Search results for: line parameters

Authors: M. Yahia, N. Chaoui, A. Chaouch, Massinissa Yahia

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Our study was designed to determine the metabolic changes of some biochemical parameters (cholesterol, triglyceride, Iron, uric acid, Urea and folic acid) and highlight their changes in 57 women of the region Batna, during the first trimester of pregnancy. This practical work was done with 27 women with missed miscarriage, compared with 30 control subjects of normal pregnant women. The assay results revealed a highly significant difference (P = 0.0006) between the two groups in serum iron (64.00 vs 93.54) and in the rate of folate (6.70 vs 9.22) (P <0.001) but no difference was found regarding the rate of Ca (9.69 vs 10.20), urea (0.19 vs 0.17), UA (33.96 vs 32.76), CH (1.283 vs 1.431), and TG (0.8852 vs 0.8290). The present study indicates that iron deficiency and folate are associated with missed miscarriage, but no direct pathophysiological link has been determined. Further in-depth studies are needed to determine the exact mechanism by which these deficits lead to a missed miscarriage.

Keywords: biochemical parameters, pregnant women, missed miscarriage, Algeria

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Authors: Areej Javaid, Nishat Fatima, Mehwish Naseer

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There is a tremendous use of biofertilizers in agriculture to increase crop productivity. Pakistan spends a huge amount on the purchase of synthetic fertilizers every year. The use of natural compounds to harness crop productivity is the major area of interest nowadays due to being safe for human health and the environment as well. Legumes have the intrinsic quality to enrich the nutrient status of soil because of the presence of nitrogen fixation bacteria on nodules. This research determined the effect of biofertilizer on nodulation attributes and yield of the pea plant. Seeds of pea varieties were treated with a slurry of biofertilizer prepared in a 10% sugar solution just before seed sowing. The impact of biofertilizer on different parameters of growth, yield and nodulation was observed. Analysis of variance showed that plant height, days to flowering, number of nodes, days to first pod, root length and plant height exhibited significant genetic variation. All the yield parameters, including the number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, seed fresh and dry weight showed significant results under treatment. Among nodulation parameters, nodule number responded positively to biofertilizer treatment. Genotypes 2001-40 showed better performance followed by 2001-20 and LINA-PAK in all the parameters, whereas 2001-40 and 2001-20 performed well in nodulation and yield parameters. Consequently, seed treatment with biofertilizer before sowing is recommended to obtain higher crop yield.

Keywords: biological nitrogen fixation, correlation analysis, quantitative inheritance, varietal responses

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Authors: Saziye Ilgaz, Atilla Polat

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There is a need for development of new processing techniques to ensure safety and quality of final product while minimizing the adverse impact of extraction solvents on environment and residue levels of these solvents in final product, decaffeinated black tea. In this study pilot scale supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCO₂) extraction was used to produce decaffeinated black tea in place of solvent extraction. Pressure (250, 375, 500 bar), extraction time (60, 180, 300 min), temperature (55, 62.5, 70 °C), CO₂ flow rate (1, 2 ,3 LPM) and co-solvent quantity (0, 2.5, 5 %mol) were selected as extraction parameters. The five factors BoxBehnken experimental design with three center points was performed to generate 46 different processing conditions for caffeine removal from black tea samples. As a result of these 46 experiments caffeine content of black tea samples were reduced from 2.16 % to 0 – 1.81 %. The experiments showed that extraction time, pressure, CO₂ flow rate and co-solvent quantity had great impact on decaffeination yield. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the parameters of the supercritical carbon dioxide extraction. Optimum extraction parameters obtained of decaffeinated black tea were as follows: extraction temperature of 62,5 °C, extraction pressure of 375 bar, CO₂ flow rate of 3 LPM, extraction time of 176.5 min and co-solvent quantity of 5 %mol.

Keywords: supercritical carbon dioxide, decaffeination, black tea, extraction

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Authors: Triem T. Hoang

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Loop heat pipes (LHPs) are two-phase capillary-pumped heat transports. An appropriate working fluid is selected for the intended application temperature range. A closed-loop is evacuated to a high vacuum, back-filled partially with the working fluid, and then hermetically sealed under the fluid own pressure. Heat from a heat source conducts through the evaporator casing to vaporize liquid on the outer surface of the wick structure inside the evaporator. The generated vapor is compelled to vent out of the evaporator and into the vapor line for transport to the condenser assembly. There, heat is removed and rejected to a heat sink to condensed vapor back to liquid. The liquid exits the condenser and travels in the liquid line to return to the evaporator to complete the cycle. The circulation of fluid, and thus the heat transport in the LHP, is accomplished entirely by capillary action. The LHP contains no mechanical moving part to wear out or break down and, therefore possesses, reliability and a long life even without maintenance. In this paper, the author not only attempts to introduce the LHP technology in simplistic terms to those who are not familiar with it but also provides necessary technical information to potential users for the proper design and analysis of the LHP system.

Keywords: two-phase heat transfer, loop heat pipe, capillary pumped technology, thermal-fluid modeling

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Authors: Christelle E. Chua, Alicia L. Ho

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The development of a panel of differential gene expression signatures has been of interest in the field of biomarker discovery for radiation exposure. In the absence of the availability of exposed human subjects, lymphocyte cell lines have often been used as a surrogate to human whole blood, when performing ex vivo irradiation studies. The extent of variation between different lymphocyte cell lines is currently unclear, especially with regard to the expression of extracellular miRNA. This study compares the expression profile of extracellular miRNA isolated from different lymphocyte cell lines. It also compares the profile of miRNA obtained when different exosome isolation kits are used. Lymphocyte cell lines were created using lymphocytes isolated from healthy adult males of similar racial descent (Chinese American and Chinese Singaporean) and immortalised with Epstein-Barr virus. The cell lines were cultured in exosome-free cell culture media for 72h and the cell culture supernatant was removed for exosome isolation. Two exosome isolation kits were used. Total exosome isolation reagent (TEIR, ThermoFisher) is a polyethylene glycol (PEG)-based exosome precipitation kit, while ExoSpin (ES, Cell Guidance Systems) is a PEG-based exosome precipitation kit that includes an additional size exclusion chromatography step. miRNA from the isolated exosomes were isolated using miRNEASY minikit (Qiagen) and analysed using nCounter miRNA assay (Nanostring). Principal component analysis (PCA) results suggested that the overall extracellular miRNA expression profile differed between the lymphocyte cell line originating from the Chinese American donor and the cell line originating from the Chinese Singaporean donor. As the gender, age and racial origins of both donors are similar, this may suggest that there are other genetic or epigenetic differences that account for the variation in extracellular miRNA gene expression in lymphocyte cell lines. However, statistical analysis showed that only 3 miRNA genes had a fold difference > 2 at p < 0.05, suggesting that the differences may not be of that great a significance as to impact overall conclusions drawn from different cell lines. Subsequent analysis using cell lines from other donors will give further insight into the reproducibility of results when difference cell lines are used. PCA results also suggested that the method of exosome isolation impacted the expression profile. 107 miRNA had a fold difference > 2 at p < 0.05. This suggests that the inclusion of an additional size exclusion chromatography step altered the subset of the extracellular vesicles that were isolated. In conclusion, these results suggest that extracellular miRNA can be isolated and analysed from exosomes derived from lymphocyte cell lines. However, care must be taken in the choice of cell line and method of exosome isolation used.

Keywords: biomarker, extracellular miRNA, isolation methods, lymphocyte cell line

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Authors: Kwedi L. M. Nsah, Hisao Uchiki

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Quantum computation is a new and exciting field making use of quantum mechanical phenomena. In classical computers, information is represented as bits, with values either 0 or 1, but a quantum computer uses quantum bits in an arbitrary superposition of 0 and 1, enabling it to reach beyond the limits predicted by classical information theory. lanthanide ion quantum computer is an organic crystal, having a lanthanide ion. Europium is a favored lanthanide, since it exhibits nuclear spin coherence times, and Eu(III) is photo-stable and has two stable isotopes. In a europium organic crystal, the key factor is the mutual dipole-dipole interaction between two europium atoms. Crystals of the complex were formed by making a 2 :1 reaction of Eu(fod)3 and bpm. The transparent white crystals formed showed brilliant red luminescence with a 405 nm laser. The photoluminescence spectroscopy was observed both at room and cryogenic temperatures (300-14 K). The luminescence spectrum of [Eu(fod)3(μ-bpm) Eu(fod)3] showed characteristic of Eu(III) emission transitions in the range 570–630 nm, due to the deactivation of 5D0 emissive state to 7Fj. For the application of dinuclear Eu3+ complex to q-bit device, attention was focused on 5D0 -7F0 transition, around 580 nm. The presence of 5D0 -7F0 transition at room temperature revealed that at least one europium symmetry had no inversion center. Since the line was unsplit by the crystal field effect, any multiplicity observed was due to a multiplicity of Eu3+ sites. For q-bit element, more narrow line width of 5D0 → 7F0 PL band in Eu3+ ion was preferable. Cryogenic temperatures (300 K – 14 K) was applicable to reduce inhomogeneous broadening and distinguish between ions. A CCD image sensor was used for low temperature Photoluminescence measurement, and a far better resolved luminescent spectrum was gotten by cooling the complex at 14 K. A red shift by 15 cm-1 in the 5D0 - 7F0 peak position was observed upon cooling, the line shifted towards lower wavenumber. An emission spectrum at the 5D0 - 7F0 transition region was obtained to verify the line width. At this temperature, a peak with magnitude three times that at room temperature was observed. The temperature change of the 5D0 state of Eu(fod)3(μ-bpm)Eu(fod)3 showed a strong dependence in the vicinity of 60 K to 100 K. Thermal quenching was observed at higher temperatures than 100 K, at which point it began to decrease slowly with increasing temperature. The temperature quenching effect of Eu3+ with increase temperature was caused by energy migration. 100 K was the appropriate temperature for the observation of the 5D0 - 7F0 emission peak. Europium dinuclear complex bridged by bpm was successfully prepared and monitored at cryogenic temperatures. At 100 K the Eu3+-dope complex has a good thermal stability and this temperature is appropriate for the observation of the 5D0 - 7F0 emission peak. Sintering the sample above 600o C could also be a method to consider but the Eu3+ ion can be reduced to Eu2+, reasons why cryogenic temperature measurement is preferably over other methods.

Keywords: Eu(fod)₃, europium dinuclear complex, europium ion, quantum bit, quantum computer, 2, 2-bipyrimidine

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Authors: Shimeles Terefe Mengistue, Ascensión Del Olmo, Paola Marziani, Mirjana Pović, María Angeles Martínez-Carballo, Jaime Perea, Isabel M. Árquez

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Quasars have historically been classified into two distinct classes, radio-loud (RL) and radio-quiet (RQ), taking into account the presence and absence of relativistic radio jets, respectively. The absence of spectra with a high S/N ratio led to the impression that all quasars (QSOs) are spectroscopically similar. Although different attempts were made to unify these two classes, there is a long-standing open debate involving the possibility of a real physical dichotomy between RL and RQ quasars. In this work, we present new high S/N spectra of 11 extremely powerful jetted quasars with radio-to-optical flux density ratio > 1000 that concomitantly cover the low-ionization emission of Mgii𝜆2800 and Hbeta𝛽 as well as the Feii blends in the redshift range 0.35 < z < 1, observed at Calar Alto Observatory (Spain). This work aims to quantify broad emission line differences between RL and RQ quasars by using the four-dimensional eigenvector 1 (4DE1) parameter space and its main sequence (MS) and to check the effect of powerful radio ejection on the low ionization broad emission lines. Emission lines are analysed by making two complementary approaches, a multicomponent non-linear fitting to account for the individual components of the broad emission lines and by analysing the full profile of the lines through parameters such as total widths, centroid velocities at different fractional intensities, asymmetry, and kurtosis indices. It is found that broad emission lines show large reward asymmetry both in Hbeta𝛽 and Mgii2800A. The location of our RL sources in a UV plane looks similar to the optical one, with weak Feii UV emission and broad Mgii2800A. We supplement the 11 sources with large samples from previous work to gain some general inferences. The result shows, compared to RQ, our extreme RL quasars show larger median Hbeta full width at half maximum (FWHM), weaker Feii emission, larger 𝑀BH, lower 𝐿bol/𝐿Edd, and a restricted space occupation in the optical and UV MS planes. The differences are more elusive when the comparison is carried out by restricting the RQ population to the region of the MS occupied by RL quasars, albeit an unbiased comparison matching 𝑀BH and 𝐿bol/𝐿Edd suggests that the most powerful RL quasars show the highest redward asymmetries in Hbeta.

Keywords: galaxies, active, line, profiles, quasars, emission lines, supermassive black holes

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Authors: Nisha Deopa, A. S. Rao

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Lithium Lead Alumino Borate (LiPbAlB) glasses doped with different Dy3+ ions concentration were synthesized to investigate their viability in solid state lighting (SSL) technology by melt quenching techniques. From the absorption spectra, bonding parameters (ð) were investigated to study the nature of bonding between Dy3+ ions and its surrounding ligands. Judd-Ofelt (J-O) intensity parameters (Ω = 2, 4, 6), estimated from the experimental oscillator strengths (fex) of the absorption spectral features were used to evaluate the radiative parameters of different transition levels. From the decay curves, experimental lifetime (τex) were measured and coupled with the radiative lifetime to evaluate the quantum efficiency of the as-prepared glasses. As Dy3+ ions concentration increases, decay profile changes from exponential to non-exponential through energy transfer mechanism (ETM) in turn decreasing experimental lifetime. In order to investigate the nature of ETM, non-exponential decay curves were fitted to Inkuti–Hirayama (I-H) model which further confirms dipole-dipole interaction. Among all the emission transition, 4F9/2  6H15/2 transition (483 nm) is best suitable for lasing potentialities. By exciting titled glasses in n-UV to blue regions, CIE chromaticity coordinates and Correlated Color Temperature (CCT) were calculated to understand their capability in cool white light generation. From the evaluated radiative parameters, CIE co-ordinates, quantum efficiency and confocal images it was observed that glass B (0.5 mol%) is a potential candidate for developing w-LEDs and lasers.

Keywords: energy transfer, glasses, J-O parameters, photoluminescence

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Authors: Ferruh Taspinar, Gulce K. Seyyar, Gamze Kurt, Eda O. Okur, Emrah Afsar, Ismail Saracoglu, Betul Taspinar

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Overweight and obesity has been associated with postural balance. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between body composition and balance. One hundred and thirty two young adults (58 male, 74 female) were included in the study. Mean age of participants were found as 21.21±1.51 years. Body composition (body mass index, total body fat ratio, total body muscle ratio) and balance (right anterior, right postero-medial, right postero-lateral, left anterior, left postero-medial, left postero-lateral) were evaluated by Tanita BC-418 and Y balance test, respectively. Pearson correlation analysis was used to evaluate the correlation between the parameters. Significance level in statistical analysis was accepted as 0.05. According to results, no correlation was found between body mass index and balance parameters. There was negative correlation between total body fat ratio and balance parameters (r=0.419-0.509, p˂0.05). On the other hand, positive correlation was found between total body muscle ratio and balance parameters (r=0.390-0.494, p˂0.05). This study demonstrated that body fat and muscle ratio affects the balance. Body composition should be considered in rehabilitation programs including postural balance training.

Keywords: balance, body composition, body mass, young adults

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Authors: Renato Santos Paulinelli Raposo, Vinicius Resende Domingues, Manoel Porfirio Cordao Neto

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Rapid drawdown is one of the cases referred to ground stability study in dam projects. Due to the complexity generated by the combination of loads and the difficulty in determining the parameters, analyses of rapid drawdown are usually performed considering the immediate reduction of water level upstream. The proposal of a simulation, considering the gradual reduction in water level upstream, requires knowledge of parameters about consolidation and those related to unsaturated soil. In this context, the purpose of this study is to understand the methodology of collection and analysis of parameters to simulate a rapid drawdown in dams. Using a numerical tool, the study is complemented with a hypothetical case study that can assist the practical use of data compiled. The referenced dam presents homogeneous section composed of clay soil, a height of 70 meters, a width of 12 meters, and upstream slope with inclination 1V:3H.

Keywords: dam, GeoStudio, rapid drawdown, stability analysis

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Authors: Abdelmalek Ouannou, Adil Brouri, Laila Kadi, Tarik

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Switched reluctance motor (SRM) has a major interest in a large domain as in electric vehicle driving because of its wide range of speed operation, high performances, low cost, and robustness to run under degraded conditions. The purpose of the paper is to develop a new analytical approach for modeling SRM parameters. Then, an identification scheme is proposed to obtain the SRM parameters. Since the SRM is featured by a highly nonlinear behavior, modeling these devices is difficult. Then, it is convenient to develop an accurate model describing the SRM. Furthermore, it is always operated in the magnetically saturated mode to maximize the energy transfer. Accordingly, it is shown that the SRM can be accurately described by a generalized polynomial Hammerstein model, i.e., the parallel connection of several Hammerstein models having polynomial nonlinearity. Presently an analytical identification method is developed using a chirp excitation signal. Afterward, the parameters of the obtained model have been determined using Finite Element Method analysis. Finally, in order to show the effectiveness of the proposed method, a comparison between the true and estimate models has been performed. The obtained results show that the output responses are very close.

Keywords: switched reluctance motor, swept-sine signal, generalized Hammerstein model, nonlinear system

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Authors: Barry D. Kyle, Jessica Boyd, Robin Pickersgill, Nicole Squires, Cynthia Balion

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Background-Aim: Fentanyl is a highly-potent synthetic μ-opioid receptor agonist used for exceptional pain management. Its main metabolite, norfentanyl, is typically present in urine at significantly high concentrations (i.e. ~20%) representing an effective targeting molecule for immunoassay detection. Here, we evaluated the NCS^TM One Step Fentanyl Test Device© and the BTNX Rapid Response^TM Single Drug Test Strip© point of care (POC) test strips targeting norfentanyl (20 ng/ml) and fentanyl (100 ng/ml) molecules for potential risperidone interference. Methods: POC tests calibrated against norfentanyl (20 ng/ml) used [immunochromatographic] lateral flow devices to provide qualitative results within five minutes of urine sample contact. Results were recorded as negative if lines appeared in the test and control regions according to manufacturer’s instructions. Positive results were recorded if no line appeared in the test region (i.e., control line only visible). Pooled patient urine (n=20), that screened negative for drugs of abuse (using NCS One Step Multi-Line Screen) and fentanyl (using BTNX Rapid Response Strip) was used for spiking studies. Urine was spiked with risperidone alone and with combinations of fentanyl, norfentanyl and/or risperidone to evaluate cross-reactivity in each test device. Results: A positive screen result was obtained when 8,000 ng/mL of risperidone was spiked into drug free urine using the NCS test device. Positive screen results were also obtained in spiked urine samples containing fentanyl and norfentanyl combinations below the cut-off concentrations when 4000 ng/mL risperidone was present using the NCS testing device. There were no screen positive test results using the BTNX test strip with up to 8,000 ng/mL alone or in combination with concentrations of fentanyl and norfentanyl below the cut-off. Both devices screened positive when either fentanyl or norfentanyl exceeded the cut-off threshold in the absence and presence of risperidone. Conclusion: We report that urine samples containing risperidone may give a false positive result using the NCS One Step Fentanyl Test Device.

Keywords: fentanyl, interferences, point of care test, Risperidone

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Authors: Joe Hachem, Marianne Cuif-Sjostrand, Thierry Schuhler, Dominique Orhon, Assaad Zoughaib

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The exhaust gas recirculation, EGR, implementation on gas turbines is increasingly gaining the attention of many researchers. This emerging technology presents many advantages, such as lowering the NOx emissions and facilitating post-combustion carbon capture as the carbon dioxide concentration in the cycle increases. As interesting as this technology may seem, the gas turbine, or its thermodynamic equivalent, the Brayton cycle, shows an intrinsic efficiency decrease with increasing EGR rate. In this paper, a thermodynamic model is presented to show the cycle efficiency decrease with EGR, alternative values of design parameters of both the pressure ratio (PR) and the turbine inlet temperature (TIT) are then proposed to optimize the cycle efficiency with different EGR rates. Results show that depending on the given EGR rate, both the design PR & TIT should be increased to compensate for the deficit in efficiency.

Keywords: gas turbines, exhaust gas recirculation, design parameters optimization, thermodynamic approach

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Authors: Jaskarn Singh Bhullar, Divya Taneja, Manish Gupta, Rajesh Kumar Narula

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The existence conditions of dual containing constacyclic codes have opened a new path for finding quantum maximum distance separable (MDS) codes. Using these conditions parameters of length n=(q²+1)/2 quantum MDS codes were improved. A class of quantum MDS codes of length n=(q²+q+1)/h, where h>1 is an odd prime, have also been constructed having large minimum distance and these codes are new in the sense as these are not available in the literature.

Keywords: hermitian construction, constacyclic codes, cyclotomic cosets, quantum MDS codes, singleton bound

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Authors: E. Krishna

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An Extended form of exponential distribution using Marshall and Olkin method is introduced.The location scale family of these distributions is considered. For location scale free family, exact expressions for single and product moments of upper record statistics are derived. The mean, variance and covariance of record values are computed for various values of the shape parameter. Using these the BLUE's of location and scale parameters are derived.The variances and covariance of estimates are obtained.Through Monte Carlo simulation the condence intervals for location and scale parameters are constructed.The Best liner unbiased Predictor (BLUP) of future records are also discussed.

Keywords: BLUE, BLUP, condence interval, Marshall-Olkin distribution, Monte Carlo simulation, prediction of future records, record statistics

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Authors: M. R. Akshaya, Veena Rao

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Pet population in India is increasing phenomenally owing to the changes in urban lifestyle with increasing number of single professionals, single parents, delayed parenthood etc. The animal companionship as a means of reducing stress levels, deriving emotional support, and unconditional love provided by dogs are a few reasons attributed for increasing pet ownership. The consequence is the booming of the pet care products and dog care centers catering to the different requirements of rearing the pets. Dog care centers quite popular in tier 1 metros of India cater to the requirement of the dog owners providing space for the dogs in absence of the owner. However, it is often reported that the absence of the owner leads to destructive and exploratory behavior issues; the main being the anxiety disorders. In the above context, it becomes imperative for a designer to design dog boarding centers that help in reducing the separation anxiety in dogs keeping in mind the different interior design parameters. An exploratory research with focus group discussion is employed involving a group of dog owners, behaviorists, proprietors of day care as well as boarding centers, and veterinarians to understand their perception on the significance of different interior parameters of color, texture, ventilation, aroma therapy and acoustics as a means of reducing the stress levels in dogs sent to the boarding centers. The data collected is organized as thematic networks thus enabling the listing of the interior design parameters that needs to be considered in designing dog boarding centers. 

Keywords: behavioral response, design parameters, dog boarding centers, interior environment

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Authors: Yu Song, Yuefei Jin

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Urban public transportation can be integrated when there is an efficient connection between urban rail lines, however, there are currently no effective or quick solutions being investigated for this connection. This paper analyzes the space-time distribution and travel demand of passenger connection travel based on taxi track data and data from the road network, excavates potential bus connection stations based on potential connection demand data, and introduces the link growth probability model in the complex network to solve the basic connection bus lines in order to ascertain the direction of the bus lines that are the most connected given the demand characteristics. Then, a tree view exhaustive approach based on constraints is suggested based on graph theory, which can hasten the convergence of findings while doing chain calculations. This study uses WEI QU NAN Station, the Xi'an Metro Line 2 terminal station in Shaanxi Province, as an illustration, to evaluate the model's and the solution method's efficacy. According to the findings, 153 prospective stations have been dug up in total, the feeder bus network for the entire line has been laid out, and the best route adjustment strategy has been found.

Keywords: feeder bus, route optimization, link growth probability, the graph theory

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Authors: Hassnen M. Jafer, Khalid S. Hashim, W. Atherton, Ali W. Alattabi

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This study investigates the effect of two important parameters (length of curing period and percentage of the added binder) on the strength of soil treated with OPC. An intermediate plasticity silty clayey soil with medium organic content was used in this study. This soft soil was treated with different percentages of a commercially available cement type 32.5-N. laboratory experiments were carried out on the soil treated with 0, 1.5, 3, 6, 9, and 12% OPC by the dry weight to determine the effect of OPC on the compaction parameters, consistency limits, and the compressive strength. Unconfined compressive strength (UCS) test was carried out on cement-treated specimens after exposing them to different curing periods (1, 3, 7, 14, 28, and 90 days). The results of UCS test were used to develop a non-linear multi-regression model to find the relationship between the predicted and the measured maximum compressive strength of the treated soil (qu). The results indicated that there was a significant improvement in the index of plasticity (IP) by treating with OPC; IP was decreased from 20.2 to 14.1 by using 12% of OPC; this percentage was enough to increase the UCS of the treated soil up to 1362 kPa after 90 days of curing. With respect to the statistical model of the predicted qu, the results showed that the regression coefficients (R2) was equal to 0.8534 which indicates a good reproducibility for the constructed model.

Keywords: cement admixtures, soft soil stabilisation, geotechnical parameters, multi-regression model

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Authors: Chien-Lin Wang, Cha-Ling Ko, Tainsong Chen

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Pulse Blood pressure (BP) is one of the vital signs, and is an index that helps determining the stability of life. In this respect, some spinal cord injury patients need to take the tilt table test. While doing the test, the posture changes abruptly, and may cause a patient’s BP to change abnormally. This may cause patients to feel discomfort, and even feel as though their life is threatened. Therefore, if a continuous non-invasive BP assessment system were built, it could help to alert health care professionals in the process of rehabilitation when the BP value is out of range. In our research, BP assessed by the pulse transit time technique was developed. In the system, we use a self-made photoplethysmograph (PPG) sensor and filter circuit to detect two PPG signals and to calculate the time difference. The BP can immediately be assessed by the trend line. According to the results of this study, the relationship between the systolic BP and PTT has a highly negative linear correlation (R2=0.8). Further, we used the trend line to assess the value of the BP and compared it to a commercial sphygmomanometer (Omron MX3); the error rate of the system was found to be in the range of ±10%, which is within the permissible error range of a commercial sphygmomanometer. The continue blood pressure measurement from pulse transit time technique may have potential to become a convenience method for clinical rehabilitation.

Keywords: continous blood pressure measurement, PPG, time transit time, transit velocity

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Authors: Omer Livvarcin, Mary Kay Park, Michael Miles

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The current literature includes a few studies that mention the impact of relations between teams, the business environment, and experiences from previous projects. There is, however, limited research that treats the phenomenon of project atmosphere (PA) as a whole. This is especially true of research identifying parameters and sub-parameters, which allow project management (PM) teams to build a project culture that ultimately imbues project success. This study’s findings identify a number of key project atmosphere parameters and sub-parameters that affect project management success. One key parameter identified in the study is a cluster related to cultural concurrence, including artifacts such as policies and mores, values, perceptions, and assumptions. A second cluster centers on motivational concurrence, including such elements as project goals and team-member expectations, moods, morale, motivation, and organizational support. A third parameter cluster relates to experiential concurrence, with a focus on project and organizational memory, previous internal PM experience, and external environmental PM history and experience). A final cluster of parameters is comprised of those falling in the area of relational concurrence, including inter/intragroup relationships, role conflicts, and trust. International and intercultural project management data was collected and analyzed from the following countries: Canada, China, Nigeria, South Korea and Turkey. The cross-cultural nature of the data set suggests increased confidence that the findings will be generalizable across cultures and thus applicable for future international project management success. The intent of the identification of project atmosphere as a critical project management element is that a clear understanding of the dynamics of its sub-parameters upon projects may significantly improve the odds of success of future international and intercultural projects.

Keywords: project management, project atmosphere, cultural concurrence, motivational concurrence, relational concurrence

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Authors: Yu-Mei Tseng, Chih-Chun Wu

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As information and communication technology (ICT) has become a part of people’s lives, most teenagers born after the 1980s and grew up in internet generation are called digital natives. Meanwhile, those teenagers’ parents are called digital immigrants. They need to keep learning new skills of ICT. This study investigated that high school students helped their parents set up social network services (SNS) and taught them how to use ICT. This study applied paper and pencil anonymous questionnaires that asked the ICT learning and ICT products using in high school students’ parents. The sample size was 2,621 high school students, including 1,360 (51.9%) males and 1,261 (48.1%) females. The sample was from 12 high school and vocational high school in central Taiwan. Results from paired sample t-tests demonstrated regardless genders, both male and female high school students help mothers set up Facebook and LINE more often than fathers. In addition, both male and female high school students taught mothers to use ICT more often than fathers. Meanwhile, both male and female high school students teach mothers to use SNS more often than fathers. The results showed that intergenerational ICT teaching occurred more often between mothers and her children than fathers. It could imply that mothers play a more important role in family ICT learning than fathers, or it could be that mothers need more help regarding ICT than fathers. As for gender differences, results from the independent t-tests showed that female high school students were more likely than male ones to help their parents setup Facebook and LINE. In addition, compared to male high school students, female ones were more likely to teach their parents to use smartphone, Facebook and LINE. However, no gender differences were detected in teaching mothers. The gender differences results suggested that female teenagers offer more helps to their parents regarding ICT learning than their male counterparts. As for area differences, results from the independent t-tests showed that the high school in remote area students were more likely than metropolitan ones to teach parents to use computer, search engine and download files of audio and video. The area differences results might indicate that remote area students were more likely to teach their parents how to use ICT. The results from this study encourage children to help and teach their parents with ICT products.

Keywords: adult ICT learning, family ICT learning, ICT learning, urban-rural gap

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Authors: Ntaganda J.M., Maniraguha J.D., Mukeshimana S., Harelimana D, Bizimungu T., Ruataganda E.

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This paper presents the design of Graphic User Interface (GUI) in Matlab as interaction tool between human and machine. The designed GUI can be used by medical doctors and other experts particularly the physiologists. Matlab packages and estimated parameters of the mathematical model of cardiovascular-respiratory system developed in Rwandan context are used in GUI. The ordinary differential equations (ODE’s) govern a mathematical model in designing GUI in Matlab and a window that sets model estimated parameters and the measured parameters by any user. For healthy subject, these measured parameters include heart rate, systolic blood and diastolic blood pressure, partial pressure of oxygen in arterial blood, partial pressure of carbon dioxide in arterial blood, concentration of bound and dissolved oxygen in the mixed venous blood entering the lungs, and concentration of bound and dissolved carbon dioxide in the mixed venous blood entering the lungs. The results of numerical test give a consistent appearance as empirically known results.

Keywords: Graphic User Interface, mathematical model, cardiovascur-respiratory system, walking physical activity, blood pressure, oxygen

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Authors: Murat Sarıkaya, Abdulkadir Güllü

Abstract:

Haynes 25 alloy (also known as L-605 alloy) is cobalt based super alloy which has widely applications such as aerospace industry, turbine and furnace parts, power generators and heat exchangers and petroleum refining components due to its excellent characteristics. However, the workability of this alloy is more difficult compared to normal steels or even stainless. In present work, an experimental investigation was performed under cryogenic cooling to determine cutting tool wear patterns and obtain optimal cutting parameters in turning of cobalt based superalloy Haynes 25. In experiments, uncoated carbide tool was used and cutting speed (V) and feed rate (f) were considered as test parameters. Tool wear (VBmax) were measured for process performance indicators. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to determine the importance of machining parameters.

Keywords: cryogenic machining, difficult-to-cut alloy, tool wear, turning

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Authors: Mrinal Jana, Geetanjali Panda

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In this paper a methodology is developed to solve a nonlinear fractional programming problem in which the coefficients of the objective function and constraints are interval parameters. This model is transformed into a general optimization problem and relation between the original problem and the transformed problem is established. Finally the proposed methodology is illustrated through a numerical example.

Keywords: fractional programming, interval valued function, interval inequalities, partial order relation

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Authors: M. Tawfik, X. Tonnellier, C. Sansom

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The Lens-Lens Beam Generator (LLBG) is a Fresnel-based optical concentrating technique which provides flexibility in selecting the solar receiver location compared to conventional techniques through generating a powerful concentrated collimated solar beam. In order to achieve that, two successive lenses are used and followed by a flat mirror. Hence the generated beam emerging from the LLBG has a high power flux which impinges on the target receiver, it is important to determine the precision of the system output. In this present work, mathematical investigation of different parameters affecting the precision of the output beam is carried out. These parameters include: Deflection in sun-facing lens and its holding arm, delay in updating the solar tracking system, and the flat mirror surface flatness. Moreover, relationships that describe the power lost due to the effect of each parameter are derived in this study.

Keywords: Fresnel lens, LLBG, solar concentrator, solar tracking

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Authors: Amanina Iymia Jeffree, Reena Thriumani, Mohammad Iqbal Omar, Ammar Zakaria, Yumi Zuhanis Has-Yun Hashim, Ali Yeon Md Shakaff

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Metabolite profiling is a strategy to be approached in the pattern recognition method focused on three types of cancer cell line that driving the most to death specifically lung, breast, and colon cancer. The purpose of this study was to discriminate the VOCs pattern among cancerous and control group based on metabolite profiling. The sampling was executed utilizing the cell culture technique. All culture flasks were incubated till 72 hours and data collection started after 24 hours. Every running sample took 24 minutes to be completed accordingly. The comparative metabolite patterns were identified by the implementation of headspace-solid phase micro-extraction (HS-SPME) sampling coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS). The optimizations of the main experimental variables such as oven temperature and time were evaluated by response surface methodology (RSM) to get the optimal condition. Volatiles were acknowledged through the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) mass spectral database and retention time libraries. To improve the reliability of significance, it is of crucial importance to eliminate background noise which data from 3rd minutes to 17th minutes were selected for statistical analysis. Targeted metabolites, of which were annotated as known compounds with the peak area greater than 0.5 percent were highlighted and subsequently treated statistically. Volatiles produced contain hundreds to thousands of compounds; therefore, it will be optimized by chemometric analysis, such as principal component analysis (PCA) as a preliminary analysis before subjected to a pattern classifier for identification of VOC samples. The volatile organic compound profiling has shown to be significantly distinguished among cancerous and control group based on metabolite profiling.

Keywords: in vitro cancer cell line, metabolite profiling, pattern recognition, volatile organic compounds

Procedia PDF Downloads 355

Authors: Chul-Hee Jo, Do-Youb Kim, Seok-Jin Cho, Yu-Ho Rho

Abstract:

The Catenary Anchor Leg Mooring (CALM) Single Point Mooring (SPM) buoy system is the most popular and widely used type of offshore loading terminals. SPM buoy mooring systems have been deployed worldwide for a variety of applications, water depths and vessel sizes ranging from small production carriers to Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs). Because of safe and easy berthing and un-berthing operations, the SPM buoy mooring system is also preferred for offshore terminals. The SPM buoy consists of a buoy that is permanently moored to the seabed by means of multiple mooring lines. The buoy contains a bearing system that allows a part of it to rotate around the moored geostatic part. When moored to the rotating part of the buoy, a vessel is able to freely weathervane around the buoy. This study was verified the effects of design variables in order to design an SPM buoy mooring system through parametric analysis. The design variables have independent and nonlinear characteristics. Using parametric analysis, this research was found that the fairlead departure angle, wave height and period, chain diameter and line length effect to the mooring top tension, buoy excursion and line layback.

Keywords: Single Point Mooring (SPM), Catenary Anchor Leg Mooring(CALM), design variables, parametric analysis, mooring system optimization

Procedia PDF Downloads 373

Authors: Chayanoot Sangwichien, Taweesak Reungpeerakul, Kyaw Thu

Abstract:

Oil palm mills in Southern Thailand produced a large amount of biomass solid wastes. Lignocellulose biomass is the main source for production of biofuel which can be combined or used as an alternative to fossil fuels. Biomass composed of three main constituents of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Thermochemical conversion process applied to produce biofuel from biomass. Pyrolysis of biomass is the best way to thermochemical conversion of biomass into pyrolytic products (bio-oil, gas, and char). Operating parameters play an important role to optimize the product yields from fast pyrolysis of biomass. This present work concerns with the modeling of reaction kinetics parameters for fast pyrolysis of empty fruit bunch in the fluidized bed reactor. A global kinetic model used to predict the product yields from fast pyrolysis of empty fruit bunch. The reaction temperature and vapor residence time parameters are mainly affected by product yields of EFB pyrolysis. The reaction temperature and vapor residence time parameters effects on empty fruit bunch pyrolysis are considered at the reaction temperature in the range of 450-500˚C and at a vapor residence time of 2 s, respectively. The optimum simulated bio-oil yield of 53 wt.% obtained at the reaction temperature and vapor residence time of 450˚C and 2 s, 500˚C and 1 s, respectively. The simulated data are in good agreement with the reported experimental data. These simulated data can be applied to the performance of experiment work for the fast pyrolysis of biomass.

Keywords: kinetics, empty fruit bunch, fast pyrolysis, modeling

Procedia PDF Downloads 192

Authors: Y. D. Lim, K. S. Yap, K. T. Ooi

Abstract:

Cross Vane Expander Compressor (CVEC) is a newly invented expander-compressor combined unit, where it is introduced to replace the compressor and the expansion valve in traditional refrigeration system. The mathematical model of CVEC has been developed to examine its performance, and it was found that the energy consumption of a conventional refrigeration system was reduced by as much as 18%. It is believed that energy consumption can be further reduced by optimizing the device. In this study, the coefficient of performance (COP) of CVEC has been optimized under predetermined operational parameters and constrained main design parameters. Several main design parameters of CVEC were selected to be the variables, and the optimization was done with theoretical model in a simulation program. The theoretical model consists of geometrical model, dynamic model, heat transfer model and valve dynamics model. Complex optimization method, which is a constrained, direct search and multi-variables method was used in the study. As a result, the optimization study suggested that with an appropriate combination of design parameters, a 58% COP improvement in CVEC R134a refrigeration system is possible.

Keywords: COP, cross vane expander-compressor, CVEC, design, simulation, refrigeration system, air-conditioning, R134a, multi variables

Procedia PDF Downloads 322

Authors: Allouache Nadia

Abstract:

Solid adsorption cooling machines have been extensively studied recently. They constitute very attractive solutions recover important amount of industrial waste heat medium temperature and to use renewable energy sources such as solar energy. The development of the technology of these machines can be carried out by experimental studies and by mathematical modelisation. This last method allows saving time and money because it is suppler to use to simulate the variation of different parameters. The adsorption cooling machines consist essentially of an evaporator, a condenser and a reactor (object of this work) containing a porous medium, which is in our case the activated carbon reacting by adsorption with ammoniac. The principle can be described as follows: When the adsorbent (at temperature T) is in exclusive contact with vapour of adsorbate (at pressure P), an amount of adsorbate is trapped inside the micro-pores in an almost liquid state. This adsorbed mass m, is a function of T and P according to a divariant equilibrium m=f (T,P). Moreover, at constant pressure, m decreases as T increases, and at constant adsorbed mass P increases with T. This makes it possible to imagine an ideal refrigerating cycle consisting of a period of heating/desorption/condensation followed by a period of cooling/adsorption/evaporation. Effect of key parameters on the machine performances are analysed and discussed.

Keywords: activated carbon-ammoniac pair, effect of key parameters, numerical modeling, solar cooling machine

Procedia PDF Downloads 245