Search results for: simultaneous measurement

Authors: Alaa Osman, Sara Elgazzar, Breksal Elmiligy

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The Supply Chain Operation Reference (SCOR) model is considered one of the most widely implemented supply chain performance measurement systems (SCPMSs). Several studies have been proposed on the SCOR model adaptation in developed countries context; while there is a limited availability of previous work on the SCPMSs application generally and the SCOR model specifically in developing nations. This paper presents a research agenda on the SCOR model adaptation in the developing countries. It aims at investigating the challenges of adapting the SCOR model to manage and measure supply chain performance in developing countries. The research will exemplify the system in the Egyptian automotive sector to gain a comprehensive understanding of how the application of the SCOR model can affect the performance of automotive companies in Egypt, with a necessary understanding of challenges and obstacles faced the adaptation of the model in the Egyptian supply chain context. An empirical study was conducted on the Egyptian automotive sector in three companies considering three different classes: BMW, Hyundai and Brilliance. First, in-depth interviews were carried out to gain an insight into the implementation and the relevance of the concepts of supply chain management and performance measurement in the Egyptian automotive industry. Then, a formal survey was designed based on the SCOR model five main processes (plan, source, make, deliver and return) and best practices to investigate the challenges and obstacles faced the adaptation of the SCOR model in the Egyptian automotive supply chain. Finally, based on the survey results, the appropriate best practices for each process were identified in order to overcome the SCOR model adaptation challenges. The results showed that the implementation of the SCOR model faced different challenges and unavailability of the required enablers. The survey highlighted the low integration of end-to-end supply chain, lacks commitment for the innovative ideas and technologies, financial constraints and lack of practical training and support as the main challenges faced the adaptation of the SCOR model in the Egyptian automotive supply chain. The research provides an original contribution to knowledge by proposing a procedure to identify challenges encountered during the process of SCOR model adoption which can pave a way for further research in the area of SCPMSs adaptation, particularly in the developing countries. The research can help managers and organizations to identify obstacles and difficulties of the SCOR model adaptation, subsequently this can facilitate measuring the improved performance or changes in the organizational performance.

Keywords: automotive sector, developing countries, SCOR model, supply chain performance

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Authors: Somsakhool Neelasmith, Darunee Jongudomkarn, Rutja Phuphaibul

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Adolescent pregnancy is a major global concern including Thailand, which has long adopted policies and solutions to prevent such problem. Family is one of the key strategies to drive policy achievement whereas the various families and regional differences will be challenges. This article reports a preliminary study finding using qualitative case study methods, aiming to explore the situation of families living with adolescent mother in the North Eastern of Thailand or ISAN. Data were collected by in-depth interview with six key informants; five adolescent mothers age 14- 19 years and one mother in law of adolescent mother during November to December of 2017. The preliminary suggests that firstly, the adolescent pregnancy was found to be one of the significant issues among most of the families and that adolescent mothers and their family perceived other families were also faced with this problem with despite different conditions. Secondly, the parents assumed simultaneous roles as both parents and grandparents when one of their adolescent girls became an adolescent mother. Lastly, when perceiving that their adolescent daughter became pregnant, families addressed this issue by compromise with the related parties to maintain family and social relationship. This situation can be a potential intractable problem to adolescents and their families. Families may suffer from adolescent pregnancy with respect to health, economy and other family burdens. Moreover, the national development may be affected or delayed since this group of people is considered promising human resource. It is therefore required to further conduct in-depth research to cope with this issue particularly about the policies related to adolescent pregnancy.

Keywords: adolescent mother, adolescent pregnancy, consequential effect, family living with adolescent mother

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Authors: M. Elder, L. Beech, A. Mackie

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Heterotopic pregnancy is an uncommon and potentially life-threatening condition in which there is simultaneous occurrence of intrauterine and ectopic pregnancies. It has an incidence of approximately 1:3900 pregnancies, occurring in only 1:30000 spontaneous pregnancies. This study presents a rare case of spontaneous heterotopic pregnancy in a 34-year-old primiparous woman who was brought in by ambulance to the emergency department following collapse at 20+1 weeks gestation after normal first trimester screening and morphology scan. She was hemodynamically unstable and fetal heart rate was 60bpm. Initial resuscitation included transfusion of 2 units packed red blood cells and 1g intravenous tranexamic acid. Bedside ultrasound revealed evidence of approximately 1000ml clot in the right upper quadrant. She underwent a diagnostic laparoscopy and washout, which proceeded to a midline exploratory laparotomy. This revealed a 2.6L hemoperitoneum and query right ectopic pregnancy with calcified areas and clot, with no other cause of bleeding identified. Right salpingectomy was performed, and pathology later confirmed ectopic pregnancy. The intrauterine pregnancy had no complications, and she delivered a healthy full-term baby. This case demonstrates that ultrasound confirmation of intrauterine pregnancy does not exclude coexisting ectopic pregnancy. Heterotopic pregnancy should be considered in any pregnant woman presenting with abdominal pain or signs of hemorrhagic shock, as prompt diagnosis and treatment is essential to minimize foetal and maternal morbidity and mortality.

Keywords: ectopic pregnancy, hemorrhagic shock, salpingectomy, spontaneous heterotopic pregnancy

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Authors: Teerapon Pirom, Ura Pancharoen

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Amoxicillin is an antibiotic which is widely used to treat various infections in both human beings and animals. However, when amoxicillin is released into the environment, it is a major problem. Amoxicillin causes bacterial resistance to these drugs and failure of treatment with antibiotics. Liquid membrane is of great interest as a promising method for the separation and recovery of the target ions from aqueous solutions due to the use of carriers for the transport mechanism, resulting in highly selectivity and rapid transportation of the desired metal ions. The simultaneous processes of extraction and stripping in a single unit operation of liquid membrane system are very interesting. Therefore, it is practical to apply liquid membrane, particularly the HFSLM for industrial applications as HFSLM is proved to be a separation process with lower capital and operating costs, low energy and extractant with long life time, high selectivity and high fluxes compared with solid membranes. It is a simple design amenable to scaling up for industrial applications. The extraction and recovery for (Amoxicillin) through the hollow fiber supported liquid membrane (HFSLM) using aliquat336 as a carrier were explored with the experimental data. The important variables affecting on transport of amoxicillin viz. extractant concentration and operating time were investigated. The highest AMOX- extraction percentages of 85.35 and Amoxicillin stripping of 80.04 were achieved with the best condition at 6 mmol/L [aliquat336] and operating time 100 min. The extraction reaction order (n) and the extraction reaction rate constant (kf) were found to be 1.00 and 0.0344 min-1, respectively.

Keywords: aliquat336, amoxicillin, HFSLM, kinetic

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Authors: Tawfiq Chekifi, Brahim Dennai, Rachid Khelfaoui

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Over the last few decades, modeling immiscible fluids such as oil and water have been a classical research topic. Droplet-based microfluidics presents a unique platform for mixing, reaction, separation, dispersion of drops and numerous other functions. for this purpose Several devices were studied, as well as microfluidic oscillator. The latter was obtained from wall attachment microfluidic amplifiers using a feedback loop from the outputs to the control inputs, nevertheless this device haven’t well used for microdrops applications. In this paper, we suggest a numerical CFD study of a microfluidic oscillator with two different lengths of feedback loop. In order to produce simultaneous microdrops of gasoil on water, a typical geometry that includes double T-junction is connected to the fluidic oscillator, The generation of microdrops is computed by volume-of-fluid method (VOF). Flow oscillations of microdrops were triggered by the Coanda effect of jet flow. The aim of work is to obtain a high oscillation frequency in output of this passive device, the influence of hydrodynamics and physics parameters on the microdrops frequency in the output of our microsystem is also analyzed, The computational results show that, the length of feedback loop, applied pressure on T-junction and interfacial tension have a significant effect on the dispersion of microdrops and its oscillation frequency. Across the range of low Reynold number, the microdrops generation and its dynamics have been accurately controlled by adjusting applying pressure ratio of two phases.

Keywords: fluidic oscillator, microdrops manipulation, volume of fluid method, microfluidic oscillator

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Authors: Emin Gundogar, Burak Erkayman, Nusret Sazak

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Providing effective management performance through the whole supply chain is critical issue and hard to applicate. The proper evaluation of integrated data may conclude with accurate information. Analysing the supply chain data through OLAP (On-Line Analytical Processing) technologies may provide multi-angle view of the work and consolidation. In this study, association rules and classification techniques are applied to measure the supply chain performance metrics of an automotive manufacturer in Turkey. Main criteria and important rules are determined. The comparison of the results of the algorithms is presented.

Keywords: supply chain performance, performance measurement, data mining, automotive

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Authors: N. S. Risqina, G. Edijanti, P. S. Nurita, L. Endang, R. A. Siti, R. Tri

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Skin is an important and vital organs and also as a mirror of health and life. Facial skin care is one of the main emphasis to get the beautiful, healthy, and fresh skin. Potentially antioxidant phenolic compounds shows, antimutagen, antitumor, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer. Flavonoids are a group of polyphenolic compounds that have the nature of free radicals, inhibiting the oxidative and hydrolytic enzymes as well as anti-inflammatory. Bitter melon (Momordica charantia Linn) is a plant that contains flavonoids, and phenolic antioxidant activity. Bitter melon has strong antioxidant activity that can counteract the free radicals.These compounds can prevent free radicals that cause premature aging. Gel masks including depth cleansing is the cosmetics which work in depth and could raise the dead skin cells. Measurement of antioxidant activity of the extract and gel mask is done by using the immersion method of DPPH. IC50 value of ethanol extract of bitter melon fruit of 287.932 ppm. The preparation of gel mask bitter melon fruit extract, necessary to test the effectiveness of antioxidants using DPPH method is done by measuring the inhibition of DPPH and using UV spectrophotometer at the wavelength of maximum DPPH solution. Tests conducted at the beginning and end of the evaluation (day 0 and day 28). The purpose of this study is to determine the antioxidant activity of the bitter melon's extract and to determine the antioxidant activity of ethanol extract gel mask pare in varying concentrations, ie 1xIC100 (0.295%), 2xIC100 (0.590%) and 4xIC100 (1.180%). Evaluation of physical properties of the preparation on (Day-0,7,14,21, and 28) and evaluation of antioxidant activity (day 0 and 28). Data were analyzed using One Way ANOVA to determine differences in the physical properties of each formula. The statistical results showed that differences in the formula and storage time affects the adhesion, dispersive power, dry time and pH it is shown on a significant value of p <0.05, but longer storage does not affect the pH because the significance value p> 0,05. The antioxidant test showed that there are differences in antioxidant activity in all formulas. Measurement of antioxidant activity of bitter melon fruit extract gel mask on day 0 with a concentration of 0.295%, 0.590%, and 1.180%, respectively, are 124,209.277 ppm, ppm 83819.223 and 47323.592 ppm, whereas day 28 consecutive 130 411, 495 ppm, and 53239.806 95561.645 ppm ppm. The Conclusions drawn that there are antioxidant activity in preparation gel mask of bitter melon fruit extract. The antioxidant activity of bitter melon fruit extract gel mask on the day 0 with a concentration of 0.295%, 0.590%, and 1.180%, respectively, are 124,209.277 ppm, ppm 83819.223 and 47323.592 ppm, whereas on day 28 of antioxidant activity gel mask bitter melon fruit extract with a concentration of 0.295%, 0.590%, and 1.180% in succession, namely: 130,411.495 ppm, ppm 95561.645 and 53239.806 ppm.

Keywords: antioxdant, bitter melon, gel mask, IC50

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Authors: Joseph C. Chen

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Machine vision system provides automatic inspection to reduce manufacturing costs considerably. However, only a few principles have been found to optimize machine vision system and help it function more accurately in industrial practice. Mostly, there were complicated and impractical design techniques to improve the accuracy of machine vision system. This paper discusses implementing the Six Sigma Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control (DMAIC) approach to optimize the setup parameters of machine vision system when it is used as a direct measurement technique. This research follows a case study showing how Six Sigma DMAIC methodology has been put into use.

Keywords: DMAIC, machine vision system, process capability, Taguchi Parameter Design

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Authors: A. Dehghani, S. Shirin

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We propose in this article a new configuration of quantum states, |α, β> := |α>×|β>. Which are composed of vector products of two different copies of spin coherent states, |α> and |β>. Some mathematical as well as physical properties of such states are discussed. For instance, it has been shown that the cross products of two coherent vectors remain coherent again. They admit a resolution of the identity through positive definite measures on the complex plane. They represent packets similar to the true coherent states, in other words we would not expect to take spin squeezing in any of the field quadratures Lˆx, Lˆy and Lˆz. Depending on the particular choice of parameters in the above scenarios, they can be converted into the so-called Dicke states which minimize the uncertainty relations of each pair of the angular momentum components.

Keywords: vector (Cross-)products, minimum uncertainty, angular momentum, measurement, Dicke states

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Authors: F. Javier Benitez, Francisco J. Real, Juan Luis Acero, Francisco Casas

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Three emerging contaminants (amitriptyline hydrochloride, methyl salicylate and 2-phenoxyethanol) frequently found in waste-waters were selected to be individually degraded in ultra-pure water by the combined advanced oxidation process constituted by UV radiation and chlorine. The influence of pH, initial chlorine concentration and nature of the contaminants was firstly explored. The trend for the reactivity of the selected compounds was deduced: amitriptyline hydrochloride > methyl salicylate > 2-phenoxyethanol. A later kinetic study was carried out and focused on the specific evaluation of the first-order rate constants and the determination of the partial contribution to the global reaction of the direct photochemical pathway and the radical pathway. A comparison between the rate constant values among photochemical experiments without and with the presence of Cl₂ reveals a clear increase in the oxidation efficiency of the combined process with respect to the photochemical reaction alone. In a second stage, the simultaneous oxidation of mixtures of the selected contaminants in several types of water (ultrapure water, surface water from a reservoir, and two secondary effluents) was also performed by the same combination UV/Cl₂ under more realistic operating conditions. The efficiency of this combined system UV/Cl₂ was compared to other oxidants such as the UV/S₂O₈^2- and UV/H₂O₂ AOPs. Results confirmed that the UV/Cl₂ system provides higher elimination efficiencies among the AOPs tested.

Keywords: emerging contaminants, UV/chlorine advanced oxidation process, amitriptyline, methyl salicylate, 2-phenoxyethanol, chlorination, photolysis

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Authors: Mohammed H. Rasheed, Hussein Nadhem Fadhel, Mohammed M. Siddeq

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In this paper we suggested image quality measuring metrics tools that can provide an accurate and close to the perceived quality sense of the tested images. Such tools give metrics that can be used to compare the performance of image compression algorithms. In this paper, two new metrics to measure the quality of decompressed images are proposed. The metric measurement based on combined data (CD) between an originals and decompressed images. Compared with other e.g., PSNR and RMSE, the proposed metrics gives values with the closest reflection of image quality perception by the human eye.

Keywords: RMSE, PSNR, image quality metrics, image compression

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Authors: Ibraheem Husain, Abul Kalam Najmi, Karishma Chester

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First-in-human (FIH) studies are a critical step in clinical development of any molecule that has shown therapeutic promise in preclinical evaluations, since preclinical research and safety studies into clinical development is a crucial step for successful development of monoclonal antibodies for guidance in pharmaceutical industry for the treatment of human diseases. Therefore, comparison between USFDA and nine pharmacologically guided approaches (PGA) (simple allometry, maximum life span potential, brain weight, rule of exponent (ROE), two species methods and one species methods) were made to determine maximum recommended starting dose (MRSD) for first in human clinical trials using four drugs namely Denosumab, Bevacizumab, Anakinra and Omalizumab. In our study, the predicted pharmacokinetic (pk) parameters and the estimated first-in-human dose of antibodies were compared with the observed human values. The study indicated that the clearance and volume of distribution of antibodies can be predicted with reasonable accuracy in human and a good estimate of first human dose can be obtained from the predicted human clearance and volume of distribution. A pictorial method evaluation chart was also developed based on fold errors for simultaneous evaluation of various methods.

Keywords: clinical pharmacology (CPH), clinical research (CRE), clinical trials (CTR), maximum recommended starting dose (MRSD), clearance and volume of distribution

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Authors: M. G. Smitha, M. V. Murugendrappa

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Perovskite manganite La_0.7Ca_0.3MnO₃ was synthesized by Sol-gel method. Polymerization of pyrrole was carried by in-situ polymerization method. The composite of pyrrole (Py)/La_0.7Ca_0.3MnO₃ composite in the presence of oxidizing agent ammonium per sulphate to synthesize polypyrrole (PPy)/La_0.7Ca_0.3MnO₃ (LCM) composite was carried out by the same in-situ polymerization method. The PPy/LCM composites were synthesized with varying compositions like 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 wt.% of LCM in Py. The surface morphologies of these composites were analyzed by using scanning electron microscope (SEM). The images show that LCM particles are embedded in PPy chain. The impedance measurement of PPy/LCM at different temperature ranges from 30 to 180 °C was studied using impedance analyzer. The study shows that impedance is frequency and temperature dependent and it is found to decrease with increase in frequency and temperature.

Keywords: polypyrrole, sol gel, impedance, composites

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Authors: É. Vincze

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Demand on plant oils has increased to an enormous extent that is due to the change of human nutrition habits on the one hand, while on the other hand to the increase of raw material demand of some industrial sectors, just as to the increase of biofuel production. Besides the determining importance of sunflower in Hungary the production area, just as in part the average yield amount of rapeseed has increased among the produced oil crops. The variety/hybrid palette has changed significantly during the past decade. The available varieties’/hybrids’ palette has been extended to a significant extent. It is agreed that rapeseed production demands professionalism and local experience. Technological elements are successive; high yield amounts cannot be produced without system-based approach. The aim of the present work was to execute the complex study of one of the most critical production technology element of rapeseed production, that was sowing technology. Several sowing technology elements are studied in this research project that are the following: biological basis (the hybrid Arkaso is studied in this regard), sowing time (sowing time treatments were set so that they represent the wide period used in industrial practice: early, optimal and late sowing time) plant density (in this regard reaction of rare, optimal and too dense populations) were modelled. The multifactorial experimental system enables the single and complex evaluation of rapeseed sowing technology elements, just as their modelling using experimental result data. Yield quality and quantity have been determined as well in the present experiment, just as the interactions between these factors. The experiment was set up in four replications at the Látókép Plant Production Research Site of the University of Debrecen. Two different sowing times were sown in the first experimental year (2014), while three in the second (2015). Three different plant densities were set in both years: 200, 350 and 500 thousand plants ha-1. Uniform nutrient supply and a row spacing of 45 cm were applied. Winter wheat was used as pre-crop. Plant physiological measurements were executed in the populations of the Arkaso rapeseed hybrid that were: relative chlorophyll content analysis (SPAD) and leaf area index (LAI) measurement. Relative chlorophyll content (SPAD) and leaf area index (LAI) were monitored in 7 different measurement times.

Keywords: inner quality, plant density, rapeseed, sowing time

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Authors: Pablo Martin, Jorge Olivares, Fernando Maass

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A method to obtain analytic approximations for special function of interest in engineering and physics is described here. Each approximate function will be valid for every positive value of the variable and accuracy will be high and increasing with the number of parameters to determine. The general technique will be shown through an application to the modified Bessel function of order zero, I₀(x). The form and the calculation of the parameters are performed with the simultaneous use of the power series and asymptotic expansion. As in Padé method rational functions are used, but now they are combined with other elementary functions as; fractional powers, hyperbolic, trigonometric and exponential functions, and others. The elementary function is determined, considering that the approximate function should be a bridge between the power series and the asymptotic expansion. In the case of the I₀(x) function two analytic approximations have been already determined. The simplest one is (1+x²/4)⁻¹/⁴(1+0.24273x²) cosh(x)/(1+0.43023x²). The parameters of I₀(x) were determined using the leading term of the asymptotic expansion and two coefficients of the power series, and the maximum relative error is 0.05. In a second case, two terms of the asymptotic expansion were used and 4 of the power series and the maximum relative error is 0.001 at x≈9.5. Approximations with much higher accuracy will be also shown. In conclusion a new technique is described to obtain analytic approximations to some functions of interest in sciences, such that they have a high accuracy, they are valid for every positive value of the variable, they can be integrated and differentiated as the usual, functions, and furthermore they can be calculated easily even with a regular pocket calculator.

Keywords: analytic approximations, mathematical-physics applications, quasi-rational functions, special functions

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Authors: Carlos R. Duharte Rodríguez, Ibrain Ceballo Acosta, Carmen B. Busoch Morlán, Angel Regueiro Gómez, Annet Martinez Hernández

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This work shows the designing and characterization of a prototype of laboratory incubator as support of research in Microbiology, in particular during studies of bacterial growth in biological samples, with the help of optic methods (Turbidimetry) and electrometric measurements of bioimpedance. It shows the results of simulation and experimentation of the design proposed for the canals of measurement of the variables: temperature and humidity, with a high linearity from the adequate selection of sensors and analogue components of every channel, controlled with help of a microcontroller AT89C51 (ATMEL) with adequate benefits for this type of application.

Keywords: microbiology, bacterial growth, incubation station, microorganisms

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Authors: S. Limpattayanate, M. Hunsom

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A comparison of activity and stability of the as-formed Pt/C, Pt-Co, and Pt-Pd/C electrocatalysts, prepared by a combined approach of impregnation and seeding, was performed. According to the activity test in a single proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell, the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity of the Pt-M/C electro catalyst was slightly lower than that of Pt/C. The j0.9 V and E10 mA/cm2 of the as-prepared electrocatalysts increased in the order of Pt/C>Pt-Co/C>Pt-Pd/C. However, in the medium-to-high current density region, Pt-Pd/C exhibited the best performance. With regard to their stability in a 0.5 M H2SO4 electrolyte solution, the electro chemical surface area decreased as the number of rounds of repetitive potential cycling increased due to the dissolution of the metals within the catalyst structure. For long-term measurement, Pt-Pd/C was the most stable than the other three electrocatalysts.

Keywords: ORR activity, stability, Pt-based electrocatalysts, PEM fuel cell

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Authors: Ayoub Moufid, Najib Bennis, Soumia El Hani

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The objective of greenhouse climate control is to improve the culture development and to minimize the production costs. A greenhouse is an open system to external environment and the challenge is to regulate the internal climate despite the strong meteorological disturbances. The internal state of greenhouse considered in this work is defined by too relevant and coupled variables, namely inside temperature and hygrometry. These two variables are chosen to describe the internal state of greenhouses due to their importance in the development of plants and their sensitivity to external climatic conditions, sources of weather disturbances. A multivariable model is proposed and validated by considering a greenhouse as black-box system and the least square method is applied to parameters identification basing on collected experimental measures. To regulate the internal climate, we propose a Model Predictive Control (MPC) scheme. This one considers the measured meteorological disturbances and the physical and operational constraints on the control and state variables. A successful feasibility study of the proposed controller is presented, and simulation results show good performances despite the high interaction between internal and external variables and the strong external meteorological disturbances. The inside temperature and hygrometry are tracking nearly the desired trajectories. A comparison study with an On/Off control applied to the same greenhouse confirms the efficiency of the MPC approach to inside climate control.

Keywords: climate control, constraints, identification, greenhouse, model predictive control, optimization

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Authors: Ugiri Ejikeme

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In an executive summary, UNESCO describes Framework for Cultural Statistics as a tool for organizing cultural statistics both nationally and internationally. This is based on conceptual foundation and a common understanding of culture that will enable the measurement of a wide range of cultural expressions. This means therefore that cultural expression in whatever guise has the potentiality of contributing reasonably to the development of a given society. The paper looked into the various tangible and intangible cultures in Imo State of Nigeria. Due to government’s insensitivity, there is need to remind ourselves of the need to pay adequate attention to the cultural heritage bequeathed to us by our forefathers for the sake of posterity. Documenting this information in written form therefore becomes imperative. The study concludes that culture if developed, could reasonably contribute to economic and social growth of the society.

Keywords: detonating culture, statistics and development, Imo State, Nigeria

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Authors: Michael Tupý, Vít Petránek

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The paper is focused on testing of the poly(vinyl butyral) (PVB) layer which had the function of a CO2 insulating protection against concrete and mortar carbonation. The barrier efficiency of PVB was verified by the measurement of diffusion characteristics. Two different types of PVB were tested; original extruded PVB sheet and PVB sheet made from PVB dispersion which was obtained from recycled windshields. The work deals with the testing CO2 diffusion when polymer sheets were exposed to a CO2 atmosphere (10% v/v CO2) with 0% RH. The excellent barrier capability against CO2 permeability of original and also recycled types of PVB layers was observed. This application of PVB waste can bring advantageous use in civil engineering and significant environmental contribution.

Keywords: windshield, poly(vinyl butyral), mortar, diffusion, carbonatation, polymer waste

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Authors: Mourad Hrizi

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In this paper, we study the inverse problem of reconstructing an interior interface D appearing in the elliptic partial differential equation: Δu+χ(D)u=0 from the knowledge of the boundary measurements. This problem arises from a semiconductor transistor model. We propose a new shape reconstruction procedure that is based on the Kohn-Vogelius formulation and the topological sensitivity method. The inverse problem is formulated as a topology optimization one. A topological sensitivity analysis is derived from a function. The unknown subdomain D is reconstructed using a level-set curve of the topological gradient. Finally, we give several examples to show the viability of our proposed method.

Keywords: inverse problem, topological optimization, topological gradient, Kohn-Vogelius formulation

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Authors: Amanda Sheard, Garry Lee, Katherine Stockham

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Introduction: Health benefits associated with wine consumption have been well documented; these include anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and cardiovascular protection. The majority of these health benefits have been linked to polyphenols found within wine and grapes. Once consumed polyphenols exhibit free radical quenching capabilities. Environmental factors such as rainfall, temperature, CO2 levels and sunlight exposure have been shown to affect the polyphenol content of grapes. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of growing conditions on the antioxidant capacity of grapes obtained from a single plot vineyard in Perth. This was achieved through the analysis of samples using; oxygen radical antioxidant capacity (ORAC), cellular antioxidant activity (CAA) in human red blood cells, ICP-MS and ICP-OES, total polyphenols (PP’s), and total flavonoid’s (FLa). The data obtained was compared to observed climate data. The 14 Selected Vitis Vinefera L. cultivars included Cabernet franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Carnelian, Chardonnay, Grenache, Melbec, Merlot, Orange muscat, Rousanne, Sauvignon Blanc, Shiraz, Tempernillo, Verdelho, and Voignier. Results: Notable variation’s between cultivars included results ranging from 125 mg/100 g-350 mg/100 g for PP’s, 93 mg/100 g–300 mg/100 g for FLa, 13 mM T.E/kg–33 mM T.E/kg for ORAC and 0.3 mM Q.E/kg–27 mM Q.E/kg CAA were found between red and white grape cultivars. No correlation was found between CAA and the ORAC obtained in this study; except that white cultivars were consistently lower than red. ICP analysis showed that seeds contained the highest concentration of copper followed by skins and flesh of the grape. A positive correlation between copper and ORAC was found. The ORAC, PP’s, and FLa in red grapes were consistently higher than white grape cultivars; these findings were supported by literature values. Significance: The cellular antioxidant activities of white and red wine cultivars were used to compare the bioactivity of these grapes against the chemical ORAC measurement. The common method of antioxidant activity measurement is the chemical value from ORAC analysis; however this may not reflect the activity within the human body. Hence, the measurements were also carried out using the cellular antioxidant activity to perform a comparison. Additionally, the study explored the influence of weather systems such as El Niño and La Niña on the polyphenol content of Australian wine cultivars grown in Perth.

Keywords: oxygen radical antioxidant activity, cellular antioxidant activity, total polyphenols, total flavonoids, wine grapes, climate

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Authors: Tae Kyu An

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We demonstrate repurposing linear micropatterns on the CD as a master mold to fabricate TIPS-PEN microwires. From the micropatterns on CDs, we replicated polyurethane acrylate (PUA) templates which are robust and flexible until submicrometer scale patterns. Subsequently, 1.5 μm TIPS-PEN microwires separated by 1.5 μm were grown. Using crystal analysis tools with polarized optical microscopy and X-ray diffraction measurement, it was revealed that each TIPS-PEN microwires are highly crystalline and uniform compared to spin-coated films. It is attributed to the template-guided growth of TIPS-PEN crystals along the linear template, thus the OFETs comprised of TIPS-PEN microwires displayed the high field-effect mobility.

Keywords: compact disk, macro patterning, OFET, soft lithography

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Authors: Tami A. Ulhiza, Noor I. M. Puad, Azlin S. Azmi, Mohd. I. A. Malek

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High amount of chemical oxygen demand (COD) in starchy waste can be harmful to the environment. In common practice, starch processing wastewater is discharged to the river without proper treatment. However, starchy waste still contains complex sugars and organic acids. By the right pretreatment method, the complex sugar can be hydrolyzed into more readily digestible sugars which can be utilized to be converted into more valuable products. At the same time, the global demand of energy is inevitable. The continuous usage of fossil fuel as the main source of energy can lead to energy scarcity. Hydrogen is a renewable form of energy which can be an alternative energy in the future. Moreover, hydrogen is clean and carries the highest energy compared to other fuels. Biohydrogen produced from waste has significant advantages over chemical methods. One of the major problems in biohydrogen production is the raw material cost. The carbohydrate-rich starchy wastes such as tapioca, maize, wheat, potato, and sago wastes is a promising candidate to be used as a substrate in producing biohydrogen. The utilization of those wastes for biohydrogen production can provide cheap energy generation with simultaneous waste treatment. Therefore this paper aims to review variety source of starchy wastes that has been widely used to synthesize biohydrogen. The scope includes the source of waste, the performance in yielding hydrogen, the pretreatment method and the type of culture that is suitable for starchy waste.

Keywords: biohydrogen, dark fermentation, renewable energy, starchy waste

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Authors: Gustavo G. Shimamoto, Matthieu Tubino

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The characterization and the quality of biodiesel samples are checked by determining several parameters. Considering a large number of analysis to be performed, as well as the disadvantages of the use of toxic solvents and waste generation, multivariate calibration is suggested to reduce the number of tests. In this work, hydrogen nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) spectra were used to build multivariate models, from partial least squares (PLS) regression, in order to determine simultaneously six important characterizing and/or quality parameters of biodiesels: density at 20 ºC, kinematic viscosity at 40 ºC, iodine value, acid number, oxidative stability, and water content. Biodiesels from twelve different oils sources were used in this study: babassu, brown flaxseed, canola, corn, cottonseed, macauba almond, microalgae, palm kernel, residual frying, sesame, soybean, and sunflower. 1H NMR reflects the structures of the compounds present in biodiesel samples and showed suitable correlations with the six parameters. The PLS models were constructed with latent variables between 5 and 7, the obtained values of r(cal) and r(val) were greater than 0.994 and 0.989, respectively. In addition, the models were considered suitable to predict all the six parameters for external samples, taking into account the analytical speed to perform it. Thus, the alliance between 1H NMR and PLS showed to be appropriate to characterize and evaluate the quality of biodiesels, reducing significantly analysis time, the consumption of reagents/solvents, and waste generation. Therefore, the proposed methods can be considered to adhere to the principles of green chemistry.

Keywords: biodiesel, multivariate calibration, nuclear magnetic resonance, quality parameters

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Authors: Aydin Azizi, Poorya Ghafoorpoor Yazdi

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This paper presents the review of the studies on the ergonomics, virtual reality, and work measurement (time study) at the industrial workstations because each of these three individual techniques can be used to improve the design of workstations and task position. The objective of this paper is to give an overall literature review that if there is any relation between these three different techniques. Therefore, it is so important to review the scientific studies to find a better and effective way for improving design of workstations. On the other hand, manufacturers found that instead of using one of the approaches, utilizing the combination of these individual techniques are more effective to reduce the cost and production time.

Keywords: ergonomics, time study, virtual reality, workplace

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Authors: A. K. Visnuprasad, P. J. Jojo, Reshma Bhaskaran

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Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is used to simulate the distribution of indoor radon concentration in a living room with elevated levels of radon concentration which varies from 22 Bqm-3 to 1533 Bqm-3 in 24 hours. Finite volume method (FVM) was used for the simulation. The simulation results were experimentally validated at 16 points in two horizontal planes (y=1.4m & y=2.0m) using pin-hole dosimeters and at 3 points using scintillation radon monitor (SRM). Passive measurement using pin-hole dosimeters were performed in all seasons. Another simulation was done to find a suitable position for a passive ventilation system for the effective mitigation of radon.

Keywords: indoor radon, computational fluid dynamics, radon flux, ventilation rate, pin-hole dosimeter

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Authors: Lisandro Blas, Héctor Tamanini

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From earliest 90 to now, no many companies or organization can “really” implement a knowledge management (KM) system that works (no only viewed from a measurement model, but in this continuity). Which are the reasons of that? Some of the reason maybe could be embedded in how KM is demanded (usefulness, priority, experts, a definition of KM) vs the importance and resources that the organizations afford (budget, responsible of a specific area of KM, intangibility). Many organizations “claim” the importance of Knowledge Management but thhese demands are not reflecting these claims in their future actions. With another’s tools or managements ideas the organizations put the economics and human resources to work. Why it´s not occur in KM? This paper tray to explain some of this reasons and tray to deal with this situations through a survey done in 2011 for a IAPG (Argentinean Institute from Oil & Gas) Congress.

Keywords: knowledge management into organizations, new perspectives, failure in implementation, claim

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Authors: Tatsuya Yamazaki, Kazuya Miyakawa, Tomohiko Sugiyama, Toshitaka Iwatani

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The introduction of sensor technologies into agriculture is a necessary step to realize Precision Agriculture. Although sensing methodologies themselves have been prevailing owing to miniaturization and reduction in costs of sensors, there are some difficulties to analyze and understand the sensing data. Targeting at pears ’Le Lectier’, which is particular to Niigata in Japan, cultivation environmental data have been collected at pear fields by eight sorts of sensors: field temperature, field humidity, rain gauge, soil water potential, soil temperature, soil moisture, inner-bag temperature, and inner-bag humidity sensors. With regard to the inner-bag temperature and humidity sensors, they are used to measure the environment inside the fruit bag used for pre-harvest bagging of pears. In this experiment, three kinds of fruit bags were used for the pre-harvest bagging. After over 100 days continuous measurement, volumes of sensing data have been collected. Firstly, correlation analysis among sensing data measured by respective sensors reveals that one sensor can replace another sensor so that more efficient and cost-saving sensing systems can be proposed to pear farmers. Secondly, differences in characteristic and performance of the three kinds of fruit bags are clarified by the measurement results by the inner-bag environmental sensing. It is found that characteristic and performance of the inner-bags significantly differ from each other by statistical analysis. Lastly, a relational model between the sensing data and the pear outlook quality is established by use of Structural Equation Model (SEM). Here, the pear outlook quality is related with existence of stain, blob, scratch, and so on caused by physiological impair or diseases. Conceptually SEM is a combination of exploratory factor analysis and multiple regression. By using SEM, a model is constructed to connect independent and dependent variables. The proposed SEM model relates the measured sensing data and the pear outlook quality determined on the basis of farmer judgement. In particularly, it is found that the inner-bag humidity variable relatively affects the pear outlook quality. Therefore, inner-bag humidity sensing might help the farmers to control the pear outlook quality. These results are supported by a large quantity of inner-bag humidity data measured over the years 2014, 2015, and 2016. The experimental and analytical results in this research contribute to spreading Precision Agriculture technologies among the farmers growing ’Le Lectier’.

Keywords: precision agriculture, pre-harvest bagging, sensor fusion, structural equation model

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Authors: Christian Neunzig, Simon Fahle, Jürgen Schulz, Matthias Möller, Bernd Kuhlenkötter

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The widespread use of machine learning applications in production is significantly accelerated by improved computing power and increasing data availability. Predictive quality enables the assurance of product quality by using machine learning models as a basis for decisions on test results. The use of real Bosch production data based on geometric gauge blocks from machining, mating data from assembly and hydraulic measurement data from final testing of directional valves is a promising approach to classifying the quality characteristics of workpieces.

Keywords: machine learning, classification, predictive quality, hydraulics, supervised learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 207