Search results for: root area ratio

Authors: Blanca A. Pichardo, Victor H. Lopez, Melchor Salazar, Rafael Garcia, Alberto Ruiz

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Clad pipes in comparison to plain carbon steel pipes offer the oil and gas industry high corrosion resistance, reduction in economic losses due to pipeline failures and maintenance, lower labor risk, prevent pollution and environmental damage due to hydrocarbons spills caused by deteriorated pipelines. In this context, it is paramount to establish reliable welding procedures to join bimetallic plates or pipes. Thus, the aim of this work is to study the microstructure and mechanical behavior of clad plates welded by the gas metal arc welding (GMAW) process. A clad of 316L stainless steel was deposited onto API 5L X-60 plates by overlay welding with the GMAW process. Welding parameters were, 22.5 V, 271 A, heat input 1,25 kJ/mm, shielding gas 98% Ar + 2% O₂, reverse polarity, torch displacement speed 3.6 mm/s, feed rate 120 mm/s, electrode diameter 1.2 mm and application of an electromagnetic field of 3.5 mT. The overlay welds were subjected to macro-structural and microstructural characterization. After manufacturing the clad plates, a single V groove joint was machined with a 60° bevel and 1 mm root face. GMA welding of the bimetallic plates was performed in four passes with ER316L-Si filler for the root pass and an ER70s-6 electrode for the subsequent welding passes. For joining the clad plates, an electromagnetic field was applied with 2 purposes; to improve the microstructural characteristics and to assist the stability of the electric arc during welding in order to avoid magnetic arc blow. The welds were macro and microstructurally characterized and the mechanical properties were also evaluated. Vickers microhardness (100 g load for 10 s) measurements were made across the welded joints at three levels. The first profile, at the 316L stainless steel cladding, was quite even with a value of approximately 230 HV. The second microhardness profile showed high values in the weld metal, ~400 HV, this was due to the formation of a martensitic microstructure by dilution of the first welding pass with the second. The third profile crossed the third and fourth welding passes and an average value of 240 HV was measured. In the tensile tests, yield strength was between 400 to 450 MPa with a tensile strength of ~512 MPa. In the Charpy impact tests, the results were 86 and 96 J for specimens with the notch in the face and in the root of the weld bead, respectively. The results of the mechanical properties were in the range of the API 5L X-60 base material. The overlap welding process used for cladding is not suitable for large components, however, it guarantees a metallurgical bond, unlike the most commonly used processes such as thermal expansion. For welding bimetallic plates, control of the temperature gradients is key to avoid distortions. Besides, the dissimilar nature of the bimetallic plates gives rise to the formation of a martensitic microstructure during welding.

Keywords: clad pipe, dissimilar welding, gas metal arc welding, magnetic fields

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Authors: Majid Bagherinia

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Lime and cement are frequently used as binders in the Deep Mixing Method (DMM) to improve soft clay soils. The most significant disadvantages of these materials are carbon dioxide emissions and the consumption of natural resources. In this study, three different biopolymers, guar gum, locust bean gum, and sodium alginate, were investigated for the improvement of soft clay using DMM. In the experimental study, the effects of the additive ratio and curing time on the Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) of stabilized specimens were investigated. According to the results, the UCS values of the specimens increased as the additive ratio and curing time increased. The most effective additive was sodium alginate, and the highest strength was obtained after 28 days.

Keywords: deep mixing method, soft clays, ground improvement, biopolymers, unconfined compressive strength

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Authors: Siti Noor Suzila Maqsood-Ul-Haque, Ummi Kalthum Ibrahim, Norekanadirah Abdul Rahman

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Banana are rich in vitamins, potassium and carbohydrate.The objective for this research work is to produce banana milk powder that can help children that suffers from constipation. Two types of the most common dryers used for this purpose are the spray and freeze dryer. The effects of the type of dryers, pump feed speed in the spray dryer and the ratio proportion of the banana milk powder were investigated in the study. The result indicate that increasing proportion ratio of the banana milk powder produce lower yield of the powder.From the result it is also concluded that speed 2 is more suitable in the production of the banana milk powder since the value of the moisture content is lower.

Keywords: freeze dryer, spray dryer, moisture content, dissolution, banana, milk

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Authors: S. Rostami, S. H. Hosseini, A. A. Torabi, M. Bekhradi

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Introduction: Interest in the use of caffeine as an ergogenic aid has increased since the International Olympic Committee lifted the partial ban on its use. Caffeine has beneficial effects on various aspects of athletic performance, but its effects on training have been neglected. The purpose of this study was to investigate the acute effect of caffeine on testosterone and cortisole in young futsal players. Methods: Twenty-four professional futsal players with 18.3± 1.9 years ingested caffeine doses of 0, 200 and 800 mg in random order 1 hr before an anaerobic-exercise session (RAST test). Samples were taken at the time of caffeine ingestion and 30 min after the session. Data were log-transformed to estimate percent effects with mixed modeling, and effects were standardized to assess magnitudes. fects on training have been neglected. Results: Testosterone concentration showed a small increase of 15% (90% confidence limits, ± 19%) during exercise. Caffeine raised this concentration in a dose-dependent manner by a further small 21% (± 24%) at the highest dose. The 800-mg dose also produced a moderate 52% (± 44%) increase in cortisol. The effect of caffeine on the testosterone: cortisol ratio was a small decline (14%; ± 21%). Discussion and Conclusion: Caffeine has some potential to benefit training outcomes via the anabolic effects of the increase in testosterone concentration, but this benefit might be counteracted by the opposing catabolic effects of the increase in cortisol and resultant decline in the testosterone: cortisol ratio.

Keywords: anabolic, catabolic, performance, testosterone, cortisol ratio, RAST test

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Authors: Raouf Ahmed Mohamed Hassan

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In Egypt, the excess sewage sludge from wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) is rapidly increasing due to the continuous increase of population, urban planning and industrial developments. Also, cane bagasses constitute an important component of Urban Solid Waste (USW), especially at the south of Egypt, which are difficult to degrade under normal composting conditions. These wastes need to be environmentally managed to reduce the negative impacts of its application or disposal. In term of biogas recovery, the anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge or bagasse separately is inefficient, due to the presence of nutrients and minerals. Also, the Carbone-Nitrogen Ratio (C/N) play an important role, sewage sludge has a ratio varies from 6-16, where cane bagasse has a ratio around 150, whereas the suggested optimum C/N ratio for anaerobic digestion is in the range of 20 to 30. The anaerobic co-digestion is presented as a successful methodology that combines several biodegradable organic substrates able to decrease the amount of output wastes by biodegradation, sharing processing facilities, reducing operating costs, while enabling recovery of biogas. This paper presents the study of co-digestion of sewage sludge from wastewater treatment plants as a type of organic wastes and bagasse as agriculture wastes. Laboratory-scale mesophilic and thermophilic digesters were operated with varied hydraulic retention times. Different percentage of sludge and bagasse are investigated based on the total solids (TS). Before digestion, the bagasse was subjected to grinding pretreatment and soaked in distilled water (water pretreatment). The effect of operating parameters (mixing, temperature) is investigated in order to optimize the process in the biogas production. The yield and the composition of biogas from the different experiments were evaluated and the cumulative curves were estimated. The conducted tests did show that there is a good potential to using the co-digestion of wastewater sludge and bagasse for biogas production.

Keywords: co-digestion, sewage sludge, bagasse, mixing, mesophilic, thermophilic

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Authors: B. Chetti, W. A. Crosby

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This paper presents a numerical analysis for the dynamic performance of a finite journal bearing lubricated with couple stress fluid taking into account the effect of the deformation of the bearing liner. The modified Reynolds equation has been solved by using finite difference technique. The dynamic characteristics in terms of stiffness coefficients, damping coefficients, critical mass and whirl ratio are evaluated for different values of eccentricity ratio and elastic coefficient for a journal bearing lubricated with a couple stress fluids and a Newtonian fluid. The results show that the dynamic characteristics of journal bearings lubricated with couple stress fluids are improved compared to journal bearings lubricated with Newtonian fluids.

Keywords: journal bearing, elastohydrodynamic, stability, couple stress

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Authors: Min-Hao Wang, Shih-Chih Chen

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Recently, the merits such as simple structure, low power consumption, and compatibility with complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process give an advantage of resistive random access memory (RRAM) as a promising candidate for the next generation memory， hafnium dioxide (HfO2) has been widely studied as an oxide layer material, but the use of copper (Cu) as both top and bottom electrodes has rarely been studied. In this study, radio frequency sputtering was used to deposit the intermediate layer HfO₂, and electron beam evaporation was used. For the upper and lower electrodes (cu), using different AR: O ratios, we found that the control of the metal filament will make the filament widely distributed, causing the current to rise to the limit current during Reset. However, if the flow ratio is controlled well, the ON/OFF ratio can reach 104, and the set voltage is controlled below 3v.

Keywords: RRAM, metal filament, HfO₂, Cu electrode

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Authors: Z. Y. Jiang, H. B. Tibar, A. Aljabri

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Optimisation of the physical and mechanical properties of cold rolled thin strips is achieved by controlling the rolling parameters. In this paper, the factors affecting the asymmetrical cold rolling of thin low carbon steel strip have been studied at a speed ratio of 1.1 without lubricant applied. The effect of rolling parameters on the resulting microstructure was also investigated. It was found that under dry condition, work roll shifting and work roll cross angle can improve the strip profile, and the result is more significant with an increase of work roll cross angle rather than that of work roll shifting. However, there was no obvious change in microstructure. In addition, effects of rolling parameters on strip profile and microstructure have also been discussed.

Keywords: rolling speed ratio, microstructure, work roll cross angle, work roll shifting

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Authors: Aleksandr S. Ermolenko

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Allometry is an important factor of morphological integration, contributing to the organization of the phenotype and its variability. The allometric change in the shape of the hand is particularly important in primate evolution, as the hand has important taxonomic features. Some of these features are known to parts with the shape, especially the ratio of the lengths of the index and ring fingers (2d: 4d ratio). The hand is a fairly well-studied system in the context of the evolutionary development of complex morphological structures since it consists of various departments (basipodium, metapodium, acropodium) that form a single structure –autopodium. In the present study, we examined the allometric variability of acropodium. We tested the null hypothesis that there would be no difference in allometric variation between the two components. Geometric morphometry based on a procrustation of 16 two-dimensional (2D) landmarks was analyzed using multivariate shape-by-size regressions in samples from 100 people (50 men and 50 women). The results obtained show that men have significantly greater allometric variability for the ring finger (variability in the transverse axis prevails), while women have significantly greater allometric variability for the index finger (variability in the longitudinal axis prevails). The influence of the middle finger on the shape of the hand is typical for both men and women. The influence of the little finger on the shape of the hand, regardless of gender, was not revealed. The results of this study support the hypothesis that allometry contributes to the organization of variation in the human hand.

Keywords: human hand, size and shape, 2d:4d ratio, geometric morphometry

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Authors: Soumya S., Manju Nidagodu Jayakumar, Vellore Kannan Gopinath

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Dental pulp inflammation resulting from dental caries often leads to a pathologic condition known as irreversible pulpitis and the currently managed by root canal treatment. Extirpation of the entire pulp tissue is done during this procedure, and the canal space is filled with synthetic materials. Recent studies in the stem cell biology state that some portion of the irreversibly inflamed pulp tissue could be viable with progenitor cells, having the properties similar to that of Mesenchymal stem cells. Hence, we aim to isolate Dental Pulp Stem Cells (DPSCs) from patients diagnosed with severe irreversible pulpitis and characterize the cells for the MSC specific markers. The pulp tissue was collected from the dental clinic and subjected to collagenase/dispase digestion. The isolated cells were expanded in culture, and the phenotypic characterization was done using flow cytometry. MSC specific markers such as CD-90, CD-73, and CD-105 were analysed along with negative markers such as CD-14 and CD-45. The isolated cells expressed positive expression for CD markers with CD90 and CD105 ( > 95%) and CD73 (19%). The cells did not express the negative markers CD-14 and CD-45. The commercially available DPSCs from vital extracted teeth, preferably molar/wisdom teeth with large pulp cavity or incomplete root growth in young patients (aged 15-30 years) showed more than 90% expression for all the CD markers such as CD-90, 73 and 105, whereas negative for CD-14 and CD-45. The DPSCs isolated from inflamed pulp tissue showed a less expression for CD-73 compared to the commercially available DPSCs whereas, as the other two markers were found to show similar percentage of positive expression. This could be attributed to the fact that the pulp population is very heterogeneous and we used the pooled tissue from different patients. Hence the phenotypic characterization and comparison with the commercially available DPSCs proved that the inflamed pulp tissue is a good source of MSC like cells which can be utilized further for regenerative application.

Keywords: collagenase/dispase, dental pulp stem cells, flow cytometry, irreversible pulpitis

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Authors: Rizka Yunita, Mas Aji Rizki Wijayanto

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Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is the solution to explain how fluid dynamics behavior. In this work, we obtain the effect of channel width of two-dimensional fluid visualization. Using a horizontal water tunnel and flowing soap film, we got a visualization of continuous film that can be observe a graphical overview of the flow that occurs on a space or field in which the fluid flow. The horizontal water tunnel we used, divided into three parts, expansion area, parallel area that used to test the data, and contraction area. The width of channel is the boundary of parallel area with the originally width of 7.2 cm, and the variation of channel width we observed is about 1 cm and its times. To compute the velocity, vortex shedding, and other physical parameters of fluid, we used the cyclinder circular as an obstacle to create a von Karman vortex in fluid and analyzed that phenomenon by using Particle Imaging Velocimetry (PIV) method and comparing Reynolds number and Strouhal number from the visualization we got. More than width the channel, the film is more turbulent and have a separation zones that occurs of uncontinuous flowing fluid.

Keywords: flow visualization, width of channel, vortex, Reynolds number, Strouhal number

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Authors: J. Iqbal, A. Shah, M. Zeeshan

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UBC-97, USNRC, chines origin code GB50011-2011 and site response spectrum was used to make comparison between them for Chashma site and most conservative one was selected and the USNRC was the most conservative one. The dynamic analysis of CHASNUPP-2 containment building was performed using SAP-2000 for dead load, live load (crane), pre stressed loads, wind load, temperature load, accidental pressure during LOCA, earthquake loads and the conservative response spectrum. After applying selected response spectrum on model, detail comparison was made against area of steal calculated from the analysis and the actually provided. Then prepared curve of area of steal vs. g value which shows that if the particular site was design on that spectrum that much steel needed for structural integrity.

Keywords: response spectrum, USNRC, LOCA, area of steel, structure integrity

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Authors: Muhammad Naeem, Abdulrahman A. Al-Rabiah

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Technical mixture of C4 containing 1-butene and n-butane are very close to each other with respect to their boiling points i.e. -6.3°C for 1-butene and -1°C for n-butane. Extractive distillation process is used for the separation of 1-butene from the existing mixture of C4. The solvent is the essential of extractive distillation, and an appropriate solvent shows an important role in the process economy of extractive distillation. Aspen Plus has been applied for the separation of these hydrocarbons as a simulator; moreover NRTL activity coefficient model was used in the simulation. This model indicated that the material balances in this separation process were accurate for several solvent flow rates. Mixture of acetonitrile and water used as a solvent and 99 % pure 1-butene was separated. This simulation proposed the ratio of the feed to solvent as 1 : 7.9 and 15 plates for the solvent recovery column, previously feed to solvent ratio was more than this and the proposed plates were 30, which can economize the separation process.

Keywords: extractive distillation, 1-butene, Aspen Plus, ACN solvent

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Authors: Ali Ben Abbes, ImedRiadh Farah, Vincent Barra

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Remotely sensed data are a significant source for monitoring and updating databases for land use/cover. Nowadays, changes detection of urban area has been a subject of intensive researches. Timely and accurate data on spatio-temporal changes of urban areas are therefore required. The data extracted from multi-temporal satellite images are usually non-stationary. In fact, the changes evolve in time and space. This paper is an attempt to propose a methodology for changes detection in urban area by combining a non-stationary decomposition method and stochastic modeling. We consider as input of our methodology a sequence of satellite images I₁, I₂, … I_n at different periods (t = 1, 2, ..., n). Firstly, a preprocessing of multi-temporal satellite images is applied. (e.g. radiometric, atmospheric and geometric). The systematic study of global urban expansion in our methodology can be approached in two ways: The first considers the urban area as one same object as opposed to non-urban areas (e.g. vegetation, bare soil and water). The objective is to extract the urban mask. The second one aims to obtain a more knowledge of urban area, distinguishing different types of tissue within the urban area. In order to validate our approach, we used a database of Tres Cantos-Madrid in Spain, which is derived from Landsat for a period (from January 2004 to July 2013) by collecting two frames per year at a spatial resolution of 25 meters. The obtained results show the effectiveness of our method.

Keywords: multi-temporal satellite image, urban growth, non-stationary, stochastic model

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Authors: Al Ameen H., Rakesh P.

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To improve the combustion efficiency of fuels and to reduce the emissions of pollutants as well as to improve heat transfer characteristics of fuels, both non-metallic and metallic nanoparticles can be added into it. By varying the concentration and size of nano particles added into the fuels, behaviour of droplet combustion and hence heat generated can be altered. In case of solid or liquid fuels, surface area of the fuel in contact with oxidizer(gaseous) is small because of higher density compared to gases. If the surface area of fuel exposed to the oxidizer is very small, then the combustion will not occur, because the combustion rate is proportional to the surface area of fuel droplet. To avoid such instance there is a way to increase the exposed surface area. To increase the specific surface area available for reaction, the particle size can be reduced. If the additives are solid then by reducing the particles size the specific surface area of liquid fuel can be increased. For the liquid fuels the exposed surface area available for combustion can be increased by suspending nanoparticles. Addition of non-metallic and metallic nanoparticles in fuels improves its combustion efficiency by enhancing the thermo-physical properties. The burn rate constants and temperatures of Kerosene-Oxygen combustion for fuel droplet sizes of 50μm, 75μm, 100μm and 125μm under varying concentrations of 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% are studied numerically and its characteristic velocities are determined. Later the burn rate constants of fuel with concentrations of 0.5%, 1.0% and 2.0% by weight of aluminium nanoparticles are added. The spray combustion characteristics of such nano-fuel has improved the combustion temperature by the addition of aluminium nanoparticles. Thus, aluminium nanoparticles have improved burn rate and characteristic velocity of Kerosene-Oxygen combustion. An increase of 40% in characteristic velocity is observed.

Keywords: burn rate, characteristic velocity, combustion, thermo-physical properties

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Authors: Hassan Baioumy, Yuniarti Ulfa, Mohd Nawawi, Mohammad Noor Akmal Anuar

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Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic black shales that can be a potential source of energy and precious metals are widely distributed in Malaysia Peninsula, Sarawak and Sabah. Two Paleozoic black shales outcrops were reported in the Langkawi Island belonging to the Cambrian fluvial Machinchang Formation and the Silurian glaciomarine Singa Formation. More the seventeen occurrences of Paleozoic black shales outcrops have been found in the Peninsular Malaysia that range in age from Devonian, Carboniferous, and Permian in the Terengganu, Perlis, Pahang, and Perak States. Mesozoic black shales outcrops occur in several places in both the Peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak. In the Peninsular Malaysia, Triassic black shales occur in the Nami area, Northern Kedah and in the Pahang area. In Sarawak, Triassic black shales have been reported in the Bau area. Cenozoic black shales outcrops were reported in both Sarawak at Miri area and Sabah at the Ranau and Tenom areas. Preliminary mineralogical and geochemical investigations on some of these black shales outcrops showed distinct compositional variations among these black shales outcrops probably due to variations in their source area composition and/or depositional and diagenetic settings of these shales. Some of these shalese also subjected to post-depositional hydrothermal mineralization that enriched these shales with Au-bearing minerals such as pyrite, calchopyrite, and arsenopyrite. Many of the studied black shales outcrops look rich in organic matter, which increase the possibility of using these black shales as an unconventional energy resource.

Keywords: black shales, energy, mineralization, Malaysia

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Authors: Chao-Ton Su, Li-Fei Chen

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The parameter design is crucial to improving the uniformity of a product or process. In the product design stage, parameter design aims to determine the optimal settings for the parameters of each element in the system, thereby minimizing the functional deviations of the product. In the process design stage, parameter design aims to determine the operating settings of the manufacturing processes so that non-uniformity in manufacturing processes can be minimized. The parameter design, trying to minimize the influence of noise on the manufacturing system, plays an important role in the high-tech companies. Taiwan has many well-known high-tech companies, which show key roles in the global economy. Quality remains the most important factor that enables these companies to sustain their competitive advantage. In Taiwan however, many high-tech companies face various quality problems. A common challenge is related to root causes and defect patterns. In the R&D stage, root causes are often unknown, and defect patterns are difficult to classify. Additionally, data collection is not easy. Even when high-volume data can be collected, data interpretation is difficult. To overcome these challenges, high-tech companies in Taiwan use more advanced quality improvement tools. In addition to traditional statistical methods and quality tools, the new trend is the application of powerful tools, such as neural network, fuzzy theory, data mining, industrial engineering, operations research, and innovation skills. In this study, several examples of optimizing the parameter settings for the manufacturing process in Taiwan’s tech companies will be presented to illustrate proposed approach’s effectiveness. Finally, a discussion of using traditional experimental design versus the proposed approach for process optimization will be made.

Keywords: quality engineering, parameter design, neural network, genetic algorithm, experimental design

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Authors: Malee Santikunaporn, Tattep Techopittayakul, Channarong Asavatesanupap

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Biofuel production especially that of biodiesel has gained tremendous attention during the last decade due to environmental concerns and shortage in petroleum oil reservoir. This research aims to investigate the influences of operating parameters, such as the alcohol-to-oil molar ratio (4:1, 6:1, and 9:1) and the amount of catalyst (1, 1.5, and 2 wt.%) on the trans esterification of refined palm oil (RPO) in a medium-scale oscillatory baffle reactor.  It has been shown that an increase in the methanol-to-oil ratio resulted in an increase in fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) content. The amount of catalyst has an insignificant effect on the FAMEs content. Engine testing was performed on B0 (100 v/v% diesel) and blended fuel or B50 (50 v/v% diesel). Combustion of B50 was found to give lower torque compared to pure diesel. Exhaust gas from B50 was found to contain lower concentration of CO and CO₂.

Keywords: biodiesel, palm oil, transesterification, oscillatory baffled reactor

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Authors: Melike Sultan Karasu Asnaz, Ayse Ozdogan Dolcek

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Crop drying, which aims to reduce the moisture content to a certain level, is a method used to extend the shelf life and prevent it from spoiling. One of the oldest food preservation techniques is open sunor shade drying. Even though this technique is the most affordable of all drying methods, there are some drawbacks such as contamination by insects, environmental pollution, windborne dust, and direct expose to weather conditions such as wind, rain, hail. However, solar dryers that provide a hygienic and controllable environment to preserve food and extend its shelf life have been developed and used to dry agricultural products. Thus, foods can be dried quickly without being affected by weather variables, and quality products can be obtained. This research is mainly devoted to investigating the modelling of drying kinetics of cantaloupe in a forced convection solar dryer. Mathematical models for the drying process should be defined to simulate the drying behavior of the foodstuff, which will greatly contribute to the development of solar dryer designs. Thus, drying experiments were conducted and replicated five times, and various data such as temperature, relative humidity, solar irradiation, drying air speed, and weight were instantly monitored and recorded. Moisture content of sliced and pretreated cantaloupe were converted into moisture ratio and then fitted against drying time for constructing drying curves. Then, 10 quasi-theoretical and empirical drying models were applied to find the best drying curve equation according to the Levenberg-Marquardt nonlinear optimization method. The best fitted mathematical drying model was selected according to the highest coefficient of determination (R²), and the mean square of the deviations (χ^²) and root mean square error (RMSE) criterial. The best fitted model was utilized to simulate a thin layer solar drying of cantaloupe, and the simulation results were compared with the experimental data for validation purposes.

Keywords: solar dryer, mathematical modelling, drying kinetics, cantaloupe drying

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Authors: Durga Prasad Sapkota, Madhu Sudan Kayastha, Koichi Wakita

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In this paper, we have compared and analyzed the electron absorption properties between with and without excitonic effect bulk in high purity GaAs spatial light modulator for an optical fiber communication network. The electroabsorption properties such as absorption spectra, change in absorption spectra, change in refractive index and extinction ratio have been calculated. We have also compared the result of absorption spectra and change in absorption spectra with the experimental results and found close agreement with experimental results.

Keywords: exciton, refractive index change, extinction ratio, GaAs

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Authors: Betül Özgenç, Soner Kuşlu, Sabri Çolak, Turan Çalban

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The aim of this study was investigate the leaching kinetics of ulexite in disodium hydrogen phosphate solutions in a mechanical agitation system. Reaction temperature, concentration of disodium hydrogen phosphate solutions, stirring speed, solid/liquid ratio and ulexite particle size were selected as parameters. The experimental results were successfully correlated by linear regression using Statistica program. Dissolution curves were evaluated shrinking core models for solid-fluid systems. It was observed that increase in the reaction temperature and decrease in the solid/liquid ratio causes an increase the dissolution rate of ulexite. The activation energy was found to be 63.4 kJ/mol. The leaching of ulexite was controlled by chemical reaction.

Keywords: ulexite, disodium hydrogen phosphate, leaching kinetics

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Authors: Anahita Suri

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Craft -an integral part of the conduit to create something beautiful- is a visual representation of the human imagination given life through the hand. The Mirgan tribe in the Naxalite infested forests of Koraput, Odisha are not exempt from this craving for beauty. These skilled craftsmen dye and weave the simple yet sophisticated Kotpad textiles. The women undertake the time-consuming task of dyeing the cotton and silk yarns with the root of the aul tree. The men then weave these yarns into beautiful sarees and dupattas. The root of the aul tree lends the textile its maroon to brown color, which is offset against the unbleached cotton to create a minimalist and distinctive look. The motifs, incorporated through the extra weft technique, reflect the rich tribal heritage of the community. This is an eco-friendly, non-toxic textile. Kotpad fabrics were on the verge of extinction due to various factors like poor infrastructure, no innovation in traditional designs/products, customer ignorance leading to low demand. With livelihood opportunities through craft slowly dwindling, artisans were moving to alternative sources of income generation, like agriculture and daily wage labor. There was an urgent need for intervention to revive the craft, spread awareness about them in urban spaces, and strengthen the artisan’s ability to innovate and create. Recent efforts by government bodies and local designers have given Kotpad handloom a contemporary look without diluting its essence. This research explores the possibilities to leverage Kotpad handloom to find a place in the dynamic culture of the world by its promotion among different target groups and incorporating self-sustaining practices for the artisans. This could further encourage a space for handmade and handcrafted art, rich with stories about India, with a contemporary visual sensibility. This will strengthen environmental and ethical sustainability.

Keywords: craft, contemporary, handloom, natural dye, tribal

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Authors: Nassib Abdallah, Pierre Chauvet, Abd El Salam Hajjar, Bassam Daya

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In this paper, we propose an optimized brain computer interface (BCI) system for unspoken speech recognition, based on the fact that the constructions of unspoken words rely strongly on the Wernicke area, situated in the temporal lobe. Our BCI system has four modules: (i) the EEG Acquisition module based on a non-invasive headset with 14 electrodes; (ii) the Preprocessing module to remove noise and artifacts, using the Common Average Reference method; (iii) the Features Extraction module, using Wavelet Packet Transform (WPT); (iv) the Classification module based on a one-hidden layer artificial neural network. The present study consists of comparing the recognition accuracy of 5 Arabic words, when using all the headset electrodes or only the 4 electrodes situated near the Wernicke area, as well as the selection effect of the subbands produced by the WPT module. After applying the articial neural network on the produced database, we obtain, on the test dataset, an accuracy of 83.4% with all the electrodes and all the subbands of 8 levels of the WPT decomposition. However, by using only the 4 electrodes near Wernicke Area and the 6 middle subbands of the WPT, we obtain a high reduction of the dataset size, equal to approximately 19% of the total dataset, with 67.5% of accuracy rate. This reduction appears particularly important to improve the design of a low cost and simple to use BCI, trained for several words.

Keywords: brain-computer interface, speech recognition, artificial neural network, electroencephalography, EEG, wernicke area

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Authors: Nur Inayah Ismaniar, Sukri Palutturi, Ansariadi, Atjo Wahyu

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Background: In various countries in the world, the problem of smoking is now considered something serious because of the effects of smoking which can not only lead to addiction but also have the potential to harm health. Public health authorities have concluded that one solution that can be done to protect the public from active smokers is to issue a policy that requires public facilities to be completely smoke-free. The hospital is one of the public facilities that has been designated as a smoke-free area. However, the implementation and maintenance of a successful program based on a smoke-free hospital are still considered an ongoing challenge worldwide due to the very low level of adherence. The low level of compliance with this smoke-free policy is also seen in other public facilities. The purpose of the literature review is to review the level of compliance with the application of the Non-Smoking Area policy, how this policy has succeeded in reducing smoking activity in hospitals, and what factors lead to such compliance in each country in the world. Methods: A literature review of articles was carried out on all types of research methods, both qualitative and quantitative. The sample is all subjects who are in the research location, which includes patients, staff and hospital visitors. Results: Various variations in the level of compliance were found in various kinds of literature. The literature with the highest level of compliance is 88.4%. Furthermore, several determinants that are known to affect the compliance of the Non-Smoking Area policies in hospitals include communication, information, knowledge, perceptions, interventions, attitudes and support. Obstacles to its enforcement are the absence of sanctions against violators of the Non-Smoking Area policy, the ineffectiveness of the function of policymakers in hospitals, and negative perceptions of smoking related to mental health. Conclusion: Violations of the Non-Smoking Area policy are often committed by the hospital staff themselves, which makes it difficult for this policy to be fully enforced at various points in the hospital.

Keywords: health policy, non-smoking area, hospital, implementation

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Authors: H. Arceo, S. Rincon, C. Ben-Youssef, J. Rivera, A. Zepeda

Abstract:

Biodiesel has emerged as a material with great potential as a renewable energy replacement to current petroleum-based diesel. Recently, biodiesel production is focused on the development of more efficient, sustainable process with lower costs of production. In this sense, a “green” approach to biodiesel production has stimulated the use of sustainable heterogeneous acid catalysts, that are better alternatives to conventional processes because of their simplicity and the simultaneous promotion of esterification and transesterification reactions from low-grade, highly-acidic and water containing oils without the formation of soap. The focus of this methodology is the development of new heterogeneous catalysts that under ordinary reaction conditions could reach yields similar to homogeneous catalysis. In recent years, metal organic frameworks (MOF) have attracted much interest for their potential as heterogeneous acid catalysts. They are crystalline porous solids formed by association of transition metal ions or metal–oxo clusters and polydentate organic ligands. This hybridization confers MOFs unique features such as high thermal stability, larger pore size, high specific area, high selectivity and recycling potential. Thus, MOF application could be a way to improve the biodiesel production processes. In this work, we evaluated the catalytic activity of MOF [(4,4-bipyridine)2(O₂CCH₃)2Zn]n (MOF Zn-I) for the synthesis of biodiesel from canola oil. The reaction conditions were optimized using the response surface methodology with a compound design central with 24. The variables studied were: Reaction temperature, amount of catalyst, molar ratio oil: MetOH and reaction time. The preparation MOF Zn-I was performed by mixing 5 mmol 4´4 dipyridine dissolved in 25 mL methanol with 10 mmol Zn(O₂CCH₃)₂ ∙ 2H₂O in 25 mL water. The crystals were obtained by slow evaporation of the solvents at 60°C for 18 h. The prepared catalyst was characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR). The prepared catalyst was characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR). Experiments were performed using commercially available canola oil in ace pressure tube under continuous stirring. The reaction was filtered and vacuum distilled to remove the catalyst and excess alcohol, after which it was centrifuged to separate the obtained biodiesel and glycerol. 1H NMR was used to calculate the process yield. GC-MS was used to quantify the fatty acid methyl ester (FAME). The results of this study show that the acid catalyst MOF Zn-I could be used as catalyst for biodiesel production through heterogeneous transesterification of canola oil with FAME yield 82 %. The optimum operating condition for the catalytic reaction were of 142°C, 0.5% catalyst/oil weight ratio, 1:30 oil:MeOH molar ratio and 5 h reaction time.

Keywords: fatty acid methyl ester, heterogeneous acid catalyst, metal organic framework, transesterification

Procedia PDF Downloads 279

Authors: Jenan Abu Qadourah

Abstract:

The suitable surface areas for the ST and PV installation are determined based on incident solar irradiation on different surfaces, shading analysis and suitable architectural area for integration considering limitations due to the constructions, available surfaces area and use of the available surfaces for other purposes. The incident solar radiation on the building surfaces and the building solar exposure analysis of the location of Amman, Jordan, is performed with Autodesk Ecotect analysis 2011 simulation software. The building model geometry within the typical urban context is created in “SketchUp,” which is then imported into Ecotect. The hourly climatic data of Amman, Jordan selected are the same ones used for the building simulation in IDA ICE and Polysun simulation software.

Keywords: photovoltaic, solar thermal, solar incident, simulation, building façade, solar potential

Procedia PDF Downloads 140

Authors: Boudjelthia Radhwane

Abstract:

Self-compacting concrete (SCC) developed in Japan in the late 80s has enabled the construction industry to reduce demand on the resources, improve the work condition and also reduce the impact of environment by elimination of the need for compaction. The shrinkage of concrete is the main cause of cracking in bridge decks. Bridge decks tend to be restrained from shrinkage, and this restraint along with other factors causes the bridge to crack. The characteristics of SCC under restrained shrinkage are important to understand in order to predict the cracking behavior in actual structures. Restrained shrinkage testing is done in accordance to AASHTO testing protocol. The free shrinkage performance and cracking behavior were reported and compared when changing the sand to aggregate ratio and the water to cement ratio. The results of free shrinkage show that when a mix design has higher free shrinkage, it will crack in restrained shrinkage earlier than a mix with lower free shrinkage.

Keywords: concrete mix, cracking behavior, restrained shrinkage, self compacting concrete

Procedia PDF Downloads 379

Authors: Jose Manuel Rodriguez-Dominguez, Rodrigo Barba-Gonzalez, Ernesto Tapia-Campos

Abstract:

Sprekelia formosissima (L.) Herbert is a bulbous ornamental species of the monocotyledonous Amaryllidaceae family, and it is a perennial, herbaceous monotypic plant commonly known as ‘Aztec Lily’ or ‘Jacobean Lily’; it is distributed through Mexico and Guatemala. Its scarlet flowers with curved petals have made it an exceptional ornamental pot plant. Cytogenetic studies in this species have shown differences in chromosome number (2n=60, 120, 150, 180) with a basic number x=30. Different reports have shown a variable ploidy level (diploid, tetraploid, pentaploid and hexaploid); however, triploid plants have not been reported. In this work, triploid plants of S. formosissima were obtained by crossing tetraploid (2n=4x=120) with diploid (2n=2x=60) genotypes of this species; the seeds obtained from the crosses were placed in pots with a moist substrate made of Peat Moss: Vermiculite (7:3) for germination. Root tips were collected, and metaphasic chromosome preparations were performed. For chromosome counting, the best five metaphases obtained were photographed with a Leica DMRA2 microscope (Leica Microsystems, Germany) microscopy coupled to an Evolution QEI camera under phase contrast (Media-Cybernetics). Chromosomes counting in root-tip cells showed that 100% of the plants were triploid (2n=3x=90). Although tetraploid or pentaploid plants of S. formosissima are highly appreciated, they usually have lower growth rates than related diploid ones. For this reason, it is important to obtain triploid plants, which have advantages such as higher growth rates than tetraploid and pentaploid, larger flowers than those of the diploid plants and they are expected to not be able to produce seeds because their gametes are aneuploids. Furthermore, triploids may become very important for genomic research in the future, creating opportunities for discovering and monitoring genomic and transcriptomic changes in unbalanced genomes, hence the importance of this work.

Keywords: Amaryllidaceae, cytogenetics, ornamental, ploidy level

Procedia PDF Downloads 194

Authors: Yosapon Kidsuntad

Abstract:

The purpose of this dissertation was to explore the relationship between financial transparency and investor behavior. In carrying out this inquiry, the researcher used a questionnaire was utilized as a tool to collect data. Statistics utilized in this research included frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and multiple regression analysis. The results revealed that there are significant differences investor perceptions of the different dimensions of financial information transparency. These differences correspond to demographical variables with the exception of the educational level variable. It was also found that there are relationships between investor perceptions of the dimensions of financial information transparency and investor behavior in the private company in Dusit Area. Finally, the researcher also found that there are differences in investor behavior corresponding to different categories of investor experience.

Keywords: financial information transparency, investor behavior, private company, Dusit Area

Procedia PDF Downloads 330

Authors: F. Garousi, Sz. Veres, É. Bódi, Sz. Várallyay, B. Kovács

Abstract:

Specific leaf area (SLA; cm2leaf g-1leaf) is a key ecophysiological parameter influencing leaf physiology, photosynthesis, and whole plant carbon gain and also can be used as a rapid and diagnostic tool. In this study, two species of soluble inorganic selenium forms, selenite (SeIV) and selenate (SeVI) at different concentrations were investigated on maize plants that were growing in nutrient solutions during 2 weeks and at the end of the experiment, amounts of SLA for first and second leaves of maize were measured. In accordance with the results we observed that our regarded Se concentrations in both forms of SeIV and SeVI were not effective on maize plants’ SLA significantly although high level of 3 mg.kg-1 SeIV had negative affect on growth of the samples that had been treated by it but about SeVI samples we did not observe this state and our different considered SeVI concentrations were not toxic for maize plants.

Keywords: maize, sodium selenate, sodium selenite, specific leaf area

Procedia PDF Downloads 400