Search results for: interval

Authors: G. Kloudova, S. Kozlova, M. Stehlik

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Pilots are operating in a high-risk environment rich in potential stressors, which negatively affect aviation safety and the mental health of pilots. In the research conducted, the pilots were offered mental training biofeedback therapy. Biofeedback is an objective tool to measure physiological responses to stress. After only six sessions, all of the pilots tested showed significant differences between their initial condition and their condition after therapy. The biggest improvement was found in decreased heart rate (in 83.3% of tested pilots) and respiration rate (66.7%), which are the best indicators of anxiety states and panic attacks. To incorporate all of the variables, we correlated the measured physiological state of the pilots with their personality traits. Surprisingly, we found a high correlation with peripheral temperature and confidence (0.98) and with heart rate and aggressiveness (0.97). A retest made after a one-year interval showed that in majority of the subjects tested their acquired self-regulation ability had been internalized.

Keywords: aviation, biofeedback, mental workload, performance psychology

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Authors: David Dolbow, Daniel Credeur, Mujtaba Rahimi, Dobrivoje Stokic, Jennifer Lemacks, Andrew Courtner

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Introduction: Obesity is at epidemic proportions in the spinal cord injury (SCI) population (66-75%), as individuals who suffer from paralysis undergo a dramatic decrease in muscle mass and a dramatic increase in adipose deposition. Obesity is a major public health concern which includes a doubling of the risk of heart disease, stroke and type II diabetes mellitus. It has been demonstrated that physical activity, and especially HIIT, can promote a healthy body composition and decrease the risk cardiometabolic disease in the able-bodied population. However, SCI typically limits voluntary exercise to the arms, but a high prevalence of shoulder pain in persons with chronic SCI (60-90%) can cause increased arm exercise to be problematic. Functional electrical stimulation (FES) cycling has proven to be a safe and effective way to exercise paralyzed leg muscles in clinical and home settings, saving the often overworked arms. Yet, HIIT-FES cycling had not been investigated prior to the current study. The purpose of this study was to investigate the body composition changes with combined HIIT-FES cycling and nutritional counseling on individuals with SCI. Design: A matched (level of injury, time since injury, body mass index) and controlled trail. Setting: University exercise performance laboratory. Subjects: Ten individuals with chronic SCI (C5-T9) ASIA impairment classification (A & B) were divided into the treatment group (n=5) for 30 minutes of HIIT-FES cycling 3 times per week for 8 weeks and nutritional counseling over the phone for 30 minutes once per week for 8 weeks and the control group (n=5) who received nutritional counseling only. Results: There was a statistically significant difference between the HIIT-FES group and the control group in mean body fat percentage change (-1.14 to +0.24) respectively, p = .030). There was also a statistically significant difference between the HIIT-FES and control groups in mean change in legs lean mass (+0.78 kg to -1.5 kg) respectively, p = 0.004. There was a nominal decrease in weight, BMI, total fat mass and a nominal increase in total lean mass for the HIIT-FES group over the control group. However, these changes were not found to be statistically significant. Additionally, there was a nominal decrease in the mean blood glucose levels for both groups 101.8 to 97.8 mg/dl for the HIIT-FES group and 94.6 to 93 mg/dl for the Nutrition only group, however, neither were found to be statistically significant. Conclusion: HIIT-FES cycling combined with nutritional counseling can provide healthful body composition changes including decreased body fat percentage in just 8 weeks. Future study recommendations include a greater number of participants, a primer electrical stimulation exercise program to better ready participants for HIIT-FES cycling and a greater volume of training above 30 minutes, 3 times per week for 8 weeks.

Keywords: body composition, functional electrical stimulation cycling, high-intensity interval training, spinal cord injury

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Authors: Chenxi Zhang, Weizhong Qian, Fei Wei

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Gas solids multiphase flow is common in many engineering and environmental applications. Turbulence and multiphase flows are two of the most challenging topics in fluid mechanics, and when combined they pose a formidable challenge, even in the dilute dispersed regime. Dimensionless numbers are important in mechanics because their constancy can imply dynamic similarity between systems, despite possible differences in medium or scale. In the fluid mechanics literature, the Strouhal number is usually associated with the dimensionless shedding frequency of a von Karman wake; here we introduce this dimensionless number to investigate bubbling in gas solids fluidization. St=fA/U, which divides stroke frequency (f) and amplitude (A) by forward speed (U). The bubble behavior in a large two-dimensional bubbling fluidized bed (500mm×30mm×6000mm) is investigated. Our result indicates that propulsive efficiency is high and energy dissipation is low over a narrow range of St and usually within the interval 0.2Keywords: bubbles, Strouhal number, two-phase flow, energy dissipation

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Authors: Sang Hun Park, Chul Gyu Song

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Artery and vein occlusion changes observed in patients and experimental animals are unexplainable symptoms. As the fat accumulated in cardiovascular ruptures, it causes vascular blocking. Likewise, early detection of cardiovascular disease can be useful for treatment. In this study, we used the mouse femoral occlusion model to observe the arterial and venous occlusion changes without darkroom. We observed the femoral arterial flow pattern changes by proposed fluorescent imaging system using an animal model of thrombosis. We adjusted the near-infrared light source current in order to control the intensity of the fluorescent substance light. We got the clear fluorescent images and femoral artery flow pattern were measured by a 5-minute interval. The result showed that the fluorescent substance flowing in the femoral arteries were accumulated in thrombus as time passed, and the fluorescence of other vessels gradually decreased.

Keywords: thrombus, fluorescence, femoral, arteries

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Authors: Natalia D. Vaysfel’d, Zinaida Y. Zhuravlova

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The loaded plane elastic semistrip, the lateral boundaries of which are fixed, is considered. The integral transformations are applied directly to Lame’s equations. It leads to one dimensional boundary value problem in the transformations’ domain which is formulated as a vector one. With the help of the matrix differential calculation’s apparatus and apparatus of Green matrix function the exact solution of a vector problem is constructed. After the satisfying the boundary condition at the semi strip’s edge the problem is reduced to the solving of the integral singular equation with regard of the unknown stress at the semis trip’s edge. The equation is solved with the orthogonal polynomials method that takes into consideration the real singularities of the solution at the ends of integration interval. The normal stress at the edge of the semis trip were calculated and analyzed.

Keywords: semi strip, Green's Matrix, fourier transformation, orthogonal polynomials method

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Authors: Negar Mesgara, Laleh Maleknia

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In this paper, electrospun CdTe quantum dot / nylon-6 nanofiber mats were successfully prepared. The nanofiber mats were characterized by FE-SEM, XRD and EDX analyses. The results revealed that fibers in different distinct sizes (nano and subnano scale) were obtained with the electrospinning parameters. The phenomenon of ‘on ‘ and ‘off ‘ luminescence intermittency (blinking) of CdTe QDs in nylon-6 was investigated by single-molecule optical microscopy, and we identified that the intermittencies of single QDs were correlated with the interaction of water molecules absorbed on the QD surface. The ‘off’ times, the interval between adjacent ‘on’ states, remained essentially unaffected with an increase in excitation intensity. In the case of ‘on’ time distribution, power law behavior with an exponential cutoff tail is observed at longer time scales. These observations indicate that the luminescence blinking statistics of water-soluble single CdTe QDs is significantly dependent on the aqueous environment, which is interpreted in terms of passivation of the surface trap states of QDs.

Keywords: electrospinning, CdTe quantum dots, Nylon-6, Nanocomposite

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Authors: Faroojan Khajeek Sisak Siakian, Aayda Dikran Abdulahad

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The Peris Mountain is one of the main mountains in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, it forms one of the long anticlines trending almost East – West. The exposed formations on the top of the mountain are Bekhme, and Shiranish, with carbonate rocks of different types and thicknesses. We selected the site for sampling to be relevant for a quarry taking into consideration the thickness of the exposed rocks, no overburden, favorable quarrying faces, hardness of the rocks, bedding nature, good extension of the outcrops, and a favorable place for construction of a cement plant. We sampled the exposed rocks on the top of the mountain where a road crosses the mountain, and a total of 15 samples were collected. The distance between sampling intervals was 5 m, and each sample was collected to represent the sampling interval. The samples were subjected to X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) to indicate the main oxides percentages in each sample. The acquired results showed the studied rocks can be used in the cement industry.

Keywords: limestone, quarry, CaO, MgO, overburden

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Authors: Liang-Hsuan Chen, Chia-Jung Chang

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Fuzzy random variables have been introduced as an imprecise concept of numeric values for characterizing the imprecise knowledge. The descriptive parameters can be used to describe the primary features of a set of fuzzy random observations. In fuzzy environments, the expected values are usually represented as fuzzy-valued, interval-valued or numeric-valued descriptive parameters using various metrics. Instead of the concept of area metric that is usually adopted in the relevant studies, the numeric expected value is proposed by the concept of distance metric in this study based on two characters (fuzziness and randomness) of FRVs. Comparing with the existing measures, although the results show that the proposed numeric expected value is same with those using the different metric, if only triangular membership functions are used. However, the proposed approach has the advantages of intuitiveness and computational efficiency, when the membership functions are not triangular types. An example with three datasets is provided for verifying the proposed approach.

Keywords: fuzzy random variables, distance measure, expected value, descriptive parameters

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Authors: Gülşen Akın Evingür, Önder Pekcan

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The fractal analysis is a bridge between the microstructure and macroscopic properties of gels. Fractal structure is usually provided to define the complexity of crosslinked molecules. The complexity in gel systems is described by the fractal dimension (Df). In this study, polyacrylamide- graphene oxide (GO) composite gels were prepared by free radical crosslinking copolymerization. The fractal analysis of polyacrylamide- graphene oxide (GO) composite gels were analyzed in various GO contents during gelation and were investigated by using Fluorescence Technique. The analysis was applied to estimate Df s of the composite gels. Fractal dimension of the polymer composite gels were estimated based on the power law exponent values using scaling models. In addition, here we aimed to present the geometrical distribution of GO during gelation. And we observed that as gelation proceeded GO plates first organized themselves into 3D percolation cluster with Df=2.52, then goes to diffusion limited clusters with Df =1.4 and then lines up to Von Koch curve with random interval with Df=1.14. Here, our goal is to try to interpret the low conductivity and/or broad forbidden gap of GO doped PAAm gels, by the distribution of GO in the final form of the produced gel.

Keywords: composite gels, fluorescence, fractal, scaling

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Authors: Karen E. Supan

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Thermal degradation kinetics of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) from the field, as well as in a pellet form, are presented. Thermogravimetric analysis tests were performed at heating rates of 10-40 K min⁻¹ in an inert atmosphere. The activation energy and the pre-exponential factor were calculated using the Ozawa/Flynn/Wall method as suggested by the ASTM Standard Test Method for Decomposition Kinetics by Thermogravimetry. Four stages were seen in the degradation: dehydration, active pyrolysis of hemicellulose, active pyrolysis of cellulose, and passive pyrolysis. The derivative mass loss peak for active pyrolysis of cellulose in the field-dried sample was much higher than the pelletized. The range of activation energy in the 0.15 – 0.70 conversion interval was 191 – 242 kJ mol⁻¹ for the field-dried and 130-192 kJ mol⁻¹ for the pellets. The highest activation energies were achieved at 0.50 conversion and were 242 kJ mol⁻¹ and 192 kJ mol⁻¹ for the field-dried and pellets, respectively. The thermal degradation and activation energies were comparable to switchgrass and other biomass reported in the literature.

Keywords: biomass, switchgrass, thermal degradation, thermogravimetric analysis

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Authors: Kahina Bedda, Boudjema Hamada

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Environmental regulations have been introduced in many countries around the world to reduce the sulfur content of diesel fuel to ultra low levels with the intention of lowering diesel engine’s harmful exhaust emissions and improving air quality. Removal of sulfur containing compounds from diesel feedstocks to produce ultra low sulfur diesel fuel by extraction with selective solvents has received increasing attention in recent years. This is because the sulfur extraction technologies compared to the hydrotreating processes could reduce the cost of desulfurization substantially since they do not demand hydrogen, and are carried out at atmospheric pressure. In this work, the desulfurization of distillate gasoil by liquid-liquid extraction with N, N-dimethylformamide was investigated. This fraction was recovered from a mixture of Hassi Messaoud crude oils and Hassi R'Mel gas-condensate in Algiers refinery. The sulfur content of this cut is 281 ppm. Experiments were performed in six-stage with a ratio of solvent:feed equal to 3:1. The effect of the extraction temperature was investigated in the interval 30 ÷ 110°C. At 110°C the yield of refined gas oil was 82% and its sulfur content was 69 ppm.

Keywords: desulfurization, gasoil, N, N-dimethylformamide, sulfur content

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Authors: Jeetendra Yadav, Geetha Menon, Anita Pal, Rajkumar Verma

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Even after encouraging maternal and child wellness programs at worldwide level, lower-middle income nations are not reached the goal set by the UN yet. This study quantified the contribution of socioeconomic determinants of inequality to the utilization of Antenatal Care in South Asian Countries. This study used data from Demographic Health Survey (DHS) of the selected countries were used, and Oaxaca decomposing were applied for socioeconomic inequalities in utilization of antenatal care. Finding from the multivariate analysis shows that mother’s age at the time of birth, birth order and interval, mother’s education, mass media exposure and economic status were significant determinants of the utilization of antenatal care services in South Asian countries. Considering, concentration index curve, the line of equity was greatest in Pakistan which followed by India and Nepal.

Keywords: antenatal care, decomposition, inequalities, South Asian countries

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Authors: Xiaofei Hu, Zhiyu Cai, Weian Yao

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V-notch problem under dynamic loading condition is considered in this paper. In the time domain, the precise time domain expanding algorithm is employed, in which a self-adaptive technique is carried out to improve computing accuracy. By expanding variables in each time interval, the recursive finite element formulas are derived. In the space domain, a Symplectic Analytical Singular Element (SASE) for V-notch problem is constructed addressing the stress singularity of the notch tip. Combining with the conventional finite elements, the proposed SASE can be used to solve the dynamic stress intensity factors (DSIFs) in a simple way. Numerical results show that the proposed SASE for V-notch problem subjected to dynamic loading condition is effective and efficient.

Keywords: V-notch, dynamic stress intensity factor, finite element method, precise time domain expanding algorithm

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Authors: Osiris Terry, Kenneth Hopkinson, Laura Humphrey

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Systematic resampling is the most popularly used resampling method in particle filters. This paper seeks to further the understanding of systematic resampling by defining a formula made up of variables from the sampling equation and the particle weights. The formula is then verified via SPARK, a software verification language. The verified systematic resampling formula states that the minimum/maximum number of possible samples taken of a particle is equal to the floor/ceiling value of particle weight divided by the sampling interval, respectively. This allows for the creation of a randomness spectrum that each resampling method can fall within. Methods on the lower end, e.g., systematic resampling, have less randomness and, thus, are quicker to reach an estimate. Although lower randomness allows for error by having a larger bias towards the size of the weight, having this bias creates vulnerabilities to the noise in the environment, e.g., jamming. Conclusively, this is the first step in characterizing each resampling method. This will allow target-tracking engineers to pick the best resampling method for their environment instead of choosing the most popularly used one.

Keywords: SPARK, software verification, resampling, systematic resampling, particle filter, tracking

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Authors: Nurul-Akidah M. Yusak, Rahmah Mohamed, Noor Zuhaira Abd Aziz

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The introduction of degradable plastic materials into agricultural sectors has represented a promising alternative to promote green agriculture and environmental friendly of modern farming practices. Major challenges of developing degradable agricultural films are to identify the most feasible types of degradation mechanisms, composition of degradable polymers and related processing techniques. The incorrect choice of degradable mechanisms to be applied during the degradation process will cause premature losses of mechanical performance and strength. In order to achieve controlled process of agricultural film degradation, the compositions of degradable agricultural film also important in order to stimulate degradation reaction at required interval of time and to achieve sustainability of the modern agricultural practices. A set of photodegradable polyethylene based agricultural film was developed and produced, following the selective optimization of processing parameters of the agricultural film manufacturing system. Example of agricultural films application for oil palm seedlings cultivation is presented.

Keywords: photodegradable polyethylene, plasticulture, processing schemes

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Authors: Avinash Kharel

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Recreational soccer (RS) as a medium of small-sided soccer game (SSG) has an immense positive effect on physical health, mental health and wellbeing. The RS has reflected both acute responses and long-term effects of training on sedentary, trained and clinical population on any age, gender or health status. The enjoyable mode of training elicits greater adherence by optimising intrinsic motivation while offering health benefits that match those achieved by treadmill and cycle ergometer programmes both as continuous and interval forms of training. Additionally, recreational soccer is effective and efficient regimens with highlighted social, motivational and competitive components overcoming the barriers such as cost-efficiency, time-efficiency, assess to facilities and intrinsic motivation. Further, it can be applied as an effective broad-spectrum non-pharmacological treatment of lifestyle diseases producing a positive physiological response in healthy subjects, patients and elderly people regardless of age, gender or training experience.

Keywords: recreational soccer, health benefits, diseases prevention, physiology

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Authors: Chao-Yang Huang, Rwey-Hua Cherng, Chung-Lin Fu, Yuan-Lung Lo

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Solar energy is one of the replaceable choices to reduce the CO2 emission produced by conventional power plants in the modern society. As an island which is frequently visited by strong typhoons and earthquakes, it is an urgent issue for Taiwan to make an effort in revising the local regulations to strengthen the safety design of photovoltaic systems. Currently, the Taiwanese code for wind resistant design of structures does not have a clear explanation on photovoltaic systems, especially when the systems are arranged in arrayed format. Furthermore, when the arrayed photovoltaic system is mounted on the rooftop, the approaching flow is significantly altered by the building and led to different pressure pattern in the different area of the photovoltaic system. In this study, L-shape arrayed photovoltaic system is mounted on the ground of the wind tunnel and then mounted on the building rooftop. The system is consisted of 60 PV models. Each panel model is equivalent to a full size of 3.0 m in depth and 10.0 m in length. Six pressure taps are installed on the upper surface of the panel model and the other six are on the bottom surface to measure the net pressures. Wind attack angle is varied from 0° to 360° in a 10° interval for the worst concern due to wind direction. The sampling rate of the pressure scanning system is set as high enough to precisely estimate the peak pressure and at least 20 samples are recorded for good ensemble average stability. Each sample is equivalent to 10-minute time length in full scale. All the scale factors, including timescale, length scale, and velocity scale, are properly verified by similarity rules in low wind speed wind tunnel environment. The purpose of L-shape arrayed system is for the understanding the pressure characteristics at the corner area. Extreme value analysis is applied to obtain the design pressure coefficient for each net pressure. The commonly utilized Cook-and-Mayne coefficient, 78%, is set to the target non-exceedance probability for design pressure coefficients under Gumbel distribution. Best linear unbiased estimator method is utilized for the Gumbel parameter identification. Careful time moving averaging method is also concerned in data processing. Results show that when the arrayed photovoltaic system is mounted on the ground, the first row of the panels reveals stronger positive pressure than that mounted on the rooftop. Due to the flow separation occurring at the building edge, the first row of the panels on the rooftop is most in negative pressures; the last row, on the other hand, shows positive pressures because of the flow reattachment. Different areas also have different pressure patterns, which corresponds well to the regulations in ASCE7-16 describing the area division for design values. Several minor observations are found according to parametric studies, such as rooftop edge effect, parapet effect, building aspect effect, row interval effect, and so on. General comments are then made for the proposal of regulation revision in Taiwanese code.

Keywords: aerodynamic force coefficient, ground-mounted, roof-mounted, wind tunnel test, photovoltaic

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Authors: R. Sabre, W. Horrigue, J. C. Simon

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This paper is interested in two difficulties encountered in practice when observing a continuous time process. The first is that we cannot observe a process over a time interval; we only take discrete observations. The second is the process frequently observed with a constant additive error. It is important to give an estimator of the spectral density of such a process taking into account the additive observation error and the choice of the discrete observation times. In this work, we propose an estimator based on the spectral smoothing of the periodogram by the polynomial Jackson kernel reducing the additive error. In order to solve the aliasing phenomenon, this estimator is constructed from observations taken at well-chosen times so as to reduce the estimator to the field where the spectral density is not zero. We show that the proposed estimator is asymptotically unbiased and consistent. Thus we obtain an estimate solving the two difficulties concerning the choice of the instants of observations of a continuous time process and the observations affected by a constant error.

Keywords: spectral density, stable processes, aliasing, periodogram

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Authors: Maryam Panahiazar, Andrew M. Bishara, Yorick Chern, Roohallah Alizadehsani, Dexter Hadleye, Ramin E. Beygui

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Early detection plays a crucial role in enhancing the outcome for a patient with coronary artery disease (CAD). We utilized a big data analytics platform on ~23,000 patients with CAD from a total of 960,129 UCSF patients in 8 years. We traced the patients from their first encounter with a physician to diagnose and treat CAD. Characteristics such as demographic information, comorbidities, vital, lab tests, medications, and procedures are included. There are statistically significant gender-based differences in patients younger than 60 years old from the time of the first physician encounter to coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) with a p-value=0.03. There are no significant differences between the patients between 60 and 80 years old (p-value=0.8) and older than 80 (p-value=0.4) with a 95% confidence interval. This recognition would affect significant changes in the guideline for referral of the patients for diagnostic tests expeditiously to improve the outcome by avoiding the delay in treatment.

Keywords: electronic medical records, coronary artery disease, data analytics, young women

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Authors: J. M. de Luis Ruiz, P. M. Sierra García, R. P. García, R. P. Álvarez, F. P. García, E. C. López

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Given the evolution of viaducts, structural health monitoring requires more complex techniques to define their state. two alternatives can be distinguished: experimental and operational modal analysis. Although accelerometers or Global Positioning System (GPS) have been applied for the monitoring of structures under exploitation, the dynamic monitoring during the stage of construction is not common. This research analyzes whether GPS data can be applied to certain dynamic geometric controls of evolving structures. The fundamentals of this work were applied to the New Bridge of Cádiz (Spain), a worldwide milestone in bridge building. GPS data were recorded with an interval of 1 second during the erection of segments and turned to the frequency domain with Fourier transform. The vibration period and amplitude were contrasted with those provided by the finite element model, with differences of less than 10%, which is admissible. This process provides a vibration record of the structure with GPS, avoiding specific equipment.

Keywords: Fourier transform, global position system, operational modal analysis, structural health monitoring

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Authors: Ahmadur Rahman, Showkat Ahmad Lone, Ariful Islam

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In this article, we have estimated the parameters for the failure times of units based on the sampling technique adaptive type-I progressive hybrid censoring under the step-stress partially accelerated life tests for competing risk. The failure times of the units are assumed to follow an exponential distribution. Maximum likelihood estimation technique is used to estimate the unknown parameters of the distribution and tampered coefficient. Confidence interval also obtained for the parameters. A simulation study is performed by using Monte Carlo Simulation method to check the authenticity of the model and its assumptions.

Keywords: adaptive type-I hybrid progressive censoring, competing risks, exponential distribution, simulation, step-stress partially accelerated life tests

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Authors: Shri Devi

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This paper was conducted to see the ground water potential zones in Paramakudi taluk, Ramanathapuram,Tamilnadu India with a total areal extent of 745 sq. km. The various thematic map have been prepared for the study such as soil, geology, geomorphology, drainage, land use of the particular study area using the Toposheet of 1: 50000. The digital elevation model (DEM) has been generated from contour interval of 10m and also the slope was prepared. The ground water potential zone of the region was obtained using the weighted overlay analysis for which all the thematic maps were overlayed in arc gis 10.2. For the particular output the ranking has been given for all the parameters of each thematic layer with different weightage such as 25% was given to soil, 25% to geomorphology and land use land cover also 25%, slope 15%, lineament with 5% and drainage streams with 5 percentage. Using these entire potential zone maps was prepared which was overlayed with the village map to check the region which has good, moderate and low groundwater potential zone.

Keywords: GIS, ground water, Paramakudi, weighted overlay analysis

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Authors: R. Rajabpour, N. Talebbeydokhti, M. H. Ahmadi

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In recent years, new techniques for solving complex problems in engineering are proposed. One of these techniques is JPSO algorithm. With innovative changes in the nature of the jump algorithm JPSO, it is possible to construct a graph-based solution with a new algorithm called G-JPSO. In this paper, a new algorithm to solve the optimal control problem Fletcher-Powell and optimal control of pumps in water distribution network was evaluated. Optimal control of pumps comprise of optimum timetable operation (status on and off) for each of the pumps at the desired time interval. Maximum number of status on and off for each pumps imposed to the objective function as another constraint. To determine the optimal operation of pumps, a model-based optimization-simulation algorithm was developed based on G-JPSO and JPSO algorithms. The proposed algorithm results were compared well with the ant colony algorithm, genetic and JPSO results. This shows the robustness of proposed algorithm in finding near optimum solutions with reasonable computational cost.

Keywords: G-JPSO, operation, optimization, pumping station, water distribution networks

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Authors: Vera Jancurova

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The financial theory is dominated by the believe that weekday effect has disappeared from current markets. The purpose of this article is to study anomalies, especially weekday effect, at real markets that disrupt the efficiency of financial markets. The research is based on the analyses of historical daily exchange rates of significant world indices to determine the presence of weekday effects on financial markets. The methodology used for the study is based on the analyzes of daily averages of particular indexes for different time periods. Average daily gains were analyzed for their whole time interval and then for particular five and ten years periods with the aim to detect the presence on current financial markets. The results confirm the presence of weekday effect at the most significant indices - for example: Nasdaq, S & P 500, FTSE 100 and the Hang Seng. It was confirmed that in the last ten years, the weekend effect disappeared from financial markets. However in last year’s the indicators show that weekday effect is coming back. The study shows that weekday effect has to be taken into consideration on financial markets, especially in the past years.

Keywords: indices, anomalies, behavioral finance, weekday effect

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Authors: Jeugert Kujtila, Kristi Hoxhalli, Ramazan Dalipi, Erjon Cota, Ardit Murati, Erind Bedalli

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Clustering is a versatile instrument in the analysis of collections of data providing insights of the underlying structures of the dataset and enhancing the modeling capabilities. The fuzzy approach to the clustering problem increases the flexibility involving the concept of partial memberships (some value in the continuous interval [0, 1]) of the instances in the clusters. Several fuzzy clustering algorithms have been devised like FCM, Gustafson-Kessel, Gath-Geva, kernel-based FCM, PCM etc. Each of these algorithms has its own advantages and drawbacks, so none of these algorithms would be able to perform superiorly in all datasets. In this paper we will experimentally compare FCM, GK, GG algorithm and a hybrid two-stage fuzzy clustering model combining the FCM and Gath-Geva algorithms. Firstly we will theoretically dis-cuss the advantages and drawbacks for each of these algorithms and we will describe the hybrid clustering model exploiting the advantages and diminishing the drawbacks of each algorithm. Secondly we will experimentally compare the accuracy of the hybrid model by applying it on several benchmark and synthetic datasets.

Keywords: fuzzy clustering, fuzzy c-means algorithm (FCM), Gustafson-Kessel algorithm, hybrid clustering model

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Authors: Douglas W. Scott

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The Allemande from J. S. Bach's Partita for solo flute (BWV 1013) presents many unique challenges for any flautist, especially in terms of segmentation analysis required to select breathing places in the first half. Without claiming to identify a 'correct' solution to this problem, this paper analyzes the section in terms of a set of techniques based around a statistical property commonly (if not ubiquitously) found in music, namely Zipf’s law. Specifically, the paper considers violations of this expected profile at various levels of analysis, an approach which has yielded interesting insights in previous studies. The investigation is then grounded by considering four actual solutions to the problem found in recordings made by different flautists, which opens up the possibility of expanding Zipfian analysis to include a consideration of inter-onset-intervals (IOIs). It is found that significant deviations from the expected Zipfian distributions can reveal and highlight stylistic choices made by different performers.

Keywords: inter-onset-interval, Partita for solo flute, BWV 1013, segmentation analysis, Zipf’s law

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Authors: Iyiola Olusola Oluwaleye, Ogbevire Umukoro

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In view of the prevailing pollution problems and its consequences on the environment, efforts are being made to lower the concentration of toxic components in combustion products and decreasing fossil fuel consumption by using renewable alternative fuels. In this work, the impact of ethanol-gasoline blend on the exhaust emission of a single cylinder non-mobile spark ignition engine was investigated. Gasoline was blended with 5 – 20% of ethanol sourced from the open market (bought off the shelf) in an interval of 5%. The results of the emission characteristics of the exhaust gas from the combustion of the ethanol-gasoline blends showed that increasing the percentage of ethanol in the blend decreased CO emission by between 2.12% and 52.29% and HC emissions by between12.14% and 53.24%, but increased CO2 and NOx emissions by between 25% to 56% and 59% to 60% respectively. E15 blend is preferred above other blends at no-load and across all the load variations. However its NOx emission was the highest when compared with other samples. This will negatively affect human health and the environment but this drawback can be remedied by adequate treatment with appropriate additives.

Keywords: blends, emission, ethanol, gasoline, spark ignition engine

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Authors: M. Gangadharappa, M. Ravi Kumar, H. N. Reddappa

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The mechanical properties and morphological analysis of Al6061-Red mud particulate composites were investigated. The compositions of the composite include a matrix of Al6061 and the red mud particles of 53-75 micron size as reinforcement ranging from 0% to 12% at an interval of 2%. Stir casting technique was used to fabricate Al6061-Red mud composites. Density measurement, estimation of percentage porosity, tensile properties, fracture toughness, hardness value, impact energy, percentage elongation and percentage reduction in area. Further, the microstructures and SEM examinations were investigated to characterize the composites produced. The result shows that a uniform dispersion of the red mud particles along the grain boundaries of the Al6061 alloy. The tensile strength and hardness values increases with the addition of Red mud particles, but there is a slight decrease in the impact energy values, values of percentage elongation and percentage reduction in area as the reinforcement increases. From these results of investigation, we concluded that the red mud, an industrial waste can be used to enhance the properties of Al6061 alloy for engineering applications.

Keywords: Al6061, red mud, tensile strength, hardness and microstructures

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Authors: Ali Bayram, Burak Uz, Remzi Yiğiter

Abstract:

The impairment of lipid metabolism in the central nervous system has been suggested as a critical factor of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathogenesis. Homo sapiens acyl-coenyme A synthetase short-chain family member 2 (ACSS2) gene encodes the enzyme acetyl-Coenzyme A synthetase (AMP forming; AceCS) providing acetyl-coenzyme A (Ac-CoA) for various physiological processes, such as cholesterol and fatty acid synthesis, as well as the citric acid cycle. We investigated ACSS2, transcript variant 1 (ACSS2*1), mRNA levels in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of patients with AD and compared them with the controls. The study group comprised 50 patients with the diagnosis of AD who have applied to Gaziantep University Faculty of Medicine, and Department of Neurology. 49 healthy individuals without any neurodegenerative disease are included as controls. ACSS2 mRNA expression in PBMC of AD/control patients was 0.495 (95% confidence interval: 0.410-0.598), p= .000000001902). Further studies are needed to better clarify this association.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, ACSS2 Genes, mRNA expression, RT-PCR

Procedia PDF Downloads 349

Authors: Ting (Grace) Lin, Jianhong (Cecilia) Xia, Todd Robinson

Abstract:

Accessibility analysis, examining people’s ability to access facilities and destinations, is a fundamental assessment for transport planning, policy making, and social exclusion research. Dynamic accessibility which measures accessibility in real-time traffic environment has been an advanced accessibility indicator in transport research. It is also a useful indicator to help travelers to understand travel time daily variability, assists traffic engineers to monitor traffic congestions, and finally develop effective strategies in order to mitigate traffic congestions. This research involved real-time traffic information by collecting travel time data with 15-minute interval via the TomTom^® API. A framework for measuring dynamic accessibility was then developed based on the gravity theory and accessibility dichotomy theory through space and time interpolation. Finally, the dynamic accessibility can be derived at any given time and location under dynamic accessibility spatial analysis framework.

Keywords: dynamic accessibility, hot spot, transport research, TomTom® API

Procedia PDF Downloads 348