Search results for: dimension reducing distribution load flow algorithm

Authors: Soumeya Krimat, Tahar Dob, Mohamed Toumi, Aicha Kesouri, Hafidha Metidji, Chelghoum Chabane

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Lavandula antineae Maire is an endemic medicinal plant of Algeria which is traditionally used for the treatment of chills, bruises, oedema and rheumatism. The present study was designed to investigate the phytochemical screening, total phenolic and antioxidant activity of Lavandula antineae Maire for the first time. Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of different kind of chemical groups (anthraquinones, terpenes, saponins, flavonoids, tannins, O-heterosides, C-heterosides, phenolic acids). The amounts of total phenolics in the extracts (hydromethanolic and ethyl acetate extract) were determined spectrometrically. From the analyses, ethyl acetate extract had the highest total phenolic content (262.35 mg GA/g extract) and antioxidant activity (IC50=7.10 µg/ml) using DPPH method. The ethyl acetate extract was also more potent on reducing power compared to hydromethanolic extract. The results suggested that L. antineae could be considered as a new potential source of natural antioxidant for pharmaceuticals and food preservation.

Keywords: Lavandula antineae, antioxidant activity, phytochemical screening, total phenolics

Procedia PDF Downloads 514

Authors: Rajesh Kumar, Prabha Chand

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The present paper deals with the analytical investigation on the thermal and thermo-hydraulic performance of the solar air collector fitted with fins and perforated twisted tapes (PTT) of twist ratio 2 with different axial pitch ratio. The mathematical models are presented, and the effect of mass flow rate and axial pitch ratios on the thermal and effective efficiency has been discussed. The results obtained are compared with the results of the solar air heater without fins and twisted tapes. Results conveyed that the collectors with fins and perforated twisted tape perform better but at the expense of increased pressure drop. Also, twisted tape with minimum axial pitch ratio is found to be more efficient than others.

Keywords: solar air heater, thermal efficiency, twisted tape, twist ratio

Procedia PDF Downloads 261

Authors: Hadach Mohamed

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Tourism becomes more and more a source of added value for developing countries. In Morocco, the sector contributes at 20% of national GDP, or the effects of this activity become increasingly harmful. The methodology we followed is qualitative, we analyzed the data according to a process-based approach in two longitudinal period from 2001 to 2009 and a period of real time from 2010 to 2014.Through a process-based longitudinal study we analyzed the effects of tourism on the three components of sustainability: economic, environmental and socio-cultural in Essaouira destination in the south west of Morocco. The objective of this paper is to identify among others, harmful effects of mass tourism on fragile destination in terms of load capacity, promotion of youth employment and respect for indigenous traditions. This study also aims to analyze the impact of tourism on the fragile destination, which depends heavily on this activity; it also seeks to test a series of indicators for sustainable development of sensitive areas. Within results, we found that tourism as an activity is very linked to the international situation, tested sustainable development indicators showed us that tourism is environmentally destructive, job creator and changer modes and lives of indigenous. Between the two periods analyzed, the situation becomes more and more vulnerable and the state intervention is becoming more indispensable.

Keywords: Sustainable tourism; Essaouira; destination, environmental and socio-cultural

Procedia PDF Downloads 331

Authors: Nikhil Verma, Akshay Kant Mishra, Rishabh Rastogi, Bikarama Prasad Yadav

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Emerging fire incidents are the protuberant contributor out turning into life loss, property damage and importantly firefighters. It insinuates that a firefighting and rescue operation of the existing equipment or apparatus and their proficiency is limited, particularly in annihilating firefighting environments. The proposed methodology will help in developing a technology which can be useful in minimizing the risks and losses due to fire. In this paper, design and development of combat mini vehicle comprising of multi-purpose nozzle system is proposed which can target diverse fires simultaneously at distinct time and location. Basically, the system is semi-automated type protection system which can be manoeuvred by controller. Designing of robust vehicle based on semi-automated protection type system is consummated using SolidWorks platform. Concept of developing a robust vehicle will help to fight fires in multiple directions reducing the time required to douse multiple fires.

Keywords: fire douse vehicle, multiple fires, multi-purpose nozzle, semi-automated system

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Authors: E. K. A. Ogunshile

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This paper is aimed at creating an Automatic Java X-Machine testing tool for software development. The nature of software development is changing; thus, the type of software testing tools required is also changing. Software is growing increasingly complex and, in part due to commercial impetus for faster software releases with new features and value, increasingly in danger of containing faults. These faults can incur huge cost for software development organisations and users; Cambridge Judge Business School’s research estimated the cost of software bugs to the global economy is $312 billion. Beyond the cost, faster software development methodologies and increasing expectations on developers to become testers is driving demand for faster, automated, and effective tools to prevent potential faults as early as possible in the software development lifecycle. Using X-Machine theory, this paper will explore a new tool to address software complexity, changing expectations on developers, faster development pressures and methodologies, with a view to reducing the huge cost of fixing software bugs.

Keywords: conformance testing, finite state machine, software testing, x-machine

Procedia PDF Downloads 264

Authors: Amor Jnifene, Cedric Cocaud

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One of the most constraining problems facing the development of autonomous vehicles is the limitations of current technologies. Guidance and navigation controllers need to be faster and more robust. Communication data links need to be more reliable and secure. For an Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) to be useful, and fully autonomous, one important feature that needs to be an integral part of the navigation system is autonomous trajectory planning. The work discussed in this paper presents a method for on-line trajectory planning for UAV’s. This method takes into account various constraints of different types including specific vectors of approach close to target points, multiple objectives, and other constraints related to speed, altitude, and obstacle avoidance. The trajectory produced by the proposed method ensures a smooth transition between different segments, satisfies the minimum curvature imposed by the dynamics of the UAV, and finds the optimum velocity based on available atmospheric conditions. Given a set of objective points and waypoints a skeleton of the trajectory is constructed first by linking all waypoints with straight segments based on the order in which they are encountered in the path. Secondly, vectors of approach (VoA) are assigned to objective waypoints and their preceding transitional waypoint if any. Thirdly, the straight segments are replaced by 3D curvilinear trajectories taking into account the aircraft dynamics. In summary, this work presents a method for on-line 3D trajectory generation (TG) of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). The method takes as inputs a series of waypoints and an optional vector of approach for each of the waypoints. Using a dynamic model based on the performance equations of fixed wing aircrafts, the TG computes a set of 3D parametric curves establishing a course between every pair of waypoints, and assembling these sets of curves to construct a complete trajectory. The algorithm ensures geometric continuity at each connection point between two sets of curves. The geometry of the trajectory is optimized according to the dynamic characteristics of the aircraft such that the result translates into a series of dynamically feasible maneuvers. In summary, this work presents a method for on-line 3D trajectory generation (TG) of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). The method takes as inputs a series of waypoints and an optional vector of approach for each of the waypoints. Using a dynamic model based on the performance equations of fixed wing aircraft, the TG computes a set of 3D parametric curves establishing a course between every pair of waypoints, and assembling these sets of curves to construct a complete trajectory. The algorithm ensures geometric continuity at each connection point between two sets of curves. The geometry of the trajectory is optimized according to the dynamic characteristics of the aircraft such that the result translates into a series of dynamically feasible maneuvers.

Keywords: trajectory planning, unmanned autonomous air vehicle, vector of approach, waypoints

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Authors: Radhia Toujani, Jalel Akaichi

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Social Networks generally present a hierarchy of communities. To determine these communities and the relationship between them, detection algorithms should be applied. Most of the existing algorithms, proposed for hierarchical communities identification, are based on either agglomerative clustering or divisive clustering. In this paper, we present a hybrid hierarchical clustering approach for community detection based on both bottom-up and bottom-down clustering. Obviously, our approach provides more relevant community structure than hierarchical method which considers only divisive or agglomerative clustering to identify communities. Moreover, we performed some comparative experiments to enhance the quality of the clustering results and to show the effectiveness of our algorithm.

Keywords: agglomerative hierarchical clustering, community structure, divisive hierarchical clustering, hybrid hierarchical clustering, opinion mining, social network, social network analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 358

Authors: Kolade Olawande Owoeye, George R. S. Weir

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The widespread of terrorism and extremism activities on the internet has become a major threat to the government and national securities due to their potential dangers which have necessitated the need for intelligence gathering via web and real-time monitoring of potential websites for extremist activities. However, the manual classification for such contents is practically difficult or time-consuming. In response to this challenge, an automated classification system called composite technique was developed. This is a computational framework that explores the combination of both semantics and syntactic features of textual contents of a web. We implemented the framework on a set of extremist webpages dataset that has been subjected to the manual classification process. Therein, we developed a classification model on the data using J48 decision algorithm, this is to generate a measure of how well each page can be classified into their appropriate classes. The classification result obtained from our method when compared with other states of arts, indicated a 96% success rate in classifying overall webpages when matched against the manual classification.

Keywords: extremist, web pages, classification, semantics, posit

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Authors: Kanit Manatura

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The combustion and pyrolysis behavior of Palm Kernel Shell (PKS) were investigated in a thermogravimetric analyzer. A 10 mg sample of each biomass was heated from 30 °C to 800 °C at four heating rates (within 5, 10, 15 and 30 °C/min) in nitrogen and dry air flow of 20 ml/min instead of pyrolysis and combustion process respectively. During pyrolysis, thermal decomposition occurred on three different stages include dehydration, hemicellulose-cellulose and lignin decomposition on each temperature range. The TG/DTG curves showed the degradation behavior and the pyrolysis/combustion characteristics of the PKS samples which led to apply in thermogravimetric analysis. The kinetic factors including activation energy and pre-exponential factor were determined by the Coats-Redfern method. The obtained kinetic factors are used to simulate the thermal decomposition and compare with experimental data. Rising heating rate leads to shift the mass loss towards higher temperature.

Keywords: combustion, palm kernel shell, pyrolysis, thermogravimetric analyzer

Procedia PDF Downloads 217

Authors: Urvi Panwar, Kanchan Mishra, Kanjaksha Ghosh, ShankerLal Kothari

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Background: Day-by-day the increasing prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases have become a global issue to manage them by medical sciences. The adult neural stem cells are rare and require an invasive and painful procedure to obtain it from central nervous system. Mesenchymal stem cell (MSCs) therapies have shown remarkable application in treatment of various cell injuries and cell loss. MSCs can be derived from various sources like adult tissues, human bone marrow, umbilical cord blood and cord tissue. MSCs have similar proliferation and differentiation capability, but the human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSCs) are proved to be more beneficial with respect to cell procurement, differentiation to other cells, preservation, and transplantation. Material and method: Human umbilical cord is easily obtainable and non-controversial comparative to bone marrow and other adult tissues. The umbilical cord can be collected after delivery of baby, and its tissue can be cultured using explant culture method. Cell culture medium such as DMEMF12+10% FBS and DMEMF12+Neural growth factors (bFGF, human noggin, B27) with antibiotics (Streptomycin/Gentamycin) were used to culture and differentiate mesenchymal stem cells into neural cells, respectively. The characterisations of MSCs were done with Flow Cytometer for surface markers CD90, CD73 and CD105 and colony forming unit assay. The differentiated various neural cells will be characterised by fluorescence markers for neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes; quantitative PCR for genes Nestin and NeuroD1 and Western blotting technique for gap43 protein. Result and discussion: The high quality and number of MSCs were isolated from human umbilical cord via explant culture method. The obtained MSCs were differentiated into neural cells like neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. The differentiated neural cells can be used to treat neural injuries and neural cell loss by delivering cells by non-invasive administration via cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) or blood. Moreover, the MSCs can also be directly delivered to different injured sites where they differentiate into neural cells. Therefore, human umbilical cord is demonstrated to be an inexpensive and easily available source for MSCs. Moreover, the hUCMSCs can be a potential source for neural cell therapies and neural cell regeneration for neural cell injuries and neural cell loss. This new way of research will be helpful to treat and manage neural cell damages and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer and Parkinson. Still the study has a long way to go but it is a promising approach for many neural disorders for which at present no satisfactory management is available.

Keywords: bone marrow, cell therapy, explant culture method, flow cytometer, human umbilical cord, mesenchymal stem cells, neurodegenerative diseases, neuroprotective, regeneration

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Authors: Somaye Eskandary

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Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are present in crude oil and its derivatives contaminate soil and also increase carcinogen and mutagen contamination, which is a concern for researchers. Land farming is one of the methods that remove pollutants from the soil by native microorganisms. It seems that this technology is cost-effective, environmentally friendly and causes less debris problem to be disposed. This study aimed to refine the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from oil-contaminated soil using the land farming method. In addition to examine the concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by GC-FID, some characteristics such as soil microbial respiration and dehydrogenase, peroxidase, urease, acid and alkaline phosphatase enzyme concentration were also measured. The results showed that after land farming process the concentrations of some polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons dropped to 50 percent. The results showed that the enzyme concentration is reduced by reducing the concentration of hydrocarbons and microbial respiration. These results emphasize the process of land farming for removal of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from soil by indigenous microorganisms.

Keywords: soil contamination, gas chromatography, native microorganisms, soil enzymes, microbial respiration, carcinogen

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Authors: Allal Bedlaoui, Hamid Boutoutaou

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Due to its superior economics, shrink-fit assembly is one of the best mechanical assembly methods. There are simply two components, the axis and hub. It is used in many different industries, including the production of trains, cars, and airplanes. The outer radius of the inner cylinder must be greater than the inner radius of the outer cylinder for this operation; this difference is referred to as the "interference" between the two cylinders. There are three ways to accomplish this: heating the outer cylinder to cause it to expand; cooling the cylinder's inside to cause it to contract; and third, finishing the fitting under a press. At the intersection of the two matched parts, a contact pressure and friction force are generated. We consider interference and form defects in this article because they prevent the connection between the axis and the hub from having a perfect form surface and because we will be looking at how they affect the assembly. Numerical simulation is used to ascertain if interference and form defects have a beneficial or negative influence in the distribution of stresses, assembly resistance, and plasticity.

Keywords: shrink-fit, interference, form defect, plasticity, extraction force

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Authors: Aklilu Zeleke

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A cross-sectional study was conducted in order to understand the effect of wet and dry seasons on the free residual chlorine and bacteriological contamination of the Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) water supply system. Water samples were taken at 30 selected distribution points and analyzed for Free Residual Chlorine and bacteriological analysis total coliforms and fecal coliform). It was found that some of the bacteriological data and Free Residual Chlorine levels are below the recommended values and beyond the maximum tolerable limits recommended by World Health Organization and Ethiopian National Standards. Water quality during the dry season is better than that of the wet season. There is a strong relationship between Free Residual Chlorine levels in drinking water and its bacteriological quality.

Keywords: addis ababa, wet season, dry season, free residual chlorine

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Authors: David Lynch Steinicke, Citlali Aguilera Lira, Andrea León García

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The proposal posed in this work comes from a researching-action approach. In Mexico, a dialogue of knowledge may function as a link between traditional, local, pragmatic knowledge, and technological, scientific knowledge. The advantage of generating this nexus lies on the positive impact in the environment, in society and economy. This work attempts to combine, on the one hand the traditional Mexican knowledge such as the usage of medicinal herb and the agroecosystem milpa; and on the other hand make use of a newly created agricultural ecotechnology which main function is to take advantage of the urban space and to save water. This ecotechnology is the wicking bed. In a globalized world, is relevant to have a proposal where the most important aspect is to revalorize the culture through the acquisition of traditional knowledge but at the same time adapting them to the new social and urbanized structures without threatening the environment. The methodology used in this work comes from a researching-action approach combined with a practical dimension where an experimental model made of three wickingbeds was implemented. In this model, there were cultivated medicinal herb and milpa components. The water efficiency and the social acceptance were compared with a traditional ground crop, all this practice was made in an urban social context. The implementation of agricultural ecotechnology has had great social acceptance as its irrigation involves minimal effort and it is economically feasible for low-income people. The wicking bed system raised in this project is attainable to be implemented in schools, urban and peri-urban environments, homemade gardens and public areas. The proposal managed to carry out an innovative and sustainable knowledge-based traditional Mexican agricultural technology, allowing regain Milpa agroecosystem in urban environments to strengthen food security in favour of nutritional and protein benefits for the Mexican fare.

Keywords: milpa, traditional medicine, urban agriculture, wicking bed

Procedia PDF Downloads 382

Authors: C. Bunsanit

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This paper presents the refinement method for two beams formation of wideband smart antenna. The refinement method for weighting coefficients is based on Fully Spatial Signal Processing by taking Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT), and its simulation results are presented using MATLAB. The radiation pattern is created by multiplying the incoming signal with real weights and then summing them together. These real weighting coefficients are computed by IDFT method; however, the range of weight values is relatively wide. Therefore, for reducing this range, the refinement method is used. The radiation pattern concerns with five input parameters to control. These parameters are maximum weighting coefficient, wideband signal, direction of mainbeam, beamwidth, and maximum of minor lobe level. Comparison of the obtained simulation results between using refinement method and taking only IDFT shows that the refinement method works well for wideband two beams formation.

Keywords: fully spatial signal processing, beam forming, refinement method, smart antenna, weighting coefficient, wideband

Procedia PDF Downloads 221

Authors: Dae-Hee Son, Soon-Ryul Nam

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The power system frequency falls when disturbance such as rapid increase of system load or loss of a generating unit occurs in power systems. Especially, increase in the number of renewable generating units has a bad influence on the power system because of loss of generating unit depending on the circumstance. Conventional technologies use frequency droop control battery output for the frequency regulation and balance between supply and demand. If power is supplied using the fast output characteristic of the battery, power system stability can be further more improved. To improve the power system stability, we propose battery output control using ROCOF (Rate of Change of Frequency) in this paper. The bigger the power difference between the supply and the demand, the bigger the ROCOF drops. Battery output is controlled proportionally to the magnitude of the ROCOF, allowing for faster response to power imbalances. To simulate the control method of battery output system, we develop the user defined model using PSS/E and confirm that power system stability is improved by comparing with frequency droop control.

Keywords: PSS/E user defined model, power deviation, frequency droop control, ROCOF (rate of change of frequency)

Procedia PDF Downloads 399

Authors: I. Boroňová, J. Bernasovská, J. Kľoc, Z. Tomková, E. Petrejčíková, S. Mačeková, J. Poráčová, M. M. Blaščáková

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Osteoporosis is a common multifactorial disease with a strong genetic component characterized by reduced bone mass and increased risk of fractures. Genetic factors play an important role in the pathogenesis of osteoporosis. The aim of our study was to identify the genotype and allele distribution of T245G polymorphism in OPG gene in Slovak postmenopausal women. A total of 200 unrelated Slovak postmenopausal women with diagnosed osteoporosis and 200 normal controls were genotyped for T245G (rs3134069) polymorphism of OPG gene. Genotyping was performed using the Custom Taqman®SNP Genotyping assays. Genotypes and alleles frequencies showed no significant differences (p=0.5551; p=0.6022). The results of the present study confirm the importance of T245G polymorphism in OPG gene in the pathogenesis of osteoporosis.

Keywords: OPG gene, T245G polymorphism, osteoporosis, T245G polymorphism, real-time PCR

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Authors: Goran Begović

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In recent years, many researchers are focusing on non-intrusive measuring methods when it comes to human biosignals. These methods provide solutions for everyday use, whether it’s health monitoring or finessing the workout routine. One of the biggest issues with these solutions is that the sensors’ accuracy is highly variable due to many factors, such as ambiental light, skin color diversity, etc. That is why we wanted to explore different outcomes under those kinds of circumstances in order to find the most optimal algorithm(s) for extracting heart rate (HR) information. The optimization of such algorithms can benefit the wider, cheaper, and safer application of home health monitoring, without having to visit medical professionals as often when it comes to observing heart irregularities. In this study, we explored the accuracy of infrared (IR), red, and green LED sensorics in a controlled environment and compared the results with a medically accurate ECG monitoring device.

Keywords: data science, ECG, heart rate, holter monitor, LED sensors

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Authors: Dana A. Al Qudah, Alexandra I. Critea, Rizik M. H. Al Sayyed, Amer Obeidah

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Online advertisement is one of the major incomes for many companies; it has a role in the overall business flow and affects the consumer behavior directly. Unfortunately most users tend to block their ads or ignore them. MyAds is a social adaptive hypermedia system for online advertising and its main goal is to explore how to make online ads more acceptable. In order to achieve such a goal, various technologies and techniques are used. This paper presents a theoretical framework as well as the system architecture for MyAds that was designed based on a set of hypotheses and an exploratory study. The system then was implemented and a pilot experiment was conducted to validate it. The main outcomes suggest that the system has provided personalized ads for users. The main implications suggest that the system can be used for further testing and validating.

Keywords: adaptive hypermedia, e-advertisement, social, hypotheses, exploratory study, framework

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Authors: Hala M. El-hanbuli, Mohammed F. Darweesh

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The incidence rates of any tumor vary hugely with geographical location. Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC) is one of the most common skin cancer that has many histopathologic subtypes. Objective: The aim was to study the histopathological features of BCC cases that were received in the Pathology Department, Kasr El-Aini hospital, Cairo University, Egypt during the period from Jan 2004 to Dec 2013 and to evaluate the clinical characters through the patient data available in the request sheets. Methods: Slides and data of BCC cases were collected from the archives of the pathology department, Kasr El-Aini hospital. Revision of all available slides and histological classification of BCC according to WHO (2006) was done. Results: A total number of 310 cases of BCC representing about 65% from the total number of malignant skin tumors examined during the 10-years duration in the department. The age ranged from 8 to 84 years, the mean age was (55.7 ± 15.5). Most of the patients (85%) were above the age of 40 years. There was a slight male predominance (55%). Ulcerated BCC was the most common gross picture (60%), followed by nodular lesion (30%) and finally the ulcerated nodule (10%). Most of the lesions situated in the high-risk sites (77%) where the nose was the most common site (35%) followed by the periocular area (22%), then periauricular (15%) and finally perioral (5%). No lesion was reported outside the head. The tumor size was less than 2 centimeters in 65% of cases, and from 2-5 centimeters in the lesions' greatest dimension in the rest of cases. Histopathological reclassification revealed that the nodular BCC was the most common (68%) followed by the pigmented nodular (18.75%). The histologic high-risk groups represented (7.5%) about half of them (3.75%) being basosquamous carcinoma. The total incidence for multiple BCC and 2nd primary was 12%. Recurrent BCC represented 8%. All of the recurrent lesions of BCC belonged to the histologic high-risk group. Conclusion: Basal Cell Carcinoma is the most common skin cancer in the 10-year survey. Histopathological diagnosis and classification of BCC cases are essential for the determination of the tumor type and its biological behavior.

Keywords: basal cell carcinoma, high risk, histopathological features, statistical analysis

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Authors: M. Al-Saedi, A. Chegenizadeh, H. Nikraz

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Experimental investigations are conducted to assess a layered structure of glass (G) - rock (R) blends under the impact of repeated loading. Laboratory tests included sieve analyses, modified compaction test and repeated load triaxial test (RLTT) is conducted on different structures of stratified GR samples to reach the objectives of this study. Waste materials are such essential components in the climate system, and also commonly used in minimising the need for natural materials in many countries. Glass is one of the most widely used groups of waste materials which have been extensively using in road applications. Full range particle size and colours of glass are collected and mixed at different ratios with natural rock material trying to use the blends in pavement layers. Whole subsurface specimen sequentially consists of a single layer of R and a layer of G-R blend. 12G/88R and 45G/55R mix ratios are employed in this research, the thickness of G-R layer was changed, and the results were compared between the pure rock and the layered specimens. The relations between resilient module (Mr) and permanent deformation with sequence number are presented. During the earlier stages of RLTT, the results indicated that the 45G/55R specimen shows higher moduli than R specimen.

Keywords: Rock base course, Layered Structure, Glass, Resilient Modulus

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Authors: S. Bayona, J. Nunez, D. Paez, C. Diaz

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The application of Lean manufacturing tools continues to be an effective solution for increasing productivity, reducing costs and eliminating waste in the manufacture of goods and services. This article analyzes the production process of a hot asphalt manufacturing company from an administrative and technical perspective. Three main phases were analyzed, the first phase was related to the determination of the risk priority number of the main operations in asphalt mix production process by an FMEA (Failure Mode Effects Analysis), in the second phase the Value Stream Mapping (VSM) of the production line was performed and in the third phase a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses Opportunities, Threats) matrix was constructed. Among the most valued failure modes were the lack training of workers in occupational safety and health issues, the lack of signaling and classification of granulated material, and the overweight of vehicles loaded. The analysis of the results in the three phases agree on the importance of training operational workers, improve communication with external actors in order to minimize delays in material orders and strengthen control suppliers.

Keywords: asphalt, lean manufacturing, productivity, process

Procedia PDF Downloads 111

Authors: Nisha Nandlal Sharma, Julaluk Carmai, Saiprasit Koetniyom, Bernd Markert

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Whiplash Injuries are mostly experienced in car accidents. Symptoms of whiplash are commonly reported in studies, neck pain and headaches are two most common symptoms observed. The whiplash Injury mechanism is poorly understood. In present study, hybrid neck muscle model were developed with a combination of solid tetrahedral elements and 1D beam elements. Solid tetrahedral elements represents passive part of the muscle whereas, 1D beam elements represents active part. To simulate the active behavior of the muscle, Hill-type muscle model was applied to beam elements. To simulate non-linear passive properties of muscle, solid elements were modeled with rubber/foam material model. Some important muscles were then inserted into THUMS (Total Human Model for Safety) THUMS was given a boundary conditions similar to experimental tests. The model was exposed to 4g and 7g rear impacts as these load impacts are close to low speed impacts causing whiplash. The effect of muscle activation level on occupant kinematics during whiplash was analyzed.

Keywords: finite element model, muscle activation, THUMS, whiplash injury mechanism

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Authors: Mahmoud Karimi, Golmohammad Khoobbakht

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This study focuses on the exergy flow analysis in the transesterification of waste cooking oil with methanol to decrease the consumption of materials and energy and promote the use of renewable resources. The exergy analysis performed is based on the thermodynamic performance parameters namely exergy destruction and exergy efficiency to investigate the effects of variable parameters on renewability of transesterification. The experiment variables were methanol to WCO ratio, catalyst concentration and reaction temperature in the transesterification reaction. The optimum condition with yield of 90.2% and exergy efficiency of 95.2% was obtained at methanol to oil molar ratio of 8:1, 1 wt.% of KOH, at 55 °C. In this condition, the total waste exergy was found to be 45.4 MJ for 1 kg biodiesel production. However high yield in the optimal condition resulted high exergy efficiency in the transesterification of WCO with methanol.

Keywords: biodiesel, exergy, thermodynamic analysis, transesterification, waste cooking oil

Procedia PDF Downloads 190

Authors: Sakshi Piplani, Ajit Kumar

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Valproic acid (VPA) is the first synthetic therapeutic agent used to treat epileptic disorders, which account for affecting nearly 1% world population. Teratogenicity caused by VPA has prompted the search for next generation drug with better efficacy and lower side effects. Recent studies have posed HDAC8 as direct target of VPA that causes the teratogenic effect in foetus. We have employed molecular dynamics (MD) and docking simulations to understand the binding mode of VPA and their analogues onto HDAC8. A total of twenty 3D-structures of human HDAC8 isoforms were selected using BLAST-P search against PDB. Multiple sequence alignment was carried out using ClustalW and PDB-3F07 having least missing and mutated regions was selected for study. The missing residues of loop region were constructed using MODELLER and energy was minimized. A set of 216 structural analogues (>90% identity) of VPA were obtained from Pubchem and ZINC database and their energy was optimized with Chemsketch software using 3-D CHARMM-type force field. Four major neurotransmitters (GABAt, SSADH, α-KGDH, GAD) involved in anticonvulsant activity were docked with VPA and its analogues. Out of 216 analogues, 75 were selected on the basis of lower binding energy and inhibition constant as compared to VPA, thus predicted to have anti-convulsant activity. Selected hHDAC8 structure was then subjected to MD Simulation using licenced version YASARA with AMBER99SB force field. The structure was solvated in rectangular box of TIP3P. The simulation was carried out with periodic boundary conditions and electrostatic interactions and treated with Particle mesh Ewald algorithm. pH of system was set to 7.4, temperature 323K and pressure 1atm respectively. Simulation snapshots were stored every 25ps. The MD simulation was carried out for 20ns and pdb file of HDAC8 structure was saved every 2ns. The structures were analysed using castP and UCSF Chimera and most stabilized structure (20ns) was used for docking study. Molecular docking of 75 selected VPA-analogues with PDB-3F07 was performed using AUTODOCK4.2.6. Lamarckian Genetic Algorithm was used to generate conformations of docked ligand and structure. The docking study revealed that VPA and its analogues have more affinity towards ‘hydrophobic active site channel’, due to its hydrophobic properties and allows VPA and their analogues to take part in van der Waal interactions with TYR24, HIS42, VAL41, TYR20, SER138, TRP137 while TRP137 and SER138 showed hydrogen bonding interaction with VPA-analogues. 14 analogues showed better binding affinity than VPA. ADMET SAR server was used to predict the ADMET properties of selected VPA analogues for predicting their druggability. On the basis of ADMET screening, 09 molecules were selected and are being used for in-vivo evaluation using Danio rerio model.

Keywords: HDAC8, docking, molecular dynamics simulation, valproic acid

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Authors: Hamid Reza Goshayeshi

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The effect of ɑ(alpha) Fe2O3 and ɤ(gamma)Fe2O3 particles on the heat transfer performance of an oscillating heat pipe was investigated experimentally. Kerosene was used as the base fluid for the OHP. Six size particles with average diameters of 10 nm, 20 nm, and 30 nm ɑFe2O3 and ɤFe2O3 were investigated, respectively. Experimental results show that the ɤFe2O3 particles added in the OHP significantly affect the heat transfer performance. When the OHP was charged with kerosene and 20 nm ɤ Fe2O3 particles, the OHP can achieve the best heat transfer performance among six particles investigated in this research.

Keywords: copper oscillating heat pipe, heat transfer, flow, comparison of ɑ(alpha)Fe2O3 and ɤ(gamma)Fe2O3, increase heat transfer

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Authors: Juan Bernal-Martinez, Zoe Quinones-Jurado, Miguel Waldo-Mendoza, Elias Perez

Abstract:

Introduction and Objective: Ag-TiO2 nanoparticles (NP) have been characterized as effective antibacterial compounds against E. aureous, E. coli, Salmonella and others. Because these nanoparticles have been used in plastic-food containers, there is a concern about the toxicity of Ag-TiO2 NP for higher organisms from protozoan, invertebrates, and mammals. The objective of this study is to evaluate the cytotoxic effect of Ag-TiO2 NP on the survival and swimming behavior of the unicellular organism Paramecium tetraurelia. Material and Methods: Preparation of metallic silver on TiO2 surface was based on chemical reduction route of AgNO3. Aqueous suspension of TiO2 nanoparticles was preparing by adding 5 g of TiO2 to 250 ml of deionized water and followed by sonication for 10 min. The required amount of AgNO3 solutions was added to TiO2 suspension, maintaining heating and stirring. Silver concentration was 0.5, 1.5, 5.0, 25, 35 and 45 % w/w versus TiO2. Paramecium tetraurelia (Carolina Biological, Cat. # 131560) was used as a biological preparation. It was cultured in artificial culture media made as follows: Stigmasterol 5 mg/ml of ethanol, Caseaminoacids 0.3 gr/lt.; KCl 4mM; CaCl2 1mM; MgCl2 100uM and MOPS 1mM, pH 7.3. This media was inoculated with Enterobacter-sp. Paramecium was concentrated after 24 hours of incubation by centrifugation. The pellet of cells was resuspended in 4.1.1 solution prepared as follows (in mM): KCl, 4 mM; CaCl2, 1mM and Trizma, 1mM; pH 7.3. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies were performed to evaluate the appropriate dispersion and topographic distribution AgNPs deposited on TiO2. The experimental solutions were prepared as follows: 50 mg of Polyvinyhlpirolidone were added to 5 ml of 4.1.1. solution. Then, 50 mg of powder 25-Ag-TiO2 was added, mixing for 10 min and sonicated for 60 min. Survival of Paramecium and possible toxic effects after 25-Ag-TiO2 treatment was observed through an inverted microscope. The Paramecium swimming behavior and possible dead cells were recorded for periods of approximately 20-50 seconds by using a digital USB camera adapted to the microscope. Results and Discussion: TEM micrographs demonstrated the topographic distribution of AgNPs deposited on TiO2. 25Ag-TiO2 NP was efficiently dissolved and dispersed in 4.1.1 solution at concentrations from 0.1, 1 and 10 mg/ml. When Paramecium were treated with 25Ag-TiO2 NP at 100 ug/ml, it was observed that cells started swimming backwards. This backward swimming behavior is the typical avoiding reaction of the ciliate in response to a noxious stimulus. After 10 min of incubation, it was observed that Paramecium stopped swimming backwards and exploited. We can argue that this toxic effect of 25Ag-TiO2 NP is probably due to the calcium influx and calcium accumulation during the long-lasting swimming backwards. Conclusions: Here we have demonstrated that 25Ag-TiO2 NP has a specific toxic effect on an organism higher than bacteria such as the protozoan Paremecium. Probably these toxic phenomena could be expected to be observed in a higher organism such as invertebrates and mammals.

Keywords: Ag-TiO2, calcium permeability, cytotoxicity, paramecium

Procedia PDF Downloads 286

Authors: Zhaofeng Li, Jun Kang Chow, Yu-Hsing Wang

Abstract:

This paper attempts to bridge the soil properties and the mechanical response of soil in the discrete element method (DEM) simulation. The artificial neural network (ANN) was therefore adopted, aiming to reproduce the stress-strain-volumetric response when soil properties are given. 31 biaxial shearing tests with varying soil parameters (e.g., initial void ratio and interparticle friction coefficient) were generated using the DEM simulations. Based on these 45 sets of training data, a three-layer neural network was established which can output the entire stress-strain-volumetric curve during the shearing process from the input soil parameters. Beyond the training data, 2 additional sets of data were generated to examine the validity of the network, and the stress-strain-volumetric curves for both cases were well reproduced using this network. Overall, the ANN was found promising in predicting the soil behavior and reducing repetitive simulation work.

Keywords: artificial neural network, discrete element method, soil properties, stress-strain-volumetric response

Procedia PDF Downloads 393

Authors: Sergio V Davalos, Alison L. Watkins

Abstract:

User generated content (UGC) such as website post has data associated with it: time of the post, gender, location, type of device, and number of words. The text entered in user generated content (UGC) can provide a valuable dimension for analysis. In this research, each user post is treated as a collection of terms (words). In addition to the number of words per post, the frequency of each term is determined by post and by the sum of occurrences in all posts. This research focuses on one specific aspect of UGC: sentiment. Sentiment analysis (SA) was applied to the content (user posts) of two sets of political forums related to the US presidential elections for 2012 and 2016. Sentiment analysis results in deriving data from the text. This enables the subsequent application of data analytic methods. The SASA (SAIL/SAI Sentiment Analyzer) model was used for sentiment analysis. The application of SASA resulted with a sentiment score for each post. Based on the sentiment scores for the posts there are significant differences between the content and sentiment of the two sets for the 2012 and 2016 presidential election forums. In the 2012 forums, 38% of the forums started with positive sentiment and 16% with negative sentiment. In the 2016 forums, 29% started with positive sentiment and 15% with negative sentiment. There also were changes in sentiment over time. For both elections as the election got closer, the cumulative sentiment score became negative. The candidate who won each election was in the more posts than the losing candidates. In the case of Trump, there were more negative posts than Clinton’s highest number of posts which were positive. KNIME topic modeling was used to derive topics from the posts. There were also changes in topics and keyword emphasis over time. Initially, the political parties were the most referenced and as the election got closer the emphasis changed to the candidates. The performance of the SASA method proved to predict sentiment better than four other methods in Sentibench. The research resulted in deriving sentiment data from text. In combination with other data, the sentiment data provided insight and discovery about user sentiment in the US presidential elections for 2012 and 2016.

Keywords: sentiment analysis, text mining, user generated content, US presidential elections

Procedia PDF Downloads 183

Authors: Eleni Ioannou, Pascal Nucara, Keith Pullen

Abstract:

The subject of this paper is the investigation of the best efficiency design of a compressor diffuser applied in new lightweight, ultra efficient micro-gas turbine engines for vehicles. The Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) results are obtained utilizing steady state simulations for a wedge and an ”oval” type pipe diffuser in an effort to identify the beneficial effects of the pipe diffuser design. The basic flow features are presented with particular focus on the optimization of the pipe diffuser leading to higher efficiencies for the compressor stage. The optimised pipe diffuser is designed to exploit the 3D freedom enabled by Selective Laser Melting, hence purposely involves an investigation of geometric characteristics that do not follow the traditional diffuser concept.

Keywords: CFD, centrifugal compressor, micro-gas turbine, pipe diffuser, SLM, wedge diffuser

Procedia PDF Downloads 404