Search results for: Enhancement of Gypseous Soils
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 759

Search results for: Enhancement of Gypseous Soils

579 Evaluation of Shear Strength Parameters of Rudsar Sandy Soil Stabilized with Waste Rubber Chips

Authors: R. Ziaie Moayed, M. Hamidzadeh

Abstract:

The use of waste rubber chips not only can be of great importance in terms of the environment, but also can be used to increase the shear strength of soils. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the variation of the internal friction angle of liquefiable sandy soil using waste rubber chips. For this purpose, the geotechnical properties of unmodified and modified soil samples by waste lining rubber chips have been evaluated and analyzed by performing the triaxial consolidated drained test. In order to prepare the laboratory specimens, the sandy soil in part of Rudsar shores in Gilan province, north of Iran with high liquefaction potential has been replaced by two percent of waste rubber chips. Samples have been compressed until reaching the two levels of density of 15.5 and 16.7 kN/m3. Also, in order to find the optimal length of chips in sandy soil, the rectangular rubber chips with the widths of 0.5 and 1 cm and the lengths of 0.5, 1, and 2 cm were used. The results showed that the addition of rubber chips to liquefiable sandy soil greatly increases the shear resistance of these soils. Also, it can be seen that decreasing the width and increasing the length-to-width ratio of rubber chips has a direct impact on the shear strength of the modified soil samples with rubber chips.

Keywords: Improvement, shear strength, internal friction angle, sandy soil, rubber chip.

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578 CPT Pore Water Pressure Correlations with PDA to Identify Pile Drivability Problem

Authors: Fauzi Jarushi, Paul Cosentino, Edward Kalajian, Hadeel Dekhn

Abstract:

At certain depths during large diameter displacement pile driving, rebound well over 0.25 inches was experienced, followed by a small permanent-set during each hammer blow. High pile rebound (HPR) soils may stop the pile driving and results in a limited pile capacity. In some cases, rebound leads to pile damage, delaying the construction project, and the requiring foundations redesign. HPR was evaluated at seven Florida sites, during driving of square precast, prestressed concrete piles driven into saturated, fine silty to clayey sands and sandy clays. Pile Driving Analyzer (PDA) deflection versus time data recorded during installation, was used to develop correlations between cone penetrometer (CPT) pore-water pressures, pile displacements and rebound. At five sites where piles experienced excessive HPR with minimal set, the pore pressure yielded very high positive values of greater than 20 tsf. However, at the site where the pile rebounded, followed by an acceptable permanent-set, the measured pore pressure ranged between 5 and 20 tsf. The pore pressure exhibited values of less than 5 tsf at the site where no rebound was noticed. In summary, direct correlations between CPTu pore pressure and rebound were produced, allowing identification of soils that produce HPR.

Keywords: CPTu, pore water pressure, pile rebound.

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577 Speech Enhancement Using Kalman Filter in Communication

Authors: Eng. Alaa K. Satti Salih

Abstract:

Revolutions Applications such as telecommunications, hands-free communications, recording, etc. which need at least one microphone, the signal is usually infected by noise and echo. The important application is the speech enhancement, which is done to remove suppressed noises and echoes taken by a microphone, beside preferred speech. Accordingly, the microphone signal has to be cleaned using digital signal processing DSP tools before it is played out, transmitted, or stored. Engineers have so far tried different approaches to improving the speech by get back the desired speech signal from the noisy observations. Especially Mobile communication, so in this paper will do reconstruction of the speech signal, observed in additive background noise, using the Kalman filter technique to estimate the parameters of the Autoregressive Process (AR) in the state space model and the output speech signal obtained by the MATLAB. The accurate estimation by Kalman filter on speech would enhance and reduce the noise then compare and discuss the results between actual values and estimated values which produce the reconstructed signals.

Keywords: Autoregressive Process, Kalman filter, Matlab and Noise speech.

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576 Nutrition Bio-Shield Superfood: Healthy and Live Herbal Supplement for Immune System Enhancement

Authors: Azam Bayat, Aref Khalkhali, Ali Reza Mahjoub

Abstract:

Healthy and viable herbal supplement were prepared from wheat by a green route. This organic biomaterial was named Nutrition Bio-shield Superfood (NBS). The NBS supplement had various vitamins, macro and micro molecules, and ingredients. In this study, 20 small Balb/C labile specimens were used in a weighing 30 ± 5 range. The samples were randomly divided into different groups, then the groups were divided into 5 groups. According to the results of this study, the mean number of white blood cells and neutrophil percentage in the experimental group receiving healthy and live dietary supplement showed a significant increase at the 5% probability level in all three groups received 50, 100 and 150 mg/ kg body weight of the mouse compared to the control group. In general, the dietary supplement increases the level of immunity.

Keywords: Healthy and live herbal supplement, biomaterial, immune system, enhancement.

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575 On-line Speech Enhancement by Time-Frequency Masking under Prior Knowledge of Source Location

Authors: Min Ah Kang, Sangbae Jeong, Minsoo Hahn

Abstract:

This paper presents the source extraction system which can extract only target signals with constraints on source localization in on-line systems. The proposed system is a kind of methods for enhancing a target signal and suppressing other interference signals. But, the performance of proposed system is superior to any other methods and the extraction of target source is comparatively complete. The method has a beamforming concept and uses an improved time-frequency (TF) mask-based BSS algorithm to separate a target signal from multiple noise sources. The target sources are assumed to be in front and test data was recorded in a reverberant room. The experimental results of the proposed method was evaluated by the PESQ score of real-recording sentences and showed a noticeable speech enhancement.

Keywords: Beam forming, Non-stationary noise reduction, Source separation, TF mask.

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574 Throughput Enhancement in AUDTWMN Using Throwboxes – An Overview

Authors: Laveen Sundararaj, Palanisamy Vellaiyan

Abstract:

Delay and Disruption Tolerant Networking is part of the Inter Planetary Internet with primary application being Deep Space Networks. Its Terrestrial form has interesting research applications such as Alagappa University Delay Tolerant Water Monitoring Network which doubles as test beds for improvising its routing scheme. DTNs depend on node mobility to deliver packets using a store-carry-and forward paradigm. Throwboxes are small and inexpensive stationary devices equipped with wireless interfaces and storage. We propose the use of Throwboxes to enhance the contact opportunities of the nodes and hence improve the Throughput. The enhancement is evaluated using Alunivdtnsim, a desktop simulator in C language and the results are graphically presented.

Keywords: Alunivdtnsim – Alagappa University Delay TolerantNetwork Simulator, AUDTWMN- Alagappa University DelayTolerant Water Monitoring Network, DTN - Delay and DisruptionTolerant Networking, LTP – Lick Lider Transmission Protocol.

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573 Improvement of Soft Clay Using Floating Cement Dust-Lime Columns

Authors: Adel Belal, Sameh Aboelsoud, Mohy Elmashad, Mohammed Abdelmonem

Abstract:

The two main criteria that control the design and performance of footings are bearing capacity and settlement of soil. In soft soils, the construction of buildings, storage tanks, warehouse, etc. on weak soils usually involves excessive settlement problems. To solve bearing capacity or reduce settlement problems, soil improvement may be considered by using different techniques, including encased cement dust–lime columns. The proposed research studies the effect of adding floating encased cement dust and lime mix columns to soft clay on the clay-bearing capacity. Four experimental tests were carried out. Columns diameters of 3.0 cm, 4.0 cm, and 5.0 cm and columns length of 60% of the clay layer thickness were used. Numerical model was constructed and verified using commercial finite element package (PLAXIS 2D, V8.5). The verified model was used to study the effect of distributing columns around the footing at different distances. The study showed that the floating cement dust lime columns enhanced the clay-bearing capacity with 262%. The numerical model showed that the columns around the footing have a limit effect on the clay improvement.

Keywords: Bearing capacity, cement dust – lime columns, ground improvement, soft clay.

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572 The Effect of Soil in the Allelopathic Potential of Artemisia herba-alba and Oudneya africana Crude Powder on Growth of Weeds

Authors: Salhi Nesrine, Salama M. El-Darier, Halilat M. El-Taher

Abstract:

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of two type of soil (clay and sandy soils) in the potential allelopathic effects of Artemisia herba-alba, Oudneya africana crude powder (0, 1, 3 and 6%) on some growth parameters of two weeds (Bromus tectorum and Melilotus indica) under laboratory conditions (pot experiment).

 The experimental findings have reported that the donor species crude powder concentrations were suppressing to shoot length (SL), root length (RL) and the leaf number (LN)) in both soil types and caused a gradual reduction particularly when they are high. However, the reduction degree was varied and species, concentration dependent. The suppressive effect of the two donors on the two weedy species was in the following order Melilotus indica > Bromus tectorum. Generally, the growth parameters of two recipient species were significantly decreased with the increase of each of the donor species crude powder concentration levels. Concerning the type of soil stoical analyses indicated that significant difference between clay and sandy soils.

Keywords: Allelopathy Soil, Artemisia herba-alba, Oudneya africana, growth, weeds.

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571 Heat Transfer Enhancement Studies in a Circular Tube Fitted with Right-Left Helical Inserts with Spacer

Authors: P. K. Nagarajan, P. Sivashanmugam

Abstract:

Experimental investigation of heat transfer and friction factor characteristics of circular tube fitted with 300 right-left helical screw inserts with 100 mm spacer of different twist ratio has been presented for laminar and turbulent flow.. The experimental data obtained were compared with those obtained from plain tube published data. The heat transfer coefficient enhancement for 300 RL inserts with 100 mm spacer is quite comparable with for 300 R-L inserts. Performance evaluation analysis has been made and found that the performance ratio increases with increasing Reynolds number and decreasing twist ration with the maximum for the twist ratio 2.93. Also, the performance ratio of more than one indicates that the type of twist inserts can be used effectively for heat transfer augmentation.

Keywords: Heat transfer augmentation, right-left helical screw inserts with spacer, Twist ratio, Heat Transfer

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570 Numerical Analysis of Air Flow and Conjugated Heat Transfer in Internally Grooved Parallel- Plate Channels

Authors: Hossein Shokouhmand , Koohyar Vahidkhah, Mohammad A. Esmaeili

Abstract:

A numerical investigation of surface heat transfer characteristics of turbulent air flows in different parallel plate grooved channels is performed using CFD code. The results are obtained for Reynolds number ranging from 10,000 to 30,000 and for arc-shaped and rectangular grooved channels. The influence of different geometric parameters of dimples as well as the number of them and the geometric and thermophysical properties of channel walls are studied. It is found that there exists an optimum value for depth of dimples in which the largest wall heat flux can be achieved. Also, the results show a critical value for the ratio of wall thermal conductivity to the one of fluid in which the dependence of wall heat flux to this ratio almost vanishes. In most cases examined, heat transfer enhancement is larger for arc-shaped grooved channels than rectangular ones.

Keywords: dimple, heat transfer enhancement, Numerical, optimum value, turbulent air flow.

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569 Adaptive Bidirectional Flow for Image Interpolation and Enhancement

Authors: Shujun Fu, Qiuqi Ruan, Wenqia Wang

Abstract:

Image interpolation is a common problem in imaging applications. However, most interpolation algorithms in existence suffer visually the effects of blurred edges and jagged artifacts in the image to some extent. This paper presents an adaptive feature preserving bidirectional flow process, where an inverse diffusion is performed to sharpen edges along the normal directions to the isophote lines (edges), while a normal diffusion is done to remove artifacts (“jaggies") along the tangent directions. In order to preserve image features such as edges, corners and textures, the nonlinear diffusion coefficients are locally adjusted according to the directional derivatives of the image. Experimental results on synthetic images and nature images demonstrate that our interpolation algorithm substantially improves the subjective quality of the interpolated images over conventional interpolations.

Keywords: anisotropic diffusion, bidirectional flow, directional derivatives, edge enhancement, image interpolation, inverse flow, shock filter.

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568 Feature Preserving Image Interpolation and Enhancement Using Adaptive Bidirectional Flow

Authors: Shujun Fu, Qiuqi Ruan, Wenqia Wang

Abstract:

Image interpolation is a common problem in imaging applications. However, most interpolation algorithms in existence suffer visually to some extent the effects of blurred edges and jagged artifacts in the image. This paper presents an adaptive feature preserving bidirectional flow process, where an inverse diffusion is performed to enhance edges along the normal directions to the isophote lines (edges), while a normal diffusion is done to remove artifacts (''jaggies'') along the tangent directions. In order to preserve image features such as edges, angles and textures, the nonlinear diffusion coefficients are locally adjusted according to the first and second order directional derivatives of the image. Experimental results on synthetic images and nature images demonstrate that our interpolation algorithm substantially improves the subjective quality of the interpolated images over conventional interpolations.

Keywords: anisotropic diffusion, bidirectional flow, directionalderivatives, edge enhancement, image interpolation, inverse flow, shock filter.

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567 A CFD Study of Turbulent Convective Heat Transfer Enhancement in Circular Pipeflow

Authors: Perumal Kumar, Rajamohan Ganesan

Abstract:

Addition of milli or micro sized particles to the heat transfer fluid is one of the many techniques employed for improving heat transfer rate. Though this looks simple, this method has practical problems such as high pressure loss, clogging and erosion of the material of construction. These problems can be overcome by using nanofluids, which is a dispersion of nanosized particles in a base fluid. Nanoparticles increase the thermal conductivity of the base fluid manifold which in turn increases the heat transfer rate. Nanoparticles also increase the viscosity of the basefluid resulting in higher pressure drop for the nanofluid compared to the base fluid. So it is imperative that the Reynolds number (Re) and the volume fraction have to be optimum for better thermal hydraulic effectiveness. In this work, the heat transfer enhancement using aluminium oxide nanofluid using low and high volume fraction nanofluids in turbulent pipe flow with constant wall temperature has been studied by computational fluid dynamic modeling of the nanofluid flow adopting the single phase approach. Nanofluid, up till a volume fraction of 1% is found to be an effective heat transfer enhancement technique. The Nusselt number (Nu) and friction factor predictions for the low volume fractions (i.e. 0.02%, 0.1 and 0.5%) agree very well with the experimental values of Sundar and Sharma (2010). While, predictions for the high volume fraction nanofluids (i.e. 1%, 4% and 6%) are found to have reasonable agreement with both experimental and numerical results available in the literature. So the computationally inexpensive single phase approach can be used for heat transfer and pressure drop prediction of new nanofluids.

Keywords: Heat transfer intensification, nanofluid, CFD, friction factor

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566 Adaptive Noise Reduction Algorithm for Speech Enhancement

Authors: M. Kalamani, S. Valarmathy, M. Krishnamoorthi

Abstract:

In this paper, Least Mean Square (LMS) adaptive noise reduction algorithm is proposed to enhance the speech signal from the noisy speech. In this, the speech signal is enhanced by varying the step size as the function of the input signal. Objective and subjective measures are made under various noises for the proposed and existing algorithms. From the experimental results, it is seen that the proposed LMS adaptive noise reduction algorithm reduces Mean square Error (MSE) and Log Spectral Distance (LSD) as compared to that of the earlier methods under various noise conditions with different input SNR levels. In addition, the proposed algorithm increases the Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Segmental SNR improvement (ΔSNRseg) values; improves the Mean Opinion Score (MOS) as compared to that of the various existing LMS adaptive noise reduction algorithms. From these experimental results, it is observed that the proposed LMS adaptive noise reduction algorithm reduces the speech distortion and residual noise as compared to that of the existing methods.

Keywords: LMS, speech enhancement, speech quality, residual noise.

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565 Curriculum Based Measurement and Precision Teaching in Writing Empowerment Enhancement: Results from an Italian Learning Center

Authors: I. Pelizzoni, C. Cavallini, I. Salvaderi, F. Cavallini

Abstract:

We present the improvement in writing skills obtained by 94 participants (aged between six and 10 years) with special educational needs through a writing enhancement program based on fluency principles. The study was planned and conducted with a single-subject experimental plan for each of the participants, in order to confirm the results in the literature. These results were obtained using precision teaching (PT) methodology to increase the number of written graphemes per minute in the pre- and post-test, by curriculum based measurement (CBM). Results indicated an increase in the number of written graphemes for all participants. The average overall duration of the intervention is 144 minutes in five months of treatment. These considerations have been analyzed taking account of the complexity of the implementation of measurement systems in real operational contexts (an Italian learning center) and important aspects of replicability and cost-effectiveness of such interventions.

Keywords: Precision teaching, writing skills, CBM, Italian Learning Center.

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564 Enhancement of Learning Style in Kolej Poly-Tech MARA (KPTM) via Mobile EEF Learning System (MEEFLS)

Authors: M. E. Marwan, A. R. Madar, N. Fuad

Abstract:

Mobile communication provides access to the outside world without borders everywhere and at any time. The learning method that related to mobile communication technology is known as mobile learning (M-learning). It is a method that communicates learning materials with mobile device technology. The purpose of this method is to increase the interest in learning among students and assist them in obtaining learning materials at Kolej Poly-Tech MARA (KPTM) in order to improve the student’s performance in their study and to encourage educators to diversify the teaching practices. This paper discusses the student’s awareness for enhancement of learning style using mobile technologies and their readiness to apply the elements of mobile learning in learning to improve performance and interest in learning among students. An application called Mobile EEF Learning System (MEEFLS) has been developed as a tool to be used as a pilot test in KPTM.

Keywords: Awareness, MEEFLS, mobile learning, readiness.

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563 Enhancement of Essential Oil from Agarwood by Subcritical Water Extraction and Pretreatments on Hydrodistillation

Authors: Nuttawan Yoswathana, M. N. Eshiaghi, K. Jaturapornpanich

Abstract:

The traditional method for essential oil extraction from agarwood (Aquilaria Crassna) is to soak it in water and follow with hydrodistillation. The effect of various agarwood pretreatments: ethanol, acid, alkaline, enzymes, and ultrasound, and the effect of subcritical water extraction(SWE) was studied to compare with the traditional method. The major compositions of agarwood oil from hydrodistillation were aroma compounds as follow: aristol-9-en-8- one (21.53%), selina-3, 7(11)-diene (12.96%), τ-himachalene (9.28%), β-guaiene (5.79%), hexadecanoic acid (4.90%) and guaia- 3,9-diene (4.21%). Whereas agarwood oil from pretreatments with ethanol and ultrasound, and SWE got fatty acid compounds. Extraction of agarwood oil using these pretreatments could improve the agarwood oil yields up to 2 times that of the traditional method. The components of the pretreated sample with diluted acid (H2SO4) at pH 4 gave quite similar results as the traditional method. Therefore, the enhancement of essential oil from agarwood depends on requirement of type of extracted oil that involved extraction methods.

Keywords: Agarwood, aquilaria crassna, hydrodistillation, subcritical water extraction.

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562 Prediction of the Lateral Bearing Capacity of Short Piles in Clayey Soils Using Imperialist Competitive Algorithm-Based Artificial Neural Networks

Authors: Reza Dinarvand, Mahdi Sadeghian, Somaye Sadeghian

Abstract:

Prediction of the ultimate bearing capacity of piles (Qu) is one of the basic issues in geotechnical engineering. So far, several methods have been used to estimate Qu, including the recently developed artificial intelligence methods. In recent years, optimization algorithms have been used to minimize artificial network errors, such as colony algorithms, genetic algorithms, imperialist competitive algorithms, and so on. In the present research, artificial neural networks based on colonial competition algorithm (ANN-ICA) were used, and their results were compared with other methods. The results of laboratory tests of short piles in clayey soils with parameters such as pile diameter, pile buried length, eccentricity of load and undrained shear resistance of soil were used for modeling and evaluation. The results showed that ICA-based artificial neural networks predicted lateral bearing capacity of short piles with a correlation coefficient of 0.9865 for training data and 0.975 for test data. Furthermore, the results of the model indicated the superiority of ICA-based artificial neural networks compared to back-propagation artificial neural networks as well as the Broms and Hansen methods.

Keywords: Lateral bearing capacity, short pile, clayey soil, artificial neural network, Imperialist competition algorithm.

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561 Automatically Driven Vector for Guidewire Segmentation in 2D and Biplane Fluoroscopy

Authors: Simon Lessard, Pascal Bigras, Caroline Lau, Daniel Roy, Gilles Soulez, Jacques A. de Guise

Abstract:

The segmentation of endovascular tools in fluoroscopy images can be accurately performed automatically or by minimum user intervention, using known modern techniques. It has been proven in literature, but no clinical implementation exists so far because the computational time requirements of such technology have not yet been met. A classical segmentation scheme is composed of edge enhancement filtering, line detection, and segmentation. A new method is presented that consists of a vector that propagates in the image to track an edge as it advances. The filtering is performed progressively in the projected path of the vector, whose orientation allows for oriented edge detection, and a minimal image area is globally filtered. Such an algorithm is rapidly computed and can be implemented in real-time applications. It was tested on medical fluoroscopy images from an endovascular cerebral intervention. Ex- periments showed that the 2D tracking was limited to guidewires without intersection crosspoints, while the 3D implementation was able to cope with such planar difficulties.

Keywords: Edge detection, Line Enhancement, Segmentation, Fluoroscopy.

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560 Soil Organic Carbon Pool Assessment and Chemical Evaluation of Soils in Akure North and South Local Government Area of Ondo State

Authors: B. F. Dada, B. S. Ewulo, M. A. Awodun, S. O. Ajayi

Abstract:

Aggregate soil carbon distribution and stock in the soil in the form of a carbon pool is important for soil fertility and sequestration. The amount of carbon pool and other nutrients statues of the soil are to benefit plants, animal and the environment in the long run. This study was carried out at Akure North and South Local Government; the study area is one of the 18 Local Government Areas of Ondo State in the Southwest geo-political zone of Nigeria. The sites were divided into Map Grids and geo-referenced with Global Positioning System (GPS). Horizons were designated and morphological description carried out on the field. Pedons were characterized and classified according to USDA soil taxonomy. The local government area shares boundaries with; Ikere Local Government (LG) in the North, Ise Orun LG in the northwest, Ifedore LG in the northeast Akure South LG in the East, Ose LG in the South East, and Owo LG in the South. SOC-pool at Federal College of Agriculture topsoil horizon A2 is significantly higher than all horizons, 67.83 th⁻¹. The chemical properties of the pedons have shown that the soil is very strongly acidic to neutral reaction (4.68 – 6.73). The nutrients status of the soil topsoil A1 and A2 generally indicates that the soils have a low potential for retaining plant nutrients, and therefore call for adequate soil management.

Keywords: Soil organic carbon, horizon, pedon, Akure.

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559 Antioxidant Enzymes and Crude Mitochondria ATPases in the Radicle of Germinating Bean (Vigna unguiculata) Exposed to Different Concentrations of Crude Oil

Authors: Stella O. Olubodun, George E. Eriyamremu

Abstract:

The study examined the effect of Bonny Light whole crude oil (WC) and its water soluble fraction (WSF) on the activities of antioxidant enzymes (catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD)) and crude mitochondria ATPases in the radicle of germinating bean (Vigna unguiculata). The percentage germination, level of lipid peroxidation, antioxidant enzyme and mitochondria Ca2+ and Mg2+ ATPase activities were measured in the radicle of bean after 7, 14 and 21 days post germination. Viable bean seeds were planted in soils contaminated with 10ml, 25ml and 50ml of whole crude oil (WC) and its water soluble fraction (WSF) to obtain 2, 5 and 10% v/w crude oil contamination. There was dose dependent reduction of the number of bean seeds that germinated in the contaminated soils compared with control (p<0.001). The activities of the antioxidant enzymes, as well as, adenosine triphosphatase enzymes, were also significantly (p<0.001) altered in the radicle of the plants grown in contaminated soil compared with the control. Generally, the level of lipid peroxidation was highest after 21 days post germination when compared with control. Stress to germinating bean caused by Bonny Light crude oil or its water soluble fraction resulted in adaptive changes in crude mitochondria ATPases in the radicle.

Keywords: Antioxidant enzymes, Bonny Light crude oil, Radicle, Mitochondria ATPases.

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558 Fuzzy Hyperbolization Image Enhancement and Artificial Neural Network for Anomaly Detection

Authors: Sri Hartati, 1Agus Harjoko, Brad G. Nickerson

Abstract:

A prototype of an anomaly detection system was developed to automate process of recognizing an anomaly of roentgen image by utilizing fuzzy histogram hyperbolization image enhancement and back propagation artificial neural network. The system consists of image acquisition, pre-processor, feature extractor, response selector and output. Fuzzy Histogram Hyperbolization is chosen to improve the quality of the roentgen image. The fuzzy histogram hyperbolization steps consist of fuzzyfication, modification of values of membership functions and defuzzyfication. Image features are extracted after the the quality of the image is improved. The extracted image features are input to the artificial neural network for detecting anomaly. The number of nodes in the proposed ANN layers was made small. Experimental results indicate that the fuzzy histogram hyperbolization method can be used to improve the quality of the image. The system is capable to detect the anomaly in the roentgen image.

Keywords: Image processing, artificial neural network, anomaly detection.

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557 A Preliminary Study of Drug Perfusion Enhancement by Microstreaming Induced by an Oscillating Microbubble

Authors: Jin Sun Oh, Kyung Ho Lee, S ang Gug Chung, Kyehan Rhee

Abstract:

Microbubbbles incorporating ultrasound have been used to increase the efficacy of targeted drug delivery, because microstreaming induced by cavitating bubbles affects the drug perfusion into the target cells and tissues. In order to clarify the physical effects of microstreaming on drug perfusion into tissues, a preliminary experimental study of perfusion enhancement by a stably oscillating microbubble was performed. Microstreaming was induced by an oscillating bubble at 15 kHz, and perfusion of dye into an agar phantom was optically measured by histology on agar phantom. Surface color intensity and the penetration length of dye in the agar phantom were increased more than 70% and 30%, respectively, due to the microstreaming induced by an oscillating bubble. The mass of dye perfused into a tissue phantom for 30 s was increased about 80% in the phantom with an oscillating bubble. This preliminary experiment shows the physical effects of steady streaming by an oscillating bubble can enhance the drug perfusion into the tissues while minimizing the biological effects.

Keywords: Bubble, Mass Transfer, Microstreaming, Drug Delivery, Acoustic Wave.

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556 Enhancement of Thermal Performance of Latent Heat Solar Storage System

Authors: Rishindra M. Sarviya, Ashish Agrawal

Abstract:

Solar energy is available abundantly in the world, but it is not continuous and its intensity also varies with time. Due to above reason the acceptability and reliability of solar based thermal system is lower than conventional systems. A properly designed heat storage system increases the reliability of solar thermal systems by bridging the gap between the energy demand and availability. In the present work, two dimensional numerical simulation of the melting of heat storage material is presented in the horizontal annulus of double pipe latent heat storage system. Longitudinal fins were used as a thermal conductivity enhancement. Paraffin wax was used as a heat-storage or phase change material (PCM). Constant wall temperature is applied to heat transfer tube. Presented two-dimensional numerical analysis shows the movement of melting front in the finned cylindrical annulus for analyzing the thermal behavior of the system during melting.

Keywords: Latent heat, numerical study, phase change material, solar energy.

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555 Enhancement Throughput of Unplanned Wireless Mesh Networks Deployment Using Partitioning Hierarchical Cluster (PHC)

Authors: Ahmed K. Hasan, A. A. Zaidan, Anas Majeed, B. B. Zaidan, Rosli Salleh, Omar Zakaria, Ali Zuheir

Abstract:

Wireless mesh networks based on IEEE 802.11 technology are a scalable and efficient solution for next generation wireless networking to provide wide-area wideband internet access to a significant number of users. The deployment of these wireless mesh networks may be within different authorities and without any planning, they are potentially overlapped partially or completely in the same service area. The aim of the proposed model is design a new model to Enhancement Throughput of Unplanned Wireless Mesh Networks Deployment Using Partitioning Hierarchical Cluster (PHC), the unplanned deployment of WMNs are determinates there performance. We use throughput optimization approach to model the unplanned WMNs deployment problem based on partitioning hierarchical cluster (PHC) based architecture, in this paper the researcher used bridge node by allowing interworking traffic between these WMNs as solution for performance degradation.

Keywords: Wireless Mesh Networks, 802.11s Internetworking, partitioning Hierarchical Cluste.

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554 ORPP with MAIEP Based Technique for Loadability Enhancement

Authors: Norziana Aminudin, Titik Khawa Abdul Rahman, Ismail Musirin

Abstract:

One of the factors to maintain system survivability is the adequate reactive power support to the system. Lack of reactive power support may cause undesirable voltage decay leading to total system instability. Thus, appropriate reactive power support scheme should be arranged in order to maintain system stability. The strength of a system capacity is normally denoted as system loadability. This paper presents the enhancement of system loadability through optimal reactive power planning technique using a newly developed optimization technique, termed as Multiagent Immune Evolutionary Programming (MAIEP). The concept of MAIEP is developed based on the combination of Multiagent System (MAS), Artificial Immune System (AIS) and Evolutionary Programming (EP). In realizing the effectiveness of the proposed technique, validation is conducted on the IEEE-26-Bus Reliability Test System. The results obtained from pre-optimization and post-optimization process were compared which eventually revealed the merit of MAIEP.

Keywords: Load margin, MAIEP, Maximum loading point, ORPP.

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553 Delineation of Oil – Polluted Sites in Ibeno LGA, Nigeria, Using Microbiological and Physicochemical Characterization

Authors: Ime R. Udotong, Justina I. R. Udotong

Abstract:

Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPNU), a subsidiary of ExxonMobil and the highest crude oil & condensate producer in Nigeria has its operational base and an oil terminal, the Qua Iboe terminal (QIT) located at Ibeno, Nigeria. Other oil companies like Network Exploration and Production Nigeria Ltd, Frontier Oil Ltd; Shell Petroleum Development Company Ltd; Elf Petroleum Nigeria Ltd and Nigerian Agip Energy, a subsidiary of the Italian ENI E&P operate onshore, on the continental shelf and in deep offshore of the Atlantic Ocean, respectively with the coastal waters of Ibeno, Nigeria as the nearest shoreline. This study was designed to delineate the oil-polluted sites in Ibeno, Nigeria using microbiological and physico-chemical characterization of soils, sediments and ground and surface water samples from the study area. Results obtained revealed that there have been significant recent hydrocarbon inputs into this environment as observed from the high counts of hydrocarbonoclastic microorganisms in excess of 1% at all the stations sampled. Moreover, high concentrations of THC, BTEX and heavy metals contents in all the samples analyzed corroborate the high recent crude oil input into the study area. The results also showed that the pollution of the different environmental media sampled were of varying degrees, following the trend: ground water > surface water > sediments > soils.

Keywords: Microbiological characterization, oil-polluted sites, physico-chemical analyses, total hydrocarbon content.

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552 Enhancement of Visual Comfort Using Parametric Double Skin Façades

Authors: Ahmed Ashraf Khamis, Sherif A. Ibrahim, Mahmoud ElKhatieb, Mohamed A. Barakat

Abstract:

Parametric design deemed to be one of icons of the modern architectural trends that facilitates taking complex design decisions counting on altering various design parameters. Double skin façades are one of the parametric applications that are used in parametric designs. This paper opts to enhance different daylight parameters of a selected case study office building in Cairo using a parametric double skin façade. First, the design and optimization process was executed utilizing Grasshopper parametric design software package, in which the daylighting performance of the base case building model was compared with the one used in the double façade showing an enhancement in task plane illuminance by 180%. Second, execution drawings are made for the optimized design using Revit software. Finally, computerized digital fabrication stages of the designed model with various scales are demonstrated to reach the final design decisions using Simplify 3D for mock-up digital fabrication.

Keywords: Parametric design, Double skin façades, Digital Fabrication, Grasshopper, Simplify 3D.

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551 Enhancement in a Mechatronic Aluminum Beverage Cans Recycling Machine

Authors: H. M. El-Zomor, M. Hany

Abstract:

Recycling of aluminum beverage cans is an important issue due to its economic and environmental effect. One of the significant factors in aluminum cans recycling process is the transportation cost from the landfill space. An automatic compression baler (ACB) machine has been designed and built to densify the aluminum beverage cans. It has been constructed using numerous fabricated components. Two types of control methodology have been introduced in this ACB machine to achieve its goal. The first is a semi-automatic system, and the second is a mechatronic system by using a Programmable Logic Control (PLC). The effect of single and double pre-compression for the beverage cans have been evaluated by using the PLC control. Comparisons have been performed between the two types of control methodologies by operating this ACB machine in different working conditions. The double pre-compression in PLC control proves that there is an enhancement in the ACB performance by 133% greater than the direct compression in the semi-automatic control. In addition, the percentage of the reduction ratio in volume reaches 77%, and the compaction ratio reaches about four times of the initial volume.

Keywords: Aluminum can recycling, Fully automatic machine, Hydraulic system control, Multi-compression.

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550 Use of Data of the Remote Sensing for Spatiotemporal Analysis Land Use Changes in the Eastern Aurès (Algeria)

Authors: A. Bouzekri, H. Benmassaud

Abstract:

Aurèsregion is one of the arid and semi-arid areas that have suffered climate crises and overexploitation of natural resources they have led to significant land degradation. The use of remote sensing data allowed us to analyze the land and its spatiotemporal changes in the Aurès between 1987 and 2013, for this work, we adopted a method of analysis based on the exploitation of the images satellite Landsat TM 1987 and Landsat OLI 2013, from the supervised classification likelihood coupled with field surveys of the mission of May and September of 2013. Using ENVI EX software by the superposition of the ground cover maps from 1987 and 2013, one can extract a spatial map change of different land cover units. The results show that between 1987 and 2013 vegetation has suffered negative changes are the significant degradation of forests and steppe rangelands, and sandy soils and bare land recorded a considerable increase. The spatial change map land cover units between 1987 and 2013 allows us to understand the extensive or regressive orientation of vegetation and soil, this map shows that dense forests give his place to clear forests and steppe vegetation develops from a degraded forest vegetation and bare, sandy soils earn big steppe surfaces that explain its remarkable extension. The analysis of remote sensing data highlights the profound changes in our environment over time and quantitative monitoring of the risk of desertification.

Keywords: Aurès, Land use, remote sensing, spatiotemporal.

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