Search results for: High performance computing

Authors: Zohreh Sheikh Khozani, Wan Hanna Melini Wan Mohtar, Mojtaba Porhemmat

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Prediction of wall shear stress in a rectangular channel, with non-homogeneous roughness distribution, was studied. Estimation of shear stress is an important subject in hydraulic engineering, since it affects the flow structure directly. In this study, the Genetic Algorithm Artificial (GAA) neural network is introduced as a hybrid methodology of the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and modified Genetic Algorithm (GA) combination. This GAA method was employed to predict the wall shear stress. Various input combinations and transfer functions were considered to find the most appropriate GAA model. The results show that the proposed GAA method could predict the wall shear stress of open channels with high accuracy, by Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of 0.064 in the test dataset. Thus, using GAA provides an accurate and practical simple-to-use equation.

Keywords: Artificial neural network, genetic algorithm, genetic programming, rectangular channel, shear stress.

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Authors: C. Phalakornkule, W. Worachai, T. Satitayut

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The electrochemical coagulation of a kaolin suspension was investigated at the currents of 0.06, 0.12, 0.22, 0.44, 0.85 A (corresponding to 0.68, 1.36, 2.50, 5.00, 9.66 mA·cm-2, respectively) for the contact time of 5, 10, 20, 30, and 50 min. The TSS removal efficiency at currents of 0.06 A, 0.12 A and 0.22 A increased with the amount of iron generated by the sacrificial anode, while the removal efficiencies did not increase proportionally with the amount of iron generated at the currents of 0.44 and 0.85 A, where electroflotation was clearly observed. Zeta potential measurement illustrated the presence of the highly positive charged particles created by sorption of highly charged polymeric metal hydroxyl species onto the negative surface charged kaolin particles at both low and high applied currents. The disappearance of the individual peaks after certain contact times indicated the attraction between these positive and negative charged particles causing agglomeration. It was concluded that charge neutralization of the individual species was not the only mechanism operating in the electrocoagulation process at any current level, but electrostatic attraction was likely to co-operate or mainly operate.

Keywords: Coagulation, Electrocoagulation, Electrostatics, Suspended solids, Zeta potential

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Authors: Yeon-kug Moon, Kang-Yoon Lee, Yun-Jae Won, Seung-Ok Lim

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This paper describes a low-voltage and low-power channel selection analog front end with continuous-time low pass filters and highly linear programmable gain amplifier (PGA). The filters were realized as balanced Gm-C biquadratic filters to achieve a low current consumption. High linearity and a constant wide bandwidth are achieved by using a new transconductance (Gm) cell. The PGA has a voltage gain varying from 0 to 65dB, while maintaining a constant bandwidth. A filter tuning circuit that requires an accurate time base but no external components is presented. With a 1-Vrms differential input and output, the filter achieves -85dB THD and a 78dB signal-to-noise ratio. Both the filter and PGA were implemented in a 0.18um 1P6M n-well CMOS process. They consume 3.2mW from a 1.8V power supply and occupy an area of 0.19mm2.

Keywords: component ; Channel selection filters, DC offset, programmable gain amplifier, tuning circuit

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Authors: Jungho Moon, Tae Kwon Ha

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Effect of alloying on the microstructure and mechanical properties of heat-resisting duplex stainless steel (DSS) for Mg production was investigated in this study. 25Cr-8Ni based DSS’s were cast into rectangular ingots of which the dimension was 350×350×100 mm3 . Nitrogen and Yttrium were added in the range within 0.3 in weight percent. Phase equilibrium was calculated using the FactSage®, thermodynamic software. Hot exposure, high temperature tensile and compression tests were conducted on the ingots at 1230oC, which is operation temperature employed for Mg production by Silico-thermic reduction. The steel with N and Y showed much higher strength than 310S alloy in both tensile and compression tests. By thermal exposition at 1230oC for 200 hrs, hardness of DSS containing N and Y was found to increase. Hot workability of the heat-resisting DSS was evaluated by employing hot rolling at 1230 oC. Hot shortness was observed in the ingot with N and found to disappear after addition of Y.

Keywords: Duplex Stainless Steel, alloying elements, eutectic carbides, microstructure, aging treatment.

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Authors: Ndidi F. Amulu, Calistus N. Ude, Patrick E. Amulu, Nneka N. Uchegbu

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The effects of temperature and enzyme concentration on the quality of mixed pineapple and pawpaw blended fruits juice were studied. Extracts of the two fruit juices were separately treated at 70  for 15 min each so as to inactivate micro-organisms. They were analyzed and blended in different proportions of 70% pawpaw and 30% pineapple, 60% pawpaw and 40% pineapple, 50% pineapple and 50% pawpaw, 40% pawpaw and 60% pineapple. The characterization of the fresh pawpaw and pineapple juice before blending showed that the juices have good quality. The high water content of the product may have affected the viscosity, vitamin C content and total soluble solid of the blended juice to be low. The effects of the process parameters on the quality showed that better quality of the blended juice can be obtained within the optimum temperature range of (50-70 °C) and enzyme concentration range (0.12-0.18 w/v). The ratio of mix 60% pineapple juice: 40% pawpaw juice has better quality. This showed that pawpaw and pineapple juices can blend effectively to produce a quality juice.

Keywords: Clarification, pawpaw, pineapple, viscosity, vitamin C.

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Authors: É. Kónya, E. Szabó, I. Bata-Vidács, T. Deák, M. Ottucsák, N. Adányi, A. Székács

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Spice paprika is a major spice commodity in the European Union (EU), produced locally and imported from non-EU countries, reported not only for chemical and microbiological contamination, but also for fraud. The effective interaction between producers’ quality management practices and government and EU activities is described on the example of spice paprika production and control in Hungary, a country of leading spice paprika producer and per capita consumer in Europe. To demonstrate the importance of various contamination factors in the Hungarian production and EU trade of spice paprika, several aspects concerning food safety of this commodity are presented. Alerts in the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) of the EU between 2005 and 2013, as well as Hungarian state inspection results on spice paprika in 2004 are discussed, and quality non-compliance claims regarding spice paprika among EU member states are summarized in by means of network analysis. Quality assurance measures established along the spice paprika production technology chain at the leading Hungarian spice paprika manufacturer, Kalocsai Fűszerpaprika Zrt. are surveyed with main critical control points identified. The structure and operation of the Hungarian state food safety inspection system is described. Concerted performance of the latter two quality management systems illustrates the effective interaction between internal (manufacturer) and external (state) quality control measures.

Keywords: Spice paprika, quality control, reporting mechanisms, RASFF, vulnerable points, HACCP, BRC Global Standard.

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Authors: J. C. Cabanillas-Noris, M. I. Martínez-Hernández, I. León-Monzón

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The selection of diffractive events in the ALICE experiment during the first data taking period (RUN-I) of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was limited by the range over which rapidity gaps occur. It would be possible to achieve better measurements by expanding the range in which the production of particles can be detected. For this purpose, the ALICE Diffractive (AD0) detector has been installed and commissioned for the second phase (RUN-II). Any new detector should be able to take the data synchronously with all other detectors and be operated through the ALICE central systems. One of the key elements that must be developed for the AD0 detector is the Detector Control System (DCS). The DCS must be designed to operate safely and correctly this detector. Furthermore, the DCS must also provide optimum operating conditions for the acquisition and storage of physics data and ensure these are of the highest quality. The operation of AD0 implies the configuration of about 200 parameters, from electronics settings and power supply levels to the archiving of operating conditions data and the generation of safety alerts. It also includes the automation of procedures to get the AD0 detector ready for taking data in the appropriate conditions for the different run types in ALICE. The performance of AD0 detector depends on a certain number of parameters such as the nominal voltages for each photomultiplier tube (PMT), their threshold levels to accept or reject the incoming pulses, the definition of triggers, etc. All these parameters define the efficiency of AD0 and they have to be monitored and controlled through AD0 DCS. Finally, AD0 DCS provides the operator with multiple interfaces to execute these tasks. They are realized as operating panels and scripts running in the background. These features are implemented on a SCADA software platform as a distributed control system which integrates to the global control system of the ALICE experiment.

Keywords: AD0, ALICE, DCS, LHC.

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Authors: Amir Ayazi, Hamde Ahmadi, Soheil Shafaei

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Composite steel shear wall is a lateral load resisting system which consists of a steel plate with concrete wall attached to one or both sides to prevent it from elastic buckling. The composite behavior is ensured by utilizing high-strength bolts. This paper investigates the effect of distance between bolts, and for this purpose 14 one-story one-bay specimens with various bolts spacing were modeled by finite element code which is developed by the authors. To verify the model, numerical results were compared with a valid experiment which illustrate proper agreement. Results depict increasing the distance between bolts would improve the seismic ever, this increase must be limited, because of large distances will cause widespread buckling of the steel plate in free subpanels between bolts and would result in no improvement. By comparing the results in elastic region, it was observed initial stiffness is not affected by changing the distance.

Keywords: Composite steel shear wall, bolt, buckling, finite element.

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Authors: Roy R. Gu, Mahesh Sahu

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The use of contour strips of perennial vegetation with bio-fuel potential can improve surface water quality by reducing NO3-N and sediment outflow from cropland to surface water-bodies. It also has economic benefits of producing ethanol. In this study, The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was applied to a watershed in Iowa, USA to examine the effectiveness of contour strips of switch grass in reducing the NO3-N outflows from crop fields to rivers or lakes. Numerical experiments were conducted to identify potential subbasins in the watershed that have high water quality impact, and to examine the effects of strip size on NO3-N reduction under various meteorological conditions, i.e. dry, average and wet years. Useful information was obtained for the evaluation of economic feasibility of growing switch grass for bio-fuel in contour strips. The results can assist in cost-benefit analysis and decisionmaking in best management practices for environmental protection.

Keywords: ethanol, modeling, water quality, NO3-N, watershed.

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Authors: A. Paz, M. Khadka, N. Veeramisti, B. Morris

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There is a continuous large number of crashes involving pedestrians in Nevada despite the numerous safety mechanisms currently used at roadway crossings. Hence, additional as well as more effective mechanisms are required to reduce crashes in Las Vegas, in particular, and Nevada in general. A potential mechanism to reduce conflicts between pedestrians and vehicles is a High-intensity Activated crossWalK (HAWK) signal. This study evaluates the effects of such signals at a particular site in Las Vegas. Video data were collected using two cameras, facing the eastbound and westbound traffic. One week of video data before and after the deployment of the signal were collected to capture the behavior of both pedestrians and drivers. T-test analyses of pedestrian waiting time at the curb, curb-to-curb crossing time, total crossing time, jaywalking events, and near-crash events show that the HAWK system provides significant benefits.

Keywords: Pedestrian crashes, HAWK signal, traffic safety, pedestrian danger index.

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

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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: Shao-Hsia Chang, Nan-Ying Yu

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The objective of this study was to test how advanced digital technology enables a more effective training on the handwriting of children with handwriting deficit. This study implemented the graphomotor apparatuses to a computer-assisted instruction system. In a randomized controlled trial, the experiments for verifying the intervention effect were conducted. Forty two children with handwriting deficit were assigned to computer-assisted instruction, sensorimotor training or control (no intervention) group. Handwriting performance was measured using the Elementary reading/writing test and computerized handwriting evaluation before and after 6 weeks of intervention. Analysis of variance of change scores were conducted to show whether statistically significant difference across the three groups. Significant difference was found among three groups. Computer group shows significant difference from the other two groups. Significance was denoted in near-point, far-point copy, dictation test, and writing from phonetic symbols. Writing speed and mean stroke velocity in near-, far-point and short paragraph copy were found significantly difference among three groups. Computer group shows significant improvement from the other groups. For clinicians and school teachers, the results of this study provide a motor control based insight for the improvement of handwriting difficulties.

Keywords: Dysgraphia, computerized handwriting evaluation, sensorimotor program, computer assisted program.

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Authors: E. I. Akpan, S. O. Adeosun, G. I. Lawal, S. A. Balogun, X. D. Chen

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The characterisation of agro-wastes fibres for composite applications from Nigeria using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) has been done. Fibres extracted from groundnut shell, coconut husk, rice husk, palm fruit bunch and palm fruit stalk are processed using two novel cellulose fibre production methods developed by the authors. Cellulose apparent crystallinity calculated using the deconvolution of the diffractometer trace shows that the amorphous portion of cellulose was permeable to hydrolysis yielding high crystallinity after treatment. All diffratograms show typical cellulose structure with well-defined 110, 200 and 040 peaks. Palm fruit fibres had the highest 200 crystalline cellulose peaks compared to others and it is an indication of rich cellulose content. Surface examination of the resulting fibres using SEM indicates the presence of regular cellulose network structure with some agglomerated laminated layer of thin leaves of cellulose microfibrils. The surfaces were relatively smooth indicating the removal of hemicellulose, lignin and pectin.

Keywords: X-ray diffraction, SEM, cellulose, deconvolution, crystallinity.

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Authors: M. Matash Borujerdi, S.M. Mirzababaei

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As computer network technology becomes increasingly complex, it becomes necessary to place greater requirements on the validity of developing standards and the resulting technology. Communication networks are based on large amounts of protocols. The validity of these protocols have to be proved either individually or in an integral fashion. One strategy for achieving this is to apply the growing field of formal methods. Formal methods research defines systems in high order logic so that automated reasoning can be applied for verification. In this research we represent and implement a formerly announced multicast protocol in Prolog language so that certain properties of the protocol can be verified. It is shown that by using this approach some minor faults in the protocol were found and repaired. Describing the protocol as facts and rules also have other benefits i.e. leads to a process-able knowledge. This knowledge can be transferred as ontology between systems in KQML format. Since the Prolog language can increase its knowledge base every time, this method can also be used to learn an intelligent network.

Keywords: Formal methods, MobiCast, Mobile Network, Multicast.

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Authors: Hossam el-ddin Mostafa, Pavel Čičak

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IETF RFC 2002 originally introduced the wireless Mobile-IP protocol to support portable IP addresses for mobile devices that often change their network access points to the Internet. The inefficiency of this protocol mainly within the handoff management produces large end-to-end packet delays, during registration process, and further degrades the system efficiency due to packet losses between subnets. The criterion to initiate a simple and fast full-duplex connection between the home agent and foreign agent, to reduce the roaming duration, is a very important issue to be considered by a work in this paper. State-transition Petri-Nets of the modeling scenario-based CIA: communication inter-agents procedure as an extension to the basic Mobile-IP registration process was designed and manipulated. The heuristic of configuration file during practical Setup session for registration parameters, on Cisco platform Router-1760 using IOS 12.3 (15)T is created. Finally, stand-alone performance simulations results from Simulink Matlab, within each subnet and also between subnets, are illustrated for reporting better end-to-end packet delays. Results verified the effectiveness of our Mathcad analytical manipulation and experimental implementation. It showed lower values of end-to-end packet delay for Mobile-IP using CIA procedure. Furthermore, it reported packets flow between subnets to improve packet losses between subnets.

Keywords: Cisco configuration, handoff, packet delay, Petri-Nets, registration process, Simulink.

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Authors: Robert S. Giachetti, Emanuele Grossi

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Loosening of bolted joints in rotating machines can adversely affect their performance, cause mechanical damage, and lead to injuries. In this paper, two potential loosening phenomena in rotating applications are discussed. First, ‘precession,’ is governed by thread/nut contact forces, while the second is based on inertial effects of the fastened assembly. These mechanisms are reviewed within the context of historical usage of left-handed fasteners in rotating machines which appears absent in the literature and common machine design texts. Historically, to prevent loosening of wheel nuts, vehicle manufacturers have used right-handed and left-handed threads on different sides of the vehicle, but most modern vehicles have abandoned this custom and only use right-handed, tapered lug nuts on all sides of the vehicle. Other classical machines such as the bicycle continue to use different handed threads on each side while other machines such as, bench grinders, circular saws and brush cutters still use left-handed threads to fasten rotating components. Despite the continued use of left-handed fasteners, the rationale and analysis of left-handed threads to mitigate self-loosening of fasteners in rotating applications is not commonly, if at all, discussed in the literature or design textbooks. Without scientific literature to support these design selections, these implementations may be the result of experimental findings or aged institutional knowledge. Based on a review of rotating applications, historical documents and mechanical design references, a formal study of the paradoxical nature of left-handed threads in various applications is merited.

Keywords: Rotating machinery, self-loosening fasteners, wheel fastening, vibration loosening.

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Authors: Zixian Zhang, Shanliang Yao, Zile Huang, Zhaodong Wu, Xiaohui Zhu, Yong Yue, Jieming Ma

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Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) hold significant value for their capacity to undertake hazardous and labor-intensive operations over aquatic environments. Object detection tasks are significant in these applications. Nonetheless, the efficacy of USVs in object detection is impeded by several intrinsic challenges, including the intricate dispersal of obstacles, reflections emanating from coastal structures, and the presence of fog over water surfaces, among others. To address these problems, this paper provides a fusion method for USVs to effectively detect objects in the inland surface environment, utilizing vision sensors and 3+1D Millimeter-wave radar. The MMW radar is a complementary tool to vision sensors, offering reliable environmental data. This approach involves the conversion of the radar’s 3D point cloud into a 2D radar pseudo-image, thereby standardizing the format for radar and vision data by leveraging a point transformer. Furthermore, this paper proposes the development of a multi-source object detection network, named RV-YOLOX, which leverages radar-vision integration specifically tailored for inland waterway environments. The performance is evaluated on our self-recording waterways dataset. Compared with the YOLOX network, our fusion network significantly improves detection accuracy, especially for objects with bad light conditions.

Keywords: Inland waterways, object detection, YOLO, sensor fusion, self-attention, deep learning.

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Authors: Adeniyi G. Adeogun, Bolaji F. Sule, Adebayo W. Salami, Michael O. Daramola

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Estimation of water yield and water balance in a river catchment is critical to the sustainable management of water resources at watershed level in any country. Therefore, in the present study, Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) interfaced with Geographical Information System (GIS) was applied as a tool to predict water balance and water yield of a catchment area in Nigeria. The catchment area, which was 12,992km², is located upstream Jebba hydropower dam in North central part of Nigeria. In this study, data on the observed flow were collected and compared with simulated flow using SWAT. The correlation between the two data sets was evaluated using statistical measures, such as, Nasch-Sucliffe Efficiency (NSE) and coefficient of determination (R²). The model output shows a good agreement between the observed flow and simulated flow as indicated by NSE and R², which were greater than 0.7 for both calibration and validation period. A total of 42,733 mm of water was predicted by the calibrated model as the water yield potential of the basin for a simulation period between 1985 to 2010. This interesting performance obtained with SWAT model suggests that SWAT model could be a promising tool to predict water balance and water yield in sustainable management of water resources. In addition, SWAT could be applied to other water resources in other basins in Nigeria as a decision support tool for sustainable water management in Nigeria.

Keywords: GIS, Modeling, Sensitivity Analysis, SWAT, Water Yield, Watershed level.

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Authors: Mohd Iz'aan Paiz Bin Zamri, Anis Salwa Mohd Khairuddin, Norrima Mokhtar, Rubiyah Yusof

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Effective statistical feature extraction and classification are important in image-based automatic inspection and analysis. An automatic wood species recognition system is designed to perform wood inspection at custom checkpoints to avoid mislabeling of timber which will results to loss of income to the timber industry. The system focuses on analyzing the statistical pores properties of the wood images. This paper proposed a fuzzy-based feature extractor which mimics the experts’ knowledge on wood texture to extract the properties of pores distribution from the wood surface texture. The proposed feature extractor consists of two steps namely pores extraction and fuzzy pores management. The total number of statistical features extracted from each wood image is 38 features. Then, a backpropagation neural network is used to classify the wood species based on the statistical features. A comprehensive set of experiments on a database composed of 5200 macroscopic images from 52 tropical wood species was used to evaluate the performance of the proposed feature extractor. The advantage of the proposed feature extraction technique is that it mimics the experts’ interpretation on wood texture which allows human involvement when analyzing the wood texture. Experimental results show the efficiency of the proposed method.

Keywords: Classification, fuzzy, inspection system, image analysis.

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Authors: Masoud Mahdavi

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During an earthquake, the structure is subjected to seismic loads that cause tension in the members of the building. The use of energy dissipation elements in the structure reduces the percentage of seismic forces on the main members of the building (especially the columns). Steel plate shear wall, as one of the most widely used types of energy dissipation element, has evolved today, and regular drilling of its inner plate is one of the common cases. In the present study, using a finite element method, the shear wall of the steel plate is designed as a floor (with dimensions of 447 × 6/246 cm) with Abacus software and in three different modes on which a cyclic load has been applied. The steel shear wall has a horizontal element (beam) with a reduced beam section (RBS). The hole in the interior plate of the models is created in such a way that it has the process of increasing the area, which makes the effect of increasing the surface area of the hole on the seismic performance of the steel shear wall completely clear. In the end, it was found that with increasing the opening level in the steel shear wall (with reduced cross-section beam), total displacement and plastic strain indicators increased, structural capacity and total energy indicators decreased and the Mises Monson stress index did not change much.

Keywords: Steel plate shear wall with opening, cyclic loading, reduced cross-section beam, finite element method, Abaqus Software.

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Authors: Yusmeeraz Yusof, Yoshiyuki Yanagimoto, Shigeyasu Uno, Kazuo Nakazato

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We demonstrate a nonfaradaic electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurement of biochemically modified gold plated electrodes using a two-electrode system. The absence of any redox indicator in the impedance measurements provide more precise and accurate characterization of the measured bioanalyte at molecular resolution. An equivalent electrical circuit of the electrodeelectrolyte interface was deduced from the observed impedance data of saline solution at low and high concentrations. The detection of biomolecular interactions was fundamentally correlated to electrical double-layer variation at modified interface. The investigations were done using 20mer deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) strands without any label. Surface modification was performed by creating mixed monolayer of the thiol-modified single-stranded DNA and a spacer thiol (mercaptohexanol) by a two-step self-assembly method. The results clearly distinguish between the noncomplementary and complementary hybridization of DNA, at low frequency region below several hundreds Hertz.

Keywords: Biosensor, electrical double-layer, impedance spectroscopy, label free DNA.

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Authors: Siham Jemal Kedir

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Information communication technology is dramatically transforming the health sector, especially in developing countries with few resources and burgeoning access to an internet connection. As a result, processes such as record keeping, administration, and human resources have been vastly simplified, allowing hospitals to focus on delivering urgent medical care. This paper will explore the impact of IT through a study of the electronic medical record system in the Mekelle City Health Center in Tigray Region, Ethiopia. This paper has four specific objectives: 1. developing artifacts in the Electronic Medical Record system, 2. preparing a diagram for step-by-step development of Electronic Medical Records, 3. creating a draft website with the proposed Electronic Medical Record system, and 4. Testing and evaluating the performance and user acceptance of the system. The research will be done in a qualitative manner employing interviews and in-person observation. The research has found the following major results: firstly, the medical record system has been difficult to implement. Second, the Mekelle Health Center is using a manual recording system which is time-consuming and inefficient. The old recording system in the Center leads to the dissatisfaction of patients as well as the service provider staff. As a result, to transform the manual recording system into a digital system, an electronic medical recording system has been developed. The developed system has been tested for implementation and has been successful. Consequently, the administrator of the health center is ready to implement and use the developed software to introduce a medical recording system in Mekelle Health Center.

Keywords: Electronic Health Record Implementation, EMR System Development, Medical Record.

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Authors: S. Visetpotjanakit, C. Khrautongkieo

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Radiation monitoring in the environment and foodstuffs is one of the main responsibilities of Office of Atoms for Peace (OAP) as the nuclear regulatory body of Thailand. The main goal of the OAP is to assure the safety of the Thai people and environment from any radiological incidents. Various radioanalytical methods have been developed to monitor radiation and radionuclides in the environmental and foodstuff samples. To validate our analytical performance, several proficiency test exercises from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have been performed. Here, the results of a proficiency test exercise referred to as the Proficiency Test for Tritium, Cobalt, Strontium and Caesium Isotopes in Seawater 2017 (IAEA-RML-2017-01) are presented. All radionuclides excepting ³H were analysed using various radioanalytical methods, i.e. direct gamma-ray counting for determining ⁶⁰Co, ¹³⁴Cs and ¹³⁷Cs and developed radiochemical techniques for analysing ¹³⁴Cs, ¹³⁷Cs using AMP pre-concentration technique and 90Sr using di-(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid (HDEHP) liquid extraction technique. The analysis results were submitted to IAEA. All results passed IAEA criteria, i.e. accuracy, precision and trueness and obtained ‘Accepted’ statuses. These confirm the data quality from the OAP environmental radiation laboratory to monitor radiation in the environment.

Keywords: International atomic energy agency, proficiency test, radiation monitoring, seawater.

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Authors: J. Cwiklak, M. Grzegorzewski, M. Adamski

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The paper presents results of the project conducted in Poland devoted to study on bird strikes at military airfields. The main aim of this project was to develop methods of aircraft protection against threats from birds. The studies were carried out using two methods. One by transect and the other one by selected sector scanning. During the research, it was recorded, that 104 species of birds in the number about of 36000 were observed. The most frequent ones were starling Sturnus vulgaris (31.0%), jackdaw Corvus monedula (18.3%), rook Corvus frugilegus (15.9 %), lapwing Vanellus vanellus (6.2%). Moreover, it was found, that starlings constituted the most serious threat. It resulted from their relatively high attendance at the runway (about 300 individuals). Possible repellent techniques concerning of the Deblin military airfield were discussed. The analysis of the birds’ concentration depending on the altitude, part of the day, year, part of the airfield constituted a base to work out critical flight phase and appropriate procedures to prevent bird strikes.

Keywords: Airport, bird strikes, flight safety, preventive methods.

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Authors: A. R. Shirazinejad, I. Noryati, A. Rosma, I. Darah

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Lactic acid alone and its combined application with nisin were evaluated for reducing population of naturally occurring microorganisms on chilled shrimp. Fresh shrimps were dipped in 0, 1.0% and 2.0% (v/v) lactic acid alone and their combined application with 0.04 (g/L/kg) nisin solution for 10 min. Total plate counts of aerobic bacteria (TPCs), Psychrotrophic counts, population of Pseudomonas spp., H2S producing bacteria and Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) on shrimps were determined during storage at 4 °C. The results indicated that total plate counts were 2.91 and 2.63 log CFU/g higher on untreated shrimps after 7 and 14 days of storage, respectively, than on shrimps treated with 2.0% lactic acid combined with 0.04 (g/L/kg) nisin. Both concentrations of lactic acid indicated significant reduction on Pseudomonas counts during storage, while 2.0% lactic acid combined with nisin indicated the highest reduction. In addition, H2S producing bacteria were more sensitive to high concentration of lactic acid combined with nisin during storage.

Keywords: Shrimp, lactic acid, nisin, spoilage bacteria

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Authors: Majid Saaly, Shahriar Tavousi Tafreshi, Mehdi Nazari Afshar

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The sandwich composite walls (SCSSC) have more ductility and energy dissipation than conventional reinforced concrete shear walls. SCSSCs have acceptable compressive, shear, in-plane bending, and out-of-plane bending capacities. The use of sandwich-composite walls with J-hook connectors has a significant effect on energy dissipation and reduction of dynamic responses of mid-rise and high-rise structural models. In this paper, incremental dynamic analyses for 10- and 15-story steel structures were performed under seven far-faults by OpenSees. The demand values of 10- and 15-story models are reduced by up to 32% and 45%, respectively, while the structural system change from shear walls (SW) to SCSSC.

Keywords: Sandwich composite wall, SCSSC, fling step, fragility curve, IDA, inter story drift ratio.

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Authors: Amir Hossein Pakshir, A. Hossein Pour, N. Jahandar, Ali Paydar

Abstract:

Roundabout work on the principle of circulation and entry flows, where the maximum entry flow rates depend largely on circulating flow bearing in mind that entry flows must give away to circulating flows. Where an existing roundabout has a road hump installed at the entry arm, it can be hypothesized that the kinematics of vehicles may prevent the entry arm from achieving optimum performance. Road humps are traffic calming devices placed across road width solely as speed reduction mechanism. They are the preferred traffic calming option in Malaysia and often used on single and dual carriageway local routes. The speed limit on local routes is 30mph (50 km/hr). Road humps in their various forms achieved the biggest mean speed reduction (based on a mean speed before traffic calming of 30mph) of up to 10mph or 16 km/hr according to the UK Department of Transport. The underlying aim of reduced speed should be to achieve a 'safe' distribution of speeds which reflects the function of the road and the impacts on the local community. Constraining safe distribution of speeds may lead to poor drivers timing and delayed reflex reaction that can probably cause accident. Previous studies on road hump impact have focused mainly on speed reduction, traffic volume, noise and vibrations, discomfort and delay from the use of road humps. The paper is aimed at optimal entry and circulating flow induced by road humps. Results show that roundabout entry and circulating flow perform better in circumstances where there is no road hump at entrance.

Keywords: Road hump, Roundabout, Speed Reduction

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Authors: Ioan Rusu

Abstract:

In the operation of power transformers of 110 kV/MV from substations, these are traveled by fault current resulting from MV line damage. Defect electrical contacts are heated when they are travelled from fault currents. In the case of high temperatures when 135 °C is reached, the electrical insulating oil in the vicinity of the electrical faults comes into contact with these contacts releases gases, and activates the electrical protection. To avoid auto-flammability of electro-insulating oil, we designed a security system thermal of electrical contact defects by pouring fire-resistant polyurethane foam, mastic or mortar fire inside a cardboard electro-insulating cylinder. From practical experience, in the exploitation of power transformers of 110 kV/MT in oil electro-insulating were recorded some passing disconnecting commanded by the gas protection at internal defects. In normal operation and in the optimal load, nominal currents do not require thermal secure contacts inside electrical transformers, contacts are made at the fabrication according to the projects or to repair by solder. In the case of external short circuits close to the substation, the contacts inside electrical transformers, even if they are well made in sizes of Rcontact = 10^‑6 Ω, are subjected to short-circuit currents of the order of 10 kA-20 kA which lead to the dissipation of some significant second-order electric powers, 100 W-400 W, on contact. At some internal or external factors which action on electrical contacts, including electrodynamic efforts at short-circuits, these factors could be degraded over time to values in the range of 10^-4 Ω to 10^-5 Ω and if the action time of protection is great, on the order of seconds, power dissipation on electrical contacts achieve high values of 1,0 kW to 40,0 kW. This power leads to strong local heating, hundreds of degrees Celsius and can initiate self-ignition and burning oil in the vicinity of electro-insulating contacts with action the gas relay. Degradation of electrical contacts inside power transformers may not be limited for the duration of their operation. In order to avoid oil burn with gas release near electrical contacts, at short-circuit currents 10 kA-20 kA, we have outlined the following solutions: covering electrical contacts in fireproof materials that would avoid direct burn oil at short circuit and transmission of heat from electrical contact along the conductors with heat dissipation gradually over time, in a large volume of cooling. Flame retardant materials are: polyurethane foam, mastic, cement (concrete). In the normal condition of operation of transformer, insulating of conductors coils is with paper and insulating oil. Ignition points of its two components respectively are approximated: 135 °C heat for oil and 200 ⁰C for paper. In the case of a faulty electrical contact, about 10^-3 Ω, at short-circuit; the temperature can reach for a short time, a value of 300 °C-400 °C, which ignite the paper and also the oil. By burning oil, there are local gases that disconnect the power transformer. Securing thermal electrical contacts inside the transformer, in cardboard tube with polyurethane foams, mastik or cement, ensures avoiding gas release and also gas protection working.

Keywords: Power transformer, oil insulatation, electric contacts, gases, gas relay.

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Authors: Sandija Zeverte-Rivza, Irina Pilvere, Baiba Rivza

Abstract:

The use of renewable energy sources incl. biogas has become topical in accordance with the increasing demand for energy, decrease of fossil energy resources and the efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well as to increase energy independence from the territories where fossil energy resources are available.

As the technologies of biogas production from agricultural biomass develop, risk assessment and risk management become necessary for farms producing such a renewable energy. The need for risk assessments has become particularly topical when discussions on changing the biogas policy in the EU take place, which may influence the development of the sector in the future, as well as the operation of existing biogas facilities and their income level.

The current article describes results of the risk assessment for farms producing biomass from agriculture biomass in Latvia, the risk assessment system included 24 risks, that affect the whole biogas production process and the obtained results showed the high significance of political and production risks.

Keywords: Biogas production, risks, risk assessment.

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Authors: Raid A. Al-Aomar

Abstract:

This paper presents an application of 5S lean technology to a production facility. Due to increased demand, high product variety, and a push production system, the plant has suffered from excessive wastes, unorganized workstations, and unhealthy work environment. This has translated into increased production cost, frequent delays, and low workers morale. Under such conditions, it has become difficult, if not impossible, to implement effective continuous improvement studies. Hence, the lean project is aimed at diagnosing the production process, streamlining the workflow, removing/reducing process waste, cleaning the production environment, improving plant layout, and organizing workstations. 5S lean technology is utilized for achieving project objectives. The work was a combination of both culture changes and tangible/physical changes on the shop floor. The project has drastically changed the plant and developed the infrastructure for a successful implementation of continuous improvement as well as other best practices and quality initiatives.

Keywords: 5S Technique, Continuous Improvement, Kaizen, Lean Technology, Work Methods, Work Standards

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