architecture for configuring, controlling, management and provisioning the improved delivery of IPTV service application with low cost, low bandwidth, and high security. Furthermore, it is given a virtual QoE IPTV SDN-based topology to provide an improved IPTV service based on QoE Control and Management of multimedia services functionalities. Inside OpenFlow SDN Controller there are enabled in high flexibility and efficiency Service Load-Balancing Systems; based on the Loading-Balance module and based on GeoIP Service. This two Load-balancing system improve IPTV end-users Quality of Experience (QoE) with optimal management of resources greatly. Through the key functionalities of OpenFlow SDN controller, this approach produced several important features, opportunities for overcoming the critical QoE metrics for IPTV Service like achieving incredible Fast Zapping time (Channel Switching time) < 0.1 seconds. This approach enabled Easy and Powerful Transcoding system via FFMPEG encoder. It has the ability to customize streaming dimensions bitrates, latency management and maximum transfer rates ensuring delivering of IPTV streaming services (Audio and Video) in high flexibility, low bandwidth and required performance. This QoE IPTV SDN-based media streaming architecture unlike other architectures provides the possibility of Channel Exchanging between several IPTV service providers all over the word. This new functionality brings many benefits as increasing the number of TV channels received by end –users with low cost, decreasing stream failure time (Channel Failure time < 0.1 seconds) and improving the quality of streaming services.

Keywords: improved quality of experience (QoE), OpenFlow SDN controller, IPTV service application, softwarization

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Authors: Mahmoud A. Rabah, Said El Sheikh

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This work shows the preparation of chromium nanoparticles from tannery waste solution on glassy carbon by chemical method compared to electrokinetic process. The waste solution contains free and soluble fats, calcium, iron, magnesium and high sodium in addition to the chromium ions. Filtration helps removal of insoluble matters. Diethyl ether successfully extracted soluble fats. The method started by removing calcium as insoluble oxalate salts at hot conditions in a faint acidic medium. The filtrate contains iron, magnesium, chromium ions and sodium chloride in excess. Chromium was separated selectively as insoluble hydroxide sol-gel at pH 6.5, filtered and washed with distilled water. Part of the gel reacted with sulfuric acid to produce chromium sulfate solution having 15-25 g/L concentration. Electrokinetic deposition of chromium nanoparticles on a carbon cathode was carried out using platinum anode under different galvanostatic conditions. The chemical method involved impregnating the carbon specimens with chromium hydroxide gel followed by reduction using hydrazine hydrate or by thermal reduction using hydrogen gas at 1250°C. Chromium grain size was characterized by TEM, FT-IR and SEM. Properties of the Cr grains were correlated to the conditions of the preparation process. Electrodeposition was found to control chromium particles to be more identical in size and shape as compared to the chemical method.

Keywords: chromium, electrodeposition, nanoparticles, tannery waste solution

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Authors: Indrajeet Kumar, Jayanta Bhattacharya

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This study was evaluated for the potential use of nanosilver (nAg) as a disinfectant and antimicrobial growth promoter supplement for the poultry. The experiments were conducted in the Kangsabati river basin region, in West Medinipur district, West Bengal, India for six months. Two poultry farms were adopted for the experiment. The rural economy of this region from Jhargram to Barkola is heavily dependent on contract poultry farming. The water samples were collected from the water source of poultry farm which has been used for poultry drinking purpose. The bacteriological analysis of water sample revealed that the total bacterial count (total coliform and E. coli) were higher than the acceptable standards. The bacterial loads badly affected the growth performance and health of the poultry. For disinfection, a number of chemical compounds (like formaldehyde, calcium hypochloride, sodium hypochloride, and sodium bicarbonate) have been used in typical commercial formulations. However, the effects of all these chemical compounds have not been significant over time. As a part of our research-to-market initiative, we used nanosilver (nAg) formulation as a disinfectant. The nAg formulation was synthesized by hydrothermal technique and characterized by UV-visible, TEM, SEM, and EDX. The obtained results revealed that the mortality rate of poultry was reduced due to nAg formulation compared to the mortality rate of the negative control. Moreover, the income of the farmer family was increased by 10-20% due to less mortality and better health of the poultry.

Keywords: farm water, nanosilver, field application, and poultry performance

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Authors: Behzad Ali Khan, M. Zubair Akbar Qureshi

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The article analyzes the Darcy Forchheimer 2D Hybrid ferrofluid. The flow of a Hybrid ferrofluid is made due to an unsteady porous channel. The classical liquid water is treated as a based liquid. The flow in the permeable region is characterized by the Darcy-Forchheimer relation. Heat transfer phenomena are studied during the flow. The transformation of a partial differential set of equations into a strong ordinary differential frame is formed through appropriate variables. The numerical Shooting Method is executed for solving the simplified set of equations. In addition, a numerical analysis (ND-Solve) is utilized for the convergence of the applied technique. The influence of some flow model quantities like Pr (Prandtle number), r (porous medium parameter), F (Darcy-porous medium parameter), Re (Reynolds number), Pe (Peclet number) on velocity and temperature field are scrutinized and studied through sketches. Certain physical factors like f ''(η) (skin friction coefficient) and θ^'(η) (rate of heat transfer) are first derived and then presented through tables.

Keywords: darcy forcheimer, hybrid ferro fluid, porous medium, porous channel

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Authors: I Gede Puja Astawa, Yoedy Moegiharto, Ahmad Zainudin, Imam Dui Agus Salim, Nur Annisa Anggraeni

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Performance of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) system can be improved by adding channel coding (error correction code) to detect and correct the errors that occur during data transmission. One can use the convolution code. This paper presents performance of OFDM using Space Time Block Codes (STBC) diversity technique use QAM modulation with code rate 1/2. The evaluation is done by analyzing the value of Bit Error Rate (BER) vs. Energy per Bit to Noise Power Spectral Density Ratio (Eb/No). This scheme is conducted 256 sub-carrier which transmits Rayleigh multipath channel in OFDM system. To achieve a BER of 10-3 is required 30 dB SNR in SISO-OFDM scheme. For 2x2 MIMO-OFDM scheme requires 10 dB to achieve a BER of 10-3. For 4x4 MIMO-OFDM scheme requires 5 dB while adding convolution in a 4x4 MIMO-OFDM can improve performance up to 0 dB to achieve the same BER. This proves the existence of saving power by 3 dB of 4x4 MIMO-OFDM system without coding, power saving 7 dB of 2x2 MIMO-OFDM system without coding and significant power savings from SISO-OFDM system.

Keywords: convolution code, OFDM, MIMO, QAM, BER

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Authors: Min Wu, Shuming Shen, Xuhong Yang, Rencheng Tang

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Every year, numerous organic wastes from fiber byproducts of the wool textile industry, poor quality raw wools not fit for spinning, horns, nails and feathers from butchery are disposed. These wastes are abundant in keratin which is a renewable material. Wool fiber/keratin/PVA composites with different proportions were prepared in this study, and the influence of the proportions on their structure and properties were studied, aiming to understand the potential application of keratin in the field of biomedicine, degradable wrapper, and cosmetics film, and provide a new way to reuse keratin wastes. The urea / sodium sulfide / sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) method was used to dissolve the wool. After filtration and dialysis, the wool keratin solution was achieved. Then the keratin solution and polyvinal (PVA) solution were blended in different proportions, and the wool fibers cut into a certain length were cast into the blended solution. Thereby, various wool fiber/keratin/PVA composite films with different proportions were formed through pouring the solution into a flat box and drying at room temperature. The surface morphology, molecular structure, and mechanical property of the composite films were studied. The results showed that, there are α-helix structure, β-sheet and random coil conformations in the pure keratin film, as well as in the wool fiber. Compared with wool fiber, the crystallinity of keratin decreased. PVA can obviously improve the mechanical property of the blended film. When the blended ratio of keratin and PVA is 20:80, the mechanical property of the blended film is greatly improved. The composite films with 8%-16% of wool fibers have better flexibility than those without wool fibers.

Keywords: composite film, keratin, mechanical property, morphological structure, PVA, wool fiber

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Authors: Idit Avrahami, Alex Schechter, Lev Zakhvatkin

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This research focuses on developing a compact and light Hydrogen Generator (HG), coupled with fuel cells (FC) to provide a High-Energy-Density Power-Pack (HEDPP) solution, which is 10 times Li-Ion batteries. The HEDPP is designed for portable & off-grid power applications such as Drones, UAVs, stationary off-grid power sources, unmanned marine vehicles, and more. Hydrogen gas provided by this device is delivered in the safest way as a chemical powder at room temperature and ambient pressure is activated only when the power is on. Hydrogen generation is based on a stabilized chemical reaction of Sodium Borohydride (SBH) and water. The proposed solution enables a ‘No Storage’ Hydrogen-based Power Pack. Hydrogen is produced and consumed on-the-spot, during operation; therefore, there’s no need for high-pressure hydrogen tanks, which are large, heavy, and unsafe. In addition to its high energy density, ease of use, and safety, the presented power pack has a significant advantage of versatility and deployment in numerous applications and scales. This patented HG was demonstrated using several prototypes in our lab and was proved to be feasible and highly efficient for several applications. For example, in applications where water is available (such as marine vehicles, water and sewage infrastructure, and stationary applications), the Energy Density of the suggested power pack may reach 2700-3000 Wh/kg, which is again more than 10 times higher than conventional lithium-ion batteries. In other applications (e.g., UAV or small vehicles) the energy density may exceed 1000 Wh/kg.

Keywords: hydrogen energy, sodium borohydride, fixed-wing UAV, energy pack

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Authors: Festus A. Olutoge, Ahmed A. Akintunde, Anuoluwapo S. Kolade, Aaron A. Chadee, Jovanca Smith

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Geopolymer concrete's (GPC) compressive strength was investigated. The GPC was incorporated with rice husk ash (RHA) and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS), which may have potential in the construction industry to replace Portland limestone cement (PLC) concrete. The sustainable construction binders used were GGBFS and RHA, and a solution of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and sodium silicate gel (Na₂SiO₃) was used as the 12-molar alkaline activator. Five GPC mixes comprising fine aggregates, coarse aggregates, GGBS, and RHA, and the alkaline solution in the ratio 2: 2.5: 1: 0.5, respectively, were prepared to achieve grade 40 concrete, and PLC was wholly substituted with GGBFS and RHA in the ratios of 0:100, 25:75, 50:50, 75:25, and 100:0. A control mix was also prepared which comprised of 100% water and 100% PLC as the cementitious material. The GPC mixes were thermally cured at 60-80ºC in an oven for approximately 24hrs. After curing for 7 and 28 days, the compressive strength test results of the hardened GPC samples showed that GPC-Mix #3, comprising 50% GGBFS and 50% RHA, was the most efficient geopolymer mix. The mix had compressive strengths of 35.71MPa and 47.26MPa, 19.87% and 8.69% higher than the PLC concrete samples, which had 29.79MPa and 43.48MPa after 7 and 28 days, respectively. Therefore, geopolymer concrete containing GGBFS incorporated with RHA is an efficient method of decreasing the use of PLC in conventional concrete production and reducing the high amounts of CO₂ emitted into the atmosphere in the construction industry.

Keywords: alkaline solution, cementitious material, geopolymer concrete, ground granulated blast furnace slag, rice husk ash

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Authors: Bhavesh N. Bhatt, Zozimus D. Labana

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This work is mainly focused on the analysis of heat transfer of blade by using internal cooling method. By using conjugate heat transfer technology we can effectively compute the cooling and heat transfer analysis of blade. Here blade temperature is limited by materials melting temperature. By using CFD code, we will analyze the blade cooling with the help of CHT method. There are two types of CHT methods. In the first method, we apply coupled CHT method in which all three domains modeled at once, and in the second method, we will first model external domain and then, internal domain of cooling channel. Ten circular cooling channels are used as a cooling method with different mass flow rate and temperature value. This numerical simulation is applied on NASA C3X turbine blade, and results are computed. Here results are showing good agreement with experimental results. Temperature and pressure are high at the leading edge of the blade on stagnation point due to its first faces the flow. On pressure side, shock wave is formed which also make a sudden change in HTC and other parameters. After applying internal cooling, we are succeeded in reducing the metal temperature of blade by some extends.

Keywords: gas turbine, conjugate heat transfer, NASA C3X Blade, circular film cooling channel

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Authors: Anjuman Antil, Anuj Kapoor, Neha Saini

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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study the evolution of insurance in India and the world. The paper also traced the historical basis of life insurance in the world and how it emerged as a major sector in India’s economy. The promotional strategies and distribution channel of top three companies in the Indian insurance sector are also discussed. Design/methodology/approach: The paper examined the secondary data which includes the reports issued by Insurance Regulatory Authority of India, websites of companies, books, and journals relevant to the study. Findings: The paper argued the role and importance of insurance in an emerging economy. The challenges and opportunities of the insurance sector are briefed out. The emerging areas in the insurance sector in terms of promotional strategies and distribution channel are also listed. Implications: The historical evolution can be studied by companies while formulating their strategies. It will help them analyse the insurance sector, how things have changed and how to change with the changing times. Originality/value: This paper gives comprehensive data regarding the background of the insurance sector. Along with historical perspective, marketing and distribution, current and future trends have been discussed.

Keywords: insurance, evolution, life insurance, marketing, distribution channels

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Authors: Ing-Jen Hung, Tzu-Chien Wang

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Nowadays, customers can interact with firms through miscellaneous online ads on different channels easily. In other words, customer now has innumerable options and limitless time to accomplish their commercial activities with firms, individualizing their own online customer journey. This kind of convenience emphasizes the importance of online advertisement allocation on different channels. Therefore, profound understanding of customer behavior can make considerable benefit from optimizing fund allocation on diverse ad channels. To achieve this objective, multiple firms utilize numerical methodology to create data-driven advertisement policy. In our research, we aim to exploit online customer click data to discover the correlations between each channel and their sequential relations. We use LSTM to deal with sequential property of our data and compare its accuracy with other non-sequential methods, such as CART decision tree, logistic regression, etc. Besides, we also classify our customers into several groups by their behavioral characteristics to perceive the differences between all groups as customer portrait. As a result, we discover distinct customer journey under each customer portrait. Our article provides some insights into marketing research and can help firm to formulate online advertising criteria.

Keywords: LSTM, customer journey, marketing, channel ads

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Authors: Ju-Hong Lee, Chong-Jia Ciou

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This paper deals with the problem of two-dimensional (2-D) recursive two-channel quincunx quadrature mirror filter (QQMF) banks design. The analysis and synthesis filters of the 2-D recursive QQMF bank are composed of 2-D recursive digital allpass lattice filters (DALFs) with symmetric half-plane (SHP) support regions. Using the 2-D doubly complementary half-band (DC-HB) property possessed by the analysis and synthesis filters, we facilitate the design of the proposed QQMF bank. For finding the coefficients of the 2-D recursive SHP DALFs, we present a structure of 2-D recursive digital allpass filters by using 2-D SHP recursive digital all-pass lattice filters (DALFs). The novelty of using 2-D SHP recursive DALFs to construct a 2-D recursive QQMF bank is that the resulting 2-D recursive QQMF bank provides better performance than the existing 2-D recursive QQMF banks. Simulation results are also presented for illustration and comparison.

Keywords: all-pass digital filter, lattice structure, quincunx QMF bank, symmetric half-plane digital filter

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Authors: Gashin Shahsavari, Gilles Arnaud-Fassetta, Alberto Campisano, Roberto Bertilotti, Fabien Riou

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Sewer deposits have been identified as a major cause of dysfunctions in combined sewer systems regarding sewer management, which induces different negative consequents resulting in poor hydraulic conveyance, environmental damages as well as worker’s health. In order to overcome the problematics of sedimentation, flushing has been considered as the most operative and cost-effective way to minimize the sediments impacts and prevent such challenges. Flushing, by prompting turbulent wave effects, can modify the bed form depending on the hydraulic properties and geometrical characteristics of the conduit. So far, the dynamics of the bed-load during high-flow events in combined sewer systems as a complex environment is not well understood, mostly due to lack of measuring devices capable to work in the “hostile” in combined sewer system correctly. In this regards, a one-episode flushing issue from an opening gate valve with weir function was carried out in a trunk sewer in Paris to understanding its cleansing efficiency on the sediments (thickness: 0-30 cm). During more than 1h of flushing within 5 m distance in downstream of this flushing device, a maximum flowrate and a maximum level of water have been recorded at 5 m in downstream of the gate as 4.1 m3/s and 2.1 m respectively. This paper is aimed to evaluate the efficiency of this type of gate for around 1.1 km (from the point -50 m to +1050 m in downstream from the gate) by (i) determining bed grain-size distribution and sediments evolution through the sewer channel, as well as their organic matter content, and (ii) identifying sections that exhibit more changes in their texture after the flush. For the first one, two series of sampling were taken from the sewer length and then analyzed in laboratory, one before flushing and second after, at same points among the sewer channel. Hence, a non-intrusive sampling instrument has undertaken to extract the sediments smaller than the fine gravels. The comparison between sediments texture after the flush operation and the initial state, revealed the most modified zones by the flush effect, regarding the sewer invert slope and hydraulic parameters in the zone up to 400 m from the gate. At this distance, despite the increase of sediment grain-size rages, D50 (median grain-size) varies between 0.6 mm and 1.1 mm compared to 0.8 mm and 10 mm before and after flushing, respectively. Overall, regarding the sewer channel invert slope, results indicate that grains smaller than sands (< 2 mm) are more transported to downstream along about 400 m from the gate: in average 69% before against 38% after the flush with more dispersion of grain-sizes distributions. Furthermore, high effect of the channel bed irregularities on the bed material evolution has been observed after the flush.

Keywords: bed-load evolution, combined sewer systems, flushing efficiency, sediments transport

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Authors: Mona Elhelbawy, Mac Gray

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Traditional wired endoscopy is an intrusive process that requires a long flexible tube to be inserted through the patient’s mouth while intravenously sedated. Only images of the upper 4 feet of stomach, colon, and rectum can be captured, leaving the remaining 20 feet of small intestines. Wireless capsule endoscopy offers a painless, non-intrusive, efficient and effective alternative to traditional endoscopy. In wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE), ingestible vitamin-pill-shaped capsules with imaging capabilities, sensors, batteries, and antennas are designed to send images of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract in real time. In this paper, we investigate the radiation performance and specific absorption rate (SAR) of a miniature conformal capsule antenna operating at the Medical Implant Communication Service (MICS) frequency band in the human body. We perform numerical simulations using the finite element method based commercial software, high-frequency structure simulator (HFSS) and the ANSYS human body model (HBM). We also investigate the in-body channel characteristics between the implantable capsule and an external antenna placed on the surface of the human body.

Keywords: IEEE 802.15.6, MICS, SAR, WCE

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Authors: Sahar Ehsani, David James, Vernon Hodge

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In this experimental study, total selenium in solution was measured with Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy, GFAAS, then chemical reactions with sodium borohydride were used to reduce selenite to hydrogen selenide. Hydrogen selenide was then stripped from the solution by purging the solution with nitrogen gas. Since the two main speciations in oxic waters are usually selenite, Se(IV) and selenate, Se(VI), it was assumed that after Se(IV) is removed, the remaining total selenium was Se(VI). Total selenium measured after stripping gave Se(VI) concentration, and the difference of total selenium measured before and after stripping gave Se(IV) concentration. An additional step of reducing Se(VI) to Se(IV) was performed by boiling the stripped solution under acidic conditions, then removing Se(IV) by a chemical reaction with sodium borohydride. This additional procedure of removing Se(VI) from the solution is useful in rare cases where the water sample is reducing and contains selenide speciation. In this study, once Se(IV) and Se(VI) were both removed from the water sample, the remaining total selenium concentration was zero. The method was tested to determine Se(IV) and Se(VI) in both purified water and synthetic irrigation water spiked with Se(IV) and Se(VI). Average recovery of spiked samples of diluted synthetic irrigation water was 99% for Se(IV) and 97% for Se(VI). Detection limits of the method were 0.11 µg L⁻¹ and 0.32 µg L⁻¹ for Se(IV) and Se(VI), respectively.

Keywords: Analytical Method, Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy, Selenate, Selenite, Selenium Speciations

Procedia PDF Downloads 142