Search results for: passive control system

Authors: Bruno B. Oliveira, Arnaldo P. Mourão, Teógenes A. da Silva

Abstract:

The Brazilian legislation has only established diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) in terms of Multiple Scan Average Dose (MSAD) as a quality control parameter for computed tomography (CT) scanners. Compliance with DRLs can be verified by measuring the Computed Tomography Kerma Index (Ca,100) with a pencil ionization chamber or by obtaining the kerma distribution in CT scans with radiochromic films or rod shape lithium fluoride termoluminescent dosimeters (TLD-100). TL dosimeters were used to record kerma profiles and to determine MSAD values of a Bright Speed model GE CT scanner. Measurements were done with radiochromic films and TL dosimeters distributed in cylinders positioned in the center and in four peripheral bores of a standard polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) body CT dosimetry phantom. Irradiations were done using a protocol for adult chest. The maximum values were found at the midpoint of the longitudinal axis. The MSAD values obtained with three dosimetric techniques were compared.

Keywords: Kerma profile, CT, MSAD, patient dosimetry

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Authors: M. Sivaiah, R. Parmar, S. K. Majumder

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This article reports on hydrodynamic, mass transfer performances of fine bubble in a modified reactor. The quality of mixing in the modified reactor is discussed in the paper. Mass transfer efficiency based on quality of mixing is enunciated. To interpret the gas phase volume fraction and the quality of mixing is the empirical models for the modified system are developed.

Keywords: Downflow, bubble, hydrodynamics, gas-liquid, mixing, mass transfer, gas holdup

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Authors: Abdoullah Namdar, Fadzil Mat Yahaya

Abstract:

The waste agriculture materials cause environment pollution, recycle of these materials help sustainable development. This study focused on the impact of used oil palm shell ash on the compressive and flexural strengths of cement mortar. Two different cement mortar mixes have been designed to investigate the impact of oil palm shell ash on strengths of cement mortar. Quantity of 4% oil palm shell ash has been replaced in cement mortar. The main objective of this paper is, to modify mechanical properties of cement mortar by replacement of oil palm ash in it at early age of 7 days. The results have been revealed optimum quantity of oil palm ash for replacement in cement mortar. The deflection, load to failure, time to failure of compressive strength and flexural strength of all specimens have significantly been improved. The stress-strain behavior has been indicated ability of modified cement mortar in control stress path and strain. The micro property of cement paste has not been investigated.

Keywords: Minerals, additive, flexural strength, compressive strength, modulus of elasticity.

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Authors: Kwangho Cha, Hyeyoung Cho, Sungho Kim

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As many scientific applications require large data processing, the importance of parallel I/O has been increasingly recognized. Collective I/O is one of the considerable features of parallel I/O and enables application programmers to easily handle their large data volume. In this paper we measured and analyzed the performance of original collective I/O and the subgroup method, the way of using collective I/O of MPI effectively. From the experimental results, we found that the subgroup method showed good performance with small data size.

Keywords: Collective I/O, MPI, parallel file system.

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Authors: Heri Hermansyah, Annisa Kurnia, A. Vania Anisya, Adi Surjosatyo, Yopi Sunarya, Rita Arbianti, Tania Surya Utami

Abstract:

Lipase is one of biocatalyst which is applied commercially for the process in industries, such as bioenergy, food, and pharmaceutical industry. Nowadays, biocatalysts are preferred in industries because they work in mild condition, high specificity, and reduce energy consumption (high pressure and temperature). But, the usage of lipase for industry scale is limited by economic reason due to the high price of lipase and difficulty of the separation system. Immobilization of lipase is one of the solutions to maintain the activity of lipase and reduce separation system in the process. Therefore, we conduct a study about lipase immobilization with the adsorption-cross linking method using glutaraldehyde because this method produces high enzyme loading and stability. Lipase is immobilized on different kind of resin with the various functional group. Highest enzyme loading (76.69%) was achieved by lipase immobilized on anion macroporous which have anion functional group (OH^‑). However, highest activity (24,69 U/g support) through olive oil emulsion method was achieved by lipase immobilized on anion macroporous-chitosan which have amino (NH₂) and anion (OH^-) functional group. In addition, it also success to produce biodiesel until reach yield 50,6% through interesterification reaction and after 4 cycles stable 63.9% relative with initial yield. While for Aspergillus, niger lipase immobilized on anion macroporous-kitosan have unit activity 22,84 U/g resin and yield biodiesel higher than commercial lipase (69,1%) and after 4 cycles stable reach 70.6% relative from initial yield. This shows that optimum functional group on support for immobilization with adsorption-cross linking is the support that contains amino (NH₂) and anion (OH^-) functional group because they can react with glutaraldehyde and binding with enzyme prevent desorption of lipase from support through binding lipase with a functional group on support.

Keywords: Adsorption-Cross linking, lipase, resin, immobilization.

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Authors: Maryam Honarmand

Abstract:

Regarding to the fast growth of computer, internet, and virtual learning in our country (Iran) and need computer-based learning systems and multimedia tools as an essential part of such education, designing and implementing such systems would help teach different field such as science. This paper describes the basic principle of multimedia. At the end, with a description of learning science to the infant students, the method of this system will be explained.

Keywords: Multimedia tools, computer based learning, science, student.

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Authors: A.S.A. Khiar, A.K. Arof

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Starch/chitosan blend have been prepared via the solution casting technique. Ionic conductivity for the system was conducted over a wide range of frequency between 50 Hz-1 MHz and at temperatures between 303 K and 373 K. Sample with 35 wt% of NH4NO3 shows the highest conductivity of 3.89 ± 0.79 x 10-5 Scm-1 at room temperature. Conductivity-temperature relationship suggests that samples are Arrhenian. Power law exponent was obtained through dielectric loss variation and the trend suggests that the conduction mechanism of the ions can be represented by the correlated barrier hopping (CBH) model.

Keywords: starch, chitosan, permittivity, power exponent law

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Authors: M. Khlifa, A. Youssef, A. F. Zaed, A. Kraft, V. Arrighi

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A series of polystyrene (PS) nanoparticles were prepared by grafting polystyrene from both aggregated silica and colloidally dispersed silica nanoparticles using atom-transfer radical polymerisation (ATRP). Cross-linking and macroscopic gelation were minimised by using a miniemulsion system. The thermal and mechanical behaviour of the nanocomposites have been examined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA).

Keywords: ATRP, nanocomposites, polystyrene, reinforcement.

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Authors: Sallehan Ismail, Mahyuddin Ramli

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This paper presents the experiment results of investigating the effects of adding various types and proportions of fibre on mechanical strength and permeability characteristics of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC), which was produced with treated coarse recycled concrete aggregate (RCA). Two types of synthetic fibres (i.e., barchip and polypropylene fibre) with various volume fractions were added to the RAC, which was calculated by the weight of the cement. The hardened RAC properties such as compressive strength, flexural strength, ultrasonic pulse velocity, water absorption and total porosity at the curing ages of 7 and 28 days were evaluated and compared with the properties of the control specimens. Results indicate that the treated coarse RCA enhances the mechanical strength and permeability properties of RAC and adding barchip fibre further optimises the results. Adding 1.2% barchip fibre has the best effect on the mechanical strength performance of the RAC.

Keywords: Barchip fibre, polypropylene fibre, recycled aggregate concrete.

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Authors: Sulata Maharana, B Biswas, Adity Ganguly, Ashok Kumar

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In this paper, the requirement for Coke quality prediction, its role in Blast furnaces, and the model output is explained. By applying method of Artificial Neural Networking (ANN) using back propagation (BP) algorithm, prediction model has been developed to predict CSR. Important blast furnace functions such as permeability, heat exchanging, melting, and reducing capacity are mostly connected to coke quality. Coke quality is further dependent upon coal characterization and coke making process parameters. The ANN model developed is a useful tool for process experts to adjust the control parameters in case of coke quality deviations. The model also makes it possible to predict CSR for new coal blends which are yet to be used in Coke Plant. Input data to the model was structured into 3 modules, for tenure of past 2 years and the incremental models thus developed assists in identifying the group causing the deviation of CSR.

Keywords: Artificial Neural Networks, backpropagation, CokeStrength after Reaction, Multilayer Perceptron.

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Authors: Virupakshaiah DBM, Madiha Ahmed, Smita T. Patil, Chandrakanth Kelmani

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Tuberculosis (TB) is a bacterial infectious disease caused by the obligate human pathogen, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is a global reality that threatens tuberculosis control. Resistance to antibiotic Rifampicin, occurs in 95% of cases through nucleotide substitutions in an 81-bp core region of the rpoB i.e; beta subunit of DNA dependant RNA polymerase. In this paper, we studied the Rifampicin-rpoB receptor interactions In silico. First, homology modeling was performed to obtain the three dimensional structure of Mycobacterium rpoB. Sixty analogs of Rifampicin were prepared using Marvin sketch software. Both original Rifampicin and the analogs were docked with rpoB and energy values were obtained. Out of sixty analogs, 43 analogs had lesser energy values than conventional Rifampicin and hence are predicted to have greater binding affinity to rpoB. Thus, this study offers a route for the development of Rifampicin analogs against multi drug resistant Mycobacterium rpoB.

Keywords: Marvin Sketch, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Rifampicin, rpoB.

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Authors: Md. Sayeed Salam

Abstract:

This paper presents an efficient emission constrained economic dispatch algorithm that deals with nonlinear cost function and constraints. It is then incorporated into the dynamic programming based hydrothermal coordination program. The program has been tested on a practical utility system having 32 thermal and 12 hydro generating units. Test results show that a slight increase in production cost causes a substantial reduction in emission.

Keywords: Emission constraint, Hydrothermal coordination, and Economic dispatch algorithm.

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Authors: Anna Veres

Abstract:

People’s ability to adapt to a constantly changing environment is essential. Career adaptability is central to Career Construction Theory, where proper adaptation to new situations, changing environments, and jobs require adequate career development. Based on current career theories and the possibilities offered by digital technology, the primary goal of this study is to develop career adaptability through an online tool. Its secondary goal is to apply for an online career intervention program and explore its developmental possibilities. A total of 132 university students from the bachelor program took part in the study, from which 65 students received a four-week online career intervention, while 67 participants formed the control group. Based on the results, it can state that career adaptability can be developed, and there is a great demand and interest from university students to use career-related programs on online platforms. Career interventions should be performed online as well if there is suitable software and a well-constructed program. Limitations and further implications are discussed.

Keywords: career adaptability, career development, online career intervention, university student

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Authors: C. D. Papanikolaou, V. A. Giouvanis, E. A. Karatasiou, D. S. Dimakas, M. A. Sakellariou-Makrantonaki

Abstract:

Irrigation is one of the most important cultivation practices for each crop, especially in areas where rainfall is enough to cover the crop water needs. In such areas, the farmers must irrigate in order to achieve high economical results. The precise irrigation scheduling contributes to irrigation water saving and thus a valuable natural resource is protected. Under this point of view, in the experimental field of the Laboratory of Agricultural Hydraulics of the University of Thessaly, a research was conducted during the growing season of 2012 in order to evaluate the growth, seed and oil production of sunflower as well as the water saving, by applying different methods of irrigation scheduling. Three treatments in four replications were organized. These were: a) surface drip irrigation where the irrigation scheduling based on the Penman-Monteith (PM) method (control); b) surface drip irrigation where the irrigation scheduling based on a soil moisture sensor (SMS); and c) surface drip irrigation, where the irrigation scheduling based on a soil potential sensor (WM).

Keywords: Irrigation scheduling, soil moisture sensors, sustainable agriculture, water saving.

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Authors: Aijaz A. Shaikh, Richard Glavee-Geo, Heikki Karjaluoto

Abstract:

Adoption of Information Systems (IS) is receiving increasing attention such that its implications have been closely monitored and studied by the IS management community, industry and professional gatekeepers. Building on previous research regarding the adoption of technology, this paper develops and validates an integrated model of the adoption of mobile banking. The model originates from the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). This paper intends to offer a preliminary scrutiny of the antecedents of the adoption of mobile banking services in the context of a developing country. Data was collected from Pakistan. The findings showed that an integrated TAM and TPB model greatly explains the adoption intention of mobile banking; and perceived behavioural control and its antecedents play a significant role in predicting adoption Theoretical and managerial implications of findings are presented and discussed.

Keywords: Developing country, mobile banking service adoption, technology acceptance model, theory of planned behaviour.

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Authors: Nneka N. Uchegbu

Abstract:

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of the antioxidant activity of germinated African Yam Bean (AYB) on oxidative stress markers in alloxan induced diabetic rat. Rats were randomized into three groups; control, diabetic and germinated AYB – treated diabetic rats. The Total phenol and flavonoid content and DPPH radical scavenging activity before and after germination were investigated. The glucose level, lipid peroxidation and reduced glutathione of the animals were also determined using standard technique for four weeks. Germination increased the total phenol, flavonoid and antioxidant activity of AYB extract by 19.14%, 32.28% and 57.25% respectively. The diabetic rats placed on germinated AYB diet had a significant decrease in the blood glucose and lipid peroxidation with a corresponding increase in glutathione (p<0.05). These results demonstrate that consumption of germinated AYB can be a good dietary supplement in inhibiting hyperglycemia/ hyperlipidemia and the prevention of diabetic complication associated with oxidative stress.

Keywords: African Yam Bean, Antioxidant, Diabetes, Total phenol.

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Authors: Yasar Guneri Sahin, Mehmet Cudi Okur

Abstract:

In this presentation, we discuss the use of information technologies in the area of special education for teaching individuals with learning disabilities. Application software which was developed for this purpose is used to demonstrate the applicability of a database integrated information processing system to alleviate the burden of educators. The software allows the preparation of individualized education programs based on the predefined objectives, goals and behaviors.

Keywords: Special education, disabled individual, informationtechnology, individual education programs.

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Authors: T. Arsan

Abstract:

Video streaming over lossy IP networks is very important issues, due to the heterogeneous structure of networks. Infrastructure of the Internet exhibits variable bandwidths, delays, congestions and time-varying packet losses. Because of variable attributes of the Internet, video streaming applications should not only have a good end-to-end transport performance but also have a robust rate control, furthermore multipath rate allocation mechanism. So for providing the video streaming service quality, some other components such as Bandwidth Estimation and Adaptive Rate Controller should be taken into consideration. This paper gives an overview of video streaming concept and bandwidth estimation tools and then introduces special architectures for bandwidth adaptive video streaming. A bandwidth estimation algorithm – pathChirp, Optimized Rate Controllers and Multipath Rate Allocation Algorithm are considered as all-in-one solution for video streaming problem. This solution is directed and optimized by a decision center which is designed for obtaining the maximum quality at the receiving side.

Keywords: Adaptive Video Streaming, Bandwidth Estimation, QoS, Software Architecture.

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Authors: P. Luangpaiboon

Abstract:

Various intelligences and inspirations have been adopted into the iterative searching process called as meta-heuristics. They intelligently perform the exploration and exploitation in the solution domain space aiming to efficiently seek near optimal solutions. In this work, the bee algorithm, inspired by the natural foraging behaviour of honey bees, was adapted to find the near optimal solutions of the transportation management system, dynamic multi-zone dispatching. This problem prepares for an uncertainty and changing customers- demand. In striving to remain competitive, transportation system should therefore be flexible in order to cope with the changes of customers- demand in terms of in-bound and outbound goods and technological innovations. To remain higher service level but lower cost management via the minimal imbalance scenario, the rearrangement penalty of the area, in each zone, including time periods are also included. However, the performance of the algorithm depends on the appropriate parameters- setting and need to be determined and analysed before its implementation. BEE parameters are determined through the linear constrained response surface optimisation or LCRSOM and weighted centroid modified simplex methods or WCMSM. Experimental results were analysed in terms of best solutions found so far, mean and standard deviation on the imbalance values including the convergence of the solutions obtained. It was found that the results obtained from the LCRSOM were better than those using the WCMSM. However, the average execution time of experimental run using the LCRSOM was longer than those using the WCMSM. Finally a recommendation of proper level settings of BEE parameters for some selected problem sizes is given as a guideline for future applications.

Keywords: Meta-heuristic, Bee Algorithm, Dynamic Multi-Zone Dispatching, Linear Constrained Response SurfaceOptimisation Method, Weighted Centroid Modified Simplex Method

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Authors: M. Sarrab, H. Bourdoucen

Abstract:

Mobile applications are verified to check the correctness or evaluated to check the performance with respect to specific security properties such as Availability, Integrity and Confidentiality. Where they are made available to the end users of the mobile application is achievable only to a limited degree using software engineering static verification techniques. The more sensitive the information, such as credit card data, personal medical information or personal emails being processed by mobile application, the more important it is to ensure the confidentiality of this information. Monitoring untrusted mobile application during execution in an environment where sensitive information is present is difficult and unnerving. The paper addresses the issue of monitoring and controlling the flow of confidential information during untrusted mobile application execution. The approach concentrates on providing a dynamic and usable information security solution by interacting with the mobile users during the runtime of mobile application in response to information flow events.

Keywords: Mobile application, Run-time verification, Usable security, Direct information flow.

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Authors: Suprijanto, Linda Sari, Vebi Nadhira , IGN. Merthayasa. Farida I.M

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Detection of human emotions has many potential applications. One of application is to quantify attentiveness audience in order evaluate acoustic quality in concern hall. The subjective audio preference that based on from audience is used. To obtain fairness evaluation of acoustic quality, the research proposed system for multimodal emotion detection; one modality based on brain signals that measured using electroencephalogram (EEG) and the second modality is sequences of facial images. In the experiment, an audio signal was customized which consist of normal and disorder sounds. Furthermore, an audio signal was played in order to stimulate positive/negative emotion feedback of volunteers. EEG signal from temporal lobes, i.e. T3 and T4 was used to measured brain response and sequence of facial image was used to monitoring facial expression during volunteer hearing audio signal. On EEG signal, feature was extracted from change information in brain wave, particularly in alpha and beta wave. Feature of facial expression was extracted based on analysis of motion images. We implement an advance optical flow method to detect the most active facial muscle form normal to other emotion expression that represented in vector flow maps. The reduce problem on detection of emotion state, vector flow maps are transformed into compass mapping that represents major directions and velocities of facial movement. The results showed that the power of beta wave is increasing when disorder sound stimulation was given, however for each volunteer was giving different emotion feedback. Based on features derived from facial face images, an optical flow compass mapping was promising to use as additional information to make decision about emotion feedback.

Keywords: Multimodal Emotion Detection, EEG, Facial Image, Optical Flow, compass mapping, Brain Wave

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Authors: A. H. El-Far, R. R. Gindi, H. A. Abd El-Maksoud, Mohamed Ragaa Ragab Hassanien

Abstract:

Gastric ulceration is a discontinuity in gastric mucosa, usually occurs due to imbalance between the gastric mucosal protective factors, that is called gastric mucosal barrier, and the aggressive factors, to which the mucosa is exposed. This study was carried out on sixty male Sprague-Dowely rats (12- 16 weeks old) allocated into two groups. The first control group and the second Gastric lesion group which induced by oral administration of a single daily dose of aspirin at a dose of 300 mg/kg body weight for 7 consecutive-days (6% aspirin solution will be prepared and each rat will be given 5 ml of that solution/kg body weight). Blood is collected 1, 2 and 3 weeks after induction of gastric ulceration. Significant increase in serum copper, nitric oxide, and prostaglandin E2 all over the period of experiment. Significant decrease in erythrocyte superoxide dismutase (t-SOD) activities, serum (calcium, phosphorus, glucose and insulin) levels. Non-significant changes in serum sodium and potassium levels are obtained.

Keywords: Aspirin, Gastric Ulcer, Prostaglandin E2, Superoxide dismutase

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Authors: Ali Asghar Saki, Sayed Ali Hosseini Siyar, Abbass Ashoori

Abstract:

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of Echinacea purpurea on the expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), interleukin-17F (IL-17F) in seven-day-old broiler chickens. Four groups were fed with concentration of 0 g/kg, 5 g/kg, 10 g/kg and 20 g/kg from the root of E. purpurea in the basal diet and two other groups were only fed with the basal diet for 21 days. At the 28^th day, lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 2 mg/kg diet) was injected in four groups and the basal diet group was injected by saline as control. The chickens’ spleen RNA expression was measured for the COX-2 and IL-17F genes by Real-Time PCR. The results have shown that chickens which were fed E. purpurea had a lower COX-2 and IL-17F mRNA expression. The chickens who have received LPS only, lymphocyte was lower than other treatments. Vital organ weights were not significantly different, but body weight loss was recovered by dietary herbs inclusion. The results of this study have shown the positive effect of an anti-inflammatory herb to prevent the undesirable effect of inflammation.

Keywords: Echinacea purpurea, broiler chickens, gene expression, lipopolysaccharide.

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Authors: Sayeed Salam

Abstract:

This paper presents an efficient emission constrained hydrothermal scheduling algorithm that deals with nonlinear functions such as the water discharge characteristics, thermal cost, and transmission loss. It is then incorporated into the hydrothermal coordination program. The program has been tested on a practical utility system having 32 thermal and 12 hydro generating units. Test results show that a slight increase in production cost causes a substantial reduction in emission.

Keywords: Emission constraint, Hydrothermal coordination, and Hydrothermal scheduling algorithm.

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Authors: Rosnani Hasham, Hyun Kyung Choi, Chang Seo Park

Abstract:

Ficus deltoidea from the Moraceae family is a popular medicinal herb in Malaysia. It possesses strong antioxidant and antiinflammatory properties. In the present study, the anti-inflammatory effects of F. deltoidea extract on UVB-irradiated HaCaT Keratinocytes were investigated. HaCaT Keratinocytes were UVBirradiated (12.5 mJ/cm3) and were treated with 0.05, 0.08 or 0.1% of F. deltoidea extract. Cell viability following UVB irradiation was significantly higher in the groups treated with the F. deltoidea extract at doses of 0.05, 0.08 or 0.1% than in control group with UVB irradiation only. Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1α (IL-1α), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and cyclooxygenase (COX-2) play primary roles in the inflammation process upon UV irradiation and are known to be stimulated by UVB irradiation. Treatment with the F. deltoidea extract dramatically inhibited the UV-induced TNF-α, IL-1α, IL-6, and COX-2 expression. These results suggest that the F. deltoidea extract inhibits the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and may be an effective protective agent for the treatment of skin diseases.

Keywords: Ficus deltoidea, anti-inflammatory activity, cytokines, COX-2.

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Authors: Abdullah E. Al-Mazrooei

Abstract:

In this paper, we present a new kind of the bilinear systems in the form of state space model. The evolution of this system depends on the product of state vector by its self. The well known Lotak Volterra and Lorenz models are special cases of this new model. We also present here a generalization of Kalman filter which is suitable to work with the new bilinear model. An application to real measurements is introduced to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed algorithm.

Keywords: Bilinear systems, state space model, Kalman filter.

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Authors: Igor Shardakov, Anton Bykov, Alexey Shestakov, Irina Glot

Abstract:

This article focuses on the cycle of experimental studies of the formation of cracks and debondings in the concrete reinforced with carbon fiber. This research was carried out in Perm National Research Polytechnic University. A series of CFRP-strengthened RC beams was tested to investigate the influence of preload and crack repairing factors on CFRP debonding. IRT was applied to detect the early stage of IC debonding during the laboratory bending tests. It was found that for the beams strengthened under load after crack injecting, СFRP debonding strain is 4-65% lower than for the preliminary strengthened beams. The beams strengthened under the load had a relative area of debonding of 2 times higher than preliminary strengthened beams. The СFRP debonding strain is weakly dependent on the strength of the concrete substrate. For beams with a transverse wrapping anchorage in support sections FRP debonding is not a failure mode.

Keywords: FRP, RC beams, strengthening, IC debonding, infrared thermography, quality control, non-destructive testing methods.

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Authors: Young-Seok Choi

Abstract:

We present a normalized LMS (NLMS) algorithm with robust regularization. Unlike conventional NLMS with the fixed regularization parameter, the proposed approach dynamically updates the regularization parameter. By exploiting a gradient descent direction, we derive a computationally efficient and robust update scheme for the regularization parameter. In simulation, we demonstrate the proposed algorithm outperforms conventional NLMS algorithms in terms of convergence rate and misadjustment error.

Keywords: Regularization, normalized LMS, system identification, robustness.

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Authors: Saleem Z. Ramadan

Abstract:

In this paper, a model is proposed to determine the life distribution parameters of the useful life region for the PV system utilizing a combination of non-parametric and linear regression analysis for the failure data of these systems. Results showed that this method is dependable for analyzing failure time data for such reliable systems when the data is scarce.

Keywords: Masking, Bathtub model, reliability, non-parametric analysis, useful life.

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Authors: Yun Bai

Abstract:

Representing objects in a dynamic domain is essential in commonsense reasoning under some circumstances. Classical logics and their nonmonotonic consequences, however, are usually not able to deal with reasoning with dynamic domains due to the fact that every constant in the logical language denotes some existing object in the static domain. In this paper, we explore a logical formalization which allows us to represent nonexisting objects in commonsense reasoning. A formal system named N-theory is proposed for this purpose and its possible application in computer security is briefly discussed.

Keywords: knowledge representation and reasoning, commonsensereasoning, computer security

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