Search results for: thermal and humidity conditions

Authors: Rizwan Hameed, Obaidullah Nadeem

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Master plan is a tool to guide and manage the growth of cities in a planned manner. The soul of a master plan lies in its implementation framework. If not implemented, people are trapped in a mess of urban problems and laissez-faire development having serious long term repercussions. Unfortunately, Master Plans prepared for several major cities of Pakistan could not be fully implemented due to host of reasons and Lahore is no exception. Being the second largest city of Pakistan with a population of over 7 million people, Lahore holds the distinction that the first ever Master Plan in the country was prepared for this city in 1966. Recently in 2004, a new plan titled `Integrated Master Plan for Lahore-2021- has been approved for implementation. This paper provides a comprehensive account of the weaknesses and constraints in the plan preparation process and implementation strategies of Master Plans prepared for Lahore. It also critically reviews the new Master Plan particularly with respect to the proposed implementation framework. The paper discusses the prospects and pre-conditions for successful implementation of the new Plan in the light of historic analysis, interviews with stakeholders and the new institutional context under the devolution plan.

Keywords: City District Government, Implementation of plan, Lahore Development Authority, Master Planning.

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Authors: I. O. Nascimento, J. T. Manzi

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The drying process is an important operation in the chemical industry and it is widely used in the food, grain industry and fertilizer industry. However, for demanding a considerable consumption of energy, such a process requires a deep energetic analysis in order to reduce operating costs. This paper deals with thermodynamic optimization applied to rotary dryers based on the entropy production minimization, aiming at to reduce the energy consumption. To do this, the mass, energy and entropy balance was used for developing a relationship that represents the rate of entropy production. The use of the Second Law of Thermodynamics is essential because it takes into account constraints of nature. Since the entropy production rate is minimized, optimals conditions of operations can be established and the process can obtain a substantial gain in energy saving. The minimization strategy had been led using classical methods such as Lagrange multipliers and implemented in the MATLAB platform. As expected, the preliminary results reveal a significant energy saving by the application of the optimal parameters found by the procedure of the entropy minimization It is important to say that this method has shown easy implementation and low cost.

Keywords: Drying, entropy minimization, modeling dryers, thermodynamic optimization.

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Authors: Ali Roozbahani, Aref Mardani, Roohollah Jokar, Hamid Taghavifar

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Evaluating and measuring the performance parameters of wheels and tillage equipments under controlled conditions obligates the use of soil bin facility. In this research designing, constructing and evaluating a single-wheel tester has been studied inside a soil bin. The tested wheel was directly driven by the electric motor. Vertical load was applied by a power bolt on wheel. This tester can measure required draft force, the depth of tire sinkage, contact area between wheel and soil, and soil stress at different depths and in the both alongside and perpendicular to the direction of traversing. In order to evaluate the system preparation, traction force was measured by the connected S-shaped load cell as arms between the wheel-tester and carriage. Treatments of forward speed, slip, and vertical load at a constant pressure were investigated in a complete randomized block design. The results indicated that the traction force increased at constant wheel load. The results revealed that the maximum traction force was observed within the %15 of slip.

Keywords: Slip, single wheel-tester, soil bin, soil–machine, speed, traction.

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Authors: S. X. Sun, Q. Wang

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With the rapid development of industrialization, countries in different stages of development in the world have gradually begun to pay attention to the impact of air pollution on health and the environment. Air control in developed countries is an effective reference for air control in developing countries. Artificial intelligence and other technologies also play a positive role in the prediction of air pollution. By comparing the annual changes of pollution in London and Beijing, this paper concludes that the pollution in developed cities is relatively low and stable, while the pollution in Beijing is relatively heavy and unstable, but is clearly improving. In addition, by analyzing the changes of major pollutants in Beijing in the past eight years, it is concluded that all pollutants except O3 show a significant downward trend. In addition, all pollutants except O3 have certain correlation. For example, PM10 and PM2.5 have the greatest influence on air quality index (AQI). Python, which is commonly used by artificial intelligence, is used as the main software to establish two models, support vector machine (SVM) and linear regression. By comparing the two models under the same conditions, it is concluded that SVM has higher accuracy in pollution prediction. The results of this study provide valuable reference for pollution control and prediction in developing countries.

Keywords: Air pollution, particulate matter, AQI, correlation coefficient, air pollution prediction.

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Authors: S. P. Sharma, Som Nath Saha

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This paper presents the performance, based on exergy analysis of double flow solar air heaters with corrugated and flat plate absorber. A mathematical model of double flow solar air heater based on energy balance equations has been presented and the results obtained have been compared with that of a conventional flat-plate solar air heater. The double flow corrugated absorber solar air heater performs thermally better than the flat plate double flow and conventional flat-plate solar air heater under same operating conditions. However, the corrugated absorber leads to higher pressure drop thereby increasing pumping power. The results revealed that the energy and exergy efficiencies of double flow corrugated absorber solar air heater is much higher than conventional solar air heater with the concept involving of increase in heat transfer surface area and turbulence in air flow. The results indicate that the energy efficiency increases, however, exergy efficiency decreases with increase in mass flow rate.

Keywords: Corrugated absorber, double flow, exergy efficiency, solar air heater.

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Authors: Hsu-Yung Cheng, Victor Gau, Chih-Wei Huang, Jenq-Neng Hwang, Chih-Chang Yu

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In order to achieve better road utilization and traffic efficiency, there is an urgent need for a travel information delivery mechanism to assist the drivers in making better decisions in the emerging intelligent transportation system applications. In this paper, we propose a relayed multicast scheme under heterogeneous networks for this purpose. In the proposed system, travel information consisting of summarized traffic conditions, important events, real-time traffic videos, and local information service contents is formed into layers and multicasted through an integration of WiMAX infrastructure and Vehicular Ad hoc Networks (VANET). By the support of adaptive modulation and coding in WiMAX, the radio resources can be optimally allocated when performing multicast so as to dynamically adjust the number of data layers received by the users. In addition to multicast supported by WiMAX, a knowledge propagation and information relay scheme by VANET is designed. The experimental results validate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed scheme.

Keywords: Intelligent Transportation Systems, RelayedMulticast, WiMAX, Vehicular Ad hoc Networks (VANET).

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Authors: Amir Rastegarnia, Mohammad Ali Tinati, Azam Khalili

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In this paper we consider the problem of distributed adaptive estimation in wireless sensor networks for two different observation noise conditions. In the first case, we assume that there are some sensors with high observation noise variance (noisy sensors) in the network. In the second case, different variance for observation noise is assumed among the sensors which is more close to real scenario. In both cases, an initial estimate of each sensor-s observation noise is obtained. For the first case, we show that when there are such sensors in the network, the performance of conventional distributed adaptive estimation algorithms such as incremental distributed least mean square (IDLMS) algorithm drastically decreases. In addition, detecting and ignoring these sensors leads to a better performance in a sense of estimation. In the next step, we propose a simple algorithm to detect theses noisy sensors and modify the IDLMS algorithm to deal with noisy sensors. For the second case, we propose a new algorithm in which the step-size parameter is adjusted for each sensor according to its observation noise variance. As the simulation results show, the proposed methods outperforms the IDLMS algorithm in the same condition.

Keywords: Distributes estimation, sensor networks, adaptive filter, IDLMS.

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Authors: Rabia Korkmaz Tan, Şebnem Bora

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The major problem encountered when modeling complex systems with agent-based modeling and simulation techniques is the existence of large parameter spaces. A complex system model cannot be expected to reflect the whole of the real system, but by specifying the most appropriate parameters, the actual system can be represented by the model under certain conditions. When the studies conducted in recent years were reviewed, it has been observed that there are few studies for parameter tuning problem in agent based simulations, and these studies have focused on tuning parameters of a single model. In this study, an approach of parameter tuning is proposed by using metaheuristic algorithms such as Genetic Algorithm (GA), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Artificial Bee Colonies (ABC), Firefly (FA) algorithms. With this hybrid structured study, the parameter tuning problems of the models in the different fields were solved. The new approach offered was tested in two different models, and its achievements in different problems were compared. The simulations and the results reveal that this proposed study is better than the existing parameter tuning studies.

Keywords: Parameter tuning, agent based modeling and simulation, metaheuristic algorithms, complex systems.

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Authors: Parviz Fattahi

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Scheduling for the flexible job shop is very important in both fields of production management and combinatorial optimization. However, it quit difficult to achieve an optimal solution to this problem with traditional optimization approaches owing to the high computational complexity. The combining of several optimization criteria induces additional complexity and new problems. In this paper, a Pareto approach to solve the multi objective flexible job shop scheduling problems is proposed. The objectives considered are to minimize the overall completion time (makespan) and total weighted tardiness (TWT). An effective simulated annealing algorithm based on the proposed approach is presented to solve multi objective flexible job shop scheduling problem. An external memory of non-dominated solutions is considered to save and update the non-dominated solutions during the solution process. Numerical examples are used to evaluate and study the performance of the proposed algorithm. The proposed algorithm can be applied easily in real factory conditions and for large size problems. It should thus be useful to both practitioners and researchers.

Keywords: Flexible job shop, Scheduling, Hierarchical approach, simulated annealing, tabu search, multi objective.

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Authors: Yasser M. Moustafa, Rania E. Morsi, Mohammed Fathy

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Multiwall carbon nanotubes, prepared by chemical vapor deposition, have an average diameter of 60-100 nm as shown by High Resolution Transmittance Electron Microscope, HR-TEM. The Multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were further characterized using X-ray Diffraction and Raman Spectroscopy. Mercury uptake capacity of MWCNTs was studied using batch adsorption method at different concentration ranges up to 150 ppm. Mercury concentration (before and after the treatment) was measured using cold vapor atomic absorption spectroscopy. The effect of time, concentration, pH and adsorbent dose were studied. MWCNT were found to perform complete absorption in the sub-ppm concentrations (parts per billion levels) while for high concentrations, the adsorption efficiency was 92% at the optimum conditions; 0.1 g of the adsorbent at 150 ppm mercury (II) solution. The adsorption of mercury on MWCNTs was found to follow the Freundlich adsorption isotherm and the pseudo-second order kinetic model.

Keywords: Cold Vapor Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy, Hydride System, Mercury Removing, Multi Wall Carbon Nanotubes.

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Authors: A. Lauvray, F. Poulhaon, P. Michaud, P. Joyot, E. Duc

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Additive Friction Stir Manufacturing, or AFSM, is a new industrial process that follows the emergence of friction-based processes. The AFSM process is a solid-state additive process using the energy produced by the friction at the interface between a rotating non-consumable tool and a substrate. Friction depends on various parameters like axial force, rotation speed or friction coefficient. The feeder material is a metallic rod that flows through a hole in the tool. There is still a lack in understanding of the physical phenomena taking place during the process. This research aims at a better AFSM process understanding and implementation, thanks to numerical simulation and experimental validation performed on a prototype effector. Such an approach is considered a promising way for studying the influence of the process parameters and to finally identify a process window that seems relevant. The deposition of material through the AFSM process takes place in several phases. In chronological order these phases are the docking phase, the dwell time phase, the deposition phase, and the removal phase. The present work focuses on the dwell time phase that enables the temperature rise of the system due to pure friction. An analytic modeling of heat generation based on friction considers as main parameters the rotational speed and the contact pressure. Another parameter considered influential is the friction coefficient assumed to be variable, due to the self-lubrication of the system with the rise in temperature or the materials in contact roughness smoothing over time. This study proposes through a numerical modeling followed by an experimental validation to question the influence of the various input parameters on the dwell time phase. Rotation speed, temperature, spindle torque and axial force are the main monitored parameters during experimentations and serve as reference data for the calibration of the numerical model. This research shows that the geometry of the tool as well as fluctuations of the input parameters like axial force and rotational speed are very influential on the temperature reached and/or the time required to reach the targeted temperature. The main outcome is the prediction of a process window which is a key result for a more efficient process implementation.

Keywords: numerical model, additive manufacturing, frictional heat generation, process

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Authors: Sungnam Hong, Sun-Kyu Park, Dooyong Cho, Jinwoong Choi

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In this paper, a strategy for long-span bridge disaster response was developed, divided into risk analysis, business impact analysis, and emergency response plan. At the risk analysis stage, the critical risk was estimated. The critical risk was “car accident."The critical process by critical-risk classification was assessed at the business impact analysis stage. The critical process was the task related to the road conditions and traffic safety. Based on the results of the precedent analysis, an emergency response plan was established. By making the order of the standard operating procedures clear, an effective plan for dealing with disaster was formulated. Finally, a prototype software was developed based on the research findings. This study laid the foundation of an information-technology-based disaster response guideline and is significant in that it computerized the disaster response plan to improve the plan-s accessibility.

Keywords: Emergency response; Long-span bridge; Disaster management; Standard operating procedure; Ubiquitous.

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Authors: M. Trinidad Pérez-Palacios, Catarina Petisca, Olívia Pinho, Isabel M.P.L.V.O. Ferreira

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This work evaluated the effect of temperature on headspace solid-phase microextraction of volatile and furanic compounds in coated fish sticks. The major goal was the analysis of the samples as consumed, to reproduce volatile compounds people feel when consuming those products. Extraction at 37 ºC (the human body temperature) throughout the HS-SPME analysis of volatile and furanic compounds in coated fish was compared with higher extraction temperatures, which are frequently used for this kind of determinations. The profile of volatile compounds found in deepfried (F) and non-fried (NF) coated fish at 37 and 50 ºC was different from that obtained at 80 ºC. Concerning furan and its derivatives, an extra formation of these compounds was observed at higher extraction temperatures. The analysis of volatile and furanic compounds in fish coated sticks simulating the cooking and eating conditions can be reliably carried out setting the headspace absorption temperature at 37 ºC.

Keywords: Analysis of samples as consumed, fish coated sticks, furans, headspace extraction temperature, volatiles.

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Authors: D. Vidhyaprakash, A. Elango

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In real-time applications, wheeled mobile robots are increasingly used and operated in extreme and diverse conditions traversing challenging surfaces such as a pitted, uneven terrain, natural flat, smooth terrain, as well as wet and dry surfaces. In order to accomplish such tasks, it is critical that the motion control functions without wheel slip and odometry error during the navigation of the two-wheeled mobile robot (WMR). Wheel slip and odometry error are disrupting factors on overall WMR performance in the form of deviation from desired trajectory, navigation, travel time and budgeted energy consumption. The wheeled mobile robot’s ability to operate at peak performance on various work surfaces without wheel slippage and odometry error is directly connected to four main parameters, which are the range of payload distribution, speed, wheel diameter, and wheel width. This paper analyses the effects of those parameters on overall performance and is concerned with determining the ideal range of parameters for optimum performance.

Keywords: Wheeled mobile robot (WMR), terrain, wheel slippage, odometry error, navigation.

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Authors: Ali A. Sayadi, Thomas R. Neitzert, G. Charles Clifton

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Lightweight concrete is being used in the construction industry as a building material in its own right. Ultra-lightweight concrete can be applied as a filler and support material for the manufacturing of composite building materials. This paper is about the development of a stable and reproducible ultra-lightweight concrete with the inclusion of poly-lactic acid (PLA) beads and assessing the feasibility of PLA as a lightweight aggregate that will deliver advantages such as a more eco-friendly concrete and a non-petroleum polymer aggregate. In total, sixty-three samples were prepared and the effectiveness of mineral admixture, curing conditions, water-cement ratio, PLA ratio, EPS ratio and perlite ratio on compressive strength of perlite concrete are studied. The results show that PLA particles are sensitive to alkali environment of cement paste and considerably shrank and lost their strength. A higher compressive strength and a lower density was observed when expanded polystyrene (EPS) particles replaced PLA beads. In addition, a set of equations is proposed to estimate the water-cement ratio, cement content and compressive strength of perlite concrete.

Keywords: Perlite concrete, poly-lactic acid, expanded polystyrene, concrete.

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Authors: Najari Moghadam Sh., Qomi M., Raofie F., Khadiv J.

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In this study, a liquid phase microextraction by hollow fiber (HF-LPME) combined with high performance liquid chromatography-UV detector was applied to preconcentrate and determine trace levels of Cyproheptadine in human urine and plasma samples. Cyproheptadine was extracted from 10 mL alkaline aqueous solution (pH: 9.81) into an organic solvent (n-octnol) which was immobilized in the wall pores of a hollow fiber. Then was back-extracted into an acidified aqueous solution (pH: 2.59) located inside the lumen of the hollow fiber. This method is simple, efficient and cost-effective. It is based on pH gradient and differences between two aqueous phases. In order to optimize the HF-LPME some affecting parameters including the pH of donor and acceptor phases, the type of organic solvent, ionic strength, stirring rate, extraction time and temperature were studied and optimized. Under optimal conditions enrichment factor, limit of detection (LOD) and relative standard deviation (RSD(%), n=3) were up to 112, 15 μg.L⁻¹ and 2.7, respectively.

Keywords: Biological samples, Cyproheptadine, hollow fiber, liquid phase microextraction.

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Authors: E. A. Tkachenko, E. M. Rogova, V. V. Klimov

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One of the basic issues of development management is connected with performance measurement as a prerequisite for identifying the achievement of development objectives. The aim of our research is to develop an improved model of assessing a company’s development results. The model should take into account the cyclical nature of development and the high degree of uncertainty in dealing with numerous management tasks. Our hypotheses may be formulated as follows: Hypothesis 1. The cycle of a company’s development may be studied from the standpoint of a project cycle. To do that, methods and tools of project analysis are to be used. Hypothesis 2. The problem of the uncertainty when justifying managerial decisions within the framework of a company’s development cycle can be solved through the use of the mathematical apparatus of fuzzy logic. The reasoned justification of the validity of the hypotheses made is given in the suggested article. The fuzzy logic toolkit applies to the case of technology shift within an enterprise. It is proven that some restrictions in performance measurement that are incurred to conventional methods could be eliminated by implementation of the fuzzy logic apparatus in performance measurement models.

Keywords: Fuzzy logic, fuzzy sets, performance measurement, project analysis.

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Authors: S. H. Iranmanesh, L. Aliabadi, A. Mollajan

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Integrated resilience engineering (IRE) is capable of returning banking systems to the normal state in extensive economic circumstances. In this study, information system of a large bank (with several branches) is assessed and optimized under severe economic conditions. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) models are employed to achieve the objective of this study. Nine IRE factors are considered to be the outputs, and a dummy variable is defined as the input of the DEA models. A standard questionnaire is designed and distributed among executive managers to be considered as the decision-making units (DMUs). Reliability and validity of the questionnaire is examined based on Cronbach's alpha and t-test. The most appropriate DEA model is determined based on average efficiency and normality test. It is shown that the proposed integrated design provides higher efficiency than the conventional RE design. Results of sensitivity and perturbation analysis indicate that self-organization, fault tolerance, and reporting culture respectively compose about 50 percent of total weight.

Keywords: Banking system, data envelopment analysis, DEA, integrated resilience engineering, IRE, performance evaluation, perturbation analysis.

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Authors: A. Khosravi, S. Ghadirian, J. S. McCartney

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Evaluation of the seismic-induced settlement of an unsaturated soil layer depends on several variables, among which the small strain shear modulus, G_max, and soil’s state of stress have been demonstrated to be of particular significance. Recent interpretation of trends in G_max revealed considerable effects of the degree of saturation and hydraulic hysteresis on the shear stiffness of soils in unsaturated states. Accordingly, the soil layer is expected to experience different settlement behaviors depending on the soil saturation and seasonal weathering conditions. In this study, a semi-empirical formulation was adapted to extend an existing G_max model to infer hysteretic effects along different paths of the SWRC including scanning curves. The suitability of the proposed approach is validated against experimental results from a suction-controlled resonant column test and from data reported in literature. The model was observed to follow the experimental data along different paths of the SWRC, and showed a slight hysteresis in shear modulus along the scanning curves.

Keywords: Hydraulic hysteresis, Scanning path, Small strain shear modulus, Unsaturated soil.

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Authors: Kamaci O., Altunkaynak S.

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Kepsut-Dursunbey volcanic field (KDVF) is located in NW Turkey and contains various products of the post-collisional Neogene magmatic activity. Two distinct volcanic suites have been recognized; the Kepsut volcanic suite (KVS) and the Dursunbey volcanic suite (DVS). The KVS includes basaltic trachyandesitebasaltic andesite-andesite lavas and associated pyroclastic rocks. The DVS consists of dacite-rhyodacite lavas and extensive pumice-ash fall and flow deposits. Petrographical features (i.e. existence of xenocrysts, glomerocrysts, and mixing-compatible textures) and mineral chemistry of phenocryst assemblages of both suites provide evidence for magma mixing/AFC. Calculated crystallization pressures and temperatures give values of 5.7–7.0 kbar and 927–982 °C for the KVS and 3.7–5.3 kbar and 783-787°C for the DVS, indicating separate magma reservoirs and crystallization in magma chambers at deep and mid crustal levels, respectively. These observations support the establishment and evolution of KDVF magma system promoted by episodic basaltic inputs which may generate and mix with crustal melts.

Keywords: mineral chemistry, mixing, basaltic inputs, NW Turkey

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Authors: Yağmur Karakuş, Fatih Aynacı, Ekin Kıpçak, Mesut Akgün

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Hydrogen is an important chemical in many industries and it is expected to become one of the major fuels for energy generation in the future. Unfortunately, hydrogen does not exist in its elemental form in nature and therefore has to be produced from hydrocarbons, hydrogen-containing compounds or water. Above its critical point (374.8oC and 22.1MPa), water has lower density and viscosity, and a higher heat capacity than those of ambient water. Mass transfer in supercritical water (SCW) is enhanced due to its increased diffusivity and transport ability. The reduced dielectric constant makes supercritical water a better solvent for organic compounds and gases. Hence, due to the aforementioned desirable properties, there is a growing interest toward studies regarding the gasification of organic matter containing biomass or model biomass solutions in supercritical water. In this study, hydrogen and biofuel production by the catalytic gasification of 2-Propanol in supercritical conditions of water was investigated. Pt/Al2O3and Ni/Al2O3were the catalysts used in the gasification reactions. All of the experiments were performed under a constant pressure of 25MPa. The effects of five reaction temperatures (400, 450, 500, 550 and 600°C) and five reaction times (10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 s) on the gasification yield and flammable component content were investigated.

Keywords: 2-Propanol, Gasification, Ni/Al2O3, Pt/Al2O3, Supercritical water.

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Authors: Meng-Hao Tsai, Tsuei-Chiang Huang

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Interior brick-infill partitions are usually considered as non-structural components, and only their weight is accounted for in practical structural design. In this study, the brick-infill panels are simulated by compression struts to clarify their effect on the progressive collapse potential of an earthquake-resistant RC building. Three-dimensional finite element models are constructed for the RC building subjected to sudden column loss. Linear static analyses are conducted to investigate the variation of demand-to-capacity ratio (DCR) of beam-end moment and the axial force variation of the beams adjacent to the removed column. Study results indicate that the brick-infill effect depends on their location with respect to the removed column. As they are filled in a structural bay with a shorter span adjacent to the column-removed line, more significant reduction of DCR may be achieved. However, under certain conditions, the brick infill may increase the axial tension of the two-span beam bridging the removed column.

Keywords: Progressive collapse, brick-infill partition, compression strut.

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Authors: Cherry Dhiman, Ayushi Paliwal, Mohd. Shahid Khan, M. N. Reddy, Vinay Gupta, Monika Tomar

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The laser based high resolution spectroscopic experimental techniques such as Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS), Rotating Disk Electrode Optical Emission spectroscopy (RDE-OES) and Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) have been used for the study of composition and degradation analysis of used engine oils. Engine oils are mainly composed of aliphatic and aromatics compounds and its soot contains hazardous components in the form of fine, coarse and ultrafine particles consisting of wear metal elements. Such coarse particulates matter (PM) and toxic elements are extremely dangerous for human health that can cause respiratory and genetic disorder in humans. The combustible soot from thermal power plants, industry, aircrafts, ships and vehicles can lead to the environmental and climate destabilization. It contributes towards global pollution for land, water, air and global warming for environment. The detection of such toxicants in the form of elemental analysis is a very serious issue for the waste material management of various organic, inorganic hydrocarbons and radioactive waste elements. In view of such important points, the current study on used engine oils was performed. The fundamental characterization of engine oils was conducted by measuring water content and kinematic viscosity test that proves the crude analysis of the degradation of used engine oils samples. The microscopic quantitative and qualitative analysis was presented by RDE-OES technique which confirms the presence of elemental impurities of Pb, Al, Cu, Si, Fe, Cr, Na and Ba lines for used waste engine oil samples in few ppm. The presence of such elemental impurities was confirmed by LIBS spectral analysis at various transition levels of atomic line. The recorded transition line of Pb confirms the maximum degradation which was found in used engine oil sample no. 3 and 4. Apart from the basic tests, the calculations for dielectric constants and refractive index of the engine oils were performed via SPR analysis.

Keywords: Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy, rotating disk electrode optical emission spectroscopy, surface plasmon resonance, ICCD spectrometer, Nd:YAG laser, engine oil.

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Authors: Ashwin Bala, K. Panthalaraja Kumaran, S. Prithviraj, R. Pradeep, J. Udhayakumar, S. Ajith

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In this paper comprehensive studies have been carried out for the design optimization of a waste heat recovery system for effectively utilizing the domestic air conditioner heat energy for producing hot water. Numerical studies have been carried for the geometry optimization of a waste heat recovery system for domestic air conditioners. Numerical computations have been carried out using a validated 2d pressure based, unsteady, 2nd-order implicit, SST k-ω turbulence model. In the numerical study, a fully implicit finite volume scheme of the compressible, Reynolds-Averaged, Navier- Stokes equations is employed. At identical inflow and boundary conditions various geometries were tried and effort has been taken for proposing the best design criteria. Several combinations of pipe line shapes viz., straight and spiral with different number of coils for the radiator have been attempted and accordingly the design criteria has been proposed for the waste heat recovery system design. We have concluded that, within the given envelope, the geometry optimization is a meaningful objective for getting better performance of waste heat recovery system for air conditioners.

Keywords: Air-conditioning system, Energy conversion system, Hot water production from waste heat, Waste heat recovery system.

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Authors: Excellence Favor, Bakari M. M. Mwinyiwiwa, Damian D. Haule, Fakih H. Omar

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Access to information is the key to the empowerment of everybody despite where they are living. This research is to be carried out in respect of the people living in developing countries, considering their plight and complex geographical, demographic, social-economic conditions surrounding the areas they live, which hinder access to information and of professionals providing services such as medical workers, which has led to high death rates and development stagnation. Research on Unified Communications and Integrated Collaborations (UCIC) system in the health sector of developing countries comes in to create a possible solution of bridging the digital canyon among the communities. The aim is to deliver services in a seamless manner to assist health workers situated anywhere to be accessed easily and access information which will help in service delivery. The proposed UCIC provides the most immersive Telepresence experience for one-to-one or many-tomany meetings. Extending to locations anywhere in the world, the transformative platform delivers Ultra-low operating costs through the use of general purpose networks and using special lenses and track systems.

Keywords: Developing countries, Unified communications and integrated collaborations.

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Authors: Danae Venieri, Christos Theodoropoulos, Maria Lagkadinou, Joan Iliopoulou-Georgudaki

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Changes in the sensory, chemical and microbiological quality of the Mediterranean hake during post-catch handling and distribution were investigated. 115 fish samples were seasonally received during three stages of the transfer route from the sea to the consumer and two storage methods were recorded, seawater and ice storage. Microbiological evaluation revealed higher status for the ice stored samples regarding heterotrophic bacteria (2.68 log cfu/g and 1.92 log cfu/g at 22oC and 37°C respectively) and psychrotrophic counts (3.20 log cfu/g), with statistically significant differences among storage methods. Sensory evaluation also revealed higher status for the ice stored samples with a mean quality index of 0.17 and a spoilage time estimated at 30 hours, in contrast to seawater storage, which varied from 0.28 to 0.3, and a 14-hour estimated spoilage. Detected pathogens were identified mainly in the seawater stored samples, posing questions on the quality of the product reaching the seafood markets.

Keywords: Merluccius merluccius, Microbiological quality, Psychrotrophic bacteria, Sensory evaluation.

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Authors: Imran Ahmed, Muhammad Islam, Syed Inayat Ali Shah, Awais Adnan

Abstract:

The identification and classification of weeds are of major technical and economical importance in the agricultural industry. To automate these activities, like in shape, color and texture, weed control system is feasible. The goal of this paper is to build a real-time, machine vision weed control system that can detect weed locations. In order to accomplish this objective, a real-time robotic system is developed to identify and locate outdoor plants using machine vision technology and pattern recognition. The algorithm is developed to classify images into broad and narrow class for real-time selective herbicide application. The developed algorithm has been tested on weeds at various locations, which have shown that the algorithm to be very effectiveness in weed identification. Further the results show a very reliable performance on weeds under varying field conditions. The analysis of the results shows over 90 percent classification accuracy over 140 sample images (broad and narrow) with 70 samples from each category of weeds.

Keywords: Weed detection, Image Processing, real-timerecognition, Standard Deviation.

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Authors: Seyed Abolhasan Naeini, M. Mortezaee

Abstract:

Various factors such as the method of installation, the pile type, the pile material and the pile shape, can affect the final bearing capacity of a pile executed in the soil; among them, the method of installation is of special importance. The physical modeling is among the best options in the laboratory study of the piles behavior. Therefore, the current paper first presents and reviews the frustum confining vessel (FCV) as a suitable tool for physical modeling of deep foundations. Then, by describing the loading tests of two open-ended and closed-end steel piles, each of which has been performed in two methods, “with displacement" and "without displacement", the effect of end conditions and installation method on the final bearing capacity of the pile is investigated. The soil used in the current paper is silty sand of Firuzkuh, Iran. The results of the experiments show that in general the without displacement installation method has a larger bearing capacity in both piles, and in a specific method of installation the closed ended pile shows a slightly higher bearing capacity.

Keywords: physical modeling, frustum confining vessel, pile, bearing capacity, installation method

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Authors: Melis Inalpulat, Levent Genc

Abstract:

Land Use Land Cover (LULC) changes due to human activities and natural causes have become a major environmental concern. Assessment of temporal remote sensing data provides information about LULC impacts on environment. Land Surface Temperature (LST) is one of the important components for modeling environmental changes in climatological, hydrological, and agricultural studies. In this study, LULC changes (September 7, 1984 and July 8, 2014) especially in agricultural lands together with population changes (1985-2014) and LST status were investigated using remotely sensed and census data in South Marmara Watershed, Turkey. LULC changes were determined using Landsat TM and Landsat OLI data acquired in 1984 and 2014 summers. Six-band TM and OLI images were classified using supervised classification method to prepare LULC map including five classes including Forest (F), Grazing Land (G), Agricultural Land (A), Water Surface (W), Residential Area-Bare Soil (R-B) classes. The LST image was also derived from thermal bands of the same dates. LULC classification results showed that forest areas, agricultural lands, water surfaces and residential area-bare soils were increased as 65751 ha, 20163 ha, 1924 ha and 20462 ha respectively. In comparison, a dramatic decrement occurred in grazing land (107985 ha) within three decades. The population increased 29% between years 1984-2014 in whole study area. Along with the natural causes, migration also caused this increase since the study area has an important employment potential. LULC was transformed among the classes due to the expansion in residential, commercial and industrial areas as well as political decisions. In the study, results showed that agricultural lands around the settlement areas transformed to residential areas in 30 years. The LST images showed that mean temperatures were ranged between 26-32°C in 1984 and 27-33°C in 2014. Minimum temperature of agricultural lands was increased 3°C and reached to 23°C. In contrast, maximum temperature of A class decreased to 41°C from 44°C. Considering temperatures of the 2014 R-B class and 1984 status of same areas, it was seen that mean, min and max temperatures increased by 2°C. As a result, the dynamism of population, LULC and LST resulted in increasing mean and maximum surface temperatures, living spaces/industrial areas and agricultural lands.

Keywords: Census data, landsat, land surface temperature (LST), land use land cover (LULC).

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Authors: Juan L. Acero, F. Javier Benitez, Francisco J. Real, Gloria Roldan, Francisco Casas

Abstract:

The bromination of five selected pharmaceuticals (metoprolol, naproxen, amoxicillin, hydrochlorotiazide and phenacetin) in ultrapure water and in three water matrices (a groundwater, a surface water from a public reservoir and a secondary effluent from a WWTP) was investigated. The apparent rate constants for the bromination reaction were determined as a function of the pH, and the sequence obtained for the reaction rate was amoxicillin > naproxen >> hydrochlorotiazide ≈ phenacetin ≈ metoprolol. The proposal of a kinetic mechanism, which specifies the dissociation of bromine and each pharmaceutical according to their pKa values and the pH allowed the determination of the intrinsic rate constants for every elementary reaction. The influence of the main operating conditions (pH, initial bromine dose, and the water matrix) on the degradation of pharmaceuticals was established. In addition, the presence of bromide in chlorination experiments was investigated. The presence of bromide in wastewaters and drinking waters in the range of 10 to several hundred μg L-1 accelerated slightly the oxidation of the selected pharmaceuticals during chorine disinfection.

Keywords: Pharmaceuticals, bromine, chlorine, apparent andintrinsic rate constants, water matrices, degradation rates

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