Search results for: power system operation and control
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 12506

Search results for: power system operation and control

1796 Implementation of Virtual Reality in the Conceptual Design of a Tractor Trailer

Authors: Arunesh Chandra, Pankaj Chandna

Abstract:

Virtual reality (VR) is a rapidly emerging computer interface that attempts to immerse the user completely within an experimental recreation; thereby, greatly enhancing the overall impact and providing a much more intuitive link between the computer and the human participants. The main objective of this study is to design tractor trailer capable of meeting the customers’ requirements and suitable for rough conditions to be used in combination with a farm tractor in India. The final concept is capable of providing arrangements for attaching the trailer to the tractor easily by pickup hitch, stronger and lighter supporting frame, option of spare tyre etc. Furthermore, the resulting product design can be sent via the Internet to customers for comments or marketing purposes. The virtual prototyping (VP) system therefore facilitates advanced product design and helps reduce product development time and cost significantly.

Keywords: Conceptual design, Trailer, Virtual prototyping, Virtual reality.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2199
1795 Dissolution Leaching Kinetics of Ulexite in Sodium Dihydrogen Phosphate Solutions

Authors: Emine Teke, Soner Kuşlu, Sabri Çolak, Turan Çalban

Abstract:

The aim of the present study was to investigate the dissolution kinetics of ulexite in sodium dihydrogen phosphate in a mechanical agitation system and also to declare an alternative reactant to produce the boric acid. Reaction temperature, concentration of sodium dihydrogen phosphate, stirring speed, solid-liquid ratio, and ulexite particle size were selected as parameters. The experimental results were successfully correlated by using linear regression and a statistical program. Dissolution curves were evaluated in order to test the shrinking core models for solid-fluid systems. It was observed that increase in the reaction temperature and decrease in the solid/liquid ratio causes an increase in the dissolution rate of ulexite. The activation energy was found to be 36.4 kJ/mol. The leaching of ulexite was controlled by diffusion through the ash (or product) layer.

Keywords: Sodium dihydrogen phosphate, leaching kinetics, ulexite.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1566
1794 MITAutomatic ECG Beat Tachycardia Detection Using Artificial Neural Network

Authors: R. Amandi, A. Shahbazi, A. Mohebi, M. Bazargan, Y. Jaberi, P. Emadi, A. Valizade

Abstract:

The application of Neural Network for disease diagnosis has made great progress and is widely used by physicians. An Electrocardiogram carries vital information about heart activity and physicians use this signal for cardiac disease diagnosis which was the great motivation towards our study. In our work, tachycardia features obtained are used for the training and testing of a Neural Network. In this study we are using Fuzzy Probabilistic Neural Networks as an automatic technique for ECG signal analysis. As every real signal recorded by the equipment can have different artifacts, we needed to do some preprocessing steps before feeding it to our system. Wavelet transform is used for extracting the morphological parameters of the ECG signal. The outcome of the approach for the variety of arrhythmias shows the represented approach is superior than prior presented algorithms with an average accuracy of about %95 for more than 7 tachy arrhythmias.

Keywords: Fuzzy Logic, Probabilistic Neural Network, Tachycardia, Wavelet Transform.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2265
1793 Towards Improved Public Information on Industrial Emissions in Italy: Concepts and Specific Issues Associated to the Italian Experience in IPPC Permit Licensing

Authors: Mazziotti Gomez de Teran C., Fiore D., Cola B., Fardelli A.

Abstract:

The present paper summarizes the analysis of the request for consultation of information and data on industrial emissions made publicly available on the web site of the Ministry of Environment, Land and Sea on integrated pollution prevention and control from large industrial installations, the so called “AIA Portal”. As a matter of fact, a huge amount of information on national industrial plants is already available on internet, although it is usually proposed as textual documentation or images. Thus, it is not possible to access all the relevant information through interoperability systems and also to retrieval relevant information for decision making purposes as well as rising of awareness on environmental issue. Moreover, since in Italy the number of institutional and private subjects involved in the management of the public information on industrial emissions is substantial, the access to the information is provided on internet web sites according to different criteria; thus, at present it is not structurally homogeneous and comparable. To overcome the mentioned difficulties in the case of the Coordinating Committee for the implementation of the Agreement for the industrial area in Taranto and Statte, operating before the IPPC permit granting procedures of the relevant installation located in the area, a big effort was devoted to elaborate and to validate data and information on characterization of soil, ground water aquifer and coastal sea at disposal of different subjects to derive a global perspective for decision making purposes. Thus, the present paper also focuses on main outcomes matured during such experience.

Keywords: Public information, emissions into atmosphere, IPPC permits, territorial information systems.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2039
1792 Temperature Effect on Sound Propagation in an Elastic Pipe with Viscoelastic Liquid

Authors: S. Levitsky, R. Bergman

Abstract:

Fluid rheology may have essential impact on sound propagation in a liquid-filled pipe, especially, in a low frequency range. Rheological parameters of liquid are temperature-sensitive, which ultimately results in a temperature dependence of the wave speed and attenuation in the waveguide. The study is devoted to modeling of this effect at sound propagation in an elastic pipe with polymeric liquid, described by generalized Maxwell model with non-zero high-frequency viscosity. It is assumed that relaxation spectrum is distributed according to the Spriggs law; temperature impact on the liquid rheology is described on the basis of the temperature-superposition principle and activation theory. The dispersion equation for the waveguide, considered as a thin-walled tube with polymeric solution, is obtained within a quasi-one-dimensional formulation. Results of the study illustrate the influence of temperature on sound propagation in the system.

Keywords: Elastic tube, sound propagation, temperature effect, viscoelastic liquid.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1960
1791 Function Approximation with Radial Basis Function Neural Networks via FIR Filter

Authors: Kyu Chul Lee, Sung Hyun Yoo, Choon Ki Ahn, Myo Taeg Lim

Abstract:

Recent experimental evidences have shown that because of a fast convergence and a nice accuracy, neural networks training via extended kalman filter (EKF) method is widely applied. However, as to an uncertainty of the system dynamics or modeling error, the performance of the method is unreliable. In order to overcome this problem in this paper, a new finite impulse response (FIR) filter based learning algorithm is proposed to train radial basis function neural networks (RBFN) for nonlinear function approximation. Compared to the EKF training method, the proposed FIR filter training method is more robust to those environmental conditions. Furthermore , the number of centers will be considered since it affects the performance of approximation.

Keywords: Extended kalmin filter (EKF), classification problem, radial basis function networks (RBFN), finite impulse response (FIR)filter.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2385
1790 Conflation Methodology Applied to Flood Recovery

Authors: E. L. Suarez, D. E. Meeroff, Y. Yong

Abstract:

Current flooding risk modeling focuses on resilience, defined as the probability of recovery from a severe flooding event. However, the long-term damage to property and well-being by nuisance flooding and its long-term effects on communities are not typically included in risk assessments. An approach was developed to address the probability of recovering from a severe flooding event combined with the probability of community performance during a nuisance event. A consolidated model, namely the conflation flooding recovery (&FR) model, evaluates risk-coping mitigation strategies for communities based on the recovery time from catastrophic events, such as hurricanes or extreme surges, and from everyday nuisance flooding events. The &FR model assesses the variation contribution of each independent input and generates a weighted output that favors the distribution with minimum variation. This approach is especially useful if the input distributions have dissimilar variances. The &FR is defined as a single distribution resulting from the product of the individual probability density functions. The resulting conflated distribution resides between the parent distributions, and it infers the recovery time required by a community to return to basic functions, such as power, utilities, transportation, and civil order, after a flooding event. The &FR model is more accurate than averaging individual observations before calculating the mean and variance or averaging the probabilities evaluated at the input values, which assigns the same weighted variation to each input distribution. The main disadvantage of these traditional methods is that the resulting measure of central tendency is exactly equal to the average of the input distribution’s means without the additional information provided by each individual distribution variance. When dealing with exponential distributions, such as resilience from severe flooding events and from nuisance flooding events, conflation results are equivalent to the weighted least squares method or best linear unbiased estimation. The combination of severe flooding risk with nuisance flooding improves flood risk management for highly populated coastal communities, such as in South Florida, USA, and provides a method to estimate community flood recovery time more accurately from two different sources, severe flooding events and nuisance flooding events.

Keywords: Community resilience, conflation, flood risk, nuisance flooding.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 87
1789 Chitosan/Casein Microparticles: Preparation, Characterization and Drug Release Studies

Authors: Selvakumar Dhanasingh, Shunmuga Kumar Nallaperumal

Abstract:

Microparticles carrier systems made from naturally occurring polymers based on chitosan/casein system appears to be a promising carrier for the sustained release of orally and parenteral administered drugs. In the current study we followed a microencapsulation technique based aqueous coacervation method to prepare chitosan/casein microparticles of compositions 1:1, 1:2 and 1:5 incorporated with chloramphenicol. Glutaraldehyde was used as a chemical cross-linking agent. The microparticles were prepared by aerosol method and studied by optical microscopy, infrared spectroscopy, thermo gravimetric analysis, swelling studies and drug release studies at various pH. The percentage swelling of the polymers are found to be in the order pH 4 > pH 10 > pH 7 and the increase in casein composition decrease the swelling percentage. The drug release studies also follow the above order.

Keywords: Chitosan/casein micro particles, chloramphenicol, drug release, microencapsulation.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3181
1788 Identification of an Appropriate Alternative Waste Technology for Energy Recovery from Waste through Multi-Criteria Analysis

Authors: Sharmina Begum, M. G. Rasul, Delwar Akbar

Abstract:

Waste management is now a global concern due to its high environmental impact on climate change. Because of generating huge amount of waste through our daily activities, managing waste in an efficient way has become more important than ever. Alternative Waste Technology (AWT), a new category of waste treatment technology has been developed for energy recovery in recent years to address this issue. AWT describes a technology that redirects waste away from landfill, recovers more useable resources from the waste flow and reduces the impact on the surroundings. Australia is one of the largest producers of waste per-capita. A number of AWTs are using in Australia to produce energy from waste. Presently, it is vital to identify an appropriate AWT to establish a sustainable waste management system in Australia. Identification of an appropriate AWT through Multi-criteria analysis (MCA) of four AWTs by using five key decision making criteria is presented and discussed in this paper.

Keywords: Alternative waste technology (AWT), Energy fromwaste, Gasification, Multi-criteria Analysis (MCA)

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1593
1787 The Effects of a Circuit Training Program on Muscle Strength, Agility, Anaerobic Performance and Cardiovascular Endurance

Authors: Wirat Sonchan, Pratoom Moungmee, Anek Sootmongkol

Abstract:

This study aimed to examine the effects of a circuit training program on muscle strength, agility, anaerobic performance and cardiovascular endurance. The study involved 24 freshmen (age 18.87+0.68 yr.) male students of the Faculty of Sport Science, Burapha University. They sample study were randomly divided into two groups: Circuit Training group (CT; n=12) and a Control group (C; n=12). Baseline data on height, weight, muscle strength (hand grip dynamometer and leg strength dynamometer), agility (agility T-Test), and anaerobic performance (Running-based Anaerobic Sprint Test) and cardiovascular endurance (20 m Endurance Shuttle Run Test) were collected. The circuit training program included one circuit of eight stations of 30/60 seconds of work/rest interval with two cycles in Week 1-4, and 60/90 seconds of work/rest interval with three cycles in Week 5-8, performed three times per week. Data were analyzed using paired t-tests and independent sample t-test. Statistically significance level was set at 0.05. The results show that after 8 weeks of a training program, muscle strength, agility, anaerobic capacity and cardiovascular endurance increased significantly in the CT Group (p < 0.05), while significant increase was not observed in the C Group (p < 0.05). The results of this study suggest that the circuit training program improved muscle strength, agility, anaerobic capacity and cardiovascular endurance of the study subjects. This program may be used as a guideline for selecting a set of exercise to improve physical fitness.

Keywords: Cardiovascular endurance, circuit training, physical fitness, anaerobic performance.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2470
1786 Technological Applications in Automobile Manufacturing Sector: A Case Study Analysis

Authors: Raja Kannusamy

Abstract:

The research focuses on the applicable technologies in the automobile industry and their effects on the productivity and annual revenue of the industry. A study has been conducted on six major automobile manufacturing industries represented in this research as M1, M2, M3, M4, M5 and M6. The results indicate that M1, which is a pioneer in technological applications, remains the market leader, followed by M5 and M2 taking the second and third positions, respectively. M3, M6 and M4 are the followers and are placed next in positions. It has also been observed that M1 and M2 have entered into an agreement to share the basic structural technologies and they maintain long-term and trusted relationships with their suppliers through the Keiretsu system. With technological giants such as Apple, Microsoft, Uber and Google entering the automobile industry in recent years, an upward trend is expected in the futuristic market with self-driving cars to dominate the automobile sector. To keep up with the market trend, it is essential for automobile manufacturers to understand the importance of developing technological capabilities and skills to be competitive in the marketplace.

Keywords: automobile manufacturing industries, competitiveness, performance improvement, technological applications

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 581
1785 Design Patterns for Emergency Management Processes

Authors: Tomáš Ludík, Jiří Barta, Josef Navrátil

Abstract:

Natural or human made disasters have a significant negative impact on the environment. At the same time there is an extensive effort to support management and decision making in emergency situations by information technologies. Therefore the purpose of the paper is to propose a design patterns applicable in emergency management, enabling better analysis and design of emergency management processes and therefore easier development and deployment of information systems in the field of emergency management. It will be achieved by detailed analysis of existing emergency management legislation, contingency plans and information systems. The result is a set of design patterns focused at emergency management processes that enable easier design of emergency plans or development of new information system. These results will have a major impact on the development of new information systems as well as to more effective and faster solving of emergencies.

Keywords: Analysis and Design, Business Process Modeling Notation, Contingency Plans, Design Patterns, Emergency Management.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3078
1784 The Malacca Empire: Sayings of Prophet Muhammad in Sulalat Al-Salatin

Authors: Abdur-Rahman M. A., R. M. Mohd. Ali, R. A. I. R. Yaacob.

Abstract:

In the fifteenth century, the Malacca Empire emerged as the centre of Islamic civilization in the Malay Archipelago. The history had been recorded in Sulalat Al-Salatin, an important literary source about the genealogy of all Kings in Malacca. The objective of this study was to analyze the understanding of sayings from Prophet Muhammad among Malays in Malacca during the fifteenth century through all of the hadith quoted in Sulalat Al-Salatin. This study used content analysis methodology to validate the sayings where all of them were critically analyzed and compared with the classical hadith sources from prominent Muslim scholars. As a result, only two out of the four quotations were considered as authentic sayings of Prophet Muhammad. This study also showed the importance of the palace as the centre of the Islamic education system and the role played by Muslim preachers from outside of Malacca to propagate Islam in Malacca.

Keywords: Hadith in Malay Annals, Malay Annals, SejarahMelayu, Sulalat Al-Salatin.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1698
1783 Solving Directional Overcurrent Relay Coordination Problem Using Artificial Bees Colony

Authors: M. H. Hussain, I. Musirin, A. F. Abidin, S. R. A. Rahim

Abstract:

This paper presents the implementation of Artificial Bees Colony (ABC) algorithm in solving Directional OverCurrent Relays (DOCRs) coordination problem for near-end faults occurring in fixed network topology. The coordination optimization of DOCRs is formulated as linear programming (LP) problem. The objective function is introduced to minimize the operating time of the associated relay which depends on the time multiplier setting. The proposed technique is to taken as a technique for comparison purpose in order to highlight its superiority. The proposed algorithms have been tested successfully on 8 bus test system. The simulation results demonstrated that the ABC algorithm which has been proved to have good search ability is capable in dealing with constraint optimization problems.

Keywords: Artificial bees colony, directional overcurrent relay coordination problem, relay settings, time multiplier setting.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3512
1782 Bi-Criteria Latency Optimization of Intra-and Inter-Autonomous System Traffic Engineering

Authors: K. Vidya, V.Rhymend Uthariaraj

Abstract:

Traffic Engineering (TE) is the process of controlling how traffic flows through a network in order to facilitate efficient and reliable network operations while simultaneously optimizing network resource utilization and traffic performance. TE improves the management of data traffic within a network and provides the better utilization of network resources. Many research works considers intra and inter Traffic Engineering separately. But in reality one influences the other. Hence the effective network performances of both inter and intra Autonomous Systems (AS) are not optimized properly. To achieve a better Joint Optimization of both Intra and Inter AS TE, we propose a joint Optimization technique by considering intra-AS features during inter – AS TE and vice versa. This work considers the important criterion say latency within an AS and between ASes. and proposes a Bi-Criteria Latency optimization model. Hence an overall network performance can be improved by considering this jointoptimization technique in terms of Latency.

Keywords: Inter-Domain Routing , Measurement, OptimizationPerformance, Traffic Engineering.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1501
1781 RANFIS : Rough Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System

Authors: Sandeep Chandana, Rene V. Mayorga

Abstract:

The paper presents a new hybridization methodology involving Neural, Fuzzy and Rough Computing. A Rough Sets based approximation technique has been proposed based on a certain Neuro – Fuzzy architecture. A New Rough Neuron composition consisting of a combination of a Lower Bound neuron and a Boundary neuron has also been described. The conventional convergence of error in back propagation has been given away for a new framework based on 'Output Excitation Factor' and an inverse input transfer function. The paper also presents a brief comparison of performances, of the existing Rough Neural Networks and ANFIS architecture against the proposed methodology. It can be observed that the rough approximation based neuro-fuzzy architecture is superior to its counterparts.

Keywords: Boundary neuron, neuro-fuzzy, output excitation factor, RANFIS, rough approximation, rough neural computing.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1692
1780 A Comprehensive Method of Fault Detection and Isolation Based On Testability Modeling Data

Authors: Junyou Shi, Weiwei Cui

Abstract:

Testability modeling is a commonly used method in testability design and analysis of system. A dependency matrix will be obtained from testability modeling, and we will give a quantitative evaluation about fault detection and isolation. Based on the dependency matrix, we can obtain the diagnosis tree. The tree provides the procedures of the fault detection and isolation. But the dependency matrix usually includes built-in test (BIT) and manual test in fact. BIT runs the test automatically and is not limited by the procedures. The method above cannot give a more efficient diagnosis and use the advantages of the BIT. A Comprehensive method of fault detection and isolation is proposed. This method combines the advantages of the BIT and Manual test by splitting the matrix. The result of the case study shows that the method is effective.

Keywords: BIT, fault detection, fault isolation, testability modeling.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1649
1779 In vitro Study of Laser Diode Radiation Effect on the Photo-Damage of MCF-7 and MCF-10A Cell Clusters

Authors: A. Dashti, M. Eskandari, L. Farahmand, P. Parvin, A. Jafargholi

Abstract:

Breast Cancer is one of the most considerable diseases in the United States and other countries and is the second leading cause of death in women. Common breast cancer treatments would lead to adverse side effects such as loss of hair, nausea, and weakness. These complications arise because these cancer treatments damage some healthy cells while eliminating the cancer cells. In an effort to address these complications, laser radiation was utilized and tested as a targeted cancer treatment for breast cancer. In this regard, tissue engineering approaches are being employed by using an electrospun scaffold in order to facilitate the growth of breast cancer cells. Polycaprolacton (PCL) was used as a material for scaffold fabricating because of its biocompatibility, biodegradability, and supporting cell growth. The specific breast cancer cells have the ability to create a three-dimensional cell cluster due to the spontaneous accumulation of cells in the porosity of the scaffold under some specific conditions. Therefore, we are looking for a higher density of porosity and larger pore size. Fibers showed uniform diameter distribution and final scaffold had optimum characteristics with approximately 40% porosity. The images were taken by SEM and the density and the size of the porosity were determined with the Image. After scaffold preparation, it has cross-linked by glutaraldehyde. Then, it has been washed with glycine and phosphate buffer saline (PBS), in order to neutralize the residual glutaraldehyde. 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromidefor (MTT) results have represented approximately 91.13% viability of the scaffolds for cancer cells. In order to create a cluster, Michigan Cancer Foundation-7 (MCF-7, breast cancer cell line) and Michigan Cancer Foundation-10A (MCF-10A, human mammary epithelial cell line) cells were cultured on the scaffold in 24 well plate for five days. Then, we have exposed the cluster to the laser diode 808 nm radiation to investigate the effect of laser on the tumor with different power and time. Under the same conditions, cancer cells lost their viability more than the healthy ones. In conclusion, laser therapy is a viable method to destroy the target cells and has a minimum effect on the healthy tissues and cells and it can improve the other method of cancer treatments limitations.

Keywords: Breast cancer, electrospun scaffold, polycaprolacton, laser diode, cancer treatment.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 791
1778 An Adaptive ARQ – HARQ Method with Two RS Codes

Authors: Michal Martinovič, Jaroslav Polec, Kvetoslava Kotuliaková

Abstract:

In this paper we proposed multistage adaptive ARQ/HARQ/HARQ scheme. This method combines pure ARQ (Automatic Repeat reQuest) mode in low channel bit error rate and hybrid ARQ method using two different Reed-Solomon codes in middle and high error rate conditions. It follows, that our scheme has three stages. The main goal is to increase number of states in adaptive HARQ methods and be able to achieve maximum throughput for every channel bit error rate. We will prove the proposal by calculation and then with simulations in land mobile satellite channel environment. Optimization of scheme system parameters is described in order to maximize the throughput in the whole defined Signal-to- Noise Ratio (SNR) range in selected channel environment.

Keywords: Signal-to-noise ratio, throughput, forward error correction (FEC), pure and hybrid automatic repeat request (ARQ).

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1948
1777 Investigation of Dynamic Mechanical Properties of Jute/Carbon Reinforced Composites

Authors: H. Sezgin, O. B. Berkalp, R. Mishra, J. Militky

Abstract:

In the last few decades, due to their advanced properties, there has been an increasing interest in hybrid composite materials. In this study, the effect of different stacking sequences of jute and carbon fabric plies on dynamic mechanical properties of composite laminates were investigated. Vacuum bagging system was used to fabricate the composite samples. Each composite laminate was reinforced with two plies of jute fabric and two plies of carbon fabric by varying the position of layers. Dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA) was used to examine the dynamic mechanical properties of composite laminates with increasing temperature. Results showed that the composite sample, which has carbon fabric at the outer layers, has the highest storage and loss modulus. Besides, it was observed that glass transition temperature (Tg) of samples are close to each other and at about 75 °C.

Keywords: Differential scanning calorimetry dynamic mechanical analysis, textile reinforced composites, thermogravimetric analysis.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1821
1776 Invasion of Pectinatella magnifica in Freshwater Resources of the Czech Republic

Authors: J. Pazourek, K. Šmejkal, P. Kollár, J. Rajchard, J. Šinko, Z. Balounová, E. Vlková, H. Salmonová

Abstract:

Pectinatella magnifica (Leidy, 1851) is an invasive freshwater animal that lives in colonies. A colony of Pectinatella magnifica (a gelatinous blob) can be up to several feet in diameter large and under favorable conditions it exhibits an extreme growth rate. Recently European countries around rivers of Elbe, Oder, Danube, Rhine and Vltava have confirmed invasion of Pectinatella magnifica, including freshwater reservoirs in South Bohemia (Czech Republic). Our project (Czech Science Foundation, GAČR P503/12/0337) is focused onto biology and chemistry of Pectinatella magnifica. We monitor the organism occurrence in selected South Bohemia ponds and sandpits during the last years, collecting information about physical properties of surrounding water, and sampling the colonies for various analyses (classification, maps of secondary metabolites, toxicity tests). Because the gelatinous matrix is during the colony lifetime also a host for algae, bacteria and cyanobacteria (co-habitants), in this contribution, we also applied a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for determination of potentially present cyanobacterial toxins (microcystin-LR, microcystin-RR, nodularin). Results from the last 3-year monitoring show that these toxins are under limit of detection (LOD), so that they do not represent a danger yet. The final goal of our study is to assess toxicity risks related to fresh water resources invaded by Pectinatella magnifica, and to understand the process of invasion, which can enable to control it.

Keywords: Cyanobacteria, freshwater resources, Pectinatella magnifica invasion, toxicity monitoring.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1857
1775 GPT Onto: A New Beginning for Malaysia Gross Pollutant Trap Ontology

Authors: Chandrika M.J., Lariyah M.S., Alicia Y.C. Tang

Abstract:

Ontology is widely being used as a tool for organizing information, creating the relation between the subjects within the defined knowledge domain area. Various fields such as Civil, Biology, and Management have successful integrated ontology in decision support systems for managing domain knowledge and to assist their decision makers. Gross pollutant traps (GPT) are devices used in trapping and preventing large items or hazardous particles in polluting and entering our waterways. However choosing and determining GPT is a challenge in Malaysia as there are inadequate GPT data repositories being captured and shared. Hence ontology is needed to capture, organize and represent this knowledge into meaningful information which can be contributed to the efficiency of GPT selection in Malaysia urbanization. A GPT Ontology framework is therefore built as the first step to capture GPT knowledge which will then be integrated into the decision support system. This paper will provide several examples of the GPT ontology, and explain how it is constructed by using the Protégé tool.

Keywords: Gross pollutant Trap, Ontology, Protégé.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1993
1774 Outcomes of Teenage Mothers at Dankhunthot Hospital, Nakhon Ratchasima

Authors: Nareelux Suwannobol, Supap Chobkhayan

Abstract:

The aim of this study was to investigate the pregnancy outcomes of teenage mothers at DanKhunThot hospital, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. A retrospective descriptive study was conducted in 573 of teenage pregnant from charts reviewed from 1st October 2010-31st March, 2012. Data were analyzed by frequency distribution, mean and Standard Deviation. The results shown several problems and negatives outcomes of pregnancy in teenager such as not attended prenatal care, Low birth weight infants, death fetus in utero and other complications. The results of this study can be utilized in the development of prenatal, perinatal and post natal care services, especially in DanKhunthot Hospital contexts. Moreover, the results were present to the District Health Care committees in order to enhance health care service system for teenage pregnancy of DanKhunthot District in further.

Keywords: Teenage mothers, Pregnancy outcome, Neonatal outcomes, Maternal outcomes.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1643
1773 Effect of Alginate and Surfactant on Physical Properties of Oil Entrapped Alginate Bead Formulation of Curcumin

Authors: Arpa Petchsomrit, Namfa Sermkaew, Ruedeekorn Wiwattanapatapee

Abstract:

Oil entrapped floating alginate beads of curcumin were developed and characterized. Cremophor EL, Cremophor RH and Tween 80 were utilized to improve the solubility of the drug. The oil-loaded floating gel beads prepared by emulsion gelation method contained sodium alginate, mineral oil and surfactant. The drug content and % encapsulation declined as the ratio of surfactant was increased. The release of curcumin from 1% alginate beads was significantly more than for the 2% alginate beads. The drug released from the beads containing 25% of Tween 80 was about 70% while a higher drug release was observed with the beads containing Cremophor EL or Cremohor RH (approximately 90%). The developed floating beads of curcumin powder with surfactant provided a superior drug release than those without surfactant. Floating beads based on oil entrapment containing the drug solubilized in surfactants is a new delivery system to enhance the dissolution of poorly soluble drugs.

Keywords: Alginate, curcumin, floating drug delivery, oil entrapped bead.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4612
1772 Action Recognition in Video Sequences using a Mealy Machine

Authors: L. Rodriguez-Benitez, J. Moreno-Garcia, J.J. Castro-Schez, C. Solana, L. Jimenez

Abstract:

In this paper the use of sequential machines for recognizing actions taken by the objects detected by a general tracking algorithm is proposed. The system may deal with the uncertainty inherent in medium-level vision data. For this purpose, fuzzification of input data is performed. Besides, this transformation allows to manage data independently of the tracking application selected and enables adding characteristics of the analyzed scenario. The representation of actions by means of an automaton and the generation of the input symbols for finite automaton depending on the object and action compared are described. The output of the comparison process between an object and an action is a numerical value that represents the membership of the object to the action. This value is computed depending on how similar the object and the action are. The work concludes with the application of the proposed technique to identify the behavior of vehicles in road traffic scenes.

Keywords: Approximate reasoning, finite state machines, video analysis.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1671
1771 The Lymphocytes Number in the Blood of Kwashiorkor Rat Model Induced by Oral Immunization with 38-kDa Mycobacterium tuberculosis Protein

Authors: Novi Khila Firani, Elisa Nesdyaningtyas

Abstract:

Kwashiorkor is one of nutritional problem in Indonesia, which lead to decrease immune system. This condition causes susceptibility to infectious disease, especially tuberculosis. Development of new tuberculosis vaccine will be an important strategy to eliminate tuberculosis in kwashiorkor. Previous research showed that 38-kDa Mycobacterium tuberculosis protein is one of the potent immunogen. However, the role of oral immunization with 38- kDa Mycobacterium tuberculosis protein to the number of lymphocytes in the rat model of kwashiorkor is still unknown. We used kwashiorkor rat model groups with 4% and 2% low protein diet. Oral immunization with 38-kDa Mycobacterium tuberculosis protein given with 2 booster every week. The lymphocytes number were measured by flowcytometry. There was no significant difference between the number of lymphocytes in the normal rat group and the kwashiorkor rat groups. It may reveal the role of 38-kDa Mycobacterium tuberculosis protein as a potent immunogen that can increase the lymphocytes number from kwashiorkor rat model same as normal rat.

Keywords: kwashiorkor rat, lymphocytes, 38-kDa Mycobacterium tuberculosis protein

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2481
1770 Global Security Using Human Face Understanding under Vision Ubiquitous Architecture System

Authors: A. Jalal, S. Kim

Abstract:

Different methods containing biometric algorithms are presented for the representation of eigenfaces detection including face recognition, are identification and verification. Our theme of this research is to manage the critical processing stages (accuracy, speed, security and monitoring) of face activities with the flexibility of searching and edit the secure authorized database. In this paper we implement different techniques such as eigenfaces vector reduction by using texture and shape vector phenomenon for complexity removal, while density matching score with Face Boundary Fixation (FBF) extracted the most likelihood characteristics in this media processing contents. We examine the development and performance efficiency of the database by applying our creative algorithms in both recognition and detection phenomenon. Our results show the performance accuracy and security gain with better achievement than a number of previous approaches in all the above processes in an encouraging mode.

Keywords: Ubiquitous architecture, verification, Identification, recognition

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1303
1769 Simulation and Experimentation of Multibody Mechanical Systems with Clearance Revolute Joints

Authors: A.F. Haroun, S.M. Megahed

Abstract:

Clearance in the joints of multibody mechanical systems such as linkage mechanisms and robots is a main source of vibration, and noise of the whole system, and wear of the joints themselves. This clearance is an inevitable matter and cannot be eliminated, since it allows the relative motion between joint components and make them assemblage. This paper presents an experimental verification of the obtained simulation results of a slider – crank mechanism of one clearance revolute joint. The simulation results are obtained with the aid of CAD and dynamic simulation softwares, which is an effective method of simulation multibody systems with clearance joints and have many advantages. The comparison between both simulation and experimental results shows that the simulation results are so close to the experimental ones which proves the accuracy and efficiency of this method of modeling and simulation of mechanical systems with clearance joints.

Keywords: CAD and dynamic simulator softwares, Clearance joints, , Experimental results, Slider – crank mechanism.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2680
1768 Treatment of Simulated Textile Wastewater Containing Reactive Azo Dyes Using Laboratory Scale Trickling Filter

Authors: A. Irum, S. Mumtaz, A. Rehman, I. Naz, S. Ahmed

Abstract:

The present study was conducted to evaluate the potential applicability of biological trickling filter system for the treatment of simulated textile wastewater containing reactive azo dyes with bacterial consortium under non-sterile conditions. The percentage decolorization for the treatment of wastewater containing structurally different dyes was found to be higher than 95% in all trials. The stable bacterial count of the biofilm on stone media of the trickling filter during the treatment confirmed the presence, proliferation, dominance and involvement of the added microbial consortium in the treatment of textile wastewater. Results of physicochemical parameters revealed the reduction in chemical oxygen demand (58.5-75.1%), sulphates (18.9-36.5%), and phosphates (63.6-73.0%). UV-Visible and FTIR spectroscopy confirmed decolorization of dye containing wastewater was ultimate consequence of biodegradation. Toxicological studies revealed the nontoxic nature of degradative metabolites.

Keywords: Biodegradation, textile dyes, waste water, trickling filters.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3254
1767 Determination of Alkali Treatment Conditions Effects Which Influence the Variability of Kenaf Fiber Mean Cross Sectional Area

Authors: Mohd Yussni Hashim, Mohd Nazrul Roslan, Shahruddin Mahzan @ Mohd Zin, Saparudin Ariffin

Abstract:

Fiber cross sectional area value is a crucial factor in determining the strength properties of natural fiber. Furthermore, unlike synthetic fiber, a diameter and cross sectional area of natural fiber has a large variation along and between the fibers. This study aims to determine the main and interaction effects of alkali treatment conditions which influence kenaf bast fiber mean cross sectional area. Three alkali treatment conditions at two different levels were selected. The conditions setting were alkali concentrations at 2 and 10 w/v %; fiber immersed temperature at room temperature and 1000C; and fiber immersed duration for 30 and 480 minutes. Untreated kenaf fiber was used as a control unit. Kenaf bast fiber bundle mounting tab was prepared according to ASTM C1557-03. Cross sectional area was measured using a Leica video analyzer. The study result showed that kenaf fiber bundle mean cross sectional area was reduced 6.77% to 29.88% after alkali treatment. From analysis of variance, it shows that interaction of alkali concentration and immersed time has a higher magnitude at 0.1619 compared to alkali concentration and immersed temperature interaction which was 0.0896. For the main effect, alkali concentration factor contributes to the higher magnitude at 0.1372 which indicated are decrease pattern of variability when the level was change from lower to higher level. Then, it was followed by immersed temperature at 0.1261 and immersed time at 0.0696 magnitudes.

Keywords: Natural fiber, kenaf bast fiber bundles, alkali treatment, cross sectional area.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1921