Search results for: Quality Index Method (QIM)
2298 Mechanism of Dual Ferroic Properties Formation in Substituted M-Type Hexaferrites
Authors: A. V. Trukhanov, S. V. Trukhanov, L. V. Panina, V. G. Kostishin, V. A. Turchenko
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It has been shown that BaFe12O19 is a perspective room-temperature multiferroic material. A large spontaneous polarization was observed for the BaFe12O19 ceramics revealing a clear ferroelectric hysteresis loop. The maximum polarization was estimated to be approximately 11.8 μC/cm2. The FeO6 octahedron in its perovskite-like hexagonal unit cell and the shift of Fe3+ off the center of octahedron are suggested to be the origin of the polarization in BaFe12O19. The magnetic field induced electric polarization has been also observed in the doped BaFe12-x-δScxMδO19 (δ=0.05) at 10 K and in the BaScxFe12−xO19 and SrScxFe12−xO19 (x = 1.3–1.7) M-type hexaferrites. The investigated BaFe12-xDxO19 (x=0.1, D-Al3+, In3+) samples have been obtained by two-step “topotactic” reactions. The powder neutron investigations of the samples were performed by neutron time of flight method at High Resolution Fourier Diffractometer.Keywords: Substituted hexaferrites, ferrimagnetics, ferroelectrics, neutron powder diffraction, crystal and magnetic structures.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15942297 Excitation Experiments of a Cone Loudspeaker and Vibration-Acoustic Analysis Using FEM
Authors: Y. Hu, X. Zhao, T. Yamaguchi, M. Sasajima, Y. Koike
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To focus on the vibration mode of a cone loudspeaker, which acts as an electroacoustic transducer, excitation experiments were performed using two types of loudspeaker units: one employing an impulse hammer and the other a sweep signal. The on-axis sound pressure frequency properties of the loudspeaker were evaluated, and the characteristic properties of the loudspeakers were successfully determined in both excitation experiments. Moreover, under conditions identical to the experiment conditions, a coupled analysis of the vibration-acoustics of the cone loudspeaker was performed using an acoustic analysis software program that considers the impact of damping caused by air viscosity. The result of sound pressure frequency properties with the numerical analysis are the most closely match that measured in the excitation experiments over a wide range of frequency bands.Keywords: Anechoic room, finite element method, impulse hammer, loudspeaker, reverberation room, sweep signal.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17992296 Low Dimensional Representation of Dorsal Hand Vein Features Using Principle Component Analysis (PCA)
Authors: M.Heenaye-Mamode Khan, R.K. Subramanian, N. A. Mamode Khan
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The quest of providing more secure identification system has led to a rise in developing biometric systems. Dorsal hand vein pattern is an emerging biometric which has attracted the attention of many researchers, of late. Different approaches have been used to extract the vein pattern and match them. In this work, Principle Component Analysis (PCA) which is a method that has been successfully applied on human faces and hand geometry is applied on the dorsal hand vein pattern. PCA has been used to obtain eigenveins which is a low dimensional representation of vein pattern features. Low cost CCD cameras were used to obtain the vein images. The extraction of the vein pattern was obtained by applying morphology. We have applied noise reduction filters to enhance the vein patterns. The system has been successfully tested on a database of 200 images using a threshold value of 0.9. The results obtained are encouraging.Keywords: Biometric, Dorsal vein pattern, PCA.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18952295 Analysis of Gas Disturbance Characteristics in Lunar Sample Storage
Authors: Lv Shizeng, Han Xiao, Zhang Yi, Ding Wenjing
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The lunar sample storage device is mainly used for the preparation of the lunar samples, observation, physical analysis and other work. The lunar samples and operating equipment are placed directly inside the storage device. The inside of the storage device is a high purity nitrogen environment to ensure that the sample is not contaminated by the Earth's environment. In order to ensure that the water and oxygen indicators in the storage device meet the sample requirements, a dynamic gas cycle is required between the storage device and the external purification equipment. However, the internal gas disturbance in the storage device can affect the operation of the sample. In this paper, the storage device model is established, and the tetrahedral mesh is established by Tetra/Mixed method. The influence of different inlet position and gas flow on the internal flow field disturbance is calculated, and the disturbed flow area should be avoided during the sampling operation.
Keywords: Lunar samples, gas disturbance, storage device, characteristic analysis.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 10382294 Fungal Disinfection by Nanofiltration in Tomato Soilless Culture
Authors: R. Amooaghaie
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Principally, plants grown in soilless culture may be attacked by the same pests and diseases as cultivated traditionally in soil. The most destructive phytopathogens are fungi, such as Phythium, Phytophthora and Fusarium, followed by viruses, bacteria and nematodes. We investigated effect of carbon nanotube filters on disease management of soilless culture. Tomato seedlings transplant in plastic pots filled with a soilless media of vermiculite. The crop irrigated and fertilized using a hydroponic nutrient solution. We used carbon nanotube filters for nutrient solution disinfection. Our results show that carbon nanotube filtration significantly reduces pathogens on tomato plants. Fungal elimination (Fusarium oxysporum and Pythium spp.) was usually successful at about 96 to 99.9% all over the cultural season. It is seem that in tomato soilless culture, nanofiltration constitutes a reliable method that allows control of the development of diseases caused by pathogenic fungiKeywords: Fusarium oxysporum, Nanofilteration, Pythium spp., Soilless culture, Tomato
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19942293 Airfield Pavements Made of Reinforced Concrete: Dimensioning According to the Theory of Limit States and Eurocode
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In the previous airfield construction industry, pavements made of reinforced concrete have been used very rarely; however, the necessity to use this type of pavements in an emergency situations justifies the need reference to this issue. The paper concerns the problem of airfield pavement dimensioning made of reinforced concrete and the evaluation of selected dimensioning methods of reinforced concrete slabs intended for airfield pavements. Analysis of slabs dimensioning, according to classical method of limit states has been performed and it has been compared to results obtained in case of methods complying with Eurocode 2 guidelines. Basis of an analysis was a concrete slab of class C35/45 with reinforcement, located in tension zone. Steel bars of 16.0 mm have been used as slab reinforcement. According to comparative analysis of obtained results, conclusions were reached regarding application legitimacy of the discussed methods and their design advantages.Keywords: Reinforced concrete, cement concrete, airport pavements.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 12792292 Degradation Propensity of Welded Mild Steel in Coastal Soil of University of Lagos
Authors: S. O. Adeosun, O. S. Sanni
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Study on corrosion propensity of welded mild steel- bar in soil media around the coastal area of University of Lagos has been carried out using gravimetric method. Six (6) samples each for welded and unwelded mild steels were cut, their initial weights were recorded and buried in two selected soil. The weight losses of these coupons were measured at regular intervals for a period of six months (180 days).
The corrosiveness of the soil media varied widely depending on the potency level of its constituents. The results revealed that soil in the studied area have marked variations in composition and contents. Soil medium with a lower pH and higher chloride ion concentration aggressively attacked the coupons with the welded steel coupon corroding faster than unwelded one. The medium resistivity to the flow of current is another strong factor affecting corrosion rate.
Keywords: Coastal area, corrosion rate, mild steel, soil media, welds.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23462291 PET/CT Patient Dosage Assay
Authors: Gulten Yilmaz, A. Beril Tugrul, Mustafa Demir, Dogan Yasar, Bayram Demir, Bulent Buyuk
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A Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a radioisotope imaging technique that illustrates the organs and the metabolisms of the human body. This technique is based on the simultaneous detection of 511 keV annihilation photons, annihilated as a result of electrons annihilating positrons that radiate from positron-emitting radioisotopes that enter biological active molecules in the body. This study was conducted on ten patients in an effort to conduct patient-related experimental studies. Dosage monitoring for the bladder, which was the organ that received the highest dose during PET applications, was conducted for 24 hours. Assessment based on measuring urination activities after injecting patients was also a part of this study. The MIRD method was used to conduct dosage calculations for results obtained from experimental studies. Results obtained experimentally and theoretically were assessed comparatively.
Keywords: PET/CT, TLD, MIRD, Dose measurement, Patient doses.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19452290 Incineration of Sludge in a Fluidized-Bed Combustor
Authors: Chien-Song Chyang, Yu-Chi Wang
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For sludge disposal, incineration is considered to be better than direct burial because of regulations and space limitations in Taiwan. Additionally, burial after incineration can effectively prolong the lifespan of a landfill. Therefore, it is the most satisfactory method for treating sludge at present. Of the various incineration technologies, the fluidized bed incinerator is a suitable choice due to its fuel flexibility. In this work, sludge generated from industrial plants was treated in a pilot-scale vortexing fluidized bed. The moisture content of the sludge was 48.53%, and its LHV was 454.6 kcal/kg. Primary gas and secondary gas were fixed at 3 Nm3/min and 1 Nm3/min, respectively. Diesel burners with on-off controllers were used to control the temperature; the bed temperature was set to 750±20 °C, and the freeboard temperature was 850±20 °C. The experimental data show that the NO emission increased with bed temperature. The maximum NO emission is 139 ppm, which is in agreement with the regulation. The CO emission is low than 100 ppm through the operation period. The mean particle size of fly ash collected from baghouse decreased with operating time. The ration of bottom ash to fly ash is about 3. Compared with bottom ash, the potassium in the fly ash is much higher. It implied that the potassium content is not the key factor for aggregation of bottom ash.
Keywords: Sludge incineration, fluidized bed combustion, fly ash, bottom ash.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 9412289 New Approach for Load Modeling
Authors: S. Chokri
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Load modeling is one of the central functions in power systems operations. Electricity cannot be stored, which means that for electric utility, the estimate of the future demand is necessary in managing the production and purchasing in an economically reasonable way. A majority of the recently reported approaches are based on neural network. The attraction of the methods lies in the assumption that neural networks are able to learn properties of the load. However, the development of the methods is not finished, and the lack of comparative results on different model variations is a problem. This paper presents a new approach in order to predict the Tunisia daily peak load. The proposed method employs a computational intelligence scheme based on the Fuzzy neural network (FNN) and support vector regression (SVR). Experimental results obtained indicate that our proposed FNN-SVR technique gives significantly good prediction accuracy compared to some classical techniques.
Keywords: Neural network, Load Forecasting, Fuzzy inference, Machine learning, Fuzzy modeling and rule extraction, Support Vector Regression.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21982288 Analysis of Roasted and Ground Grains on the Seoul (Korea) Market for Their Contaminants of Aflatoxins, Ochratoxin A and Fusarium Toxins by LC-MS/MS
Authors: So-young Jung, Bu-chuhl Choe, Gi-young Shin, Jung-hun Kim, Young-zoo Chae
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A sensitive and specific method for quantitative determination of aflatoxins(B1, B2, G1,G2), deoxynivalenol, fumonisin(B1,B2), ochratoxin A, zearalenone, T-2 and HT-2 in roasted and ground grains using liquid chromatography combined with tandem mass spectrometry. A double extraction using a phosphate buffer solution followed by methanol was applied to achieve effective co extraction of 11 mycotoxins. A multitoxin immunoaffinity column for all these mycotoxins was used to clean up the extract. The LODs of mycotoxins were 0.1~6.1 μg/kg, LOQs were 0.3~18.4 μg/kg. Forty seven samples collected from Seoul (Korea) for mycotoxin contamination monitoring. The results showed that the occurrence of zearalenone and deoxynivalenol were frequent. Zearalenone was detected in all samples and deoxynivalenol was detected in 80.9 % samples in the range 0.626 ~ 29.264 μg/kg and N.D ~ 48.332 μg/kg respectively. Fumonisins and ochratoxin A were detected in 46.8% samples and 17 % samples respectively, aflatoxins and T-2/HT-2 toxins were not detected all samples.Keywords: LC-MS/MS, mycotoxins, roasted and ground grains.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19962287 Creative Thinking Skill Approach Through Problem-Based Learning: Pedagogy and Practice in the Engineering Classroom
Authors: Halizah Awang, Ishak Ramly
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Problem-based learning (PBL) is one of the student centered approaches and has been considered by a number of higher educational institutions in many parts of the world as a method of delivery. This paper presents a creative thinking approach for implementing Problem-based Learning in Mechanics of Structure within a Malaysian Polytechnics environment. In the learning process, students learn how to analyze the problem given among the students and sharing classroom knowledge into practice. Further, through this course-s emphasis on problem-based learning, students acquire creative thinking skills and professional skills as they tackle complex, interdisciplinary and real-situation problems. Once the creative ideas are generated, there are useful additional techniques for tender ideas that will grow into a productive concept or solution. The combination of creative skills and technical abilities will enable the students to be ready to “hit-the-ground-running" and produce in industry when they graduate.Keywords: Creative Thinking Skills, Problem-based Learning, Problem Solving.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 73242286 Some Characteristics of Biodegradable Film Substituted by Yam (Dioscorea alata) Starch from Thailand
Authors: Orose Rugchati, Khumthong Mahawongwiriya, Kanita Thanacharoenchanaphas
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Yam starch obtained from the water yam (munlued) by the wet milling process was studied for some physicochemical properties. Yam starch film was prepared by casting using glycerol as a plasticizer. The effect of different glycerol (1.30, 1.65 and 2.00g/100g of filmogenic solution) and starch concentrations (3.30, 3.65 and 4.00g /100g of filmogenic solution) were evaluated on some characteristics of the film. The temperature for obtaining the gelatinized starch solution was 70-80°C and then dried at 45°C for 4 hours. The resulting starch from munlued granular morphology was triangular and the average size of the granule was 26.68 μm. The amylose content by colorimetric method was 26 % and the gelatinize temperature was 70-80°C. The appearance of the film was smooth, transparent, and glossy with average moisture content of 25.96% and thickness of 0.01mm. Puncture deformation and flexibility increased with glycerol content. The starch and glycerol concentration were a significant factor of the yam starch film characteristics. Yam starch film can be described as a biofilm providing many applications and developments with the advantage of biodegradability.
Keywords: Characteristics of Biodegradable film, yam starch, Dioscoreaalata, substitute, Thailand.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 29452285 A Survey of Response Generation of Dialogue Systems
Authors: Yifan Fan, Xudong Luo, Pingping Lin
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An essential task in the field of artificial intelligence is to allow computers to interact with people through natural language. Therefore, researches such as virtual assistants and dialogue systems have received widespread attention from industry and academia. The response generation plays a crucial role in dialogue systems, so to push forward the research on this topic, this paper surveys various methods for response generation. We sort out these methods into three categories. First one includes finite state machine methods, framework methods, and instance methods. The second contains full-text indexing methods, ontology methods, vast knowledge base method, and some other methods. The third covers retrieval methods and generative methods. We also discuss some hybrid methods based knowledge and deep learning. We compare their disadvantages and advantages and point out in which ways these studies can be improved further. Our discussion covers some studies published in leading conferences such as IJCAI and AAAI in recent years.Keywords: Retrieval, generative, deep learning, response generation, knowledge.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 12042284 Simulation of 3D Flow using Numerical Model at Open-channel Confluences
Authors: R.Goudarzizadeh, S.H.Mousavi Jahromi, N.Hedayat
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This paper analytically investigates the 3D flow pattern at the confluences of two rectangular channels having 900 angles using Navier-Stokes equations based on Reynolds Stress Turbulence Model (RSM). The equations are solved by the Finite- Volume Method (FVM) and the flow is analyzed in terms of steadystate (single-phased) conditions. The Shumate experimental findings were used to test the validity of data. Comparison of the simulation model with the experimental ones indicated a close proximity between the flow patterns of the two sets. Effects of the discharge ratio on separation zone dimensions created in the main-channel downstream of the confluence indicated an inverse relation, where a decrease in discharge ratio, will entail an increase in the length and width of the separation zone. The study also found the model as a powerful analytical tool in the feasibility study of hydraulic engineering projects.Keywords: 900 confluence angle, flow separation zone, numerical modeling, turbulent flow.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18622283 Low-Level Modeling for Optimal Train Routing and Scheduling in Busy Railway Stations
Authors: Quoc Khanh Dang, Thomas Bourdeaud’huy, Khaled Mesghouni, Armand Toguy´eni
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This paper studies a train routing and scheduling problem for busy railway stations. Our objective is to allow trains to be routed in dense areas that are reaching saturation. Unlike traditional methods that allocate all resources to setup a route for a train and until the route is freed, our work focuses on the use of resources as trains progress through the railway node. This technique allows a larger number of trains to be routed simultaneously in a railway node and thus reduces their current saturation. To deal with this problem, this study proposes an abstract model and a mixed-integer linear programming formulation to solve it. The applicability of our method is illustrated on a didactic example.Keywords: Busy railway stations, mixed-integer linear programming, offline railway station management, train platforming, train routing, train scheduling.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7332282 An Efficient VLSI Design Approach to Reduce Static Power using Variable Body Biasing
Authors: Md. Asif Jahangir Chowdhury, Md. Shahriar Rizwan, M. S. Islam
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In CMOS integrated circuit design there is a trade-off between static power consumption and technology scaling. Recently, the power density has increased due to combination of higher clock speeds, greater functional integration, and smaller process geometries. As a result static power consumption is becoming more dominant. This is a challenge for the circuit designers. However, the designers do have a few methods which they can use to reduce this static power consumption. But all of these methods have some drawbacks. In order to achieve lower static power consumption, one has to sacrifice design area and circuit performance. In this paper, we propose a new method to reduce static power in the CMOS VLSI circuit using Variable Body Biasing technique without being penalized in area requirement and circuit performance.
Keywords: variable body biasing, state saving technique, stack effect, dual V-th, static power reduction.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 30872281 Diagnostic Evaluation of Urinary Angiogenin (ANG) and Clusterin (CLU) as Biomarker for Bladder Cancer
Authors: Marwa I. Shabayek, Ola A. Said, Hanan A. Attaia, Heba A. Awida
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Bladder carcinoma is an important worldwide health problem. Both cystoscopy and urine cytology used in detecting bladder cancer suffer from drawbacks where cystoscopy is an invasive method and urine cytology shows low sensitivity in low grade tumors. This study validates easier and less time-consuming techniques to evaluate the value of combined use of angiogenin and clusterin in comparison and combination with voided urine cytology in the detection of bladder cancer patients. This study includes malignant (bladder cancer patients, n= 50), benign (n=20) and healthy (n=20) groups. The studied groups were subjected to cystoscopic examination, detection of bilharzial antibodies, urine cytology, and estimation of urinary angiogenin and clusterin by ELISA. The overall sensitivity and specificity were 66% and 75% for angiogenin, 70% and 82.5% for clusterin and 46% and 80% for voided urine cytology. Combined sensitivity of angiogenin and clusterin with urine cytology increased from 82 to 88%.
Keywords: Angiogenin, Bladder Cancer, Clusterin, Cytology.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18352280 Phenolic Compounds in Red Fruits Produced in Organic Farming at Maturation Stage
Authors: Susana M. A. Soutinho, Raquel P. F. Guiné, António M. Jordão, Fernando J. Gonçalves
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The agricultural organic farming is different from conventional farming in a way that is aimed at providing a balanced and constructive action in agricultural systems. With the increase in intensive agriculture, undesirable changes were being observed in ecosystems with irreparable damage being caused to the natural equilibrium. This is the reason for the increasing interest in organic farming as an environment friendly agricultural production method. In the present work three red fruits produced in organic farming were analyzed, namely raspberry, gooseberry and blueberry. The samples were harvested in a local farm when at plain maturation. The results obtained allowed to conclude that the blueberry contained higher amounts of phenolic compounds, total tannins and total anthocyanins than raspberry and gooseberry. Furthermore, the HPLC analysis allowed to identify monomeric anthocyanins and phenolic acids in the three fruits studied.
Keywords: Blackberry, gooseberry, organic farming, phenolic compounds, raspberry.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20452279 The Biomechanical Properties of the Different Modalities of Surgically Corrected Coarctation of the Aorta in Neonates and Infants
Authors: Elina Ligere, Valts Ozolins, Lauris Smits, Normunds Sikora, Ivars Melderis, Laila Feldmane, Aris Lacis, Vladimir Kasyanov
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Biomechanical properties of infantile aorta in vitro in cases of different standard anastomoses: end-to-end (ETE), extended anastomosis end-to-end (EETE) and subclavian flap aortoplasty (SFA) used for surgical correction of coarctation were analyzed to detect the influence of the method on the biomechanics of infantile aorta and possible changes in haemodinamics. 10 specimens of native aorta, 3 specimens with ETE, 4 EEET and 3 SFA were investigated. The experiments showed a non-linear relationship between stress and strain in the infantile aorta, the modulus of elasticity of the aortic wall increased with the increase of inner pressure. In the case of anastomosis end-to-end the modulus was almost constant, relevant to the modulus of elasticity of the aorta with the inner pressure 100-120 mmHg. The anastomoses EETE and SFA showed elastic properties closer to native aorta, the stiffness of ETE did not change with the changes in inner pressure.Keywords: biomechanics, coarctation, mechanical properties, neonatal aorta
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20092278 The Effect of Dopamine D2 Receptor TAQ A1 Allele on Sprinter and Endurance Athlete
Authors: Öznur Özge Özcan, Canan Sercan, Hamza Kulaksız, Mesut Karahan, Korkut Ulucan
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Genetic structure is very important to understand the brain dopamine system which is related to athletic performance. Hopefully, there will be enough studies about athletics performance in the terms of addiction-related genetic markers in the future. In the present study, we intended to investigate the Receptor-2 Gene (DRD2) rs1800497, which is related to brain dopaminergic system. 10 sprinter and 10 endurance athletes were enrolled in the study. Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction method was used for genotyping. According to results, A1A1, A1A2 and A2A2 genotypes in athletes were 0 (%0), 3 (%15) and 17 (%85). A1A1 genotype was not found and A2 allele was counted as the dominating allele in our cohort. These findings show that dopaminergic mechanism effects on sport genetic may be explained by the polygenic and multifactorial view.
Keywords: Addiction, athletic performance, genotype, polymorphism, sport genetics.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 10562277 New Multi-Solid Thermodynamic Model for the Prediction of Wax Formation
Authors: Ehsan Ghanaei, Feridun Esmaeilzadeh, Jamshid Fathi Kaljahi
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In the previous multi-solid models,¤ò approach is used for the calculation of fugacity in the liquid phase. For the first time, in the proposed multi-solid thermodynamic model,γ approach has been used for calculation of fugacity in the liquid mixture. Therefore, some activity coefficient models have been studied that the results show that the predictive Wilson model is more appropriate than others. The results demonstrate γ approach using the predictive Wilson model is in more agreement with experimental data than the previous multi-solid models. Also, by this method, generates a new approach for presenting stability analysis in phase equilibrium calculations. Meanwhile, the run time in γ approach is less than the previous methods used ¤ò approach. The results of the new model present 0.75 AAD % (Average Absolute Deviation) from the experimental data which is less than the results error of the previous multi-solid models obviously.Keywords: Multi-solid thermodynamic model, PredictiveWilson model, Wax formation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19812276 Speech Acts and Politeness Strategies in an EFL Classroom in Georgia
Authors: Tinatin Kurdghelashvili
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The paper deals with the usage of speech acts and politeness strategies in an EFL classroom in Georgia (Rep of). It explores the students’ and the teachers’ practice of the politeness strategies and the speech acts of apology, thanking, request, compliment / encouragement, command, agreeing / disagreeing, addressing and code switching. The research method includes observation as well as a questionnaire. The target group involves the students from Georgian public schools and two certified, experienced local English teachers. The analysis is based on Searle’s Speech Act Theory and Brown and Levinson’s politeness strategies. The findings show that the students have certain knowledge regarding politeness yet they fail to apply them in English communication. In addition, most of the speech acts from the classroom interaction are used by the teachers and not the students. Thereby, it is suggested that teachers should cultivate the students’ communicative competence and attempt to give them opportunities to practise more English speech acts than they do today.
Keywords: English as a foreign language, Georgia, politeness principles, speech acts.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 61962275 Application of Data Envelopment Analysis and Performance Indicators to Irrigation Systems in Thessaloniki Plain (Greece)
Authors: Ntantos P.N, Karpouzos D.K
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In this paper, a benchmarking framework is presented for the performance assessment of irrigations systems. Firstly, a data envelopment analysis (DEA) is applied to measure the technical efficiency of irrigation systems. This method, based on linear programming, aims to determine a consistent efficiency ranking of irrigation systems in which known inputs, such as water volume supplied and total irrigated area, and a given output corresponding to the total value of irrigation production are taken into account simultaneously. Secondly, in order to examine the irrigation efficiency in more detail, a cross – system comparison is elaborated using a performance indicators set selected by IWMI. The above methodologies were applied in Thessaloniki plain, located in Northern Greece while the results of the application are presented and discussed. The conjunctive use of DEA and performance indicators seems to be a very useful tool for efficiency assessment and identification of best practices in irrigation systems management.Keywords: Benchmarking, D.E.A, Performance Indicators, Irrigation systems.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20972274 Phelipanche ramosa (L. - Pomel) Control in Field Tomato Crop
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.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 25452273 Gene Selection Guided by Feature Interdependence
Authors: Hung-Ming Lai, Andreas Albrecht, Kathleen Steinhöfel
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Cancers could normally be marked by a number of differentially expressed genes which show enormous potential as biomarkers for a certain disease. Recent years, cancer classification based on the investigation of gene expression profiles derived by high-throughput microarrays has widely been used. The selection of discriminative genes is, therefore, an essential preprocess step in carcinogenesis studies. In this paper, we have proposed a novel gene selector using information-theoretic measures for biological discovery. This multivariate filter is a four-stage framework through the analyses of feature relevance, feature interdependence, feature redundancy-dependence and subset rankings, and having been examined on the colon cancer data set. Our experimental result show that the proposed method outperformed other information theorem based filters in all aspect of classification errors and classification performance.
Keywords: Colon cancer, feature interdependence, feature subset selection, gene selection, microarray data analysis.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21442272 Modeling of Gas Turbine Cooled Blades
Authors: A. Pashayev, D. Askerov, R. Sadiqov, A. Samedov, C. Ardil
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In contrast to existing methods which do not take into account multiconnectivity in a broad sense of this term, we develop mathematical models and highly effective combination (BIEM and FDM) numerical methods of calculation of stationary and quasi-stationary temperature field of a profile part of a blade with convective cooling (from the point of view of realization on PC). The theoretical substantiation of these methods is proved by appropriate theorems. For it, converging quadrature processes have been developed and the estimations of errors in the terms of A.Ziqmound continuity modules have been received. For visualization of profiles are used: the method of the least squares with automatic conjecture, device spline, smooth replenishment and neural nets. Boundary conditions of heat exchange are determined from the solution of the corresponding integral equations and empirical relationships. The reliability of designed methods is proved by calculation and experimental investigations heat and hydraulic characteristics of the gas turbine first stage nozzle blade.Keywords: Gas turbine, cooled blade, nozzle blade, temperature field.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 6162271 Study of Tribological Behaviour of Al6061/Silicon Carbide/Graphite Hybrid Metal Matrix Composite Using Taguchi's Techniques
Authors: Mohamed Zakaulla, A. R. Anwar Khan
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Al6061 alloy base matrix, reinforced with particles of silicon carbide (10 wt %) and Graphite powder (1wt%), known as hybrid composites have been fabricated by liquid metallurgy route (stir casting technique) and optimized at different parameters like applied load, sliding speed and sliding distance by taguchi method. A plan of experiment generated through taguchi technique was used to perform experiments based on L27 orthogonal array. The developed ANOVA and regression equations are used to find the optimum coefficient of friction and wear under the influence of applied load, sliding speed and sliding distance. On the basis of “smaller the best” the dry sliding wear resistance was analysed and finally confirmation tests were carried out to verify the experimental results.Keywords: Analysis of variance, dry sliding wear, Hybrid composite, orthogonal array, Taguchi technique.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 27042270 Computer Vision Applied to Flower, Fruit and Vegetable Processing
Authors: Luis Gracia, Carlos Perez-Vidal, Carlos Gracia
Abstract:
This paper presents the theoretical background and the real implementation of an automated computer system to introduce machine vision in flower, fruit and vegetable processing for recollection, cutting, packaging, classification, or fumigation tasks. The considerations and implementation issues presented in this work can be applied to a wide range of varieties of flowers, fruits and vegetables, although some of them are especially relevant due to the great amount of units that are manipulated and processed each year over the world. The computer vision algorithms developed in this work are shown in detail, and can be easily extended to other applications. A special attention is given to the electromagnetic compatibility in order to avoid noisy images. Furthermore, real experimentation has been carried out in order to validate the developed application. In particular, the tests show that the method has good robustness and high success percentage in the object characterization.Keywords: Image processing, Vision system, Automation
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 33232269 Skyline Extraction using a Multistage Edge Filtering
Authors: Byung-Ju Kim, Jong-Jin Shin, Hwa-Jin Nam, Jin-Soo Kim
Abstract:
Skyline extraction in mountainous images can be used for navigation of vehicles or UAV(unmanned air vehicles), but it is very hard to extract skyline shape because of clutters like clouds, sea lines and field borders in images. We developed the edge-based skyline extraction algorithm using a proposed multistage edge filtering (MEF) technique. In this method, characteristics of clutters in the image are first defined and then the lines classified as clutters are eliminated by stages using the proposed MEF technique. After this processing, we select the last line using skyline measures among the remained lines. This proposed algorithm is robust under severe environments with clutters and has even good performance for infrared sensor images with a low resolution. We tested this proposed algorithm for images obtained in the field by an infrared camera and confirmed that the proposed algorithm produced a better performance and faster processing time than conventional algorithms.Keywords: MEF, mountainous image, navigation, skyline
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1872