Search results for: Boundary conditions

Authors: Krasimir Ivanov, Dimitar Dimitrov, Boyan Boyanov

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The paper relates to a catalyst, comprising copperchromium spinel, coated on carrier γ-Al2O3. The effect of preparation conditions on the active component composition and activity behavior of the catalysts is discussed. It was found that the activity of carbon monoxide, DME, formaldehyde and methanol oxidation reaches a maximum at an active component content of 20 – 30 wt. %. Temperature calcination at 500oC seems to be optimal for the γ– alumina supported CuO-Cr2O3 catalysts for CO, DME, formaldehyde and methanol oxidation. A three months industrial experiment was carried out to elucidate the changes in the catalyst composition during industrial exploitation of the catalyst and the main reasons for catalyst deactivation. It was concluded that the CuO–Cr2O3/γ–alumina supported catalysts have enhanced activity toward CO, DME, formaldehyde and methanol oxidation and that these catalysts are suitable for industrial application. The main reason for catalyst deactivation seems to be the deposition of iron and molybdenum, coming from the main reactor, on the active component surface.

Keywords: catalyst deactivation, CuO-Cr2O3 catalysts, deep oxidation.

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Authors: D. Bąk-Grabowska, A. Jagoda

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Managing a capital group is a complex and specific process. It creates special conditions for the introduction of team work organization of managers. The selection of a manager employment form is a problem which gets complicated in case of management teams. The considered possibilities are an employment-based and non-employment managerial contract, which can be based on a thorough action or on formulating definite expectations regarding the results of a manager’s work. The problem of selection between individual and collegiate settlement of managers’ work has been pointed out. The deliberations were based on the assumptions of chosen company management theories, including transactional cost, agency theory, nexus of contracts theory, stewardship theory and theories referring directly to management teams, i.e. Upper echelons theory. 

Keywords: Capital group, employment forms, management teams, managers.

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Authors: Sewon Kim, Chang Yeop Lee, Minjun Kwon

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This study is aiming at establishing the relationship between the optical signal of flame and an equivalent ratio of flame. In this experiment, flame optical signal in a furnace is measured using photodiode. The combustion system is composed of metal fiber burner and vertical furnace, and flame chemiluminescence is measured at various experimental conditions. In this study, the flame chemiluminescence of laminar premixed flame is measured using commercially available photodiode. It is experimentally investigated the relationship between equivalent ratio and photodiode signal. In addition, the strategy of combustion control method is proposed using the optical signal and fuel pressure. The results showed that certain relationship between optical data of photodiode and equivalence ratio exists, and this leads to the successful application of this system for instantaneous measurement of equivalence ration of the combustion system.

Keywords: Flame chemiluminescence, photo diode, equivalence ratio, combustion control.

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Authors: Mohammad Moeini, Mehrdad Ghyabi, Kiarash Mohtasham Dolatshahi

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This paper investigates seismic soil-pile interaction using the Beam on Nonlinear Winkler Foundation (BNWF) approach. Three soil types are considered to cover all the possible responses, as well as nonlinear site response analysis using finite element method in OpenSees platform. Excitations at each elevation that are output of the site response analysis are used as the input excitation to the soil pile system implementing multi-support excitation method. Spectral intensities of acceleration show that the extent of the response in sand is more severe than that of clay, in addition, increasing the PGA of ground strong motion will affect the sandy soil more, in comparison with clayey medium, which is an indicator of the sensitivity of soil-pile systems in sandy soil.

Keywords: Beam on nonlinear Winkler foundation method, multi-support excitation, nonlinear site response analysis, seismic soil-pile interaction.

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Authors: Aumnad Phdungsilp, Teeradej Wuttipornpun

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Decision support based upon risk analysis into comparison of the electricity generation from different renewable energy technologies can provide information about their effects on the environment and society. The aim of this paper is to develop the assessment framework regarding risks to health and environment, and the society-s benefits of the electric power plant generation from different renewable sources. The multicriteria framework to multiattribute risk analysis technique and the decision analysis interview technique are applied in order to support the decisionmaking process for the implementing renewable energy projects to the Bangkok case study. Having analyses the local conditions and appropriate technologies, five renewable power plants are postulated as options. As this work demonstrates, the analysis can provide a tool to aid decision-makers for achieving targets related to promote sustainable energy system.

Keywords: Analytic Hierarchy Process, Bangkok, MultiattributeRisk Analysis, Renewable Energy Technology.

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Authors: Elena Fauquet-Alekhine-Pavlovskaya, Irina M. Nesterova

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On the territory of France fenugreek is spread since long on a line from the Gironde to the Italian border. In Belarus experimental cultivation has begun since 2004. Experiments with fenugreek variety Ovari 4 were conducted about time of sowing in order to study their growth, development, and evaluation of productivity in the North-east part of Belarus and Central part of France. Reaching full ripeness of seeds the plants of fenugreek in the Central part of France requires about 94-97 days. Average seeds yield of 2011-2012 is 1259 kg/ha. Plant height is about 36,8 cm. Plants were affected by aphid and in the high moist agro-climatic conditions by powdery mildew. In North-east part of Belarus plants need 86-93 days to full ripeness. Plants of fenugreek have steam about 59 cm. The average seeds yield of 2007-2009 was about 723 kg/ha. Plants were resistant to aphid and diseases.

Keywords: Fenugreek, time of sowing, variety, yield.

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Authors: Lütfü Saribulut, Mehmet Tümay, İlyas Eker

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FACTS devices are used to control the power flow, to increase the transmission capacity and to optimize the stability of the power system. One of the most widely used FACTS devices is Unified Power Flow Controller (UPFC). The controller used in the control mechanism has a significantly effects on controlling of the power flow and enhancing the system stability of UPFC. According to this, the capability of UPFC is observed by using different control mechanisms based on P, PI, PID and fuzzy logic controllers (FLC) in this study. FLC was developed by taking consideration of Takagi- Sugeno inference system in the decision process and Sugeno-s weighted average method in the defuzzification process. Case studies with different operating conditions are applied to prove the ability of UPFC on controlling the power flow and the effectiveness of controllers on the performance of UPFC. PSCAD/EMTDC program is used to create the FLC and to simulate UPFC model.

Keywords: FACTS, Fuzzy Logic Controller, UPFC.

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Authors: Mairwen K. Jones, Bethany M. Wootton, Lisa D. Vaccaro

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While OCD is one of the most commonly occurring psychiatric conditions experienced by older adults, there is a paucity of research conducted into the treatment of older adults with OCD. This case study represents the first published investigation of a cognitive treatment for geriatric OCD. It describes the successful treatment of an 86-year old man with a 63-year history of OCD using Danger Ideation Reduction Therapy (DIRT). The client received 14 individual, 50-minute treatment sessions of DIRT over 13 weeks. Clinician-based Y-BOCS scores reduced 84% from 25 (severe) at pre-treatment, to 4 (subclinical) at 6-month post-treatment follow-up interview, demonstrating the efficacy of DIRT for this client. DIRT may have particular advantages over ERP and pharmacological approaches, however further research is required in older adults with OCD.

Keywords: Cognitive Therapy, Danger Ideation Reduction Therapy, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Older adults, Psychogeriatrics

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Authors: Wei-Pin Tseng, Jie-Chung Lou, Ming-Ching Wu, Huang-Ming Fang

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For stricter drinking water regulations in the future, reducing the humic acid and disinfection byproducts in raw water, namely, trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs) is worthy for research. To investigate the removal of waterborne organic material using a lab-scale of bio-activated carbon filter under different EBCT, the concentrations of humic acid prepared were 0.01, 0.03, 0.06, 0.12, 0.17, 0.23, and 0.29 mg/L. Then we conducted experiments using a pilot plant with in-field of the serially connected bio-activated carbon filters and hollow fiber membrane processes employed in traditional water purification plants. Results showed under low TOC conditions of humic acid in influent (0.69 to 1.03 mg TOC/L) with an EBCT of 30 min, 40 min, and 50 min, TOC removal rates increases with greater EBCT, attaining about 39 % removal rate. The removal rate of THMs and HAAs by BACF was 54.8 % and 89.0 %, respectively.

Keywords: Bio-activated carbon filter, hollow fiber membrane, humic acid, THMs, HAAs, Water Treatment

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Authors: F. Halek, A. Kavousi, M. Banifatemi

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There is growing interest in biodiesel (fatty acid methyl ester or FAME) because of the similarity in its properties when compared to those of diesel fuels. Diesel engines operated on biodiesel have lower emissions of carbon monoxide, unburned hydrocarbons, particulate matter, and air toxics than when operated on petroleum-based diesel fuel. Production of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) from rapeseed (nonedible oil) fatty acid distillate having high free fatty acids (FFA) was investigated in this work. Conditions for esterification process of rapeseed oil were 1.8 % H2SO4 as catalyst, MeOH/oil of molar ratio 2 : 0.1 and reaction temperature 65 °C, for a period of 3h. The yield of methyl ester was > 90 % in 1 h. The amount of FFA was reduced from 93 wt % to less than 2 wt % at the end of the esterification process. The FAME was pureed by neutralization with 1 M sodium hydroxide in water solution at a reaction temperature of 62 °C. The final FAME product met with the biodiesel quality standard, and ASTM D 6751.

Keywords: Alternative Fuels, Biodiesel, Fatty Acid, MethylEster, Seed Oil, Transesterification.

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Authors: Collins C. Chiemeke, I. B. Osazuwa, Ibe S. O., Egwuonwu G. N., Ani C. D., Chii E. C.

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The study area is Zaria, located in the basement complex of northern Nigeria. The rock type forming the major part of the Zaria batholith is granite. This research work was carried out to compare the responses of seismic refraction tomography and resistivity tomography in the same geologic environment and under the same conditions. Hence, the choice of the site that has a visible granitic outcrop that extends across a narrow stream channel and is flanked by unconsolidated overburden, a neutral profile that was covered by plain overburden and a site with thick lateritic cover became necessary. The results of the seismic and resistivity tomography models reveals that seismic velocity and resistivity does not always simultaneously increase with depth, but their responses in any geologic environment are determined by changes in the mechanical and chemical content of the rock types rather than depth.

Keywords: Environment, Resistivity, Response, Seismic, Velocity.

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Authors: Rita Kumar, Alka Sharma, Purnima Dhall, Niha M. Kulshreshtha, Anil Kumar

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The efficient operation of any biological treatment process requires pre-treatment of incompatible pollutants such as acids, bases, oil, toxic substances, etc. which hamper the treatment of other major components which are otherwise degradable. The pre-treatment of alkaline waste-waters, generated from various industries like textile, paper & pulp, potato-processing industries, etc., having a pH of 10 or higher, is essential. The pre-treatment, i.e., neutralization of such alkaline waste-waters can be achieved by chemical as well as biological means. However, the biological pretreatment offers better package over the chemical means by being safe and economical. The biological pre-treatment can be accomplished by using a blend of microorganisms able to withstand such harsh alkaline conditions. In the present study, for the proper pre-treatment of alkaline waste-waters, a package of alkalophilic bacteria is formulated to neutralise the alkaline pH of the industrial waste-waters. The developed microbial package is cost-effective as well as environmental friendly.

Keywords: alkaline, alkalophilic bacteria, biological, pollutants, textile.

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Authors: A. Seleem, M. Mortada, M. El Morsi, M. Younan

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Diffusion stills have been effective in water desalination. The present work represents a model of the distillation process by using vertical single-effect diffusion stills. A semianalytical model has been developed to model the process. A software computer code using Engineering Equation Solver EES software has been developed to solve the equations of the developed model. An experimental setup has been constructed, and used for the validation of the model. The model is also validated against former literature results. The results obtained from the present experimental test rig, and the data from the literature, have been compared with the results of the code to find its best range of validity. In addition, a parametric analysis of the system has been developed using the model to determine the effect of operating conditions on the system's performance. The dominant parameters that affect the productivity of the still are the hot plate temperature that ranges from (55- 90°C) and feed flow rate in range of (0.00694-0.0211 kg/m2-s).

Keywords: Analytical Model, Solar Distillation, Sustainable Water Systems, Vertical Diffusion Still.

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Authors: Yun-Yao Chi, Ya-Fen Lee

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In this paper, a study of slope failures along the Alishan Highway is carried out. An innovative empirical model is developed based on 15-year records of rainfall-induced slope failures. The statistical models are intended for assessing the volume of landslide for slope failure along the Alishan Highway in the future. The rainfall data considered in the proposed models include the effective cumulative rainfall and the critical rainfall intensity. The effective cumulative rainfall is defined at the point when the curve of cumulative rainfall goes from steep to flat. Then, the rainfall thresholds of landslide are established for assessing the volume of landslide and issuing warning and/or closure for the Alishan Highway during a future extreme rainfall. Slope failures during Typhoon Saola in 2012 demonstrate that the new empirical model is effective and applicable to other cases with similar rainfall conditions.

Keywords: Slope failure, landslide, volume, model, rainfall thresholds.

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Authors: Nguyen Q. M. P., Chen X., Lam Y. C., Yue C. Y.

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Polymer melt compressibility and mold surface roughness, which are generally ignored during the filling stage of the conventional injection molding, may become increasingly significant in micro injection molding where the parts become smaller. By employing the 2.5D generalized Hele-Shaw model, we presented here the effects of polymer compressibility and mold surface roughness on mold-filling in a micro-thickness cavity. To elucidate the effects of surface roughness, numerical investigations were conducted using a cavity flat plate which has two halves with different surface roughness. This allows the comparison of flow field on two different halves under identical processing conditions but with different roughness. Results show that polymer compressibility and mold surface roughness have effects on mold filling in micro injection molding. There is in shrinkage reduction as the density is increased due to polymer melt compressibility during the filling stage.

Keywords: Compressible flow, Micro-injection molding, Polymer, Surface roughness

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Authors: G. E. Nadirova, Sh. S. Kaliyeva, A. A. Mustafaeva, B. Zh. Aktaulova

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Discussion and development of principles of the uniform nation formation within the limits of the Kazakhstan state obviously became one of the most pressing questions of the day. The fact that this question has not been solved "from above" as many other questions has caused really brisk discussion, shows us increase of civil consciousness in Kazakhstan society, and also the actuality of this theme which can be carried in the category of fatal questions. In any sense, nation building has raised civil society to a much higher level. It would be better to begin with certain definitions. First is the word "nation". The second is the "state". Both of these terms are very closely connected with each other, so that in English language they are in general synonyms. In Russian more shades of these terms exist. For example in Kazakhstan the citizens of the country irrespective of nationality (but mainly with reference to non-kazakhs) are called «kazakhstanians», while the name of the title nation is \"Kazakhs\". The same we can see in Russia, where, for example, the Chechen or the Yakut –are \"Rossiyane\" which means “the citizens of Russian Federation, but not \"Russians\". The paper was written under the research project “Islam in modern Kazakhstan: the nature and outcome of the religious revival”.

Keywords: Islamic revival, Kazakhs, Kazakhstan, Nation, National idea.

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Authors: Guangpu Chen

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When the failure function is monotone, some monotonic reliability methods are used to gratefully simplify and facilitate the reliability computations. However, these methods often work in a transformed iso-probabilistic space. To this end, a monotonic simulator or transformation is needed in order that the transformed failure function is still monotone. This note proves at first that the output distribution of failure function is invariant under the transformation. And then it presents some conditions under which the transformed function is still monotone in the newly obtained space. These concern the copulas and the dependence concepts. In many engineering applications, the Gaussian copulas are often used to approximate the real word copulas while the available information on the random variables is limited to the set of marginal distributions and the covariances. So this note catches an importance on the conditional monotonicity of the often used transformation from an independent random vector into a dependent random vector with Gaussian copulas.

Keywords: Monotonic, Rosenblatt, Nataf transformation, dependence concepts, completely positive matrices, Gaussiancopulas

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Authors: Yousif Naif Almutai, Yajue Wu

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In larger cities worldwide, mass transportation systems, including underground systems, have grown to account for the majority of travel in those settings. Underground networks are vulnerable to fires, however, endangering travellers’ safety, with various examples of fire outbreaks in this setting. This study aims to increase knowledge of the impacts of extreme climatic conditions on fires, including the role of the high ambient temperatures experienced in Middle Eastern countries and specifically in Saudi Arabia. This is an element that is not always included when assessments of fire safety are made (considering visibility, temperatures, and flows of smoke). This paper focuses on a tunnel within Riyadh’s underground system as a case study and includes simulations based on computational fluid dynamics using ANSYS Fluent, which investigates the impact of various ventilation systems while identifying smoke density, speed, pressure and temperatures within this tunnel.

Keywords: Fire, subway tunnel, CFD, ventilation, smoke concentration, harsh weather.

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Authors: N. Sapari, S. Mustapha, H. Jusoh

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Landfill gas, particularly methane is one of the greenhouse gases which contributes to global warming. This paper presents the findings of a study on methane gas production from simulated landfill reactor under saturated conditions. A reactor was constructed to represent a landfill cell of 2.5 m thickness on sandy soil. The reactor was 0.2 m in diameter and 4 m in height. One meter of sand and pebble layer was packed at the bottom of the reactor followed by 2.5 m of solid waste layer and 0.4 m of sand layer as the cover soil. Degradation of waste in the solid waste layer was at acidification stage as indicated by the leachate quality with COD as high as 55,511 mg/L and pH as low as 5.1. However, methanogenic environment was established at the bottom sand layer after one year of operation indicated by pH of 7.2 and methane gas generation. Leachate degradation took place as the leachate moved through the sand layer at an infiltration of rate 0.7 cm/day. This resulted in landfill gas production of 77 mL/day/kg containing 55 to 65% methane. The application of sand layer contributed to the gas production from landfill by an in-situ degradation of leachate in the sand at the bottom of the landfill.

Keywords: Gas production, methane, methanogenic sand layer, municipal solid waste, saturated landfill

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Authors: Emine Ebru Demirci, Remzi Sahin

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The purpose of this study is to compare Self Compacting Concrete (SCC) and Conventional Concrete (CC) in terms of their capillary water absorption. During the comparison of SCC and CC, the effects of two different factors were also investigated: concrete strength class and curing condition. In the study, both SCC and CC were produced in three different concrete classes (C25, C50 and C70) and the other parameter (i.e. curing condition) was determined as two levels: moisture and air curing. It was observed that, for both curing environments and all strength classes of concrete, SCCs had lower capillary water absorption values than that of CCs. It was also detected that, for both SCC and CC, capillary water absorption values of samples kept in moisture curing were significantly lower than that of samples stored in air curing. Additionally, it was determined that capillary water absorption values for both SCC and CC decrease with increasing strength class of concrete for both curing environments.

Keywords: Capillary water absorption, curing condition, reinforced concrete beam, self-compacting concrete.

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Authors: Norah Alshahrani, Abdulaziz Almaleh

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Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a condition related to issues with brain development that affects how a person recognises and communicates with others which results in difficulties with interaction and communication socially and it is constantly growing. Early recognition of ASD allows children to lead safe and healthy lives and helps doctors with accurate diagnoses and management of conditions. Therefore, it is crucial to develop a method that will achieve good results and with high accuracy for the measurement of ASD in children. In this paper, ASD datasets of toddlers and children have been analyzed. We employed the following machine learning techniques to attempt to explore ASD: Random Forest (RF), Decision Tree (DT), Na¨ıve Bayes (NB) and Support Vector Machine (SVM). Then feature selection was used to provide fewer attributes from ASD datasets while preserving model performance. As a result, we found that the best result has been provided by SVM, achieving 0.98% in the toddler dataset and 0.99% in the children dataset.

Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorder, ASD, Machine Learning, ML, Feature Selection, Support Vector Machine, SVM.

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Authors: Hazem Al-Mofleh, John Daniels, Joseph McKean

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Within geostatistics research, effective estimation of the variogram points has been examined, particularly in developing robust alternatives. The parametric fit of these variogram points which eventually defines the kriging weights, however, has not received the same attention from a robust perspective. This paper proposes the use of the non-linear Wilcoxon norm over weighted non-linear least squares as a robust variogram fitting alternative. First, we introduce the concept of variogram estimation and fitting. Then, as an alternative to non-linear weighted least squares, we discuss the non-linear Wilcoxon estimator. Next, the robustness properties of the non-linear Wilcoxon are demonstrated using a contaminated spatial data set. Finally, under simulated conditions, increasing levels of contaminated spatial processes have their variograms points estimated and fit. In the fitting of these variogram points, both non-linear Weighted Least Squares and non-linear Wilcoxon fits are examined for efficiency. At all levels of contamination (including 0%), using a robust estimation and robust fitting procedure, the non-weighted Wilcoxon outperforms weighted Least Squares.

Keywords: Non-Linear Wilcoxon, robust estimation, Variogram estimation.

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Authors: James Dunia, Bakari M. M. Mwinyiwiwa

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Photovoltaic (PV) energy is one of the most important energy resources since it is clean, pollution free, and endless. Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) is used in photovoltaic (PV) systems to maximize the photovoltaic output power, irrespective the variations of temperature and radiation conditions. This paper presents a comparison between Ćuk and SEPIC converter in maximum power point tracking (MPPT) of photovoltaic (PV) system. In the paper, advantages and disadvantages of both converters are described. Incremental conductance control method has been used as maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm. The two converters and MPPT algorithm were modelled using MATLAB/Simulink software for simulation. Simulation results show that both Ćuk and SEPIC converters can track the maximum power point with some minor variations. 

Keywords: Ćuk Converter, Incremental Conductance, Maximum Power Point Tracking, PV Module, SEPIC Converter.

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Authors: Shunyi Li, Zhifang He, Xiangui Xue

Abstract:

An Ivlev-type predator-prey system and stage-structured for predator concerning impulsive control strategy is considered. The conditions for the locally asymptotically stable prey-eradication periodic solution is obtained, by using Floquet theorem and small amplitude perturbation skills——when the impulsive period is less than the critical value. Otherwise, the system is permanence. Numerical examples show that the system considered has more complicated dynamics, including high-order quasi-periodic and periodic oscillating, period-doubling and period-halving bifurcation, chaos and attractor crisis, etc. Finally, the biological implications of the results and the impulsive control strategy are discussed.

Keywords: Stage-structured predator-prey system, Impulsive, Permanence, Bifurcation, Chaos.

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Authors: I. Norhuda, A. K. Mohd Omar

Abstract:

The purpose of the study was to determine the amount of Palm Kernel Oil (PKO) extracted from a packed bed of palm kernels in a supercritical fluid extractor using supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) as an environmental friendly solvent. Further, the study sought to ascertain the values of the overall mass transfer coefficient (K) of PKO evaluation through a mass transfer model, at constant temperature of 50 °C, 60 °C, and 70 °C and pressures range from 27.6 MPa, 34.5 MPa, 41.4 MPa and 48.3 MPa respectively. Finally, the study also seeks to demonstrate the application of the overall mass transfer coefficient values in relation to temperature and pressure. The overall mass transfer coefficient was found to be dependent pressure at each constant temperature of 50 °C, 60 °C and 70 °C. The overall mass transfer coefficient for PKO in a packed bed of palm kernels was found to be in the range of 1.21X 10-4 m min-1 to 1.72 X 10-4 m min-1 for a constant temperature of 50 °C and in the range of 2.02 X 10-4 m min-1 to 2.43 X 10-4 m min-1 for a constant temperature of 60 °C. Similar increasing trend of the overall mass transfer coefficient from 1.77 X 10-4 m min-1 to 3.64 X 10-4 m min-1 was also observed at constant temperature of 70 °C within the same pressure range from 27.6 MPa to 48.3 MPa.

Keywords: Overall Mass Transfer Coefficient (D), Supercritical Carbon Dioxide (SC-CO2), Palm Kernel Oil (PKO).

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Authors: Rungsinee Phongpradist, Sawitree Chiampanichayakul, Singkome Tima, Teruna J. Siahaan, Cory J. Berkland, Songyot Anuchapreeda, Chadarat Ampasavate

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The expression of LFA-1 diverges from the physiological condition, thus active targeting carrier can provide the benefits from difference into LFA-1 expression in various conditions. Here, the selectivity of cIBR-conjugated nanoparticles (cIBR-NPs), in terms of uptake, was investigated using PBMCs, Mixed PBMCMolt- 3 cells and Molt-3 cells. The expressions of LFA-1 on Molt-3 cells, from flow cytometry and Western blot, possessed the highest level whereas PBMCs showed the lowest level. The kinetic uptake profiles of cIBR-NPs were obtained by flow cytometry, which the degree of cellular uptake presented a similar trend with the level of LFA-1 indicating the influence of LFA-1 expression on the cellular uptake of cIBR-NPs. The conformation of LFA-1 had a slight effect on the cellular uptake of cIBR-NPs. Overall we demonstrated that cIBR-NPs enhanced cellular uptake and improved the selectivity of drug carriers to LFA-1 on the leukemia cells, which related with the order of LFA-1 expression.

Keywords: cIBR, LFA-1, Molt-3, PBMCs

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Authors: Roy R. Gu, Mahesh Sahu

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

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

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Authors: Sadaf Sahar, Usman Qamar, Sadaf Ayaz

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In the software development lifecycle, the quality prediction techniques hold a prime importance in order to minimize future design errors and expensive maintenance. There are many techniques proposed by various researchers, but with the increasing complexity of the software lifecycle model, it is crucial to develop a flexible system which can cater for the factors which in result have an impact on the quality of the end product. These factors include properties of the software development process and the product along with its operation conditions. In this paper, a neural network (perceptron) based software quality prediction technique is proposed. Using this technique, the stakeholders can predict the quality of the resulting software during the early phases of the lifecycle saving time and resources on future elimination of design errors and costly maintenance. This technique can be brought into practical use using successful training.

Keywords: Software quality, fuzzy logic, perceptron, prediction.

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Authors: A. Pruna, D. Pullini, D. Busquets

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Graphene-based materials were prepared by chemical reduction of covalently functionalized graphene oxide with environmentally friendly agents. Two varying stoichiometry of graphene oxide (GO) induced by using different chemical preparation conditions, further covalent functionalization of the GO materials with 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide hydrochloride / N-hydroxysuccinimide and ascorbic acid and sodium bisulfite as reducing agents were exploited in order to obtain controllable properties of the final solution-based graphene materials. The obtained materials were characterized by thermo-gravimetric analysis, Fourier transform infrared and Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. The results showed successful functionalization of the GO materials, while a comparison of the deoxygenation efficiency of the two-type functionalized graphene oxide suspensions by the different reducing agents has been made, revealing the strong dependence of their properties on the GO structure and reducing agents.

Keywords: Graphene oxide, covalent functionalization, reduction, ascorbic acid, sodium bisulfate.

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Authors: Patcharee Intanoo, Jittipan Chavadej, Sumaeth Chavadej

Abstract:

The objective of this study was to investigate hydrogen production from alcohol wastewater by anaerobic sequencing batch reactor (ASBR) under thermophillic operation. The ASBR unit used in this study had a liquid holding volume of 4 L and was operated at 6 cycles per day. The seed sludge taken from an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket unit treating the same wastewater was boiled at 95 °C for 15 min before being fed to the ASBR unit. The ASBR system was operated at different COD loading rates at a thermophillic temperature (55 °C), and controlled pH of 5.5. When the system was operated under optimum conditions (providing maximum hydrogen production performance) at a feed COD of 60 000 mg/l, and a COD loading rate of 68 kg/m3 d, the produced gas contained 43 % H2 content in the produced gas. Moreover, the hydrogen yield and the specific hydrogen production rate (SHPR) were 130 ml H2/g COD removed and 2100 ml H2/l d, respectively.

Keywords: Biohydrogen, Alcohol wastewater, Anaerobic sequencing batch reactor (ASBR), Thermophillic operation

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