Search results for: Al2O3 Sacrificial transfer layer

Authors: Wisam H. Muragaa, Kamaruzzaman Seman, Mohd Fadzli Marhusin

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Software Defined Networking (SDN) is a new norm of networks. It is designed to facilitate the way of managing, measuring, debugging and controlling the network dynamically, and to make it suitable for the modern applications. Generally, measurement methods can be divided into two categories: Active and passive methods. Active measurement method is employed to inject test packets into the network in order to monitor their behaviour (ping tool as an example). Meanwhile the passive measurement method is used to monitor the traffic for the purpose of deriving measurement values. The measurement methods, both active and passive, are useful for the collection of traffic statistics, and monitoring of the network traffic. Although there has been a work focusing on measuring traffic statistics in SDN environment, it was only meant for measuring packets and bytes rates for non-web traffic. In this study, a feasible method will be designed to measure the number of packets and bytes in a certain time, and facilitate obtaining statistics for both web traffic and non-web traffic. Web traffic refers to HTTP requests that use application layer; while non-web traffic refers to ICMP and TCP requests. Thus, this work is going to be more comprehensive than previous works. With a developed module on POX OpenFlow controller, information will be collected from each active flow in the OpenFlow switch, and presented on Command Line Interface (CLI) and wireshark interface. Obviously, statistics that will be displayed on CLI and on wireshark interfaces include type of protocol, number of bytes and number of packets, among others. Besides, this module will show the number of flows added to the switch whenever traffic is generated from and to hosts in the same statistics list. In order to carry out this work effectively, our Python module will send a statistics request message to the switch requesting its current ports and flows statistics in every five seconds; while the switch will reply with the required information in a message called statistics reply message. Thus, POX controller will be notified and updated with any changes could happen in the entire network in a very short time. Therefore, our aim of this study is to prepare a list for the important statistics elements that are collected from the whole network, to be used for any further researches; particularly, those that are dealing with the detection of the network attacks that cause a sudden rise in the number of packets and bytes like Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS).

Keywords: Mininet, OpenFlow, POX controller, SDN.

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Authors: Ana C. Sousa, Beatriz C. Santos, Fátima N. Serralha

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The Tagus estuary is heavily affected by industrial and urban activities, making bioremediation studies crucial for environmental preservation. Fuel contamination in the area can arise from various anthropogenic sources, such as oil spills from shipping, fuel storage and transfer operations, and industrial discharges. These pollutants can cause severe harm to the ecosystem and the organisms, including humans, that inhabit it. Nonetheless, there are always natural organisms with the ability to resist these pollutants and transform them into non-toxic or harmless substances, which defines the process of bioremediation. Exploring the microbial communities existing in soil and their capacity to break down hydrocarbons has the potential to enhance the development of more efficient bioremediation approaches. The aim of this investigation was to explore the existence of hydrocarbonoclastic microorganisms in six locations within the Tagus estuary, three on the north bank: Trancão River, Praia Fluvial do Cais das Colinas and Praia de Algés, and three on the south bank: Praia Fluvial de Alcochete, Praia Fluvial de Alburrica, and Praia da Trafaria. In all studied locations, native microorganisms of the genus Pseudomonas were identified. The bioremediation rate of common hydrocarbons like gasoline, hexane, and toluene was assessed using the redox indicator 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol (DCPIP). Effective hydrocarbon-degrading bacterial strains were identified in all analyzed areas, despite adverse environmental conditions. The highest bioremediation rates were achieved for gasoline (68%) in Alburrica, hexane (65%) in Algés, and toluene (79%) in Algés. Generally, the bacteria demonstrated efficient degradation of hydrocarbons added to the culture medium, with higher rates of aerobic biodegradation of hydrocarbons observed. These findings underscore the necessity for further in situ studies to better comprehend the relationship between native microbial communities and the potential for pollutant degradation in soil.

Keywords: Biodegradability rate, hydrocarbonoclastic microorganisms, soil bioremediation, Tagus estuary.

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Authors: Damian Ramajo, Santiago Corzo, Norberto Nigro

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A Multi-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) two-phase model was developed with the aim to simulate the in-core coolant circuit of a pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR) of a commercial nuclear power plant (NPP). Due to the fact that this PHWR is a Reactor Pressure Vessel type (RPV), three-dimensional (3D) detailed modelling of the large reservoirs of the RPV (the upper and lower plenums and the downcomer) were coupled with an in-house finite volume one-dimensional (1D) code in order to model the 451 coolant channels housing the nuclear fuel. Regarding the 1D code, suitable empirical correlations for taking into account the in-channel distributed (friction losses) and concentrated (spacer grids, inlet and outlet throttles) pressure losses were used. A local power distribution at each one of the coolant channels was also taken into account. The heat transfer between the coolant and the surrounding moderator was accurately calculated using a two-dimensional theoretical model. The implementation of subcooled boiling and condensation models in the 1D code along with the use of functions for representing the thermal and dynamic properties of the coolant and moderator (heavy water) allow to have estimations of the in-core steam generation under nominal flow conditions for a generic fission power distribution. The in-core mass flow distribution results for steady state nominal conditions are in agreement with the expected from design, thus getting a first assessment of the coupled 1/3D model. Results for nominal condition were compared with those obtained with a previous 1/3D single-phase model getting more realistic temperature patterns, also allowing visualize low values of void fraction inside the upper plenum. It must be mentioned that the current results were obtained by imposing prescribed fission power functions from literature. Therefore, results are showed with the aim of point out the potentiality of the developed model.

Keywords: CFD, PHWR, Thermo-hydraulic, Two-phase flow.

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Authors: Roberto Rosenhaim, Marcos Antonio Crus Moreira, Robson da Cunha, Gerson Gomes Cunha

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This work provides details on the wind speed behavior within cities of Arraial do Cabo and São Pedro da Aldeia located in the Lakes Region of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This region has one of the best potentials for wind power generation. In interurban layer, wind conditions are very complex and depend on physical geography, size and orientation of buildings and constructions around, population density, and land use. In the same context, the fundamental surface parameter that governs the production of flow turbulence in urban canyons is the surface roughness. Such factors can influence the potential for power generation from the wind within the cities. Moreover, the use of wind on a small scale is not fully utilized due to complexity of wind flow measurement inside the cities. It is difficult to accurately predict this type of resource. This study demonstrates how fuzzy logic can facilitate the assessment of the complexity of the wind potential inside the cities. It presents a decision support tool and its ability to deal with inaccurate information using linguistic variables created by the heuristic method. It relies on the already published studies about the variables that influence the wind speed in the urban environment. These variables were turned into the verbal expressions that are used in computer system, which facilitated the establishment of rules for fuzzy inference and integration with an application for smartphones used in the research. In the first part of the study, challenges of the sustainable development which are described are followed by incentive policies to the use of renewable energy in Brazil. The next chapter follows the study area characteristics and the concepts of fuzzy logic. Data were collected in field experiment by using qualitative and quantitative methods for assessment. As a result, a map of the various points is presented within the cities studied with its wind viability evaluated by a system of decision support using the method multivariate classification based on fuzzy logic.

Keywords: Behavior of winds, wind power, fuzzy logic, sustainable development.

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Authors: Hoai Nam Huynh, Edouard Rivière-Lorphèvre, Olivier Verlinden

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Manufacturing technologies are becoming continuously more diversified over the years. The increasing use of robots for various applications such as assembling, painting, welding has also affected the field of machining. Machining robots can deal with larger workspaces than conventional machine-tools at a lower cost and thus represent a very promising alternative for machining applications. Furthermore, their inherent structure ensures them a great flexibility of motion to reach any location on the workpiece with the desired orientation. Nevertheless, machining robots suffer from a lack of stiffness at their joints restricting their use to applications involving low cutting forces especially finishing operations. Vibratory instabilities may also happen while machining and deteriorate the precision leading to scrap parts. Some researchers are therefore concerned with the identification of optimal parameters in robotic machining. This paper continues the development of a virtual robotic machining simulator in order to find optimized cutting parameters in terms of depth of cut or feed per tooth for example. The simulation environment combines an in-house milling routine (DyStaMill) achieving the computation of cutting forces and material removal with an in-house multibody library (EasyDyn) which is used to build a dynamic model of a 3-DOF planar robot with flexible links. The position of the robot end-effector submitted to milling forces is controlled through an inverse kinematics scheme while controlling the position of its joints separately. Each joint is actuated through a servomotor for which the transfer function has been computed in order to tune the corresponding controller. The output results feature the evolution of the cutting forces when the robot structure is deformable or not and the tracking errors of the end-effector. Illustrations of the resulting machined surfaces are also presented. The consideration of the links flexibility has highlighted an increase of the cutting forces magnitude. This proof of concept will aim to enrich the database of results in robotic machining for potential improvements in production.

Keywords: Control, machining, multibody, robotic, simulation.

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Authors: Y. C. Liou, J. M. Miao, T. L. Liu, M. H. Ho

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The purpose of this study was to explore the complex flow structure a novel active-type micromixer that based on concept of Wankle-type rotor. The characteristics of this micromixer are two folds; a rapid mixing of reagents in a limited space due to the generation of multiple vortices and a graduate increment in dynamic pressure as the mixed reagents is delivered to the output ports. Present micro-mixer is consisted of a rotor with shape of triangle column, a blending chamber and several inlet and outlet ports. The geometry of blending chamber is designed to make the rotor can be freely internal rotated with a constant eccentricity ratio. When the shape of the blending chamber and the rotor are fixed, the effects of rotating speed of rotor and the relative locations of ports on the mixing efficiency are numerical studied. The governing equations are unsteady, two-dimensional incompressible Navier-Stokes equation and the working fluid is the water. The species concentration equation is also solved to reveal the mass transfer process of reagents in various regions then to evaluate the mixing efficiency. The dynamic mesh technique was implemented to model the dynamic volume shrinkage and expansion of three individual sub-regions of blending chamber when the rotor conducted a complete rotating cycle. Six types of ports configuration on the mixing efficiency are considered in a range of Reynolds number from 10 to 300. The rapid mixing process was accomplished with the multiple vortex structures within a tiny space due to the equilibrium of shear force, viscous force and inertial force. Results showed that the highest mixing efficiency could be attained in the following conditions: two inlet and two outlet ports configuration, that is an included angle of 60 degrees between two inlets and an included angle of 120 degrees between inlet and outlet ports when Re=10.

Keywords: active micro-mixer, CFD, mixing efficiency, ports configuration, Reynolds number, Wankle-type rotor

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Authors: Faezeh Mosallat, Eric L. Bibeau, Tarek El Mekkawy

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Parabolic solar trough systems have seen limited deployments in cold northern climates as they are more suitable for electricity production in southern latitudes. A numerical dynamic model is developed to simulate troughs installed in cold climates and validated using a parabolic solar trough facility in Winnipeg. The model is developed in Simulink and will be utilized to simulate a trigeneration system for heating, cooling and electricity generation in remote northern communities. The main objective of this simulation is to obtain operational data of solar troughs in cold climates and use the model to determine ways to improve the economics and address cold weather issues. In this paper the validated Simulink model is applied to simulate a solar assisted absorption cooling system along with electricity generation using Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) and thermal storage. A control strategy is employed to distribute the heated oil from solar collectors among the above three systems considering the temperature requirements. This modelling provides dynamic performance results using measured meteorological data recorded every minute at the solar facility location. The purpose of this modeling approach is to accurately predict system performance at each time step considering the solar radiation fluctuations due to passing clouds. Optimization of the controller in cold temperatures is another goal of the simulation to for example minimize heat losses in winter when energy demand is high and solar resources are low. The solar absorption cooling is modeled to use the generated heat from the solar trough system and provide cooling in summer for a greenhouse which is located next to the solar field. The results of the simulation are presented for a summer day in Winnipeg which includes comparison of performance parameters of the absorption cooling and ORC systems at different heat transfer fluid (HTF) temperatures.

Keywords: Absorption cooling, parabolic solar trough, remote community, organic Rankine cycle.

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Authors: Ahmed Aljudaya, Derek Ingham, Lin Ma, Kevin Hughes, Mohammed Pourkashanian

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Researchers, power companies, and state politicians have given concentrated solar power (CSP) much attention due to its capacity to generate large amounts of electricity whereas overcoming the intermittent nature of solar resources. The Linear Fresnel Reflector (LFR) is a well-known CSP technology type for being inexpensive, having a low land use factor, and suffering from low optical efficiency. The LFR was considered a cost-effective alternative option to the Parabolic Trough Collector (PTC) because of its simplistic design, and this often outweighs its lower efficiency. The LFR power plants commercially generate steam directly and indirectly in order to produce electricity with high technical efficiency and lower its costs. The purpose of this important analysis is to compare the annual performance of the Direct Steam Generation (DSG) and Indirect Steam Generation (ISG) of LFR power plants using molten salt and other different Heat Transfer Fluids (HTF) to investigate their technical and economic effects. A 50 MWe solar-only system is examined as a case study for both steam production methods in extreme weather conditions. In addition, a parametric analysis is carried out to determine the optimal solar field size that provides the lowest Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) while achieving the highest technical performance. As a result of optimizing the optimum solar field size, the solar multiple (SM) is found to be between 1.2 – 1.5 in order to achieve as low as 9 Cent/KWh for the DSG of the LFR. In addition, the power plant is capable of producing around 141 GWh annually and up to 36% of the capacity factor, whereas the ISG produces less energy at a higher cost. The optimization results show that the DSG’s performance overcomes the ISG in producing around 3% more annual energy, 2% lower LCOE, and 28% less capital cost.

Keywords: Concentrated Solar Power, Levelized cost of electricity, Linear Fresnel reflectors, Steam generation.

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Authors: Alquliyev R.M., Kazimov T.H., Mahmudova Sh.C., Mahmudova R.Sh.

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The given work is devoted to the description of Information Technologies NAS of Azerbaijan created and successfully maintained in Institute. On the basis of the decision of board of the Supreme Certifying commission at the President of the Azerbaijan Republic and Presidium of National Academy of Sciences of the Azerbaijan Republic, the organization of training courses on Computer Sciences for all post-graduate students and dissertators of the republic, taking of examinations of candidate minima, it was on-line entrusted to Institute of Information Technologies of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan. Therefore, teaching the computer sciences to post-graduate students and dissertators a scientific - methodological manual on effective application of new information technologies for research works by post-graduate students and dissertators and taking of candidate minima is carried out in the Educational Center. Information and communication technologies offer new opportunities and prospects of their application for teaching and training. The new level of literacy demands creation of essentially new technology of obtaining of scientific knowledge. Methods of training and development, social and professional requirements, globalization of the communicative economic and political projects connected with construction of a new society, depends on a level of application of information and communication technologies in the educational process. Computer technologies develop ideas of programmed training, open completely new, not investigated technological ways of training connected to unique opportunities of modern computers and telecommunications. Computer technologies of training are processes of preparation and transfer of the information to the trainee by means of computer. Scientific and technical progress as well as global spread of the technologies created in the most developed countries of the world is the main proof of the leading role of education in XXI century. Information society needs individuals having modern knowledge. In practice, all technologies, using special technical information means (computer, audio, video) are called information technologies of education.

Keywords: Educational Center, post-graduate, database.

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Authors: Eun-Geun Kim, Won-Pil Park, Dae-Gon Woo, Chang-Yong Ko, Yong-Heum Lee, Dohyung Lim, Tae-Min Shin, Han-Sung Kim, Gyoun-Jung Lee

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Functional gastrointestinal disorders affect millions of people spread all age regardless of race and sex. There are, however, rare diagnostic methods for the functional gastrointestinal disorders because functional disorders show no evidence of organic and physical causes. Our research group identified recently that the gastrointestinal tract well in the patients with the functional gastrointestinal disorders becomes more rigid than healthy people when palpating the abdominal regions overlaying the gastrointestinal tract. Aim of this study is, therefore, to develop a diagnostic system for the functional gastrointestinal disorders based on ultrasound technique, which can quantify the characteristic above related to the rigidity of the gastrointestinal tract well. Ultrasound system was designed. The system consisted of transmitter, ultrasonic transducer, receiver, TGC, and CPLD, and verified via a phantom test. For the phantom test, ten soft-tissue specimens were harvested from porcine. Five of them were then treated chemically to mimic a rigid condition of gastrointestinal tract well, which was induced by functional gastrointestinal disorders. Additionally, the specimens were tested mechanically to identify if the mimic was reasonable. The customized ultrasound system was finally verified through application to human subjects with/without functional gastrointestinal disorders (Normal and Patient Groups). It was identified from the mechanical test that the chemically treated specimens were more rigid than normal specimen. This finding was favorably compared with the result obtained from the phantom test. The phantom test also showed that ultrasound system well described the specimen geometric characteristics and detected an alteration in the specimens. The maximum amplitude of the ultrasonic reflective signal in the rigid specimens (0.2±0.1Vp-p) at the interface between the fat and muscle layers was explicitly higher than that in the normal specimens (0.1±0.0Vp-p). Clinical tests using our customized ultrasound system for human subject showed that the maximum amplitudes of the ultrasonic reflective signals near to the gastrointestinal tract well for the patient group (2.6±0.3Vp-p) were generally higher than those in normal group (0.1±0.2Vp-p). Here, maximum reflective signals was appeared at 20mm depth approximately from abdominal skin for all human subjects, corresponding to the location of the boundary layer close to gastrointestinal tract well. These results suggest that newly designed diagnostic system based on ultrasound technique may diagnose enough the functional gastrointestinal disorders.

Keywords: Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders, DiagnosticSystem, Phantom Test, Ultrasound System.

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Authors: Siming Wang, Qing Ni, Yu Wu, Ruihai Xu, Hong Ye

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Porous electric heaters, compared to conventional electric heaters, exhibit excellent heating performance due to their large specific surface area. Porous electric heaters employ porous metallic materials or conductive porous ceramics as the heating element. The former attains a low heating power with a fixed current due to the low electrical resistivity of metal. Although the latter can bypass the inherent challenges of porous metallic materials, the fabrication process of the conductive porous ceramics is complicated and high cost. This work proposed a porous ceramic electric heater with dielectric honeycomb ceramic as a substrate and surface conductive coating as a heating element. The conductive coating was prepared by the sol-gel method using silica sol and methyl trimethoxysilane as raw materials and graphite powder as conductive fillers. The conductive mechanism and degradation reason of the conductive coating was studied by electrical resistivity and thermal stability analysis. The heating performance of the proposed heater was experimentally investigated by heating air and deionized water. The results indicate that the electron transfer is achieved by forming the conductive network through the contact of the graphite flakes. With 30 wt% of graphite, the electrical resistivity of the conductive coating can be as low as 0.88 Ω∙cm. The conductive coating exhibits good electrical stability up to 500 °C but degrades beyond 600 °C due to the formation of many cracks in the coating caused by the weight loss and thermal expansion. The results also show that the working medium has a great influence on the volume power density of the heater. With air under natural convection as the working medium, the volume power density attains 640.85 kW/m3, which can be increased by 5 times when using deionized water as the working medium. The proposed honeycomb ceramic electric heater has the advantages of the simple fabrication method, low cost, and high-volume power density, demonstrating great potential in the fluid heating field.

Keywords: Conductive coating, honeycomb ceramic electric heater, high specific surface area, high volume power density.

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Authors: Antonio Vitale, Nicola Genito, Giovanni Cuciniello, Ferdinando Montemari

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The introduction of tilt-rotor aircraft into the existing civilian air transportation system will provide beneficial effects due to tilt-rotor capability to combine the characteristics of a helicopter and a fixed-wing aircraft into one vehicle. The disposability of reliable tilt-rotor simulation models supports the development of such vehicle. Indeed, simulation models are required to design automatic control systems that increase safety, reduce pilot's workload and stress, and ensure the optimal aircraft configuration with respect to flight envelope limits, especially during the most critical flight phases such as conversion from helicopter to aircraft mode and vice versa. This article presents a process to build a simplified tilt-rotor simulation model, derived from the analysis of flight data. The model aims to reproduce the complex dynamics of tilt-rotor during the in-flight conversion phase. It uses a set of scheduled linear transfer functions to relate the autopilot reference inputs to the most relevant rigid body state variables. The model also computes information about the rotor flapping dynamics, which are useful to evaluate the aircraft control margin in terms of rotor collective and cyclic commands. The rotor flapping model is derived through a mixed theoretical-empirical approach, which includes physical analytical equations (applicable to helicopter configuration) and parametric corrective functions. The latter are introduced to best fit the actual rotor behavior and balance the differences existing between helicopter and tilt-rotor during flight. Time-domain system identification from flight data is exploited to optimize the model structure and to estimate the model parameters. The presented model-building process was applied to simulated flight data of the ERICA Tilt-Rotor, generated by using a high fidelity simulation model implemented in FlightLab environment. The validation of the obtained model was very satisfying, confirming the validity of the proposed approach.

Keywords: Flapping Dynamics, Flight Dynamics, System Identification, Tilt-Rotor Modeling and Simulation.

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Authors: Fruzsina Pataki-Bittó, Edit Németh

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On the one hand, new technologies and communication tools improve employee productivity and accelerate information and knowledge transfer, while on the other hand, information overload and continuous interruptions make it even harder to concentrate at work. It is a great challenge for companies to find the right balance, while there is also an ongoing demand to recruit and retain the talented employees who are able to adopt the modern work style and effectively use modern communication tools. For this reason, this research does not focus on the objective measures of office interruptions, but aims to find those disruption factors which influence the comfort and job satisfaction of employees, and the way how they feel generally at work. The focus of this research is on how employees feel about the different types of interruptions, which are those they themselves identify as hindering factors, and those they feel as stress factors. By identifying and then reducing these destructive factors, job satisfaction can reach a higher level and employee turnover can be reduced. During the research, we collected information from depth interviews and questionnaires asking about work environment, communication channels used in the workplace, individual communication preferences, factors considered as disruptions, and individual steps taken to avoid interruptions. The questionnaire was completed by 141 office workers from several types of workplaces based in Hungary. Even though 66 respondents are working at Hungarian offices of multinational companies, the research is about the characteristics of the Hungarian labor force. The most important result of the research shows that while more than one third of the respondents consider office noise as a disturbing factor, personal inquiries are welcome and considered useful, even if in such cases the work environment will not be convenient to solve tasks requiring concentration. Analyzing the sizes of the offices, in an open-space environment, the rate of those who consider office noise as a disturbing factor is surprisingly lower than in smaller office rooms. Opinions are more diverse regarding information communication technologies. In addition to the interruption factors affecting the employees' job satisfaction, the research also focuses on the role of the offices in the 21^st century.

Keywords: Information overload, interruption, job satisfaction, office environment, work efficiency.

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Authors: Tomoko Fukuyama, Osamu Senbu

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Prestressed concrete is used a lot in infrastructures such as roads or bridges. However, poor grout filling and PC steel corrosion are currently major issues of prestressed concrete structures. One of the problems with nondestructive corrosion detection of PC steel is a plastic pipe which covers PC steel. The insulative property of pipe makes a nondestructive diagnosis difficult; therefore a practical technology to detect these defects is necessary for the maintenance of infrastructures. The goal of the research is a development of an electrochemical technique which enables to detect internal defects from the surface of prestressed concrete nondestructively. Ideally, the measurements should be conducted from the surface of structural members to diagnose non-destructively. In the present experiment, a prestressed concrete member is simplified as a layered specimen to simulate a current path between an input and an output electrode on a member surface. The specimens which are layered by mortar and the prestressed concrete constitution materials (steel, polyethylene, stainless steel, or galvanized steel plates) were provided to the alternating current impedance measurement. The magnitude of an applied electric field was 0.01-volt or 1-volt, and the frequency range was from 106 Hz to 10-2 Hz. The frequency spectrums of impedance, which relate to charge reactions activated by an electric field, were measured to clarify the effects of the material configurations or the properties. In the civil engineering field, the Nyquist diagram is popular to analyze impedance and it is a good way to grasp electric relaxation using a shape of the plot. However, it is slightly not suitable to figure out an influence of a measurement frequency which is reciprocal of reaction time. Hence, Bode diagram is also applied to describe charge reactions in the present paper. From the experiment results, the alternating current impedance method looks to be applicable to the insulative material measurement and eventually prestressed concrete diagnosis. At the same time, the frequency spectrums of impedance show the difference of the material configuration. This is because the charge mobility reflects the variety of substances and also the measuring frequency of the electric field determines migration length of charges which are under the influence of the electric field. However, it could not distinguish the differences of the material thickness and is inferred the difficulties of prestressed concrete diagnosis to identify the amount of an air void or a layer of corrosion product by the technique.

Keywords: Prestressed concrete, electric charge, impedance, phase shift.

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Authors: Payman Davoodi-Nasab, Ahmad Rahbar-Kelishami, Jaber Safdari, Hossein Abolghasemi

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The high purity rare earth elements (REEs) have been vastly used in the field of chemical engineering, metallurgy, nuclear energy, optical, magnetic, luminescence and laser materials, superconductors, ceramics, alloys, catalysts, and etc. Neodymium is one of the most abundant rare earths. By development of a neodymium–iron–boron (Nd–Fe–B) permanent magnet, the importance of neodymium has dramatically increased. Solvent extraction processes have many operational limitations such as large inventory of extractants, loss of solvent due to the organic solubility in aqueous solutions, volatilization of diluents, etc. One of the promising methods of liquid membrane processes is emulsion liquid membrane (ELM) which offers an alternative method to the solvent extraction processes. In this work, a study on Nd extraction through multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) assisted ELM using response surface methodology (RSM) has been performed. The ELM composed of diisooctylphosphinic acid (CYANEX 272) as carrier, MWCNTs as nanoparticles, Span-85 (sorbitan triooleate) as surfactant, kerosene as organic diluent and nitric acid as internal phase. The effects of important operating variables namely, surfactant concentration, MWCNTs concentration, and treatment ratio were investigated. Results were optimized using a central composite design (CCD) and a regression model for extraction percentage was developed. The 3D response surfaces of Nd(III) extraction efficiency were achieved and significance of three important variables and their interactions on the Nd extraction efficiency were found out. Results indicated that introducing the MWCNTs to the ELM process led to increasing the Nd extraction due to higher stability of membrane and mass transfer enhancement. MWCNTs concentration of 407 ppm, Span-85 concentration of 2.1 (%v/v) and treatment ratio of 10 were achieved as the optimum conditions. At the optimum condition, the extraction of Nd(III) reached the maximum of 99.03%.

Keywords: Emulsion liquid membrane, extraction of neodymium, multi-walled carbon nanotubes, response surface method.

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Authors: S. Hegazy

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Culture sustainability, which reflects a deep respect for people and history, is a cause of concern in contemporary architecture. Adopting ultramodern architecture styles was initiated in the 20th century by a plurality of states worldwide. Only a few countries, including Oman, realized that fashionable architectural designs ignore cultural values, identity, the context of its environment, economic perspective, and social performance. Stirring the Sultanate of Oman from being a listless and closed community to a modern country started in the year 1970. Despite unprecedented development in all aspects of Omani people's life, the leadership and the public had the capability to adjust to the changing global challenges without compromising social values and identity. This research provides a close analysis of one of the recent examples of contemporary vernacular architecture in the Sultanate of Oman, as a case study, Oman International Airport. The airport gained an international appreciation for its Omani-themed architecture, distinguished traveler experience, and advanced technology. Accordingly, it was selected by the World Travel Awards as the Best Tourism Development Project in the Middle East only four weeks afterward after starting its operation. This paper aims to transfer this successful design approach of integrating the latest trends in technology, systems, eco-friendly aspects, and materials with the traditional Omani architectural features, which reflects symbiotic harmony of the community, individuals, and environment to other countries, designers, researchers, and students. In addition, the paper aims to encourage architects and teachers to take responsibility for valorizing-built heritage as a source of inspiration for modern architecture, which could be considered as an added value. The work depends on reviewing the relevant literature, a case study, interviews with two architects who were involved in the project’s site work, and one current high-ranking employee in the airport besides data analysis and conclusion.

Keywords: Contemporary vernacular architecture, culture sustainability, Oman international airport, current Omani architecture type.

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Authors: Jaydip M. Desai, Antonio Valdevit, Arthur Ritter

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Robotic surgery is used to enhance minimally invasive surgical procedure. It provides greater degree of freedom for surgical tools but lacks of haptic feedback system to provide sense of touch to the surgeon. Surgical robots work on master-slave operation, where user is a master and robotic arms are the slaves. Current, surgical robots provide precise control of the surgical tools, but heavily rely on visual feedback, which sometimes cause damage to the inner organs. The goal of this research was to design and develop a realtime Simulink based robotic system to study force feedback mechanism during instrument-object interaction. Setup includes three VelmexXSlide assembly (XYZ Stage) for three dimensional movement, an end effector assembly for forceps, electronic circuit for four strain gages, two Novint Falcon 3D gaming controllers, microcontroller board with linear actuators, MATLAB and Simulink toolboxes. Strain gages were calibrated using Imada Digital Force Gauge device and tested with a hard-core wire to measure instrument-object interaction in the range of 0-35N. Designed Simulink model successfully acquires 3D coordinates from two Novint Falcon controllers and transfer coordinates to the XYZ stage and forceps. Simulink model also reads strain gages signal through 10-bit analog to digital converter resolution of a microcontroller assembly in real time, converts voltage into force and feedback the output signals to the Novint Falcon controller for force feedback mechanism. Experimental setup allows user to change forward kinematics algorithms to achieve the best-desired movement of the XYZ stage and forceps. This project combines haptic technology with surgical robot to provide sense of touch to the user controlling forceps through machine-computer interface.

Keywords: Haptic feedback, MATLAB, Simulink, Strain Gage, Surgical Robot.

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Authors: Dhruvit S. Berawala, Jann R. Ursin, Obrad Slijepcevic

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Shale gas is one of the most rapidly growing forms of natural gas. Unconventional natural gas deposits are difficult to characterize overall, but in general are often lower in resource concentration and dispersed over large areas. Moreover, gas is densely packed into the matrix through adsorption which accounts for large volume of gas reserves. Gas production from tight shale deposits are made possible by extensive and deep well fracturing which contacts large fractions of the formation. The conventional reservoir modelling and production forecasting methods, which rely on fluid-flow processes dominated by viscous forces, have proved to be very pessimistic and inaccurate. This paper presents a new approach to forecast shale gas production by detailed modeling of gas desorption, diffusion and non-linear flow mechanisms in combination with statistical representation of these processes. The representation of the model involves a cube as a porous media where free gas is present and a sphere (SiC: Sphere in Cube model) inside it where gas is adsorbed on to the kerogen or organic matter. Further, the sphere is considered consisting of many layers of adsorbed gas in an onion-like structure. With pressure decline, the gas desorbs first from the outer most layer of sphere causing decrease in its molecular concentration. The new available surface area and change in concentration triggers the diffusion of gas from kerogen. The process continues until all the gas present internally diffuses out of the kerogen, gets adsorbs onto available surface area and then desorbs into the nanopores and micro-fractures in the cube. Each SiC idealizes a gas pathway and is characterized by sphere diameter and length of the cube. The diameter allows to model gas storage, diffusion and desorption; the cube length takes into account the pathway for flow in nanopores and micro-fractures. Many of these representative but general cells of the reservoir are put together and linked to a well or hydraulic fracture. The paper quantitatively describes these processes as well as clarifies the geological conditions under which a successful shale gas production could be expected. A numerical model has been derived which is then compiled on FORTRAN to develop a simulator for the production of shale gas by considering the spheres as a source term in each of the grid blocks. By applying SiC to field data, we demonstrate that the model provides an effective way to quickly access gas production rates from shale formations. We also examine the effect of model input properties on gas production.

Keywords: Sphere in Cube Grid Approach to Modelling of Shale Gas Production Using Non-Linear Flow Mechanisms

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Authors: Caixia Gao, Chuanrong Li, Lingli Tang, Lingling Ma, Yaokai Liu, Xinhong Wang, Yongsheng Zhou

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Performances analysis of remote sensing sensor is required to pursue a range of scientific research and application objectives. Laboratory analysis of any remote sensing instrument is essential, but not sufficient to establish a valid inflight one. In this study, with the aid of the in situ measurements and corresponding image of three-gray scale permanent artificial target, the in-flight radiometric performances analyses (in-flight radiometric calibration, dynamic range and response linearity, signal-noise-ratio (SNR), radiometric resolution) of self-developed short-wave infrared (SWIR) camera are performed. To acquire the inflight calibration coefficients of the SWIR camera, the at-sensor radiances (L_i) for the artificial targets are firstly simulated with in situ measurements (atmosphere parameter and spectral reflectance of the target) and viewing geometries using MODTRAN model. With these radiances and the corresponding digital numbers (DN) in the image, a straight line with a formulation of L = G × DN + B is fitted by a minimization regression method, and the fitted coefficients, G and B, are inflight calibration coefficients. And then the high point (L_H) and the low point (L_L) of dynamic range can be described as L_H= (G × DN_H + B) and L_L= B, respectively, where DN_H is equal to 2ⁿ − 1 (n is the quantization number of the payload). Meanwhile, the sensor’s response linearity (δ) is described as the correlation coefficient of the regressed line. The results show that the calibration coefficients (G and B) are 0.0083 W·sr⁻¹m⁻²µm⁻¹ and −3.5 W·sr⁻¹m⁻²µm⁻¹; the low point of dynamic range is −3.5 W·sr⁻¹m⁻²µm⁻¹ and the high point is 30.5 W·sr⁻¹m⁻²µm⁻¹; the response linearity is approximately 99%. Furthermore, a SNR normalization method is used to assess the sensor’s SNR, and the normalized SNR is about 59.6 when the mean value of radiance is equal to 11.0 W·sr⁻¹m⁻²µm⁻¹; subsequently, the radiometric resolution is calculated about 0.1845 W•sr^-1m^-2μm^-1. Moreover, in order to validate the result, a comparison of the measured radiance with a radiative-transfer-code-predicted over four portable artificial targets with reflectance of 20%, 30%, 40%, 50% respectively, is performed. It is noted that relative error for the calibration is within 6.6%.

Keywords: Calibration, dynamic range, radiometric resolution, SNR.

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Authors: Banti Sidhiwala, T. C. S. M. Gupta

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Mineral oils of naphthenic and paraffinic type are in use as insulating liquids in the transformer applications to protect solid insulation from moisture and ensures effective heat transfer/cooling. The performance of these type of oils have been proven in the field over many decades and the condition monitoring and diagnosis of transformer performance have been successfully monitored through oil properties and dissolved gas analysis methods successfully. Different types of gases can represent various types of faults that may occur due to faulty components or unfavorable operating conditions. A large amount of database has been generated in the industry for dissolved gas analysis in mineral oil-based transformer oils, and various models have been developed to predict faults and analyze data. Additionally, oil specifications and standards have been updated to include stray gassing limits that cover low-temperature faults. This modification has become an effective preventative maintenance tool that can help greatly in understanding the reasons for breakdowns of electrical insulating materials and related components. Natural esters have seen a rise in popularity in recent years due to their "green" credentials. Some of its benefits include biodegradability, a higher fire point, improvement in load capability of transformer and improved solid insulation life than mineral oils. However, the stray gassing test shows that hydrogen and hydrocarbons like methane (CH4) and ethane (C2H6) show very high values which are much higher than the limits of mineral oil standards. Though the standards for these types of esters are yet to be evolved, the higher values of hydrocarbon gases that are available in the market is of concern which might be interpreted as a fault in transformer operation. The current paper focuses on developing a class of natural esters with low levels of stray gassing by American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and International Electric Council (IEC) methods much lower values compared to the natural ester-based products reported in the literature. The experimental results of products are explained.

Keywords: Biodegradability, fire point, dissolved gas analysis, natural ester, stray gassing.

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Authors: Esam Jassim

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Industries using conventional fossil fuels have an  interest in better understanding the mechanism of particulate  formation during combustion since such is responsible for emission  of undesired inorganic elements that directly impact the atmospheric  pollution level. Fine and ultrafine particulates have tendency to  escape the flue gas cleaning devices to the atmosphere. They also  preferentially collect on surfaces in power systems resulting in  ascending in corrosion inclination, descending in the heat transfer  thermal unit, and severe impact on human health. This adverseness  manifests particularly in the regions of world where coal is the  dominated source of energy for consumption.  This study highlights the behavior of calcium transformation as  mineral grains verses organically associated inorganic components  during pulverized coal combustion. The influence of existing type of  calcium on the coarse, fine and ultrafine mode formation mechanisms  is also presented. The impact of two sub-bituminous coals on particle  size and calcium composition evolution during combustion is to be  assessed. Three mixed blends named Blends 1, 2, and 3 are selected  according to the ration of coal A to coal B by weight. Calcium  percentage in original coal increases as going from Blend 1 to 3.  A mathematical model and a new approach of describing  constituent distribution are proposed. Analysis of experiments of  calcium distribution in ash is also modeled using Poisson distribution.  A novel parameter, called elemental index λ, is introduced as a  measuring factor of element distribution.  Results show that calcium in ash that originally in coal as mineral  grains has index of 17, whereas organically associated calcium  transformed to fly ash shown to be best described when elemental  index λ is 7.  As an alkaline-earth element, calcium is considered the  fundamental element responsible for boiler deficiency since it is the  major player in the mechanism of ash slagging process. The  mechanism of particle size distribution and mineral species of ash  particles are presented using CCSEM and size-segregated ash  characteristics. Conclusions are drawn from the analysis of  pulverized coal ash generated from a utility-scale boiler.

 

Keywords: Calcium transformation, Coal Combustion, Inorganic Element, Poisson distribution.

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Authors: Márcia Afonso, Marisa Dinis-Almeida, Cristina Fael

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Climate change, namely precipitation patterns alteration, has led to extreme conditions such as floods and droughts. In turn, excessive construction has led to the waterproofing of the soil, increasing the surface runoff and decreasing the groundwater recharge capacity. The permeable pavements used in areas with low traffic lead to a decrease in the probability of floods peaks occurrence and the sediments reduction and pollutants transport, ensuring rainwater quality improvement. This study aims to evaluate the porous asphalt performance, developed in the laboratory, with addition of cellulosic fibres. One of the main objectives of cellulosic fibres use is to stop binder drainage, preventing its loss during storage and transport. Comparing to the conventional porous asphalt the cellulosic fibres addition improved the porous asphalt performance. The cellulosic fibres allowed the bitumen content increase, enabling retention and better aggregates coating and, consequently, a greater mixture durability. With this solution, it is intended to develop better practices of resilience and adaptation to the extreme climate changes and respond to the sustainability current demands, through the eco-friendly materials use. The mix design was performed for different size aggregates (with fine aggregates – PA1 and with coarse aggregates – PA2). The percentage influence of the fibres to be used was studied. It was observed that overall, the binder drainage decreases as the cellulose fibres percentage increases. It was found that the PA2 mixture obtained most binder drainage relative to PA1 mixture, irrespective of the fibres percentage used. Subsequently, the performance was evaluated through laboratory tests of indirect tensile stiffness modulus, water sensitivity, permeability and permanent deformation. The stiffness modulus for the two mixtures groups (with and without cellulosic fibres) presented very similar values between them. For the water sensitivity test it was observed that porous asphalt containing more fine aggregates are more susceptible to the water presence than mixtures with coarse aggregates. The porous asphalt with coarse aggregates have more air voids which allow water to pass easily leading to ITSR higher values. In the permeability test was observed that asphalt porous without cellulosic fibres presented had lower permeability than asphalt porous with cellulosic fibres. The resistance to permanent deformation results indicates better behaviour of porous asphalt with cellulosic fibres, verifying a bigger rut depth in porous asphalt without cellulosic fibres. In this study, it was observed that porous asphalt with bitumen higher percentages improve the performance to permanent deformation. This fact was only possible due to the bitumen retention by the cellulosic fibres.

Keywords: Binder drainage, cellulosic fibres, permanent deformation, porous asphalt.

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Authors: Yahia Massinissa, Kalla A, Yahia M, Benbia S

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A lot of recent research have spoken on the relation between the increase of the homocysteinemia and some kinds of cancer . For that, our study was based on the research of a possible relation between the increase of the concentration of this amino-acid in the plasma and the appearance of the disease of the Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia in a part of Algerian children with Berber origin in the East of Algeria . The study has done on 47 ill persons with an average age of (09±06 ) years , with whom the disease has diagnosed by blood and marrow examination in the hospital of blood diseases in the CHU of Batna, and on 194 healthy witnesses of the same age. The two groups were benefited by a dosage of the concentration of the homocysteine vitamin B9 ,vitamin B12 , and also of the study of special polymorphisms of indispensable enzymes in the metabolism of this acid , and that by the use of the method ( Light cycler ) Real time PCR , on the following enzymes : MS ( C2756G ), MSR ( A66G ) ,MTHFR1 ( C677T ) and MTHFR2 (A1298C). The obtained results have revealed that the rate of the homozygote muted genotype is the less frequent in the two groups , and that exist at list one genotype of each enzyme in the ill group and in which the percentage exceed with remarkable way the same genotype in the healthy group and we notice specially the muted genotype GG of -the methionine synthetase-and the form TT of the enzyme – methyline tetra hydrofolate reductase – We notice the existence of considerable number of genotypes in the ill group lied with characteristic increase of this Amino-acid ,and that for the reduction of the biologic activity of these enzymes which become inefficient in the transfer of the homocysteine into the methionine and cause the diminution of the biologic activity of these enzymes and with consequence the reduction of the percentage of methylic radicals in the DNA of studied genes and that lead to the increase of the activity and the capacity of transcription , and it-s so probably that this last one is one of the factors of this disease especially if we know that the specific check-up of vitamins is normal and similar in the two groups , which ovoid the hypothesis of the reduction of vitamins . We notice also that the heterozygote genotype is the less in the sick category except the MTHFR2. Wild genotype is more frequent in the witness group except MSR. Even these results are partials; they open a new way in the genetic diagnosis of this malicious disease which allow a precocious diagnosis and the use of an effective and appropriated treatment in the same time.

Keywords: Genetic polymorphism, Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia, Biomarkers, Metabolism of homocystein

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Authors: Reza Ziaie Moayed, Saeideh Mohammadi

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Soft soil is used in many of civil engineering projects like coastal, marine and road projects. Because of low shear strength and stiffness of soft soils, large settlement and low bearing capacity will occur under superstructure loads. This will make the civil engineering activities more difficult and costlier. In the case of soft soils, improvement is a suitable method to increase the shear strength and stiffness for engineering purposes. In recent years, the artificial cementation of soil by cement and lime has been extensively used for soft soil improvement. Cement stabilization is a well-established technique for improving soft soils. Artificial cementation increases the shear strength and hardness of the natural soils. On the other hand, in soft soils, the use of piles to transfer loads to the depths of ground is usual. By using cement treated soil around the piles, high bearing capacity and low settlement in piles can be achieved. In the present study, lateral bearing capacity of short piles in cemented soils is investigated by numerical approach. For this purpose, three dimensional (3D) finite difference software, FLAC 3D is used. Cement treated soil has a strain hardening-softening behavior, because of breaking of bonds between cement agent and soil particle. To simulate such behavior, strain hardening-softening soil constitutive model is used for cement treated soft soil. Additionally, conventional elastic-plastic Mohr Coulomb constitutive model and linear elastic model are used for stress-strain behavior of natural soils and pile. To determine the parameters of constitutive models and also for verification of numerical model, the results of available triaxial laboratory tests on and insitu loading of piles in cement treated soft soil are used. Different parameters are considered in parametric study to determine the effective parameters on the bearing of the piles on cemented treated soils. In the present paper, the effect of various length and height of the artificial cemented area, different diameter and length of the pile and the properties of the materials are studied. Also, the effect of choosing a constitutive model for cemented treated soils in the bearing capacity of the pile is investigated.

Keywords: Cement-treated soils, pile, lateral capacity, FLAC 3D.

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Authors: A. Basu, A. A. Purohit, M. M. Vaidya, M. D. Kudale

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Mumbai, being traditionally the epicenter of India's trade and commerce, the existing major ports such as Mumbai and Jawaharlal Nehru Ports (JN) situated in Thane estuary are also developing its waterfront facilities. Various developments over the passage of decades in this region have changed the tidal flux entering/leaving the estuary. The intake at Pir-Pau is facing the problem of shortage of water in view of advancement of shoreline, while jetty near Ulwe faces the problem of ship scheduling due to existence of shallower depths between JN Port and Ulwe Bunder. In order to solve these problems, it is inevitable to have information about tide levels over a long duration by field measurements. However, field measurement is a tedious and costly affair; application of artificial intelligence was used to predict water levels by training the network for the measured tide data for one lunar tidal cycle. The application of two layered feed forward Artificial Neural Network (ANN) with back-propagation training algorithms such as Gradient Descent (GD) and Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) was used to predict the yearly tide levels at waterfront structures namely at Ulwe Bunder and Pir-Pau. The tide data collected at Apollo Bunder, Ulwe, and Vashi for a period of lunar tidal cycle (2013) was used to train, validate and test the neural networks. These trained networks having high co-relation coefficients (R= 0.998) were used to predict the tide at Ulwe, and Vashi for its verification with the measured tide for the year 2000 & 2013. The results indicate that the predicted tide levels by ANN give reasonably accurate estimation of tide. Hence, the trained network is used to predict the yearly tide data (2015) for Ulwe. Subsequently, the yearly tide data (2015) at Pir-Pau was predicted by using the neural network which was trained with the help of measured tide data (2000) of Apollo and Pir-Pau. The analysis of measured data and study reveals that: The measured tidal data at Pir-Pau, Vashi and Ulwe indicate that there is maximum amplification of tide by about 10-20 cm with a phase lag of 10-20 minutes with reference to the tide at Apollo Bunder (Mumbai). LM training algorithm is faster than GD and with increase in number of neurons in hidden layer and the performance of the network increases. The predicted tide levels by ANN at Pir-Pau and Ulwe provides valuable information about the occurrence of high and low water levels to plan the operation of pumping at Pir-Pau and improve ship schedule at Ulwe.

Keywords: Artificial neural network, back-propagation, tide data, training algorithm.

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Authors: Ghaffari, H., Changi Ashtiani, A., Younessi, A.

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There are three distinct stages in the evolution of economic thought, namely: 1. in the first stage, the major concern was to accelerate economic growth with increased availability of material goods, especially in developing economies with very low living standards, because poverty eradication meant faster economic growth. 2. in the second stage, economists made distinction between growth and development. Development was seen as going beyond economic growth, and bringing certain changes in the structure of the economy with more equitable distribution of the benefits of growth, with the growth coming automatic and sustained. 3. the third stage is now reached. Our concern is now with “sustainable development", that is, development not only for the present but also of the future. Thus the focus changed from “sustained growth" to “sustained development". Sustained development brings to the fore the long term relationship between the ecology and economic development. Since the creation of UNEP in 1972 it has worked for development without destruction for environmentally sound and sustained development. It was realised that the environment cannot be viewed in a vaccum, it is not separate from development, nor is it competing. It suggested for the integration of the environment with development whereby ecological factors enter development planning, socio-economic policies, cost-benefit analysis, trade, technology transfer, waste management, educational and other specific areas. Industrialisation has contributed to the growth of economy of several countries. It has improved the standards of living of its people and provided benefits to the society. It has also created in the process great environmental problems like climate change, forest destruction and denudation, soil erosion and desertification etc. On the other hand, industry has provided jobs and improved the prospects of wealth for the industrialists. The working class communities had to simply put up with the high levels of pollution in order to keep up their jobs and also to save their income. There are many roots of the environmental problem. They may be political, economic, cultural and technological conditions of the modern society. The experts concede that industrial growth lies somewhere close to the heart of the matter. Therefore, the objective of this paper is not to document all roots of an environmental crisis but rather to discuss the effects of industrial growth and development. We have come to the conclusion that although public intervention is often unnecessary to ensure that perfectly competitive markets will function in society-s best interests, such intervention is necessary when firms or consumers pollute.

Keywords: Development, Environment, Industrial Development, Iran, Occupational problems, Pollution.

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Authors: Sansani Rungrattawatchai

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The White Kwao (Pueraria mirifica), a potent phytoestrogenic medicinal plant, has long been use in Thailand as a traditional folkmedicine. However, no scientific information of the direct effect of White Kwao on the development of mammalian embryo was available. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of White Kwao extract on the in vitro development and implantation rate of mouse embryos. This study was designed into two experiments. In the first experiment, the two-cell stage mouse embryos were collected from the oviduct of superovulated mature female mice, and randomly cultured in three different media, the M16, M16 supplemented with 0.52μg esthinylestradiol-17β, and M16 supplemented with 10 mg/ml White Kwao extract. The culture was incubated in CO2 incubator at 37 oC . After the embryos were cultivated, the developments of embryos were observed every 24 hours for 5 days. The development rate of embryos from the two-cell stage to blastocyst stage in the media was with White Kwao was significantly higher (p<0.05) than those of the control group (68.50% versus 43.50%) but did not differ from the positive control group (68.50% versus 57.66%). In the second experiment, hatched blastocysts, which obtained from three different media, were differently labeled the nuclei with two polynucleotide-specific fluorochromes, the propidium iodide (PI) and the bisbenzimide. The results showed that the number of trophectoderm cells in the blastocysts that cultivated in the media with White Kwao did not significantly differ from the control (80.00 versus 70 cells) and the positive control group (80.00 versus 112.50 cells). The average number of inner cell mass in the White Kwao treated group did not significantly differ from the control group (20.50 versus 16.00 cells) and the positive control group (20.50 versus 20.50 cells). The total cell number including the trophectoderm and the inner cell mass of the individual hatched blastocyst was evaluated. The cell number in the blastocysts obtained from the media with the White Kwao did not significantly differ from the control (94.25 + 9.50 versus 92.33 + 4.05) and the positive control group (94.25 + 9.50 versus 110.33 + 9.16). The results demonstrated that the White Kwao treatment group did have a stimulating effect on the in vitro development of mouse embryos. The exact mechanism that White Kwao stimulated mouse embryo development is not known. The suspect mechanism may in a manner similar to the mechanism that of estrogen stimulated the development of the mouse embryos. Futher studies are needed to transfer the blastocyst into the endometrium of pseudopreagnancy mice to evaluate the effect of White Kwao on implantation

Keywords: White Kwao (Pueraria mirifica), blastocyst.

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Authors: S. Mehrab Amiri, Nasser Talebbeydokhti

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Modeling sediment transport processes by means of numerical approach often poses severe challenges. In this way, a number of techniques have been suggested to solve flow and sediment equations in decoupled, semi-coupled or fully coupled forms. Furthermore, in order to capture flow discontinuities, a number of techniques, like artificial viscosity and shock fitting, have been proposed for solving these equations which are mostly required careful calibration processes. In this research, a numerical scheme for solving shallow water and Exner equations in fully coupled form is presented. First-Order Centered scheme is applied for producing required numerical fluxes and the reconstruction process is carried out toward using Monotonic Upstream Scheme for Conservation Laws to achieve a high order scheme.  In order to satisfy C-property of the scheme in presence of bed topography, Surface Gradient Method is proposed. Combining the presented scheme with fourth order Runge-Kutta algorithm for time integration yields a competent numerical scheme. In addition, to handle non-prismatic channels problems, Cartesian Cut Cell Method is employed. A trained Multi-Layer Perceptron Artificial Neural Network which is of Feed Forward Back Propagation (FFBP) type estimates sediment flow discharge in the model rather than usual empirical formulas. Hydrodynamic part of the model is tested for showing its capability in simulation of flow discontinuities, transcritical flows, wetting/drying conditions and non-prismatic channel flows. In this end, dam-break flow onto a locally non-prismatic converging-diverging channel with initially dry bed conditions is modeled. The morphodynamic part of the model is verified simulating dam break on a dry movable bed and bed level variations in an alluvial junction. The results show that the model is capable in capturing the flow discontinuities, solving wetting/drying problems even in non-prismatic channels and presenting proper results for movable bed situations. It can also be deducted that applying Artificial Neural Network, instead of common empirical formulas for estimating sediment flow discharge, leads to more accurate results.

Keywords: Artificial neural network, morphodynamic model, sediment continuity equation, shallow water equations.

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Authors: Luminiţa Duţică, Gheorghe Duţică

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Many of the interrogations or dilemmas of the contemporary world found the answer in what was generically called the appeal to matrix. This genuine spiritual exercise of re-connection of the present to origins, to the primary source, revealed the ontological condition of timelessness, ahistorical, immutable (epi)phenomena, of those pure essences concentrated in the archetypal-referential layer of the human existence. The musical creation was no exception to this trend, the impasse generated by the deterministic excesses of the whole serialism or, conversely, by some questionable results of the extreme indeterminism proper to the avant-garde movements, stimulating the orientation of many composers to rediscover a universal grammar, as an emanation of a new ‘collective’ order (reverse of the utopian individualism). In this context, the music of oral tradition and therefore the world of the ancient modes represented a true revelation for the composers of the twentieth century, who were suddenly in front of some unsuspected (re)sources, with a major impact on all levels of edification of the musical work: morphology, syntax, timbrality, semantics etc. For the contemporary Romanian creators, the music of rituals, existing in the local archaic culture, opened unsuspected perspectives for which it meant to be a synthetic, inclusive and recoverer vision, where the primary (archetypal) genuine elements merge with the latest achievements of language of the European composers. Thus, anchored in a strong and genuine modal source, the compositions analysed in this paper evoke, in a manner as modern as possible, the atmosphere of some ancestral rituals such as: the invocation of rain during the drought (Paparudele, Scaloianul), funeral ceremony (Bocetul), traditions specific to the winter holidays and new year (Colinda, Cântecul de stea, Sorcova, Folklore traditional dances) etc. The reactivity of those rituals in the sound context of the twentieth century meant potentiating or resizing the archaic spirit of the primordial symbolic entities, in terms of some complexity levels generated by the technique of harmonies of chordal layers, of complex aggregates (gravitational or non-gravitational, geometric), of the mixture polyphonies and with global effect (group, mass), by the technique of heterophony, of texture and cluster, leading to the implementation of some processes of collective improvisation and instrumental theatre.

Keywords: Archetype, improvisation, instrumental theatre, polyphony, ritual.

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Authors: Zoran Veršić, Josip Galić, Marin Binički, Lucija Stepinac

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With the current increase in CO2 emissions and global warming, the sustainability of both existing and new solutions must be assessed on a wide scale. As the implementation of closed cavity façades (CCF) is on the rise, various factors must be included in the analysis of new types of CCF. This paper aims to cover the relevant factors included in the sustainability assessment of new types of CCF. Several mathematical models are being used to describe the physical behavior of CCF. Depending on the type of CCF, they cover the main factors which affect the durability of the façade: thermal behavior of various elements in the façade, stress and deflection of the glass panels, pressure and the moisture control in the cavity. CCF itself represents a complex system in which all mentioned factors must be considered mutually. Still, the façade is only an envelope of a more complex system, the building. Choice of the façade dictates the heat loss and the heat gain, thermal comfort of inner space, natural lighting, and ventilation. Annual energy consumption for heating, cooling, lighting, and maintenance costs will present the operational advantages or disadvantages of the chosen façade system in economic and environmental aspects. Still, the only operational viewpoint is not all-inclusive. As the building codes constantly demand higher energy efficiency as well as transfer to renewable energy sources, the ratio of embodied and lifetime operational energy footprint of buildings is changing. With the drop in operational energy CO2 emissions, embodied energy emissions present a larger and larger share in the lifecycle emissions of the building. Taking all into account, the sustainability assessment of a façade, as well as other major building elements, should include all mentioned factors during the lifecycle of an element. The challenge of such an approach is a timescale. Depending on the climatic conditions on the building site, the expected lifetime of a glazed façade can exceed 25 years. In such a timespan, some of the factors can be estimated more precisely than the others. However, the ones depending on the socio-economic conditions are more likely to be harder to predict than the natural ones like the climatic load. This work recognizes and summarizes the relevant factors needed for the assessment of a new type of CCF, considering the entire lifetime of a façade element in an environmental aspect.

Keywords: Assessment, closed cavity façade, life cycle, sustainability.

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