Search results for: Basin average value of FFPI

Authors: H. Al-Sholigom, Z. Al-Mostafa

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Many associations and experimental models have been developed to estimate solar radiation around the world. The duration of sunshine is the most commonly used parameter for estimating global solar radiation because it can be easily and reliably measured. To estimate the global monthly solar average on horizontal surfaces, we used 52 models with widely available data in Hutat Suder, Saudi Arabia. After testing the models, some were not suitable for use in this area, while others differed in performance. The best models have been identified.

Keywords: Earth, Global solar radiation, Hutat Suder, Saudi Arabia, sunshine, measured data.

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Authors: X.N. Chen, J.P. Wang, D. Jiang

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There were many studies on how to alleviate breast discomfort by reducing breast motion, in which nipple motion was used to represent breast motion. However, this assumption had not been experimentally validated. The aim of this paper was to experimentally validate if nipple can be used as a good indicator of breast. Seven participants (average of 24.4 years old) were recruited to walk and run on the treadmill at 5km h-1 and 10km h-1 respectively. Six markers were pasted on their bodies to collect motion data of different parts of breasts. The results of Friedman test combined with the relationship among the five markers on the same breast revealed that nipple could be used as a good indicator of breast. Wilcoxon test showed that there was no significant (P<0.05) between left and right nipple-s motion, so left nipple and right nipple could both be used to represent breast motion.

Keywords: Bra, breast motion, breast pain, nipple.

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Authors: Samee Ahmad, Adnan Masood, Umar S. Khan

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A 2-Degrees of freedom powered prosthetic wrist actuator has been proposed that can provide the Abduction/Adduction & Flexion/Extension movements of the human wrist. The basic structure of the actuator is a Ball and Socket joint and the force is transmitted from the DC geared servo motors to the joint through the Bowden cables. The proposed design is capable of providing the required DOF in both axes i.e. 85° & 90° in flexion extension axis. The size and weight of the actuator lies within the ranges of an average human being-s wrist.

Keywords: Actuator, Ball & Socket, Bowden Cable, Prosthetic, Wrist

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Authors: E. Arsuaga Uriarte, F. Díaz Martín

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The SOM has several beneficial features which make it a useful method for data mining. One of the most important features is the ability to preserve the topology in the projection. There are several measures that can be used to quantify the goodness of the map in order to obtain the optimal projection, including the average quantization error and many topological errors. Many researches have studied how the topology preservation should be measured. One option consists of using the topographic error which considers the ratio of data vectors for which the first and second best BMUs are not adjacent. In this work we present a study of the behaviour of the topographic error in different kinds of maps. We have found that this error devaluates the rectangular maps and we have studied the reasons why this happens. Finally, we suggest a new topological error to improve the deficiency of the topographic error.

Keywords: Map lattice, Self-Organizing Map, topographic error, topology preservation.

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Authors: Asit K Sikary, O. P. Murty

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In this study, we have collected cases with adipocere formation, which were from the South Delhi region (average room temperature 27-390C) and autopsied at our centre. Details of the circumstances of the death, cause and time of death, surrounding environment and demographic profile of the deceased were taken into account. Total 16 cases were included in this study. Adipocere formation was predominantly present over cheeks, shoulder, breast, flanks, buttocks, and thighs. Out of 16, 11 cases were found in a dry atmosphere, 5 cases were brought from the water. There were 5 cases in which adipocere formation was seen in less than 2 days, and among them, in 1 case, as early as one day. This study showed that adipocere formation can be seen as early as 1 day in a hot and humid environment.

Keywords: Adipocere, drowning, hanging, humid environment, strangulation, subtropical climate.

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Authors: Mahdi Shaneh, Arash Golibagh Mahyari

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Image enhancement is the most important challenging preprocessing for almost all applications of Image Processing. By now, various methods such as Median filter, α-trimmed mean filter, etc. have been suggested. It was proved that the α-trimmed mean filter is the modification of median and mean filters. On the other hand, ε-filters have shown excellent performance in suppressing noise. In spite of their simplicity, they achieve good results. However, conventional ε-filter is based on moving average. In this paper, we suggested a new ε-filter which utilizes α-trimmed mean. We argue that this new method gives better outcomes compared to previous ones and the experimental results confirmed this claim.

Keywords: Image enhancement, median filter, ε-filter – α-trimmed mean filter.

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Authors: Arunee Wongkha, Suparat Niwitpong, Sa-aat Niwitpong

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In this paper, we propose two new confidence intervals for the inverse of a normal mean with a known coefficient of variation. One of new confidence intervals for the inverse of a normal mean with a known coefficient of variation is constructed based on the pivotal statistic Z where Z is a standard normal distribution and another confidence interval is constructed based on the generalized confidence interval, presented by Weerahandi. We examine the performance of these confidence intervals in terms of coverage probabilities and average lengths via Monte Carlo simulation.

Keywords: The inverse of a normal mean, confidence interval, generalized confidence intervals, known coefficient of variation.

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Authors: H. B. Kekre, Tanuja K. Sarode

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Mostly transforms are used for speech data compressions which are lossy algorithms. Such algorithms are tolerable for speech data compression since the loss in quality is not perceived by the human ear. However the vector quantization (VQ) has a potential to give more data compression maintaining the same quality. In this paper we propose speech data compression algorithm using vector quantization technique. We have used VQ algorithms LBG, KPE and FCG. The results table shows computational complexity of these three algorithms. Here we have introduced a new performance parameter Average Fractional Change in Speech Sample (AFCSS). Our FCG algorithm gives far better performance considering mean absolute error, AFCSS and complexity as compared to others.

Keywords: Vector Quantization, Data Compression, Encoding, , Speech coding.

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Authors: Charline David, Alexandre Blondin Massé, Arnaud Zinflou

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We present a multiple equation time series approach for the short-term load forecasting applied to the electrical power load consumption for the whole Quebec province, in Canada. More precisely, we take into account three meteorological variables — temperature, cloudiness and wind speed —, and we use meteorological measurements taken at different locations on the territory. Our final model shows an average MAPE score of 1.79% over an 8-years dataset.

Keywords: Short-term load forecasting, special days, time series, multiple equations, parallelization, clustering.

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Authors: Anant Oonsivilai, Wichai Srisuruk, Boonruang Marungsri, Thanatchai Kulworawanichpong

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Optimal routing in communication networks is a major issue to be solved. In this paper, the application of Tabu Search (TS) in the optimum routing problem where the aim is to minimize the computational time and improvement of quality of the solution in the communication have been addressed. The goal is to minimize the average delays in the communication. The effectiveness of Tabu Search method is shown by the results of simulation to solve the shortest path problem. Through this approach computational cost can be reduced.

Keywords: Communication networks, optimum routing network, tabu search algorithm, shortest path.

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Authors: A. Taqaddas

Abstract:

Purpose: Planning and dosimetry of different VMAT algorithms (SmartArc, Ergo++, Autobeam) is compared with IMRT for Head and Neck Cancer patients. Modelling was performed to rule out the causes of discrepancies between planned and delivered dose. Methods: Five HNC patients previously treated with IMRT were re-planned with SmartArc (SA), Ergo++ and Autobeam. Plans were compared with each other and against IMRT and evaluated using DVHs for PTVs and OARs, delivery time, monitor units (MU) and dosimetric accuracy. Modelling of control point (CP) spacing, Leaf-end Separation and MLC/Aperture shape was performed to rule out causes of discrepancies between planned and delivered doses. Additionally estimated arc delivery times, overall plan generation times and effect of CP spacing and number of arcs on plan generation times were recorded. Results: Single arc SmartArc plans (SA4d) were generally better than IMRT and double arc plans (SA2Arcs) in terms of homogeneity and target coverage. Double arc plans seemed to have a positive role in achieving improved Conformity Index (CI) and better sparing of some Organs at Risk (OARs) compared to Step and Shoot IMRT (ss-IMRT) and SA4d. Overall Ergo++ plans achieved best CI for both PTVs. Dosimetric validation of all VMAT plans without modelling was found to be lower than ss-IMRT. Total MUs required for delivery were on average 19%, 30%, 10.6% and 6.5% lower than ss-IMRT for SA4d, SA2d (Single arc with 2⁰ Gantry Spacing), SA2Arcs and Autobeam plans respectively. Autobeam was most efficient in terms of actual treatment delivery times whereas Ergo++ plans took longest to deliver. Conclusion: Overall SA single arc plans on average achieved best target coverage and homogeneity for both PTVs. SA2Arc plans showed improved CI and some OARs sparing. Very good dosimetric results were achieved with modelling. Ergo++ plans achieved best CI. Autobeam resulted in fastest treatment delivery times.

Keywords: Dosimetry, Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy, Optimization Algorithms, Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy.

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Authors: Hui-Yu Huang, Shih-Hsu Chang

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In this paper, we propose a high capacity image hiding technology based on pixel prediction and the difference of modified histogram. This approach is used the pixel prediction and the difference of modified histogram to calculate the best embedding point. This approach can improve the predictive accuracy and increase the pixel difference to advance the hiding capacity. We also use the histogram modification to prevent the overflow and underflow. Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed method within the same average hiding capacity can still keep high quality of image and low distortion

Keywords: data hiding, predictor

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Authors: Affordability, Expenditure Patterns towards Sustainable Consumption in Malaysia

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Safe drinking water is needed for survival. Households have to pay the water bill monthly. However, lower income households are sometimes unable to afford the cost. This study examines water access and affordability among households in Malaysia and the determinants of water affordability using cross-sectional data and multiple regression. The paper expects that the bill for basic water consumption is inversely related to average income. This means that policy makers need to redesign the water tariff to improve the quality of life of lower income households.

Keywords: Affordability, households, income, water tariff.

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Authors: W. Thongwat, B. Terakulsatit

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The study area is Kham Sakaesaeng District in Nakhon Ratchasima Province, the south section of Northeastern Thailand, located in the Lower Khorat-Ubol Basin. This region is the one of saline soil area, located in a dry plateau and regularly experience standing with periods of floods and alternating with periods of drought. Especially, the drought in the summer season causes the major saline soil and saline water problems of this region. The general cause of dry land salting resulted from salting on irrigated land, and an excess of water leading to the rising water table in the aquifer. The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship of physical and chemical properties between the soil and groundwater. The soil and groundwater samples were collected in both rainy and summer seasons. The content of pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), chloride and salinity were investigated. The experimental result of soil and groundwater samples show the slightly pH less than 7, EC (186 to 8,156 us/cm and 960 to 10,712 us/cm), TDS (93 to 3,940 ppm and 480 to 5,356 ppm), chloride content (45.58 to 4,177,015 mg/l and 227.90 to 9,216,736 mg/l), and salinity (0.07 to 4.82 ppt and 0.24 to 14.46 ppt) in the rainy and summer seasons, respectively. The distribution of chloride content and salinity content were interpolated and displayed as a map by using ArcMap 10.3 program, according to the season. The result of saline soil and brined groundwater in the study area were related to the low-lying topography, drought area, and salt-source exposure. Especially, the Rock Salt Member of Maha Sarakham Formation was exposed or lies near the ground surface in this study area. During the rainy season, salt was eroded or weathered from the salt-source rock formation and transported by surface flow or leached into the groundwater. In the dry season, the ground surface is dry enough resulting salt precipitates from the brined surface water or rises from the brined groundwater influencing the increasing content of chloride and salinity in the ground surface and groundwater.

Keywords: Environmental geology, soil salinity, geochemistry, groundwater hydrology.

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Authors: Aymen Rhouma, Khaled Hcheichi, Sami Hafsi

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The article presents an application of Fractional Model Predictive Control (FMPC) to a fractional order thermal system using Controlled Auto Regressive Integrated Moving Average (CARIMA) model obtained by discretization of a continuous fractional differential equation. Moreover, the output deviation approach is exploited to design the K -step ahead output predictor, and the corresponding control law is obtained by solving a quadratic cost function. Experiment results onto a thermal system are presented to emphasize the performances and the effectiveness of the proposed predictive controller.

Keywords: Fractional model predictive control, fractional order systems, thermal system.

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Authors: J. P. Dubois

Abstract:

This paper reports the feasibility of the ARMA model to describe a bursty video source transmitting over a AAL5 ATM link (VBR traffic). The traffic represents the activity of the action movie "Lethal Weapon 3" transmitted over the ATM network using the Fore System AVA-200 ATM video codec with a peak rate of 100 Mbps and a frame rate of 25. The model parameters were estimated for a single video source and independently multiplexed video sources. It was found that the model ARMA (2, 4) is well-suited for the real data in terms of average rate traffic profile, probability density function, autocorrelation function, burstiness measure, and the pole-zero distribution of the filter model.

Keywords: ARMA, ATM networks, burstiness, multimediatraffic, VBR video.

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Authors: Farouq Twaiq, Ishaq Al-Anbari, Mustafa Nasser

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The kinetics of palm oil catalytic cracking over aluminum containing mesoporous silica Al-MCM-41 (5% Al) was investigated in a batch autoclave reactor at the temperatures range of 573 – 673 K. The catalyst was prepared by using sol-gel technique and has been characterized by nitrogen adsorption and x-ray diffraction methods. Surface area of 1276 m2/g with average pore diameter of 2.54 nm and pore volume of 0.811 cm3/g was obtained. The experimental catalytic cracking runs were conducted using 50 g of oil and 1 g of catalyst. The reaction pressure was recorded at different time intervals and the data were analyzed using Levenberg- Marquardt (LM) algorithm using polymath software. The results show that the reaction order was found to be -1.5 and activation energy of 3200 J/gmol.

Keywords: Batch Reactor, Catalytic Cracking, Kinetics, Palm Oil.

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Authors: Avinash Chandra, R. P. Chhabra

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Natural convection heat transfer from a heated horizontal semi-circular cylinder (flat surface upward) has been investigated for the following ranges of conditions; Grashof number, and Prandtl number. The governing partial differential equations (continuity, Navier-Stokes and energy equations) have been solved numerically using a finite volume formulation. In addition, the role of the type of the thermal boundary condition imposed at cylinder surface, namely, constant wall temperature (CWT) and constant heat flux (CHF) are explored. Natural convection heat transfer from a heated horizontal semi-circular cylinder (flat surface upward) has been investigated for the following ranges of conditions; Grashof number, and Prandtl number, . The governing partial differential equations (continuity, Navier-Stokes and energy equations) have been solved numerically using a finite volume formulation. In addition, the role of the type of the thermal boundary condition imposed at cylinder surface, namely, constant wall temperature (CWT) and constant heat flux (CHF) are explored. The resulting flow and temperature fields are visualized in terms of the streamline and isotherm patterns in the proximity of the cylinder. The flow remains attached to the cylinder surface over the range of conditions spanned here except that for and ; at these conditions, a separated flow region is observed when the condition of the constant wall temperature is prescribed on the surface of the cylinder. The heat transfer characteristics are analyzed in terms of the local and average Nusselt numbers. The maximum value of the local Nusselt number always occurs at the corner points whereas it is found to be minimum at the rear stagnation point on the flat surface. Overall, the average Nusselt number increases with Grashof number and/ or Prandtl number in accordance with the scaling considerations. The numerical results are used to develop simple correlations as functions of Grashof and Prandtl number thereby enabling the interpolation of the present numerical results for the intermediate values of the Prandtl or Grashof numbers for both thermal boundary conditions.

Keywords: Constant heat flux, Constant surface temperature, Grashof number, natural convection, Prandtl number, Semi-circular cylinder

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Authors: Susmita Sahoo, Madhumanti Datta, Rajib Kar

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This work proposes an accurate crosstalk noise estimation method in the presence of multiple RLC lines for the use in design automation tools. This method correctly models the loading effects of non switching aggressors and aggressor tree branches using resistive shielding effect and realistic exponential input waveforms. Noise peak and width expressions have been derived. The results obtained are at good agreement with SPICE results. Results show that average error for noise peak is 4.7% and for the width is 6.15% while allowing a very fast analysis.

Keywords: Crosstalk, distributed RLC segments, On-Chip interconnect, output response, VLSI, noise peak, noise width.

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Authors: Disciglio G., Lops F., Carlucci A., Gatta G., Tarantino A., Frabboni L., Carriero F., Cibelli F., Raimondo M. L., Tarantino E.

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The tomato is a very important crop, whose cultivation in the Mediterranean basin is severely affected by the phytoparasitic weed Phelipanche ramosa. The semiarid regions of the world are considered the main areas where this parasitic weed is established causing heavy infestation as it is able to produce high numbers of seeds (up to 500,000 per plant), which remain viable for extended period (more than 20 years). In this paper the results obtained from eleven treatments in order to control this parasitic weed including chemical, agronomic, biological and biotechnological methods compared with the untreated test under two plowing depths (30 and 50 cm) are reported. The split-plot design with 3 replicates was adopted. In 2014 a trial was performed in Foggia province (southern Italy) on processing tomato (cv Docet) grown in the field infested by Phelipanche ramosa. Tomato seedlings were transplant on May 5, on a clay-loam soil. During the growing cycle of the tomato crop, at 56-78 and 92 days after transplantation, the number of parasitic shoots emerged in each plot was detected. At tomato harvesting, on August 18, the major quantity-quality yield parameters were determined (marketable yield, mean weight, dry matter, pH, soluble solids and color of fruits). All data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the means were compared by Tukey's test. Each treatment studied did not provide complete control against Phelipanche ramosa. However, among the different methods tested, some of them which Fusarium, gliphosate, radicon biostimulant and Red Setter tomato cv (improved genotypes obtained by Tilling technology) under deeper plowing (50 cm depth) proved to mitigate the virulence of the Phelipanche ramose attacks. It is assumed that these effects can be improved combining some of these treatments each other, especially for a gradual and continuing reduction of the “seed bank” of the parasite in the soil.

Keywords: Control methods, Phelipanche ramosa, tomato crop.

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Authors: Danladi Ali, Onah Festus Iloabuchi

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In this paper, GSM signal strength was measured in order to detect the type of the signal fading phenomenon using onedimensional multilevel wavelet residual method and neural network clustering to determine the average GSM signal strength received in the study area. The wavelet residual method predicted that the GSM signal experienced slow fading and attenuated with MSE of 3.875dB. The neural network clustering revealed that mostly -75dB, -85dB and -95dB were received. This means that the signal strength received in the study is a weak signal.

Keywords: One-dimensional multilevel wavelets, path loss, GSM signal strength, propagation and urban environment.

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Authors: Soumia Ichoua

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In this paper, we investigate the strategic stochastic air traffic flow management problem which seeks to balance airspace capacity and demand under weather disruptions. The goal is to reduce the need for myopic tactical decisions that do not account for probabilistic knowledge about the NAS near-future states. We present and discuss a scenario-based modeling approach based on a time-space stochastic process to depict weather disruption occurrences in the NAS. A solution framework is also proposed along with a distributed implementation aimed at overcoming scalability problems. Issues related to this implementation are also discussed.

Keywords: Air traffic management, sample average approximation, scenario-based approach, stochastic capacity.

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Authors: Udomporn Yingpaisuk, Premwadee Karuhadej

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The purposed of this research was to study the eating habit of teenage pregnancy and its relationship to the knowledge of nutrition during pregnancy. The 100 samples were derived from simple random sampling technique of the teenage pregnancy in Bangkae District. The questionnaire was used to collect data with the reliability of 0.8. The data were analyzed by SPSS for Windows with multiple regression technique. Percentage, mean and the relationship of knowledge of eating and eating behavior were obtained. The research results revealed that their knowledge in nutrition was at the average of 4.07 and their eating habit that they mentioned most was to refrain from alcohol and caffeine at 82% and the knowledge in nutrition influenced their eating habits at 54% with the statistically significant level of 0.001.

Keywords: Teenage pregnancy, knowledge of nutrition, eating habit.

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Authors: S. Desouky, A. Al sabagh , M. Betiha, A. Badawi, A. Ghanem, S. Khalil

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Two Amphiphilic catalysts, iron (III) dodecylbenzene sulfonate and nickel (II) dodecylbenzene sulfonate, were synthesized and used in the catalytic aquathermolysis of heavy crude oil to reduce its viscosity. The prepared catalysts exhibited good performance in the aquathermolysis and the viscosity is reduced by ~ 78.9 % for Egyptian heavy crude oil. The chemical and physical properties of heavy oil both before and after reaction were investigated by FT-IR, dynamic viscosity, molecular weight and SARA analysis. The results indicated that the content of resin, asphaltene, average molecular weight and sulfur content of heavy oil is reduced after the catalytic aquathermolysis.

Keywords: Amphiphilic catalyst, Aquathermolysis, Heavy oil, Viscosity reduction.

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Authors: Ime R. Udotong, Justina I. R. Udotong, Ofonime U. M. John

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Brass terminal, one of the several crude oil and petroleum products storage/handling facilities in the Niger Delta was built in the 1980s. Activities at this site, over the years, released crude oil into this 3 m-deep, 1500 m-long canal lying adjacent to the terminal with oil floating on it and its sediment heavily polluted. To ensure effective clean-up, three major activities were planned: site characterization, bioremediation pilot plant construction and testing and full-scale bioremediation of contaminated sediment / bank soil by land farming. The canal was delineated into 12 lots and each characterized, with reference to the floating oily phase, contaminated sediment and canal bank soil. As a result of site characterization, a pilot plant for on-site bioremediation was designed and a treatment basin constructed for carrying out pilot bioremediation test. Following a designed sampling protocol, samples from this pilot plant were collected for analysis at two laboratories as a quality assurance / quality control check. Results showed that Brass Canal upstream is contaminated with dark, thick and viscous oily film with characteristic hydrocarbon smell while downstream, thin oily film interspersed with water was observed. Sediments were observed to be dark with mixture of brownish sandy soil with TPH ranging from 17,800 mg/kg in Lot 1 to 88,500 mg/kg in Lot 12 samples. Brass Canal bank soil was observed to be sandy from ground surface to 3m, below ground surface (bgs) it was silty-sandy and brownish while subsurface soil (4-10m bgs) was sandy-clayey and whitish/grayish with typical hydrocarbon smell. Preliminary results obtained so far have been very promising but were proprietary. This project is considered, to the best of technical literature knowledge, the first large-scale on-site bioremediation project in the Niger Delta region, Nigeria.

Keywords: Bioremediation, Contaminated sediment, Land farming, Oily sludge, Oil Terminal.

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Authors: Mohamed Boulouird, Moha M'Rabet Hassani

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In this paper, many techniques for blind identification of moving average (MA) process are presented. These methods utilize third- and fourth-order cumulants of the noisy observations of the system output. The system is driven by an independent and identically distributed (i.i.d) non-Gaussian sequence that is not observed. Two nonlinear optimization algorithms, namely the Gradient Descent and the Gauss-Newton algorithms are exposed. An algorithm based on the joint-diagonalization of the fourth-order cumulant matrices (FOSI) is also considered, as well as an improved version of the classical C(q, 0, k) algorithm based on the choice of the Best 1-D Slice of fourth-order cumulants. To illustrate the effectiveness of our methods, various simulation examples are presented.

Keywords: Cumulants, Identification, MA models, Parameter estimation

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Authors: A.Doustgani, E.Vasheghani- Farahani, M. Soleimani, S. Hashemi-Najafabadi

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Aligned and random nanofibrous scaffolds of PVA/PCL/nHA were fabricated by electrospinning method. The composite nanofibrous scaffolds were subjected to detailed analysis. Morphological investigations revealed that the prepared nanofibers have uniform morphology and the average fiber diameters of aligned and random scaffolds were 135.5 and 290 nm, respectively. The obtained scaffolds have a porous structure with porosity of 88 and 76% for random and aligned nanofibers, respectively. Furthermore, FTIR analysis demonstrated that there were strong intramolecular interactions between the molecules of PVA/PCL/nHA. On the other hand, mechanical characterizations show that aligning the nanofibers, could significantly improve the rigidity of the resultant biocomposite nanofibrous scaffolds.

Keywords: Electrospinnig, nanofibrous scaffold, poly (vinyl alcohol), polycaprolactone.

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Authors: Jorge Ramírez-Ortiz, Jorge Medina-Valtierra, Merced Martínez Rosales

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Biodiesel production with used frying by transesterification reaction with methanol, using a commercial kaolinite thermally-activated solid acid catalyst was investigated. The surface area, the average pore diameter and pore volume of the kaolinite catalyst were 10 m2/g, 13.0 nm and 30 mm3/g, respectively. The optimal conditions for the transesterification reaction were determined to be oil/methanol, in a molar ratio 1:31, temperature 160 ºC and catalyst concentration of 3% (w/w). The yield of fatty acids methyl esters (FAME) was 92.4% after 2 h of reaction. This method of preparation of biodiesel can be a positive alternative for utilizing used frying corn oil for feedstock of biodiesel combined with the inexpensive catalyst.

Keywords: Biodiesel, frying corn oil, kaolinite, transesterification

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Authors: Sakura Yoshii, Kana Sekiguchi, Akihiro Iijima

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The balance between nitrogen loading and runoff in the forested headwater streams of the Kanna River was estimated to elucidate the current status of nitrogen saturation in a forested watershed. NO3-N concentration in the study area was far higher than the average value in Japan. Estimated nitrogen runoff accounted for 55–57% of nitrogen loading; suggesting that the forest-s nitrogen retention capacity is most likely in decline. Since the 1970s, Japan-s forestry industry has been declining due to the decrease in lumber demand and increase in cheap imported materials. Thus, this decline will contribute significantly to further reducing nitrogen saturation in forest ecosystems.

Keywords: Dissolved inorganic nitrogen species, Forest management, Nitrogen Saturation, Watershed.

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Authors: A.Aloysius, L. Arockiam

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In modern era, the biggest challenge facing the software industry is the upcoming of new technologies. So, the software engineers are gearing up themselves to meet and manage change in large software system. Also they find it difficult to deal with software cognitive complexities. In the last few years many metrics were proposed to measure the cognitive complexity of software. This paper aims at a comprehensive survey of the metric of software cognitive complexity. Some classic and efficient software cognitive complexity metrics, such as Class Complexity (CC), Weighted Class Complexity (WCC), Extended Weighted Class Complexity (EWCC), Class Complexity due to Inheritance (CCI) and Average Complexity of a program due to Inheritance (ACI), are discussed and analyzed. The comparison and the relationship of these metrics of software complexity are also presented.

Keywords: Software Metrics, Software Complexity, Cognitive Informatics, Cognitive Complexity, Software measurement

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