Search results for: dielectric loss

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

Abstract:

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: Temitope M. Ojo, Titilayo A. Benson

Abstract:

This study investigated street begging and its psychosocial effect in Ibadan Metropolis, Oyo State, Nigeria. In carrying out this study, four research questions were used. The instrument used for data collection was a face-to-face and self-developed questionnaire. The results revealed there is high awareness level on the causes of street begging among the respondents, who also mentioned several factors contributing to street begging. However, respondents disagreed that lack of education is a factor contributing to street begging in Nigeria. The psycho-social effects of street begging, as identified by the respondents, are development of inferiority complex, lack of social interaction, loss of self-respect and dignity, increased mindset of poverty and loss of self-confident. Solution to street begging as identified by the respondents also includes provision of rehabilitation centers, provision of food for students in Islamic schools and monthly survival allowance. Specific policies and other legislative frameworks are needed in terms of age, sex, disability, and family-related issues, to effectively address the begging problem. Therefore, it is recommended that policy planners must adopt multi-faceted, multi-targeted, and multi-tiered approaches if they are to have any impact on the lives of street beggars in all four categories. In this regard, both preventative and responsive interventions are needed instead of rehabilitative solutions for each category of street beggars.

Keywords: Beggars, begging, psychosocial effect, respondents, street begging.

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Authors: Ratnakar Tripathi, Rajnikant Mishra

Abstract:

The PAX6, a transcription factor, is essential for the morphogenesis of the eyes, brain, pituitary and pancreatic islets. In rodents, the loss of Pax6 function leads to central nervous system defects, anophthalmia, and nasal hypoplasia. The haplo-insufficiency of Pax6 causes microphthalmia, aggression and other behavioral abnormalities. It is also required in brain patterning and neuronal plasticity. In human, heterozygous mutation of Pax6 causes loss of iris [aniridia], mental retardation and glucose intolerance. The 3- deletion in Pax6 leads to autism and aniridia. The phenotypes are variable in peneterance and expressivity. However, mechanism of function and interaction of PAX6 with other proteins during development and associated disease are not clear. It is intended to explore interactors of PAX6 to elucidated biology of PAX6 function in the tissues where it is expressed and also in the central regulatory pathway. This report describes In-silico approaches to explore interacting proteins of PAX6. The models show several possible proteins interacting with PAX6 like MITF, SIX3, SOX2, SOX3, IPO13, TRIM, and OGT. Since the Pax6 is a critical transcriptional regulator and master control gene of eye and brain development it might be interacting with other protein involved in morphogenesis [TGIF, TGF, Ras etc]. It is also presumed that matricelluar proteins [SPARC, thrombospondin-1 and osteonectin etc] are likely to interact during transport and processing of PAX6 and are somewhere its cascade. The proteins involved in cell survival and cell proliferation can also not be ignored.

Keywords: Interacting Proteins, Pax6, PIP, STRING

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Authors: Ayman A. Aly, Abdallah A. Alshnnaway

Abstract:

The general idea behind the filter is to average a pixel using other pixel values from its neighborhood, but simultaneously to take care of important image structures such as edges. The main concern of the proposed filter is to distinguish between any variations of the captured digital image due to noise and due to image structure. The edges give the image the appearance depth and sharpness. A loss of edges makes the image appear blurred or unfocused. However, noise smoothing and edge enhancement are traditionally conflicting tasks. Since most noise filtering behaves like a low pass filter, the blurring of edges and loss of detail seems a natural consequence. Techniques to remedy this inherent conflict often encompass generation of new noise due to enhancement. In this work a new fuzzy filter is presented for the noise reduction of images corrupted with additive noise. The filter consists of three stages. (1) Define fuzzy sets in the input space to computes a fuzzy derivative for eight different directions (2) construct a set of IFTHEN rules by to perform fuzzy smoothing according to contributions of neighboring pixel values and (3) define fuzzy sets in the output space to get the filtered and edged image. Experimental results are obtained to show the feasibility of the proposed approach with two dimensional objects.

Keywords: Additive noise, edge preserving filtering, fuzzy image filtering, noise reduction, two dimensional mechanical images.

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Authors: M. S. Reza, M. Hamdi, A.S. Hadi

Abstract:

The operating control parameters of injection flushing type of electrical discharge machining process on stainless steel 304 workpiece with copper tools are being optimized according to its individual machining characteristic i.e. material removal rate (MRR). Lower MRR during EDM machining process may decrease its- machining productivity. Hence, the quality characteristic for MRR is set to higher-the-better to achieve the optimum machining productivity. Taguchi method has been used for the construction, layout and analysis of the experiment for each of the machining characteristic for the MRR. The use of Taguchi method in the experiment saves a lot of time and cost of preparing and machining the experiment samples. Therefore, an L18 Orthogonal array which was the fundamental component in the statistical design of experiments has been used to plan the experiments and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) is used to determine the optimum machining parameters for this machining characteristic. The control parameters selected for this optimization experiments are polarity, pulse on duration, discharge current, discharge voltage, machining depth, machining diameter and dielectric liquid pressure. The result had shown that the higher the discharge voltage, the higher will be the MRR.

Keywords: ANOVA, EDM, Injection Flushing, L18 OrthogonalArray, MRR, Stainless Steel 304

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Authors: Chandrashekar, R. T. Radhika, B. M. Venkatesha, S. Ananda, Shivalingegowda, T. S. Shashikumar, H. Ramachandra

Abstract:

The kinetics of the oxidation of amitriptyline (AT) by sodium N-bromotoluene sulphonamide (C₆H₅SO₂NBrNa) has been studied in an acidic buffer medium of pH 1.2 at 303 K. The oxidation reaction of AT was followed spectrophotometrically at maximum wavelength, 410 nm. The reaction rate shows a first order dependence each on concentration of AT and concentration of sodium N-bromotoluene sulphonamide. The reaction also shows an inverse fractional order dependence at low or high concentration of HCl. The dielectric constant of the solvent shows negative effect on the rate of reaction. The addition of halide ions and the reduction product of BAT have no significant effect on the rate. The rate is unchanged with the variation in the ionic strength (NaClO₄) of the medium. Addition of reaction mixtures to be aqueous acrylamide solution did not initiate polymerization, indicating the absence of free radical species. The stoichiometry of the reaction was found to be 1:1 and oxidation product of AT is identified. The Michaelis-Menton type of kinetics has been proposed. The CH₃C₆H₅SO₂NHBr has been assumed to be the reactive oxidizing species. Thermodynamical parameters were computed by studying the reactions at different temperatures. A mechanism consistent with observed kinetics is presented.

Keywords: Amitriptyline, bromamine-T, kinetics, oxidation.

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Authors: Ashwani K. Rana, Narottam Chand, Vinod Kapoor

Abstract:

This paper presents a new compact analytical model of the gate leakage current in high-k based nano scale MOSFET by assuming a two-step inelastic trap-assisted tunneling (ITAT) process as the conduction mechanism. This model is based on an inelastic trap-assisted tunneling (ITAT) mechanism combined with a semiempirical gate leakage current formulation in the BSIM 4 model. The gate tunneling currents have been calculated as a function of gate voltage for different gate dielectrics structures such as HfO2, Al2O3 and Si3N4 with EOT (equivalent oxide thickness) of 1.0 nm. The proposed model is compared and contrasted with santaurus simulation results to verify the accuracy of the model and excellent agreement is found between the analytical and simulated data. It is observed that proposed analytical model is suitable for different highk gate dielectrics simply by adjusting two fitting parameters. It was also shown that gate leakages reduced with the introduction of high-k gate dielectric in place of SiO2.

Keywords: Analytical model, High-k gate dielectrics, inelastic trap assisted tunneling, metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) devices.

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Authors: Maíra O. Palm, Cintia Marangoni, Ozair Souza, Noeli Sellin

Abstract:

Wastes from a vegetal extracts industry (cocoa, oak, Guarana and mate) were characterized by particle size, proximate and ultimate analysis, lignocellulosic fractions, high heating value, thermal analysis (Thermogravimetric analysis – TGA, and Differential thermal analysis - DTA) and energy density to evaluate their potential as biomass in the form of briquettes for power generation. All wastes presented adequate particle sizes to briquettes production. The wastes showed high moisture content, requiring previous drying for use as briquettes. Cocoa and oak wastes had the highest volatile matter contents with maximum mass loss at 310 ºC and 450 ºC, respectively. The solvents used in the aroma extraction process influenced in the moisture content of the wastes, which was higher for mate due to water has been used as solvent. All wastes showed an insignificant loss mass after 565 °C, hence resulting in low ash content. High carbon and hydrogen contents and low sulfur and nitrogen contents were observed ensuring a low generation of sulfur and nitrous oxides. Mate and cocoa exhibited the highest carbon and lignin content, and high heating value. The dried wastes had high heating value, from 17.1 MJ/kg to 20.8 MJ/kg. The results indicate the energy potential of wastes for use as fuel in power generation.

Keywords: Agro-industrial waste, biomass, briquettes, combustion.

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Authors: Yoshiaki Shikata

Abstract:

Performance of a limited Round-Robin (RR) rule is studied in order to clarify the characteristics of a realistic sharing model of a processor. Under the limited RR rule, the processor allocates to each request a fixed amount of time, called a quantum, in a fixed order. The sum of the requests being allocated these quanta is kept below a fixed value. Arriving requests that cannot be allocated quanta because of such a restriction are queued or rejected. Practical performance measures, such as the relationship between the mean sojourn time, the mean number of requests, or the loss probability and the quantum size are evaluated via simulation. In the evaluation, the requested service time of an arriving request is converted into a quantum number. One of these quanta is included in an RR cycle, which means a series of quanta allocated to each request in a fixed order. The service time of the arriving request can be evaluated using the number of RR cycles required to complete the service, the number of requests receiving service, and the quantum size. Then an increase or decrease in the number of quanta that are necessary before service is completed is reevaluated at the arrival or departure of other requests. Tracking these events and calculations enables us to analyze the performance of our limited RR rule. In particular, we obtain the most suitable quantum size, which minimizes the mean sojourn time, for the case in which the switching time for each quantum is considered.

Keywords: Limited RR rule, quantum, processor sharing, sojourn time, performance measures, simulation, loss probability.

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Authors: M. Javanmard

Abstract:

This study was aimed at analyzing the effects of packaging (MAP) and preservation conditions on the packaged fresh walnut kernel quality. The central composite plan was used for evaluating the effect of oxygen (0–10%), carbon dioxide (0-10%), and temperature (4-26 °C) on qualitative characteristics of walnut kernels. Also, the response level technique was used to find the optimal conditions for interactive effects of factors, as well as estimating the best conditions of process using least amount of testing. Measured qualitative parameters were: peroxide index, color, decreased weight, mould and yeast counting test, and sensory evaluation. The results showed that the defined model for peroxide index, color, weight loss, and sensory evaluation is significant (p < 0.001), so that increase of temperature causes the peroxide value, color variation, and weight loss to increase and it reduces the overall acceptability of walnut kernels. An increase in oxygen percentage caused the color variation level and peroxide value to increase and resulted in lower overall acceptability of the walnuts. An increase in CO₂ percentage caused the peroxide value to decrease, but did not significantly affect other indices (p ≥ 0.05). Mould and yeast were not found in any samples. Optimal packaging conditions to achieve maximum quality of walnuts include: 1.46% oxygen, 10% carbon dioxide, and temperature of 4 °C.

Keywords: Shelled walnut, MAP, quality, storage temperature.

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Authors: Pravin Gaikwad, Prakash Mahanwar

Abstract:

The main objective of incorporating natural fibers such as Henequen microfibers (NF) into the High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) polymer matrix is to reduce the cost and to enhance the mechanical as well as other properties. The Henequen microfibers were chopped manually to 5-7mm in length and added into the polymer matrix at the optimized concentration of 8 wt %. In order to facilitate the link between Henequen microfibers (NF) and HDPE matrix, coupling agent such as Glycidoxy (Epoxy) Functional Methoxy Silane (GPTS) at various concentrations from 0.1%, 0.3%, 0.5%, 0.7%, 0.9% and 1% by weight to the total fibers were added. The tensile strength of the composite increased marginally while % elongation at break of the composites decreased with increase in silane loading by wt %. Tensile modulus and stiffness observed increased at 0.9 wt % GPTS loading. Flexural as well as impact strength of the composite decreased with increase in GPTS loading by weight %. Dielectric strength of the composite also found increased marginally up to 0.5wt % silane loading and thereafter remained constant. 

Keywords: Henequen microfibers (NF), polymer composites, HDPE, coupling agent, GPTS

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Authors: Ekin Kıpçak, Yağmur Karakuş, Mesut Akgün

Abstract:

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 (374.8^oC 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. Ru/Al₂O₃ was the catalyst used in the gasification reactions. All of the experiments were performed under a constant pressure of 25 MPa. The effects of five reaction temperatures (400, 450, 500, 550 and 600^oC) 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, Ru/Al2O3, Supercritical water.

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Authors: DaeWon Lee, HeonChang Yu

Abstract:

Next generation wireless/mobile networks will be IP based cellular networks integrating the internet with cellular networks. In this paper, we propose a new architecture for a high speed transport system and a mobile management protocol for mobile internet users in a transport system. Existing mobility management protocols (MIPv6, HMIPv6) do not consider real world fast moving wireless hosts (e.g. passengers in a train). For this reason, we define a virtual organization (VO) and proposed the VO architecture for the transport system. We also classify mobility as VO mobility (intra VO) and macro mobility (inter VO). Handoffs in VO are locally managed and transparent to the CH while macro mobility is managed with Mobile IPv6. And, from the features of the transport system, such as fixed route and steady speed, we deduce the movement route and the handoff disruption time of each handoff. To reduce packet loss during handoff disruption time, we propose pre-registration scheme using pre-registration. Moreover, the proposed protocol can eliminate unnecessary binding updates resulting from sequence movement at high speed. The performance evaluations demonstrate our proposed protocol has a good performance at transport system environment. Our proposed protocol can be applied to the usage of wireless internet on the train, subway, and high speed train.

Keywords: Binding update, HMIPv6, packet loss, transport system, virtual organization.

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Authors: F. Forouharmajd, S. Pourabdian, N. Ziayi Ghahnavieh

Abstract:

For many years, the ear protectors have been used to preventing the audio and non-audio effects of received noise from occupation environments. Despite performing hearing protection programs, there are many people which still suffer from noise-induced hearing loss. This study was conducted with the aim of determination of human hearing system response to received noise and the effectiveness of ear protectors on preventing of noise-induced hearing loss. Sound pressure microphones were placed in a simulated ear canal. The severity of noise measured inside and outside of ear canal. The noise reduction values due to installing ear protectors were calculated in the octave band frequencies and LabVIEW programmer. The results of noise measurement inside and outside of ear canal showed a different in received sound levels by ear canal. The effectiveness of ear protectors has been considerably reduced for the low frequency limits. A change in resonance frequency also was observed after using ear protectors. The study indicated the ear canal structure may affect the received noise and it may lead a difference between the received sound from the measured sound by a sound level meter, and hearing system. It means the human hearing system may probably respond different from a sound level meter. Hearing protectors’ efficiency declines by increasing the noise levels, and thus, they are not suitable to protect workers against industrial noise particularly low frequency noise. Hearing protectors may be solely a reason to damaging of hearing system in a special frequency via changing of human hearing system acoustical structure. We need developing the subjective method of hearing protectors testing, because their evaluation is not designed based on industrial noise or in the field.

Keywords: Ear protector, hearing system, occupational noise, workers.

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Authors: Grace Sahaya Sheba, P. Omegala Priyakumari, M. Gunasekaran

Abstract:

L-asparagine admixture Paranitrophenol (LAPNP) single crystals were grown successfully by solution method with slow evaporation technique at room temperature. Crystals of size 12mm×5 mm×3mm have been obtained in 15 days. The grown crystals were Brown color and transparent. The solubility of the grown samples has been found out at various temperatures. The lattice parameters of the grown crystals were determined by X-ray diffraction technique. The reflection planes of the sample were confirmed by the powder X-ray diffraction study and diffraction peaks were indexed. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) studies were used to confirm the presence of various functional groups in the crystals. UV–visible absorption spectrum was recorded to study the optical transparency of grown crystal. The nonlinear optical (NLO) property of the grown crystal was confirmed by Kurtz–Perry powder technique and a study of its second harmonic generation efficiency in comparison with potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP) has been made. The mechanical strength of the crystal was estimated by Vickers hardness test. The grown crystals were subjected to thermo gravimetric and differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA). The dielectric behavior of the sample was also studied

Keywords: Characterization, Microhardnes, Non-linear optical materials, Solution growth, Spectroscopy, XRD.

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Authors: Takeshi Takeda

Abstract:

An experiment utilizing the ROSA/LSTF (rig of safety assessment/large-scale test facility) simulated a 1.9% vessel upper head small-break loss-of-coolant accident with an accident management (AM) measure under the total failure of high-pressure injection system of emergency core cooling system in a pressurized water reactor. Steam generator (SG) secondary-side depressurization on the AM measure was started by fully opening relief valves in both SGs when the maximum core exit temperature rose to 623 K. A large increase took place in the cladding surface temperature of simulated fuel rods on account of a late and slow response of core exit thermocouples during core boil-off. The author analyzed the LSTF test by reference to the matrix of an integral effect test for the validation of a thermal-hydraulic system code. Problems remained in predicting the primary coolant distribution and the core exit temperature with the RELAP5/MOD3.3 code. The uncertainty analysis results of the RELAP5 code confirmed that the sample size with respect to the order statistics influences the value of peak cladding temperature with a 95% probability at a 95% confidence level, and the Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient.

Keywords: LSTF, LOCA, uncertainty analysis, RELAP5.

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Authors: Chaiyakrit Raoupatham, Ram Hari Dhakal, Chalermchai Wanichlamlert

Abstract:

Fresh concrete has one of dynamic properties known as slump. Slump of concrete is design to compatible with placing method. Due to hydration reaction of cement, the slump of concrete is loss through time. Therefore, delayed concrete probably get reject because slump is unacceptable. In order to recover the slump of delayed concrete the second dose of superplasticizer (naphthalene based type F) is added into the system, the slump recovery can be done as long as the concrete is not setting. By adding superplasticizer as solution for recover unusable slump loss concrete may affects other concrete properties. Therefore, this paper was observed setting times and compressive strength of concrete after being re-dose with chemical admixture type F (superplasticizer, naphthalene based) for slump recovery. The concrete used in this study was fly ash concrete with fly ash replacement of 0%, 30% and 50% respectively. Concrete mix designed for test specimen was prepared with paste content (ratio of volume of cement to volume of void in the aggregate) of 1.2 and 1.3, water-to-binder ratio (w/b) range of 0.3 to 0.58, initial dose of superplasticizer (SP) range from 0.5 to 1.6%. The setting times of concrete were tested both before and after re-dosed with different amount of second dose and time of dosing. The research was concluded that addition of second dose of superplasticizer would increase both initial and final setting times accordingly to dosage of addition. As for fly ash concrete, the prolongation effect was higher as the replacement of fly ash increase. The prolongation effect can reach up to maximum about 4 hours. In case of compressive strength, the re-dosed concrete has strength fluctuation within acceptable range of ±10%.

Keywords: Compressive strength, Fly ash concrete, Second dose of superplasticizer, Slump recovery, Setting times.

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Authors: M. S. Reza, M. Hamdi, S. H. Tomadi, A. R. Ismail

Abstract:

The operating control parameters of injection flushing type of electrical discharge machining process on stainless steel 304 workpiece using copper tools are being optimized according to its individual machining characteristic i.e. Electrode Wear Ratio (EWR). Higher EWR would give bad dimensional precision for the EDM machined workpiece because of high electrode wear. Hence, the quality characteristic for EWR is set to lower-the-better to achieve the optimum dimensional precision for the machined workpiece. Taguchi method has been used for the construction, layout and analysis of the experiment for EWR machining characteristic. The use of Taguchi method in the experiment saves a lot of time and cost of preparing and machining the experiment samples. Therefore, an L18 Orthogonal array which was the fundamental component in the statistical design of experiments has been used to plan the experiments and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) is used to determine the optimum machining parameters for this machining characteristic. The control parameters selected for this optimization experiments are polarity, pulse on duration, discharge current, discharge voltage, machining depth, machining diameter and dielectric liquid pressure. The result had shown that negative polarity machining parameter setting will decreases EWR.

Keywords: ANOVA, EDM, Injection Flushing, L18Orthogonal Array, EWR, Stainless Steel 304

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Authors: Hye-Young Shin, Chan Kee Park

Abstract:

Background: To compare the thinning patterns of the ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer (GCIPL) and peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) as measured using Cirrus high-definition optical coherence tomography (HD-OCT) in patients with visual field (VF) defects that respect the vertical meridian. Methods: Twenty eyes of eleven patients with VF defects that respect the vertical meridian were enrolled retrospectively. The thicknesses of the macular GCIPL and pRNFL were measured using Cirrus HD-OCT. The 5% and 1% thinning area index (TAI) was calculated as the proportion of abnormally thin sectors at the 5% and 1% probability level within the area corresponding to the affected VF. The 5% and 1% TAI were compared between the GCIPL and pRNFL measurements. Results: The color-coded GCIPL deviation map showed a characteristic vertical thinning pattern of the GCIPL, which is also seen in the VF of patients with brain lesions. The 5% and 1% TAI were significantly higher in the GCIPL measurements than in the pRNFL measurements (all P < 0.01). Conclusions: Macular GCIPL analysis clearly visualized a characteristic topographic pattern of retinal ganglion cell (RGC) loss in patients with VF defects that respect the vertical meridian, unlike pRNFL measurements. Macular GCIPL measurements provide more valuable information than pRNFL measurements for detecting the loss of RGCs in patients with retrograde degeneration of the optic nerve fibers.

Keywords: Brain lesion, Macular ganglion cell-Inner plexiform layer, Spectral-domain optical coherence tomography.

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Authors: Ankit Sinha, Soham Banerjee, Pratik Chattopadhyay

Abstract:

Automated product recognition in retail stores is an important real-world application in the domain of Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition. In this paper, we consider the problem of automatically identifying the classes of the products placed on racks in retail stores from an image of the rack and information about the query/product images. We improve upon the existing approaches in terms of effectiveness and memory requirement by developing a two-stage object detection and recognition pipeline comprising of a Faster-RCNN-based object localizer that detects the object regions in the rack image and a ResNet-18-based image encoder that classifies  the detected regions into the appropriate classes. Each of the models is fine-tuned using appropriate data sets for better prediction and data augmentation is performed on each query image to prepare an extensive gallery set for fine-tuning the ResNet-18-based product recognition model. This encoder is trained using a triplet loss function following the strategy of online-hard-negative-mining for improved prediction. The proposed models are lightweight and can be connected in an end-to-end manner during deployment to automatically identify each product object placed in a rack image. Extensive experiments using Grozi-32k and GP-180 data sets verify the effectiveness of the proposed model.

Keywords: Retail stores, Faster-RCNN, object localization, ResNet-18, triplet loss, data augmentation, product recognition.

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Authors: Mirjana Ruppel, Rajendra Persad, Amit Bahl, Sanja Dogramadzi, Chris Melhuish, Lyndon Smith

Abstract:

Multimodal image registration is a profoundly complex task which is why deep learning has been used widely to address it in recent years. However, two main challenges remain: Firstly, the lack of ground truth data calls for an unsupervised learning approach, which leads to the second challenge of defining a feasible loss function that can compare two images of different modalities to judge their level of alignment. To avoid this issue altogether we implement a generative adversarial network consisting of two registration networks GAB, GBA and two discrimination networks DA, DB connected by spatial transformation layers. GAB learns to generate a deformation field which registers an image of the modality B to an image of the modality A. To do that, it uses the feedback of the discriminator DB which is learning to judge the quality of alignment of the registered image B. GBA and DA learn a mapping from modality A to modality B. Additionally, a cycle-consistency loss is implemented. For this, both registration networks are employed twice, therefore resulting in images ˆA, ˆB which were registered to ˜B, ˜A which were registered to the initial image pair A, B. Thus the resulting and initial images of the same modality can be easily compared. A dataset of liver CT and MRI was used to evaluate the quality of our approach and to compare it against learning and non-learning based registration algorithms. Our approach leads to dice scores of up to 0.80 ± 0.01 and is therefore comparable to and slightly more successful than algorithms like SimpleElastix and VoxelMorph.

Keywords: Multimodal image registration, GAN, cycle consistency, deep learning.

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Authors: Banafsheh Aghamohammadi, Masoud Honarvar, Babak Ghiassi Tarzi

Abstract:

Usage of different components has been considered to improve the quality and nutritional properties of cakes in recent years. The effects of applying some sweeteners, instead of sugar, have been evaluated in cakes and many bread formulas up to now; but there has not been any research about the usage of by-products of sugar factories such as Wash and Green-A Syrups in cake formulas. In this research, the effects of substituting 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% of sugar with Wash and Green-A Syrups on some dough and cake properties, such as pH, viscosity, density, volume, weight loss, moisture, water activity, texture, staling, color and sensory evaluations, are studied. The results of these experiments showed that the pH values were not significantly different among any of the all cake batters and also most of the cake samples. Although differences among viscosity and specific gravity of all treatments were both significant and insignificant, these two parameters resulted in higher volume in all samples than the blank one. The differences in weight loss, moisture content and water activity of samples were insignificant. Evaluating of texture showed that the softness of most of samples is increased and the staling is decreased. Crumb color and sensory evaluations of samples were also affected by the replacement of sucrose with Wash and Green-A Syrups. According to the results, we can increase the shelf life and improve the quality and nutritional values of cake by using these kinds of syrups in the formulation.

Keywords: Cake, green-A syrup, quality tests, sensory evaluation, wash syrup.

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Authors: Armaghan Eslami, Nasrin Arshadi

Abstract:

Scarce resources are the inseparable part of organization life. This fact that only small number of the employees can have these resources such as promotion, raise, and recognition can cause competition among employees, which create competitive climate. As well as any other competition, small number wins the reward, and a great number loses, one of the possible emotional reactions to this loss is negative emotions like malicious envy. In this case, the envious person may try to harm the envied person by reducing the prosocial behavior. Prosocial behavior is a behavior that aimed to benefit others. The main propose of this action is to maintain and increase well-being and well-fare of others. Therefore, one of the easiest ways for harming envied one is to suppress prosocial behavior. Prosocial behavior has positive and important implication for organizational efficiency. Our results supported our model and suggested that competitive climate has a significant effect on increasing workplace envy and on the other hand envy has significant negative impact on prosocial behavior. Our result also indicated that envy is the mediator in the relation between competitive climate and prosocial behavior. Organizational competitive climate can cause employees respond envy with negative emotion and hostile and damaging behavior toward envied person. Competition can lead employees to look out for proof of their self-worthiness; and, furthermore, they measure their self-worth, value and respect by the superiority that they gain in competitions. As a result, loss in competitions can harm employee’s self-definition and they try to protect themselves by devaluating envied other and being ‘less friendly’ to them. Some employees may find it inappropriate to engage in the harming behavior, but they may believe there is nothing against withholding the prosocial behavior.

Keywords: Competitive climate, mediator, prosocial behavior, workplace envy.

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Authors: Junya Takenami, Md. Azhar Uddin, Eiji Sasaoka, Yasushi Shioya, Tsuneyoshi Takase

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In this study, we sought to investigate the mercury removal efficiency of manganese oxides from natural gas. The fundamental studies on mercury removal with manganese oxides sorbents were carried out in a laboratory scale fixed bed reactor at 30 °C with a mixture of methane (20%) and nitrogen gas laden with 4.8 ppb of elemental mercury. Manganese oxides with varying surface area and crystalline phase were prepared by conventional precipitation method in this study. The effects of surface area, crystallinity and other metal oxides on mercury removal efficiency were investigated. Effect of Ag impregnation on mercury removal efficiency was also investigated. Ag supported on metal oxide such titania and zirconia as reference materials were also used in this study for comparison. The characteristics of mercury removal reaction with manganese oxide was investigated using a temperature programmed desorption (TPD) technique. Manganese oxides showed very high Hg removal activity (about 73-93% Hg removal) for first time use. Surface area of the manganese oxide samples decreased after heat-treatment and resulted in complete loss of Hg removal ability for repeated use after Hg desorption in the case of amorphous MnO2, and 75% loss of the initial Hg removal activity for the crystalline MnO2. Mercury desorption efficiency of crystalline MnO2 was very low (37%) for first time use and high (98%) after second time use. Residual potassium content in MnO2 may have some effect on the thermal stability of the adsorbed Hg species. Desorption of Hg from manganese oxides occurs at much higher temperatures (with a peak at 400 °C) than Ag/TiO2 or Ag/ZrO2. Mercury may be captured on manganese oxides in the form of mercury manganese oxide.

Keywords: Mercury removal, Metal and metal oxide sorbents, Methane, Natural gas.

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Authors: L. Bennaceur Farah, I. R. Farah, R. Bennaceur, Z. Belhadj, M. R. Boussema

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The overall objective of this paper is to retrieve soil surfaces parameters namely, roughness and soil moisture related to the dielectric constant by inverting the radar backscattered signal from natural soil surfaces. Because the classical description of roughness using statistical parameters like the correlation length doesn't lead to satisfactory results to predict radar backscattering, we used a multi-scale roughness description using the wavelet transform and the Mallat algorithm. In this description, the surface is considered as a superposition of a finite number of one-dimensional Gaussian processes each having a spatial scale. A second step in this study consisted in adapting a direct model simulating radar backscattering namely the small perturbation model to this multi-scale surface description. We investigated the impact of this description on radar backscattering through a sensitivity analysis of backscattering coefficient to the multi-scale roughness parameters. To perform the inversion of the small perturbation multi-scale scattering model (MLS SPM) we used a multi-layer neural network architecture trained by backpropagation learning rule. The inversion leads to satisfactory results with a relative uncertainty of 8%.

Keywords: Remote sensing, rough surfaces, inverse problems, SAR, radar scattering, Neural networks and Fractals.

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Authors: Haji M Shoaib Khan, Naveed Akhtar, Fatima Rasool, Barkat Ali Khan, Tariq Mahmood, Muhammad Shuaib Khan

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Antioxidants contribute to endogenous photoprotection and are important for the maintenance of skin health. The study was carried out to compare the skin hydration and transepidermal water loss (TEWL) effects of a stable cosmetic preparation containing flavonoids, following two applications a day over a period of tenth week. The skin trans-epidermal water loss and skin hydration effect was measured at the beginning and up to the end of study period of ten weeks. Any effect produced was measured by Corneometer and TEWA meter (Non-invasive probe). Two formulations were developed for this study design. Formulation one the control formulation in which no apple juice extract( Flavonoids) was incorporated while second one was the active formulation in which the apple juice extract (3%) containing flavonoids was incorporated into water in oil emulsion using Abil EM 90 as an emulsifier. Stable formulations (control and Active) were applied on human cheeks (n = 12) for a study period of 10 weeks. Result of each volunteer of skin hydration and TEWL was measured by corneometer and TEWA meter. By using ANOVA and Paired sample t test as a statistical evaluation, result of both base and formulation were compared. Statistical significant results (p≤0.05) were observed regarding skin hydration and TEWL when two creams, control and Formulation were compared. It showed that desired formulation (Active) may have interesting application as an active moisturizing cream on healthy skin.

Keywords: Apple juice extract, TEWL, Corneometer, flavonoids.

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Authors: John Michael Russo

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Honeybees are important to our food system and continue to suffer from high rates of colony loss. Precision feed has brought many benefits to livestock cultivation and these should transfer to apiculture. However, apiculture has unique challenges. The objective of this research is to understand how principles of precision agriculture, applied to apiculture and feed specifically, might effectively improve state-of-the-art cultivation. The methodology surveys apicultural practice to build a model for assessment. First, a review of apicultural motivators is made. Feed method is then evaluated. Finally, precision feed methods are examined as accelerants with potential to advance the effectiveness of feed practice. Six important motivators emerge: colony loss, disease, climate change, site variance, operational costs, and competition. Feed practice itself is used to compensate for environmental variables. The research finds that the current state-of-the-art in apiculture feed focuses on critical challenges in the management of feed schedules which satisfy requirements of the bees, preserve potency, optimize environmental variables, and manage costs. Many of the challenges are most acute when feed is used to dispense medication. Technology such as RNA treatments have even more rigorous demands. Precision feed solutions focus on strategies which accommodate specific needs of individual livestock. A major component is data; they integrate precise data with methods that respond to individual needs. There is enormous opportunity for precision feed to improve apiculture through the integration of precision data with policies to translate data into optimized action in the apiary, particularly through automation.

Keywords: Apiculture, precision apiculture, RNA varroa treatment, honeybee feed applications.

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Authors: Justinian Anatory

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power-line networks are promise infrastructure for broadband services provision to end users. However, the network performance is affected by stochastic channel changing which is due to load impedances, number of branches and branched line lengths. It has been proposed that multi-carrier modulations techniques such as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), Multi-Carrier Spread Spectrum (MC-SS), wavelet OFDM can be used in such environment. This paper investigates the performance of different indoor topologies of power-line networks that uses MC-SS modulation scheme.It is observed that when a branch is added in the link between sending and receiving end of an indoor channel an average of 2.5dB power loss is found. In additional, when the branch is added at a node an average of 1dB power loss is found. Additionally when the terminal impedances of the branch change from line characteristic impedance to impedance either higher or lower values the channel performances were tremendously improved. For example changing terminal load from characteristic impedance (85 .) to 5 . the signal to noise ratio (SNR) required to attain the same performances were decreased from 37dB to 24dB respectively. Also, changing the terminal load from channel characteristic impedance (85 .) to very higher impedance (1600 .) the SNR required to maintain the same performances were decreased from 37dB to 23dB. The result concludes that MC-SS performs better compared with OFDM techniques in all aspects and especially when the channel is terminated in either higher or lower impedances.

Keywords: Communication channel model; Broadband Powerlinecommunication; Branched network; OFDM; Delay Spread, MCSS;impulsive noise; load impedance

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Authors: T. Yamaguchi, Y. Kurosawa, S. Maruyama, K. Tobita, Y. Hirano, K. Yokouchi, K. Kihara, T. Sunaga

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This paper describes dynamic analysis using proposed fast finite element method for a shock absorbing structure including a sponge. The structure is supported by nonlinear concentrated springs. The restoring force of the spring has cubic nonlinearity and linear hysteresis damping. To calculate damping properties for the structures including elastic body and porous body, displacement vectors as common unknown variable are solved under coupled condition. Under small amplitude, we apply asymptotic method to complex eigenvalue problem of this system to obtain modal parameters. And then expressions of modal loss factor are derived approximately. This approach was proposed by one of the authors previously. We call this method as Modal Strain and Kinetic Energy Method (MSKE method). Further, using the modal loss factors, the discretized equations in physical coordinate are transformed into the nonlinear ordinary coupled equations using normal coordinate corresponding to linear natural modes. This transformation yields computation efficiency. As a numerical example of a shock absorbing structures, we adopt double skins with a sponge. The double skins are supported by nonlinear concentrated springs. We clarify influences of amplitude of the input force on nonlinear and chaotic responses.

Keywords: Dynamic response, Nonlinear and chaotic motions, Finite Element analysis, Numerical analysis.

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Authors: Mohammed Shatnawi, Qusai Abuein, Susumu Shibusawa

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Signature amortization schemes have been introduced for authenticating multicast streams, in which, a single signature is amortized over several packets. The hash value of each packet is computed, some hash values are appended to other packets, forming what is known as hash chain. These schemes divide the stream into blocks, each block is a number of packets, the signature packet in these schemes is either the first or the last packet of the block. Amortization schemes are efficient solutions in terms of computation and communication overhead, specially in real-time environment. The main effictive factor of amortization schemes is it-s hash chain construction. Some studies show that signing the first packet of each block reduces the receiver-s delay and prevents DoS attacks, other studies show that signing the last packet reduces the sender-s delay. To our knowledge, there is no studies that show which is better, to sign the first or the last packet in terms of authentication probability and resistance to packet loss. In th is paper we will introduce another scheme for authenticating multicast streams that is robust against packet loss, reduces the overhead, and prevents the DoS attacks experienced by the receiver in the same time. Our scheme-The Multiple Connected Chain signing the First packet (MCF) is to append the hash values of specific packets to other packets,then append some hashes to the signature packet which is sent as the first packet in the block. This scheme is aspecially efficient in terms of receiver-s delay. We discuss and evaluate the performance of our proposed scheme against those that sign the last packet of the block.

Keywords: multicast stream authentication, hash chain construction, signature amortization, authentication probability.

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