Search results for: Free 2−crossed complexes CW−basis
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 2090

Search results for: Free 2−crossed complexes CW−basis

1580 Rayleigh-Bénard-Taylor Convection of Newtonian Nanoliquid

Authors: P. G. Siddheshwar, T. N. Sakshath

Abstract:

In the paper we make linear and non-linear stability analyses of Rayleigh-Bénard convection of a Newtonian nanoliquid in a rotating medium (called as Rayleigh-Bénard-Taylor convection). Rigid-rigid isothermal boundaries are considered for investigation. Khanafer-Vafai-Lightstone single phase model is used for studying instabilities in nanoliquids. Various thermophysical properties of nanoliquid are obtained using phenomenological laws and mixture theory. The eigen boundary value problem is solved for the Rayleigh number using an analytical method by considering trigonometric eigen functions. We observe that the critical nanoliquid Rayleigh number is less than that of the base liquid. Thus the onset of convection is advanced due to the addition of nanoparticles. So, increase in volume fraction leads to advanced onset and thereby increase in heat transport. The amplitudes of convective modes required for estimating the heat transport are determined analytically. The tri-modal standard Lorenz model is derived for the steady state assuming small scale convective motions. The effect of rotation on the onset of convection and on heat transport is investigated and depicted graphically. It is observed that the onset of convection is delayed due to rotation and hence leads to decrease in heat transport. Hence, rotation has a stabilizing effect on the system. This is due to the fact that the energy of the system is used to create the component V. We observe that the amount of heat transport is less in the case of rigid-rigid isothermal boundaries compared to free-free isothermal boundaries.

Keywords: Nanoliquid, rigid-rigid, rotation, single-phase.

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1579 Triple Intercell Bar for Electrometallurgical Processes: A Design to Increase PV Energy Utilization

Authors: Eduardo P. Wiechmann, Jorge A. Henríquez, Pablo E. Aqueveque, Luis G. Muñoz

Abstract:

PV energy prices are declining rapidly. To take advantage of the benefits of those prices and lower the carbon footprint, operational practices must be modified. Undoubtedly, it challenges the electrowinning practice to operate at constant current throughout the day. This work presents a technology that contributes in providing modulation capacity to the electrode current distribution system. This is to raise the day time dc current and lower it at night. The system is a triple intercell bar that operates in current-source mode. The design is a capping board free dogbone type of bar that ensures an operation free of short circuits, hot swapability repairs and improved current balance. This current-source system eliminates the resetting currents circulating in equipotential bars. Twin auxiliary connectors are added to the main connectors providing secure current paths to bypass faulty or impaired contacts. All system conductive elements are positioned over a baseboard offering a large heat sink area to the ventilation of a facility. The system works with lower temperature than a conventional busbar. Of these attributes, the cathode current balance property stands out and is paramount for day/night modulation and the use of photovoltaic energy. A design based on a 3D finite element method model predicting electric and thermal performance under various industrial scenarios is presented. Preliminary results obtained in an electrowinning facility with industrial prototypes are included.

Keywords: Electrowinning, intercell bars, PV energy, current modulation.

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1578 A New Approach In Protein Folding Studies Revealed The Potential Site For Nucleation Center

Authors: Nurul Bahiyah Ahmad Khairudin, Habibah A Wahab

Abstract:

A new approach to predict the 3D structures of proteins by combining the knowledge-based method and Molecular Dynamics Simulation is presented on the chicken villin headpiece subdomain (HP-36). Comparative modeling is employed as the knowledge-based method to predict the core region (Ala9-Asn28) of the protein while the remaining residues are built as extended regions (Met1-Lys8; Leu29-Phe36) which then further refined using Molecular Dynamics Simulation for 120 ns. Since the core region is built based on a high sequence identity to the template (65%) resulting in RMSD of 1.39 Å from the native, it is believed that this well-developed core region can act as a 'nucleation center' for subsequent rapid downhill folding. Results also demonstrate that the formation of the non-native contact which tends to hamper folding rate can be avoided. The best 3D model that exhibits most of the native characteristics is identified using clustering method which then further ranked based on the conformational free energies. It is found that the backbone RMSD of the best model compared to the NMR-MDavg is 1.01 Å and 3.53 Å, for the core region and the complete protein, respectively. In addition to this, the conformational free energy of the best model is lower by 5.85 kcal/mol as compared to the NMR-MDavg. This structure prediction protocol is shown to be effective in predicting the 3D structure of small globular protein with a considerable accuracy in much shorter time compared to the conventional Molecular Dynamics simulation alone.

Keywords: 3D model, Chicken villin headpiece subdomain, Molecular dynamic simulation NMR-MDavg, RMSD.

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1577 Optimization Modeling of the Hybrid Antenna Array for the DoA Estimation

Authors: Somayeh Komeylian

Abstract:

The direction of arrival (DoA) estimation is the crucial aspect of the radar technologies for detecting and dividing several signal sources. In this scenario, the antenna array output modeling involves numerous parameters including noise samples, signal waveform, signal directions, signal number, and signal to noise ratio (SNR), and thereby the methods of the DoA estimation rely heavily on the generalization characteristic for establishing a large number of the training data sets. Hence, we have analogously represented the two different optimization models of the DoA estimation; (1) the implementation of the decision directed acyclic graph (DDAG) for the multiclass least-squares support vector machine (LS-SVM), and (2) the optimization method of the deep neural network (DNN) radial basis function (RBF). We have rigorously verified that the LS-SVM DDAG algorithm is capable of accurately classifying DoAs for the three classes. However, the accuracy and robustness of the DoA estimation are still highly sensitive to technological imperfections of the antenna arrays such as non-ideal array design and manufacture, array implementation, mutual coupling effect, and background radiation and thereby the method may fail in representing high precision for the DoA estimation. Therefore, this work has a further contribution on developing the DNN-RBF model for the DoA estimation for overcoming the limitations of the non-parametric and data-driven methods in terms of array imperfection and generalization. The numerical results of implementing the DNN-RBF model have confirmed the better performance of the DoA estimation compared with the LS-SVM algorithm. Consequently, we have analogously evaluated the performance of utilizing the two aforementioned optimization methods for the DoA estimation using the concept of the mean squared error (MSE).

Keywords: DoA estimation, adaptive antenna array, Deep Neural Network, LS-SVM optimization model, radial basis function, MSE.

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1576 Generalised Slant Weighted Toeplitz Operator

Authors: S. C. Arora, Ritu Kathuria

Abstract:

A slant weighted Toeplitz operator Aφ is an operator on L2(β) defined as Aφ = WMφ where Mφ is the weighted multiplication operator and W is an operator on L2(β) given by We2n = βn β2n en, {en}n∈Z being the orthonormal basis. In this paper, we generalise Aφ to the k-th order slant weighted Toeplitz operator Uφ and study its properties.

Keywords: Slant weighted Toeplitz operator, weighted multiplicationoperator.

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1575 Effect of Alkaline Activator, Water, Superplasticiser and Slag Contents on the Compressive Strength and Workability of Slag-Fly Ash Based Geopolymer Mortar Cured under Ambient Temperature

Authors: M. Al-Majidi, A. Lampropoulos, A. Cundy

Abstract:

Geopolymer (cement-free) concrete is the most promising green alternative to ordinary Portland cement concrete and other cementitious materials. While a range of different geopolymer concretes have been produced, a common feature of these concretes is heat curing treatment which is essential in order to provide sufficient mechanical properties in the early age. However, there are several practical issues with the application of heat curing in large-scale structures. The purpose of this study is to develop cement-free concrete without heat curing treatment. Experimental investigations were carried out in two phases. In the first phase (Phase A), the optimum content of water, polycarboxylate based superplasticizer contents and potassium silicate activator in the mix was determined. In the second stage (Phase B), the effect of ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) incorporation on the compressive strength of fly ash (FA) and Slag based geopolymer mixtures was evaluated. Setting time and workability were also conducted alongside with compressive tests. The results showed that as the slag content was increased the setting time was reduced while the compressive strength was improved. The obtained compressive strength was in the range of 40-50 MPa for 50% slag replacement mixtures. Furthermore, the results indicated that increment of water and superplasticizer content resulted to retarding of the setting time and slight reduction of the compressive strength. The compressive strength of the examined mixes was considerably increased as potassium silicate content was increased.

Keywords: Fly ash, geopolymer, potassium silicate, room temperature treatment, slag.

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1574 Evaluation of Ensemble Classifiers for Intrusion Detection

Authors: M. Govindarajan

Abstract:

One of the major developments in machine learning in the past decade is the ensemble method, which finds highly accurate classifier by combining many moderately accurate component classifiers. In this research work, new ensemble classification methods are proposed with homogeneous ensemble classifier using bagging and heterogeneous ensemble classifier using arcing and their performances are analyzed in terms of accuracy. A Classifier ensemble is designed using Radial Basis Function (RBF) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) as base classifiers. The feasibility and the benefits of the proposed approaches are demonstrated by the means of standard datasets of intrusion detection. The main originality of the proposed approach is based on three main parts: preprocessing phase, classification phase, and combining phase. A wide range of comparative experiments is conducted for standard datasets of intrusion detection. The performance of the proposed homogeneous and heterogeneous ensemble classifiers are compared to the performance of other standard homogeneous and heterogeneous ensemble methods. The standard homogeneous ensemble methods include Error correcting output codes, Dagging and heterogeneous ensemble methods include majority voting, stacking. The proposed ensemble methods provide significant improvement of accuracy compared to individual classifiers and the proposed bagged RBF and SVM performs significantly better than ECOC and Dagging and the proposed hybrid RBF-SVM performs significantly better than voting and stacking. Also heterogeneous models exhibit better results than homogeneous models for standard datasets of intrusion detection. 

Keywords: Data mining, ensemble, radial basis function, support vector machine, accuracy.

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1573 A New Version of Annotation Method with a XML-based Knowledge Base

Authors: Mohammad Yasrebi, Somayeh Khosravi

Abstract:

Machine-understandable data when strongly interlinked constitutes the basis for the SemanticWeb. Annotating web documents is one of the major techniques for creating metadata on the Web. Annotating websitexs defines the containing data in a form which is suitable for interpretation by machines. In this paper, we present a better and improved approach than previous [1] to annotate the texts of the websites depends on the knowledge base.

Keywords: Knowledge base, ontology, semantic annotation, XML.

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1572 Effect of High-Energy Ball Milling on the Electrical and Piezoelectric Properties of (K0.5Na0.5)(Nb0.9Ta0.1)O3 Lead-Free Piezoceramics

Authors: Chongtham Jiten, K. Chandramani Singh, Radhapiyari Laishram

Abstract:

Nanocrystalline powders of the lead-free piezoelectric material, tantalum-substituted potassium sodium niobate (K0.5Na0.5)(Nb0.9Ta0.1)O3 (KNNT), were produced using a Retsch PM100 planetary ball mill by setting the milling time to 15h, 20h, 25h, 30h, 35h and 40h, at a fixed speed of 250rpm. The average particle size of the milled powders was found to decrease from 12nm to 3nm as the milling time increases from 15h to 25h, which is in agreement with the existing theoretical model. An anomalous increase to 98nm and then a drop to 3nm in the particle size were observed as the milling time further increases to 30h and 40h respectively. Various sizes of these starting KNNT powders were used to investigate the effect of milling time on the microstructure, dielectric properties, phase transitions and piezoelectric properties of the resulting KNNT ceramics. The particle size of starting KNNT was somewhat proportional to the grain size. As the milling time increases from 15h to 25h, the resulting ceramics exhibit enhancement in the values of relative density from 94.8% to 95.8%, room temperature dielectric constant (εRT) from 878 to 1213, and piezoelectric charge coefficient (d33) from 108pC/N to 128pC/N. For this range of ceramic samples, grain size refinement suppresses the maximum dielectric constant (εmax), shifts the Curie temperature (Tc) to a lower temperature and the orthorhombic-tetragonal phase transition (Tot) to a higher temperature. Further increase of milling time from 25h to 40h produces a gradual degradation in the values of relative density, εRT, and d33 of the resulting ceramics.

Keywords: Ceramics, Dielectric, High-energy milling, Perovskite.

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1571 Computational Algorithm for Obtaining Abelian Subalgebras in Lie Algebras

Authors: Manuel Ceballos, Juan Nunez, Angel F. Tenorio

Abstract:

The set of all abelian subalgebras is computationally obtained for any given finite-dimensional Lie algebra, starting from the nonzero brackets in its law. More concretely, an algorithm is described and implemented to compute a basis for each nontrivial abelian subalgebra with the help of the symbolic computation package MAPLE. Finally, it is also shown a brief computational study for this implementation, considering both the computing time and the used memory.

Keywords: Solvable Lie algebra, maximal abelian dimension, algorithm.

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1570 Innovative Activity of Virtual Firm

Authors: Veronika Gruberová

Abstract:

The strengthening of competitive advantage combined with the transformation of business strategy is necessary for the company to succeed in the time of market changes. And in this sense the innovation activities of the firm are exactly significanting. Virtual firms are a specific form of enterprise in which we can't suppose all regularities obtaining in other forms. The aim of the paper is to evaluate factors influencing the innovation activity of virtual firm with the determination of their importance and influences on the basis of selected metrics.

Keywords: Innovation, virtual firm, factor

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1569 Estimated Human Absorbed Dose of 111In-BPAMD as a New Bone-Seeking SPECT-Imaging Agent

Authors: H. Yousefnia, S. Zolghadri

Abstract:

An early diagnosis of bone metastasis is very important for making a right decision on a subsequent therapy. One of the most important steps to be taken initially, for developing a new radiopharmaceutical is the measurement of organ radiation exposure dose. In this study, the dosimetric studies of a novel agent for SPECT-imaging of the bone metastasis, 111In-(4- {[(bis(phosphonomethyl))carbamoyl]methyl}7,10bis(carboxymethyl) -1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododec-1-yl) acetic acid (111In-BPAMD) complex, have been carried out to estimate the dose in human organs based on the data derived from mice. The radiolabeled complex was prepared with high radiochemical purity in the optimal conditions. Biodistribution studies of the complex was investigated in the male Syrian mice at the selected times after injection (2, 4, 24 and 48 h). The human absorbed dose estimation of the complex was made based on data derived from the mice by the radiation absorbed dose assessment resource (RADAR) method. 111In-BPAMD complex was prepared with high radiochemical purity >95% (ITLC) and specific activities of 2.85 TBq/mmol. Total body effective absorbed dose for 111In-BPAMD was 0.205 mSv/MBq. This value is comparable to the other 111In clinically used complexes. The results show that the dose with respect to the critical organs is satisfactory within the acceptable range for diagnostic nuclear medicine procedures. Generally, 111In-BPAMD has interesting characteristics and it can be considered as a viable agent for SPECT-imaging of the bone metastasis in the near future.

Keywords: In-111, BPAMD, absorbed dose, RADAR.

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1568 Public Attachment to Religious Places: A Study of Place Attachment to Mosques in Malaysia

Authors: Mina Najafi, Mustafa Kamal Bin Mohd Shariff

Abstract:

Religious place attachment is an affective bond that develops between people and their religious settings. The published literature shows that although religion has a significant impact on the public ‘place attachment’, the architectural features and attributes of the places could still play an influencing role in strengthening this attachment. However, the role of architectural characteristics and features of the religious places, as the components that give them meaning(s), has not been adequately explored. This paper reports the impacts of factors influencing the physical and ambience quality of different styles of Malaysian mosques from the Muslim public perspective. Thereby, a survey was conducted to investigate Malaysian public attachment to selected five Malaysian state mosques with respect to their architectural characteristics and features. The survey employed the results of series of interviews as its theoretical basis. The finding proved that Malaysian ‘Muslim’ society has equally strong attachment to all selected mosques in spite of their different architectural styles. The findings also confirmed that the emotional attachment to the impressive aspects of architectural features (e.g. dome, minaret etc.) and the unique identity of the studied mosques is irrespective of the architectural styles, e.g. Modern vs. Postmodern. The paper also argued that religious activities and pleasant architectural characteristic of the studied places including the functional facilities are equally important factors in forming place attachment. This is a new approach to the study of physical and ambience quality of mosques, hence providing sufficient theoretical basis for further investigations and improvements.

Keywords: Place Attachment, Place Identity, Physical Features, Malaysian Mosques.

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1567 Effects of Lateness Gene on Yield and Related Traits in Indica Rice

Authors: B. B. Rana, M. Yokota, Y. Shimizu, Y. Koide, I. Takamure, T. Kawano, M. Murai

Abstract:

Various genes which control or affect heading time have been found in rice. Out of them, Se1 and E1 loci play important roles in determining heading time by controlling photosensitivity. An isogenic-line pair of late and early lines were developed from progenies of the F1 from Suweon 258 × 36U. A lateness gene tentatively designated as “Ex” was found to control the difference in heading time between the early and late lines mentioned above. The present study was conducted to examine the effect of Ex on yield and related traits. Indica-type variety Suweon 258 was crossed with 36U, which is an Ur1 (Undulate rachis-1) isogenic line of IR36. In the F2 population, comparatively early-heading, late-heading and intermediate-heading plants were segregated. Segregation similar to that by the three types of heading was observed in the F3 and later generations. A late-heading plant and an early-heading plant were selected in the F8 population from an intermediate-heading F7 plant, for developing L and E of the isogenic-line pair, respectively. Experiments for L and E were conducted by randomized block design with three replications. Transplanting was conducted on May 3 at a planting distance of 30 cm × 15 cm with two seedlings per hill to an experimental field of the Faculty of Agriculture, Kochi University. Chemical fertilizers containing N, P2O5 and K2O were applied at the nitrogen levels of 4 g/m2, 9 g/m2 and 18 g/m2 in total being denoted by "N4", "N9" and "N18", respectively. Yield, yield components and other traits were measured. Ex delayed 80%-heading by 17 or 18 days in L as compared with E. In total brown rice yield (g/m2), L was 635, 606 and 590, and E was 577, 548 and 501, respectively, at N18, N9 and N4, indicating that Ex increased this trait by 10% to 18%. Ex increased yield-1.5 mm sieve (g/m2) b 9% to 15% at the three fertilizer levels. Ex increased the spikelet number per panicle by 16% to 22%. As a result, the spikelet number per m2 was increased by 11% to 18% at the three fertilizer levels. Ex decreased 1000-grain weight (g) by 2 to 4%. L was not significantly different from E in ripened-grain percentage, fertilized-spikelet percentage and percentage of ripened grains to fertilized spikelets. Hence, it is inferred that Ex increased yield by increasing spikelet number per panicle. Hence, Ex could be utilized to develop high yielding varieties for warmer districts.

Keywords: Heading time, lateness gene, photosensitivity, rice, yield, yield components.

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1566 Evaluation of Short-Term Load Forecasting Techniques Applied for Smart Micro Grids

Authors: Xiaolei Hu, Enrico Ferrera, Riccardo Tomasi, Claudio Pastrone

Abstract:

Load Forecasting plays a key role in making today's and future's Smart Energy Grids sustainable and reliable. Accurate power consumption prediction allows utilities to organize in advance their resources or to execute Demand Response strategies more effectively, which enables several features such as higher sustainability, better quality of service, and affordable electricity tariffs. It is easy yet effective to apply Load Forecasting at larger geographic scale, i.e. Smart Micro Grids, wherein the lower available grid flexibility makes accurate prediction more critical in Demand Response applications. This paper analyses the application of short-term load forecasting in a concrete scenario, proposed within the EU-funded GreenCom project, which collect load data from single loads and households belonging to a Smart Micro Grid. Three short-term load forecasting techniques, i.e. linear regression, artificial neural networks, and radial basis function network, are considered, compared, and evaluated through absolute forecast errors and training time. The influence of weather conditions in Load Forecasting is also evaluated. A new definition of Gain is introduced in this paper, which innovatively serves as an indicator of short-term prediction capabilities of time spam consistency. Two models, 24- and 1-hour-ahead forecasting, are built to comprehensively compare these three techniques.

Keywords: Short-term load forecasting, smart micro grid, linear regression, artificial neural networks, radial basis function network, Gain.

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1565 Analysis on Spatiotemporal Pattern of Land Surface Temperature in Kunming City, China

Authors: Jinrui Ren, Li Wu

Abstract:

Anthropogenic activities and changes of underlying surface affect the temporal and spatial distribution of surface temperature in Kunming. Taking Kunming city as the research area, the surface temperature in 2000, 2010 and 2020 as the research object, using ENVI 5.3 and ArcGIS 10.8 as auxiliary tools, and based on the spatial autocorrelation method, this paper devoted to exploring the interactions among the changes of surface temperature, urban heat island effect and land use type, so as to provide theoretical basis and scientific basis for mitigating climate change. The results showed that: (1) The heat island effect was obvious in Kunming City, the high temperature area increased from 604 km2 in 2000 to 1269 km2 in 2020, and the sub-high temperature area reached 1099 km2 in 2020; (2) In terms of space, the spatial distribution of LST was significantly different with the change of underlying surface. The high temperature zone extended in three directions: south, north and east. The overall spatial distribution pattern of LST was high in the east and low in the west. (3) The inter-annual fluctuation of land surface temperature (LST) was large, and the growth rate was faster, from 2000 to 2010. The lowest temperature in 2000 was 13.45 ℃, which raised to 19.71 ℃ in 2010, and the temperature difference in 10 years was 6.26 ℃. (4) The land use/land cover type has a strong effect on the change of LST: the man-made land made a great contribution to the increase of LST, followed by grassland and farmland, while forest and water have a significant cooling effect on LST. To sum up, the variation of surface temperature in Kunming is the result of the interactions of human activities and climate change.

Keywords: Surface temperature, urban heat island effect, land use cover type, spatiotemporal variation.

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1564 Management Prospects of Winery By-Products Based on Phenolic Compounds and Antioxidant Activity of Grape Skins: The Case of Greek Ionian Islands

Authors: Marinos Xagoraris, Iliada K. Lappa, Charalambos Kanakis, Dimitra Daferera, Christina Papadopoulou, Georgios Sourounis, Charilaos Giotis, Pavlos Bouchagier, Christos S. Pappas, Petros A. Tarantilis, Efstathia Skotti

Abstract:

The aim of this work was to recover phenolic compounds from grape skins produced in Greek varieties of the Ionian Islands in order to form the basis of calculations for their further utilization in the context of the circular economy. Isolation and further utilization of phenolic compounds is an important issue in winery by-products. For this purpose, 37 samples were collected, extracted, and analyzed in an attempt to provide the appropriate basis for their sustainable exploitation. Extraction of the bioactive compounds was held using an eco-friendly, non-toxic, and highly effective water-glycerol solvent system. Then, extracts were analyzed using UV-Vis, liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), FTIR, and Raman spectroscopy. Also, total phenolic content and antioxidant activity were measured. LC-MS chromatography showed qualitative differences between different varieties. Peaks were attributed to monomeric 3-flavanols as well as monomeric, dimeric, and trimeric proanthocyanidins. The FT-IR and Raman spectra agreed with the chromatographic data and contributed to identifying phenolic compounds. Grape skins exhibited high total phenolic content (TPC), and it was proved that during vinification, a large number of polyphenols remained in the pomace. This study confirmed that grape skins from Ionian Islands are a promising source of bioactive compounds, suggesting their utilization under a bio-economic and environmental strategic framework.

Keywords: Antioxidant activity, grape skin, phenolic compounds, waste recovery.

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1563 Spatial Indeterminacy: Destabilization of Dichotomies in Modern and Contemporary Architecture

Authors: Adrian Lo

Abstract:

Since the advent of modern architecture, notions of free plan and transparency have proliferated well into current trends. The movement’s notion of a spatially homogeneous, open and limitless ‘free plan’ contrasts with the spatially heterogeneous ‘series of rooms’ defined by load bearing walls, which in turn triggered new notions of transparency created by vast expanses of glazed walls. Similarly, transparency was also dichotomized as something that was physical or optical, as well as something conceptual, akin to spatial organization. As opposed to merely accepting the duality and possible incompatibility of these dichotomies, this paper seeks to ask how can space be both literally and phenomenally transparent, as well as exhibit both homogeneous and heterogeneous qualities? This paper explores this potential destabilization or blurring of spatial phenomena by dissecting the transparent layers and volumes of a series of selected case studies to investigate how different architects have devised strategies of spatial ambiguity and interpenetration. Projects by Peter Eisenman, Sou Fujimoto, and SANAA will be discussed and analyzed to show how the superimposition of geometries and spaces achieve different conditions of layering, transparency, and interstitiality. Their particular buildings will be explored to reveal various innovative kinds of spatial interpenetration produced through the articulate relations of the elements of architecture, which challenge conventional perceptions of interior and exterior whereby visual homogeneity blurs with spatial heterogeneity. The results show how spatial conceptions such as interpenetration and transparency have the ability to subvert not only inside-outside dialectics, but could also produce multiple degrees of interiority within complex and indeterminate spatial dimensions in constant flux as well as present alternative forms of social interaction.

Keywords: interpenetration, literal and phenomenal transparency, spatial heterogeneity, visual homogeneity

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1562 Experimental Investigation into Chaotic Features of Flow Gauges in Automobile Fuel Metering System

Authors: S. K. Fasogbon

Abstract:

Chaotic system may lead to instability, extreme sensitivity and performance reduction in control systems. It is therefore important to understand the causes of such undesirable characteristics in control system especially in the automobile fuel gauges. This is because without accurate fuel gauges in automobile systems, it will be difficult if not impossible to embark on a journey whether during odd hours of the day or where fuel is difficult to obtain. To this end, this work studied the impacts of fuel tank rust and faulty component of fuel gauge system (voltage stabilizer) on the chaotic characteristics of fuel gauges. The results obtained were analyzed using Graph iSOFT package. Over the range of experiments conducted, the results obtained showed that rust effect of the fuel tank would alter the flow density, consequently the fluid pressure and ultimately the flow velocity of the fuel. The responses of the fuel gauge pointer to the faulty voltage stabilizer were erratic causing noticeable instability of gauge measurands indicated. The experiment also showed that the fuel gauge performed optimally by indicating the highest degree of accuracy when combined the effect of rust free tank and non-faulty voltage stabilizer conditions (± 6.75% measurand error) as compared to only the rust free tank situation (± 15% measurand error) and only the non-faulty voltage stabilizer condition (± 40% measurand error). The study concludes that both the fuel tank rust and the faulty voltage stabilizer gauge component have a significant effect on the sensitivity of fuel gauge and its accuracy ultimately. Also, by the reason of literature, our findings can also be said to be valid for all other fluid meters and gauges applicable in plant machineries and most hydraulic systems.

Keywords: Chaotic system, degree of accuracy, measurand, sensitivity of fuel gauge.

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1561 Behavior of Ice Melting in Natural Convention

Authors: N. Dizadji, P. Entezar

Abstract:

In this paper, the ice melting in rectangular, cylindrical and conical forms, which are erected vertically against air flow, are experimentally studied in the free convection regime.The results obtained are: Nusslet Number, heat transfer coefficient andGrashof Number, and the variations of the said numbers in relation to the time. The variations of ice slab area and volume are measured, too.

Keywords: Nusselt Number, Heat Transfer, Grashof Number, Heat Transfer Coefficient.

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1560 Improvement of the Shortest Path Problem with Geodesic-Like Method

Authors: Wen-Haw Chen

Abstract:

This paper proposes a method to improve the shortest path problem on a NURBS (Non-uniform rational basis spline) surfaces. It comes from an application of the theory in classic differential geometry on surfaces and can improve the distance problem not only on surfaces but in the Euclidean 3-space R3 .

Keywords: shortest paths, geodesic-like method, NURBS surfaces.

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1559 The New Effective Biostimulator for Agroecological Engineering

Authors: Saniyam A. Ibragimova, Zhandos M. Basygarayev, Almagul R. Kerimkulova, E. A. Bukenova, Murat K. Gilmanov

Abstract:

New biostimulator from wheat seeds which by its chemical composition relates to fusicoccin is presented in this article. New biostimulator could be used as powerful hormonal substance that has ability to increase productivity and salt tolerance of agricultural plants. Also on the basis of biostimulator we have developed vegetative method for fast reproduction of perennial plants as desert plant - Tamarix gracilis.

Keywords: Biostimulator, crop productivity, ecology, fussicoccin, salt tolerance.

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1558 Optimization by Ant Colony Hybryde for the Bin-Packing Problem

Authors: Ben Mohamed Ahemed Mohamed, Yassine Adnan

Abstract:

The problem of bin-packing in two dimensions (2BP) consists in placing a given set of rectangular items in a minimum number of rectangular and identical containers, called bins. This article treats the case of objects with a free orientation of 90Ôùª. We propose an approach of resolution combining optimization by colony of ants (ACO) and the heuristic method IMA to resolve this NP-Hard problem.

Keywords: Ant colony algorithm, bin-packing problem, heuristics methods.

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1557 Biodiesel Production from Waste Chicken Fatbased Sources

Authors: Kambiz Tahvildari A., Narges Davari B., Mohammadreza Allahgholi Ghasri C, MasoomehBehrourzinavid D

Abstract:

Chicken fat was employed as a feedstock for producing of biodiesel by trasesterification reaction with methanol and alkali catalyst (KOH). In this study chicken fat biodiesel with 1.4% free fatty acid, methanol and various amount of potassium hydroxide for 2 hour were studied. The progression of reaction and conversion of triglycerides to methyl ester were checked by IR spectrum method.

Keywords: Alkali catalyst, biodiesel, chicken fat, transesterification reaction

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1556 O-Functionalized CNT Mediated CO Hydro-Deoxygenation and Chain Growth

Authors: K. Mondal, S. Talapatra, M. Terrones, S. Pokhrel, C. Frizzel, B. Sumpter, V. Meunier, A. L. Elias

Abstract:

Worldwide energy independence is reliant on the ability to leverage locally available resources for fuel production. Recently, syngas produced through gasification of carbonaceous materials provided a gateway to a host of processes for the production of various chemicals including transportation fuels. The basis of the production of gasoline and diesel-like fuels is the Fischer Tropsch Synthesis (FTS) process: A catalyzed chemical reaction that converts a mixture of carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H2) into long chain hydrocarbons. Until now, it has been argued that only transition metal catalysts (usually Co or Fe) are active toward the CO hydrogenation and subsequent chain growth in the presence of hydrogen. In this paper, we demonstrate that carbon nanotube (CNT) surfaces are also capable of hydro-deoxygenating CO and producing long chain hydrocarbons similar to that obtained through the FTS but with orders of magnitude higher conversion efficiencies than the present state-of-the-art FTS catalysts. We have used advanced experimental tools such as XPS and microscopy techniques to characterize CNTs and identify C-O functional groups as the active sites for the enhanced catalytic activity. Furthermore, we have conducted quantum Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations to confirm that C-O groups (inherent on CNT surfaces) could indeed be catalytically active towards reduction of CO with H2, and capable of sustaining chain growth. The DFT calculations have shown that the kinetically and thermodynamically feasible route for CO insertion and hydro-deoxygenation are different from that on transition metal catalysts. Experiments on a continuous flow tubular reactor with various nearly metal-free CNTs have been carried out and the products have been analyzed. CNTs functionalized by various methods were evaluated under different conditions. Reactor tests revealed that the hydrogen pre-treatment reduced the activity of the catalysts to negligible levels. Without the pretreatment, the activity for CO conversion as found to be 7 µmol CO/g CNT/s. The O-functionalized samples showed very activities greater than 85 µmol CO/g CNT/s with nearly 100% conversion. Analyses show that CO hydro-deoxygenation occurred at the C-O/O-H functional groups. It was found that while the products were similar to FT products, differences in selectivities were observed which, in turn, was a result of a different catalytic mechanism. These findings now open a new paradigm for CNT-based hydrogenation catalysts and constitute a defining point for obtaining clean, earth abundant, alternative fuels through the use of efficient and renewable catalyst.

Keywords: CNT, CO hydro-deoxygenation, DFT, liquid fuels, XPS, XTL.

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1555 Determination of Cd, Zn, K, pH, TNV, Organic Material and Electrical Conductivity (EC) Distribution in Agricultural Soils using Geostatistics and GIS (Case Study: South- Western of Natanz- Iran)

Authors: Abbas Hani, Seyed Ali Hoseini Abari

Abstract:

Soil chemical and physical properties have important roles in compartment of the environment and agricultural sustainability and human health. The objectives of this research is determination of spatial distribution patterns of Cd, Zn, K, pH, TNV, organic material and electrical conductivity (EC) in agricultural soils of Natanz region in Esfehan province. In this study geostatistic and non-geostatistic methods were used for prediction of spatial distribution of these parameters. 64 composite soils samples were taken at 0-20 cm depth. The study area is located in south of NATANZ agricultural lands with area of 21660 hectares. Spatial distribution of Cd, Zn, K, pH, TNV, organic material and electrical conductivity (EC) was determined using geostatistic and geographic information system. Results showed that Cd, pH, TNV and K data has normal distribution and Zn, OC and EC data had not normal distribution. Kriging, Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW), Local Polynomial Interpolation (LPI) and Redial Basis functions (RBF) methods were used to interpolation. Trend analysis showed that organic carbon in north-south and east to west did not have trend while K and TNV had second degree trend. We used some error measurements include, mean absolute error(MAE), mean squared error (MSE) and mean biased error(MBE). Ordinary kriging(exponential model), LPI(Local polynomial interpolation), RBF(radial basis functions) and IDW methods have been chosen as the best methods to interpolating of the soil parameters. Prediction maps by disjunctive kriging was shown that in whole study area was intensive shortage of organic matter and more than 63.4 percent of study area had shortage of K amount.

Keywords: Electrical conductivity, Geostatistics, Geographical Information System, TNV

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1554 Food Security Model and the Role of Community Empowerment: The Case of a Marginalized Village in Mexico, Tatoxcac, Puebla

Authors: Marco Antonio Lara De la Calleja, María Catalina Ovando Chico, Eduardo Lopez Ruiz

Abstract:

Community empowerment has been proved to be a key element in the solution of the food security problem. As a result of a conceptual analysis, it was found that agricultural production, economic development and governance, are the traditional basis of food security models. Although the literature points to social inclusion as an important factor for food security, no model has considered it as the basis of it. The aim of this research is to identify different dimensions that make an integral model for food security, with emphasis on community empowerment. A diagnosis was made in the study community (Tatoxcac, Zacapoaxtla, Puebla), to know the aspects that impact the level of food insecurity. With a statistical sample integrated by 200 families, the Latin American and Caribbean Food Security Scale (ELCSA) was applied, finding that: in households composed by adults and children, have moderated food insecurity, (ELCSA scale has three levels, low, moderated and high); that result is produced mainly by the economic income capacity and the diversity of the diet on its food. With that being said, a model was developed to promote food security through five dimensions: 1. Regional context of the community; 2. Structure and system of local food; 3. Health and nutrition; 4. Information and technology access; and 5. Self-awareness and empowerment. The specific actions on each axis of the model, allowed a systemic approach needed to attend food security in the community, through the empowerment of society. It is concluded that the self-awareness of local communities is an area of extreme importance, which must be taken into account for participatory schemes to improve food security. In the long term, the model requires the integrated participation of different actors, such as government, companies and universities, to solve something such vital as food security.

Keywords: Community empowerment, food security, model, systemic approach.

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1553 Artificial Neural Network Modeling of a Closed Loop Pulsating Heat Pipe

Authors: Vipul M. Patel, Hemantkumar B. Mehta

Abstract:

Technological innovations in electronic world demand novel, compact, simple in design, less costly and effective heat transfer devices. Closed Loop Pulsating Heat Pipe (CLPHP) is a passive phase change heat transfer device and has potential to transfer heat quickly and efficiently from source to sink. Thermal performance of a CLPHP is governed by various parameters such as number of U-turns, orientations, input heat, working fluids and filling ratio. The present paper is an attempt to predict the thermal performance of a CLPHP using Artificial Neural Network (ANN). Filling ratio and heat input are considered as input parameters while thermal resistance is set as target parameter. Types of neural networks considered in the present paper are radial basis, generalized regression, linear layer, cascade forward back propagation, feed forward back propagation; feed forward distributed time delay, layer recurrent and Elman back propagation. Linear, logistic sigmoid, tangent sigmoid and Radial Basis Gaussian Function are used as transfer functions. Prediction accuracy is measured based on the experimental data reported by the researchers in open literature as a function of Mean Absolute Relative Deviation (MARD). The prediction of a generalized regression ANN model with spread constant of 4.8 is found in agreement with the experimental data for MARD in the range of ±1.81%.

Keywords: ANN models, CLPHP, filling ratio, generalized regression, spread constant.

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1552 Acetalization of Carbonyl Compounds by Using Al2 (HPO4)3 under Green Condition Mg HPO4

Authors: Fariba Jafari, Samaneh Heydarian

Abstract:

Al2(HPO4)3 was easily prepared and used as a solid acid in acetalization of carbonyl compounds at room temperature and under solvent-free conditions. The protection was done in short reaction times and in good to high isolated yields. The cheapness and availability of this reagent with easy procedure and work-up make this method attractive for the organic synthesis.

Keywords: Acetalization, acid catalysis, carbonylcompounds, green condition, protection.

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1551 Adoption and Use of an Electronic Voting System in Ghana

Authors: Isaac Kofi Mensah

Abstract:

The manual system of voting has been the most widely used system of electing representatives around the globe, particularly in Africa. Due to the known numerous problems and challenges associated with the manual system of voting, many countries are migrating to the electronic voting system as a suitable and credible means of electing representatives over the manual paper-based system. This research paper therefore investigated the factors influencing adoption and use of an electronic voting system in Ghana. A total of 400 Questionnaire Instruments (QI) were administered to potential respondents in Ghana, of which 387 responded representing a response rate of 96.75%. The Technology Acceptance Model was used as the theoretical framework for the study. The research model was tested using a simple linear regression analysis with SPSS. A little of over 71.1% of the respondents recommended the Electoral Commission (EC) of Ghana to adopt an electronic voting system in the conduct of public elections in Ghana. The results indicated that all the six predictors such as perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU), perceived free and fair elections (PFFF), perceived credible elections (PCE), perceived system integrity (PSI) and citizens trust in the election management body (CTEM) were all positively significant in predicting the readiness of citizens to adopt and use an electronic voting system in Ghana. However, jointly, the hypotheses tested revealed that apart from Perceived Free and Fair Elections and Perceived Credible and Transparent Elections, all the other factors such as PU, Perceived System Integrity and Security and Citizen Trust in the Election Management Body were found to be significant predictors of the Willingness of Ghanaians to use an electronic voting system. All the six factors considered in this study jointly account for about 53.1% of the reasons determining the readiness to adopt and use an electronic voting system in Ghana. The implications of this research finding on elections in Ghana are discussed.

Keywords: Credible elections, democracy, Election Management Body (EMB), electronic voting, Ghana, Technology Acceptance Model (TAM).

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