Search results for: solvent effect
2330 A Hydro-Mechanical Model for Unsaturated Soils
Authors: A. Uchaipichat
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The hydro-mechanical model for unsaturated soils has been presented based on the effective stress principle taking into account effects of drying-wetting process. The elasto-plastic constitutive equations for stress-strain relations of the soil skeleton have been established. A plasticity model is modified from modified Cam-Clay model. The hardening rule has been established by considering the isotropic consolidation paths. The effect of dryingwetting process is introduced through the ¤ç parameter. All model coefficients are identified in terms of measurable parameters. The simulations from the proposed model are compared with the experimental results. The model calibration was performed to extract the model parameter from the experimental results. Good agreement between the results predicted using proposed model and the experimental results was obtained.Keywords: Drying-wetting process, Effective stress, Elastoplasticmodel, Unsaturated soils
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17452329 Optimization of Biodiesel Production from Sunflower Oil Using Central Composite Design
Authors: Pascal Mwenge, Jefrey Pilusa, Tumisang Seodigeng
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The current study investigated the effect of catalyst ratio and methanol to oil ratio on biodiesel production by using central composite design. Biodiesel was produced by transesterification using sodium hydroxide as a homogeneous catalyst, a laboratory scale reactor consisting of flat bottom flask mounts with a reflux condenser and a heating plate was used to produce biodiesel. Key parameters, including, time, temperature and mixing rate were kept constant at 60 minutes, 60 oC and 600 RPM, respectively. From the results obtained, it was observed that the biodiesel yield depends on catalyst ratio and methanol to oil ratio. The highest yield of 50.65% was obtained at catalyst ratio of 0.5 wt.% and methanol to oil mole ratio 10.5. The analysis of variances of biodiesel yield showed the R Squared value of 0.8387. A quadratic mathematical model was developed to predict the biodiesel yield in the specified parameters ranges.
Keywords: ANOVA, biodiesel, catalyst, CCD, transesterification.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 11012328 Study of γ Irradiation and Storage Time on Microbial Load and Chemical Quality of Persian Saffron
Authors: M. Jouki, N. Khazaei , A. Kalbasi , H. Tavakolipour, S. Rajabifar, F. Motamedi. Sedeh, A. Jouki
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Irradiation is considered one of the most efficient technological processes for the reduction of microorganisms in food. It can be used to improve the safety of food products, and to extend their shelf lives. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of gamma irradiation for improvement of saffron shelf life. Samples were treated with 0 (none irradiated), 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0 kGy of gamma irradiation and held for 2 months. The control and irradiated samples were underwent microbial analysis, chemical characteristics and sensory evaluation at 30 days intervals. Microbial analysis indicated that irradiation had a significant effect (P < 0.05) on the reduction of microbial loads. There was no significant difference in sensory quality and chemical characteristics during storage in saffron.
Keywords: gamma irradiation, saffron, microbes, contamination.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 42482327 Comparative Optical Analysis of Offset Reflector Antenna in GRASP
Authors: Ghulam Ahmad
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In this paper comparison of Reflector Antenna analyzing techniques based on wave and ray nature of optics is presented for an offset reflector antenna using GRASP (General Reflector antenna Analysis Software Package) software. The results obtained using PO (Physical Optics), PTD (Physical theory of Diffraction), and GTD (Geometrical Theory of Diffraction) are compared. The validity of PO and GTD techniques in regions around the antenna, caustic behavior of GTD in main beam, and deviation of GTD in case of near-in sidelobes of radiation pattern are discussed. The comparison for far-out sidelobes predicted by PO, PO + PTD and GTD is described. The effect of Direct Radiations from feed which results in feed selection for the system is addressed.Keywords: Geometrical optics & geometrical theory of diffraction, offset reflector antenna, physical optics & physical theory of diffraction, PO & GO comaprison.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21232326 Influence of MgO Physically Mixed with Tungsten Oxide Supported Silica Catalyst on Coke Formation
Authors: T. Thitiapichart, P. Praserthdama
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The effect of additional magnesium oxide (MgO) was investigated by using the tungsten oxide supported on silica catalyst (WOx/SiO2) physically mixed with MgO in a weight ratio 1:1. The both fresh and spent catalysts were characterized by FT-Raman spectrometer, UV-Vis spectrometer, X-Ray diffraction (XRD) and temperature programmed oxidation (TPO). The results indicated that the additional MgO could enhance the conversion of trans-2-butene due to isomerization reaction. However, adding MgO would increase the amount of coke deposit on the WOx/SiO2 catalyst. The TPO profile presented two peaks when the WOx/SiO2 catalyst was physically mixed with MgO. The further peak was suggested that came from coke precursor could be produced by isomerization reaction of undesired product. Then, the occurred coke precursor could deposit and form coke on the acid catalyst.Keywords: Coke formation, metathesis, magnesium oxide, physically mix.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23972325 A Case Study of Reactive Focus on Form through Negotiation on Spoken Errors: Does It Work for All Learners?
Authors: Vahid Parvaresh, Zohre Kassaian, Saeed Ketabi, Masoud Saeedi
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This case study investigates the effects of reactive focus on form through negotiation on the linguistic development of an adult EFL learner in an exclusive private EFL classroom. The findings revealed that in this classroom negotiated feedback occurred significantly more often than non-negotiated feedback. However, it was also found that in the long run the learner was significantly more successful in correcting his own errors when he had received nonnegotiated feedback than negotiated feedback. This study, therefore, argues that although negotiated feedback seems to be effective for some learners in the short run, it is non-negotiated feedback which seems to be more effective in the long run. This long lasting effect might be attributed to the impact of schooling system which is itself indicative of the dominant culture, or to the absence of other interlocutors in the course of interaction.Keywords: error, feedback, focus on form, interaction, schooling.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 12362324 Analysis of Partially Shaded PV Modules Using Piecewise Linear Parallel Branches Model
Authors: Yaw-Juen Wang, Po-Chun Hsu
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This paper presents an equivalent circuit model based on piecewise linear parallel branches (PLPB) to study solar cell modules which are partially shaded. The PLPB model can easily be used in circuit simulation software such as the ElectroMagnetic Transients Program (EMTP). This PLPB model allows the user to simulate several different configurations of solar cells, the influence of partial shadowing on a single or multiple cells, the influence of the number of solar cells protected by a bypass diode and the effect of the cell connection configuration on partial shadowing.
Keywords: Cell Connection Configurations, EMTP, Equivalent Circuit, Partial Shading, Photovoltaic Module
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 29352323 Terrain Classification for Ground Robots Based on Acoustic Features
Authors: Bernd Kiefer, Abraham Gebru Tesfay, Dietrich Klakow
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The motivation of our work is to detect different terrain types traversed by a robot based on acoustic data from the robot-terrain interaction. Different acoustic features and classifiers were investigated, such as Mel-frequency cepstral coefficient and Gamma-tone frequency cepstral coefficient for the feature extraction, and Gaussian mixture model and Feed forward neural network for the classification. We analyze the system’s performance by comparing our proposed techniques with some other features surveyed from distinct related works. We achieve precision and recall values between 87% and 100% per class, and an average accuracy at 95.2%. We also study the effect of varying audio chunk size in the application phase of the models and find only a mild impact on performance.Keywords: Terrain classification, acoustic features, autonomous robots, feature extraction.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 11342322 Explicit Delay and Power Estimation Method for CMOS Inverter Driving on-Chip RLC Interconnect Load
Authors: Susmita Sahoo, Madhumanti Datta, Rajib Kar
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The resistive-inductive-capacitive behavior of long interconnects which are driven by CMOS gates are presented in this paper. The analysis is based on the ¤Ç-model of a RLC load and is developed for submicron devices. Accurate and analytical expressions for the output load voltage, the propagation delay and the short circuit power dissipation have been proposed after solving a system of differential equations which accurately describe the behavior of the circuit. The effect of coupling capacitance between input and output and the short circuit current on these performance parameters are also incorporated in the proposed model. The estimated proposed delay and short circuit power dissipation are in very good agreement with the SPICE simulation with average relative error less than 6%.Keywords: Delay, Inverter, Short Circuit Power, ¤Ç-Model, RLCInterconnect, VLSI
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16922321 Vibration Analysis of the Gas Turbine Considering Dependency of Stiffness and Damping on Frequency
Authors: Hamed Jamshidi, Pooya Djamshidi
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In this paper the complete rotor system including elastic shaft with distributed mass, allowing for the effects of oil film in bearings. Also, flexibility of foundation is modeled. As a whole this article is a relatively complete research in modeling and vibration analysis of rotor considering gyroscopic effect, damping, dependency of stiffness and damping coefficients on frequency and solving the vibration equations including these parameters. On the basis of finite element method and utilizing four element types including element of shaft, disk, bearing and foundation and using MATLAB, a computer program is written. So the responses in several cases and considering different effects are obtained. Then the results are compared with each other, with exact solutions and results of other papers.Keywords: Damping coefficients , Finite element method, Modeling , Rotor vibration
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 24912320 Analytical and Statistical Study of the Parameters of Expansive Soil
Authors: A. Medjnoun, R. Bahar
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The disorders caused by the shrinking-swelling phenomenon are prevalent in arid and semi-arid in the presence of swelling clay. This soil has the characteristic of changing state under the effect of water solicitation (wetting and drying). A set of geotechnical parameters is necessary for the characterization of this soil type, such as state parameters, physical and chemical parameters and mechanical parameters. Some of these tests are very long and some are very expensive, hence the use or methods of predictions. The complexity of this phenomenon and the difficulty of its characterization have prompted researchers to use several identification parameters in the prediction of swelling potential. This document is an analytical and statistical study of geotechnical parameters affecting the potential of swelling clays. This work is performing on a database obtained from investigations swelling Algerian soil. The obtained observations have helped us to understand the soil swelling structure and its behavior.
Keywords: Analysis, estimated model, parameter identification, Swelling of clay.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 12892319 Biosynthesis of Silver-Phosphate Nanoparticles Using the Extracellular Polymeric Substance of Sporosarcina pasteurii
Authors: Mohammadhosein Rahimi, Mohammad Raouf Hosseini, Mehran Bakhshi, Alireza Baghbanan
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Silver ions (Ag+) and their compounds are consequentially toxic to microorganisms, showing biocidal effects on many species of bacteria. Silver-phosphate (or silver orthophosphate) is one of these compounds, which is famous for its antimicrobial effect and catalysis application. In the present study, a green method was presented to synthesis silver-phosphate nanoparticles using Sporosarcina pasteurii. The composition of the biosynthesized nanoparticles was identified as Ag3PO4 using X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS). Also, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy showed that Ag3PO4 nanoparticles was synthesized in the presence of biosurfactants, enzymes, and proteins. In addition, UV-Vis adsorption of the produced colloidal suspension approved the results of XRD and FTIR analyses. Finally, Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) images indicated that the size of the nanoparticles was about 20 nm.Keywords: Bacteria, biosynthesis, silver-phosphate, Sporosarcina pasteurii, nanoparticle.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 12772318 Design and Analysis of Piping System with Supports Using CAESAR-II
Authors: M. Jamuna Rani, K. Ramanathan
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A steam power plant is housed with various types of equipments like boiler, turbine, heat exchanger etc. These equipments are mainly connected with piping systems. Such a piping layout design depends mainly on stress analysis and flexibility. It will vary with respect to pipe geometrical properties, pressure, temperature, and supports. The present paper is to analyze the presence and effect of hangers and expansion joints in the piping layout/routing using CAESAR-II software. Main aim of piping stress analysis is to provide adequate flexibility for absorbing thermal expansion, code compliance for stresses and displacement incurred in piping system. The design is said to be safe if all these are in allowable range as per code. In this study, a sample problem is considered for analysis as per power piping ASME B31.1 code and the results thus obtained are compared.
Keywords: ASTM B31.1, hanger, expansion joint, CAESAR-II.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 51352317 Design Exploration on Mixed-Use Development of Island House: Take the Southeast Coastal Area of Chinese as an Example
Authors: Fu Jiayan, Wang Zhu, Sun Jiaojiao
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Mixed-use development is one of the most important trends in new island house transformation along southeast coastal area in China. Unique island geographical environment and profound fishing village culture coexist for a long time in this. With artistic creation for the purpose of the "live-work" houses are in a large number of emergence, however, still lack of systematic strategy. Based on space effect from marine resources to regional human settlements, this article teases out the evolution regularity of island settlement context and architectural form, then, puts forward the formation mechanism and construction model of art island houses. Thereby, to further explore space design method and site creation strategy of mixed-use development.Keywords: Mixed-use, Island House, Art Creation, Southeast Coastal Area of Chinese.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14902316 Numerical Analyze of Corona Discharge on HVDC Transmission Lines
Authors: H. Nouri, A. Tabbel, N. Douib, H. Aitsaid, Y. Zebboudj
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This study and the field test comparisons were carried out on the Algerian Derguna – Setif transmission systems. The transmission line of normal voltage 225 kV is 65 km long, transported and uses twin bundle conductors protected with two shield wires of transposed galvanized steel. An iterative finite-element method is used to solve Poisons equation. Two algorithms are proposed for satisfying the current continuity condition and updating the space-charge density. A new approach to the problem of corona discharge in transmission system has been described in this paper. The effect of varying the configurations and wires number is also investigated. The analysis of this steady is important in the design of HVDC transmission lines. The potential and electric field have been calculating in locations singular points of the system.Keywords: Corona discharge, Electric field, Finite element method, HVDC.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22662315 Effect of Various Nozzle Profiles on Performance of a Two Phase Flow Jet Pump
Authors: Vishnu Prasad Sharma, S. Kumaraswamy, A. Mani
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This paper reports on the results of experimental investigations on the performance of a jet pump operated under selected primary flows to optimize the related parameters. For this purpose a two-phase flow jet pump was used employing various profiles of nozzles as the primary device which was designed, fabricated and used along with the combination of mixing tube and diffuser. The profiles employed were circular, conical, and elliptical. The diameter of the nozzle used was 4 mm. The area ratio of the jet pump was 0.16. The test facility created for this purpose was an open loop continuous circulation system. Performance of the jet pump was obtained as iso-efficiency curves on characteristic curves drawn for various water flow rates. To perform the suction capability, evacuation test was conducted at best efficiency point for all the profiles.
Keywords: Evacuation test, jet pump, nozzle profile, nozzle spacing, performance test, two phase flow
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 33192314 Failure Criterion for Mixed Mode Fracture of Cracked Wood Specimens
Authors: Mahdi Fakoor, Seyed Mohammad Navid Ghoreishi
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Investigation of fracture of wood components can prevent from catastrophic failures. Created fracture process zone (FPZ) in crack tip vicinity has important effect on failure of cracked composite materials. In this paper, a failure criterion for fracture investigation of cracked wood specimens under mixed mode I/II loading is presented. This criterion is based on maximum strain energy release rate and material nonlinearity in the vicinity of crack tip due to presence of microcracks. Verification of results with available experimental data proves the coincidence of the proposed criterion with the nature of fracture of wood. To simplify the estimation of nonlinear properties of FPZ, a damage factor is also introduced for engineering and application purposes.
Keywords: Fracture criterion, mixed mode loading, damage zone, microcracks.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15532313 Thermomechanical and Metallurgical Analysis of SMA and GTA Welded Low Carbon Steel Butt Joints
Authors: J. Dutta, P. Pranith Kumar Reddy
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This research paper portrays a comparative analysis of thermomechanical behaviour of Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW) and Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) of low carbon steel of AISI 1020 grade butt joints. The thermal history has been obtained by experimental work. We have focused on temperature dependent cooling rate as depicted by Adam’s two-dimensional model. The effect of moving point heat source of SMAW and GTAW on mechanical properties has been judged by optical and scanning electron micrographs of different regions in weld joints. The microhardness study has been carried to visualize the joint strength due to formation of different phases.
Keywords: Shielded metal arc welding, gas tungsten arc welding, low carbon steel, microhardness study, thermal history, microscopic morphology.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22032312 The Experimental Study of the Effect of Flow Pattern Geometry on Performance of Micro Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell
Authors: Tang Yuan Chen, Chang Hsin Chen, Chiun Hsun Chen
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In this research, the flow pattern influence on performance of a micro PEMFC was investigated experimentally. The investigation focused on the impacts of bend angels and rib/channel dimensions of serpentine flow channel pattern on the performance and investigated how they improve the performance. The fuel cell employed for these experiments was a micro single PEMFC with a membrane of 1.44 cm2 Nafion NRE-212. The results show that 60° and 120° bend angles can provide the better performances at 20 and 40 sccm inlet flow rates comparing to that the conventional design. Additionally, wider channel with narrower rib spacing gives better performance. These results may be applied to develop universal heuristics for the design of flow pattern of micro PEMFC.Keywords: Flow pattern, MEMS, PEMFC, Performance
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17162311 An Experimental Study to Control Single Droplet by Actuating Waveform with Preliminary and Suppressing Vibration
Authors: Oke Oktavianty, Tadayuki Kyoutani, Shigeyuki Haruyama, Ken Kaminishi
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For advancing the experiment system standard of Inkjet printer that is being developed, the actual natural period, fire limitation number in droplet weight measurement and observation distance in droplet velocity measurement was investigated. In another side, the study to control the droplet volume in inkjet printer with negative actuating waveform method is still limited. Therefore, the effect of negative waveform with preliminary and suppressing vibration addition on the droplet formation process, droplet shape, volume and velocity were evaluated. The different voltage and print-head temperature were exerted to obtain the optimum preliminary and suppressing vibration. The mechanism of different phenomenon from each waveform was also discussed.
Keywords: Inkjet printer, DoD, waveform, preliminary and suppressing vibration.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 9462310 Mode-Locked Fiber Laser Using Charcoal and Graphene Saturable Absorbers to Generate 20-GHz and 50-GHz Pulse Trains, Respectively
Authors: Ashiq Rahman, Sunil Thapa, Shunyao Fan, Niloy K. Dutta
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A 20-GHz and a 50-GHz pulse train are generated using a fiber ring laser setup that incorporates rational harmonic mode-locking (RHML). Two separate experiments were carried out using charcoal nanoparticles and graphene nanoparticles acting as saturable absorbers to reduce the pulse width generated from RHML. Autocorrelator trace shows that the pulse width is reduced from 5.6 ps to 3.2 ps using charcoal at 20 GHz, and to 2.7 ps using graphene at 50-GHz repetition rates, which agrees with the simulation findings. Numerical simulations have been carried out to study the effect of varying the linear and nonlinear absorbance parameters of both absorbers on output pulse widths. Experiments closely agree with the simulations.
Keywords: Fiber optics, fiber lasers, mode locking, saturable absorbers.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2642309 Response Surface Based Optimization of Toughness of Hybrid Polyamide 6 Nanocomposites
Authors: E. Hajizadeh, H. Garmabi
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Toughening of polyamide 6 (PA6)/ Nanoclay (NC) nanocomposites with styrene-ethylene/butadiene-styrene copolymer (SEBS) using maleated styrene-ethylene/butadiene-styrene copolymer (mSEBS)/ as a compatibilizer were investigated by blending them in a co-rotating twin-screw extruder. Response surface method of experimental design was used for optimizing the material and processing parameters. Effect of four factors, including SEBS, mSEBS and NC contents as material variables and order of mixing as a processing factor, on toughness of hybrid nanocomposites were studied. All the prepared samples showed ductile behavior and low temperature Izod impact toughness of some of the hybrid nanocomposites demonstrated 900% improvement compared to the PA6 matrix while the modulus showed maximum enhancement of 20% compared to the pristine PA6 resin.
Keywords: Hybrid nanocomposites, PA6, SEBS rubber, toughness.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16252308 Use of a Learner's Log for Effective Self-Directed Learning in PBL
Authors: Amudha Kadirvelu, Sivalal Sadasivan
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While the problem based learning (PBL) approach promotes unsupervised self-directed learning (SDL), many students experience difficulty juggling the role of being an information recipient and information seeker. Logbooks have been used to assess trainee doctors but not in other areas. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of logbook for assessing SDL during PBL sessions in first year medical students. The log book included a learning checklist and knowledge and skills components. Comparisons with the baseline assessment of student performance in PBL and that at semester end after logbook intervention showed significant improvements in student performance (31.5 ± 8 vs. 17.7 ± 4.4; p<0.001) with a large effect size of 3.93. The learner-s log for PBL has played an important role in enhancing SDL in first year medical students. Learner-s log could be a good self-assessment tool for the undergraduate medical students.
Keywords: Problem based learning, self-directed learning, logbook, self-assessment.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20142307 MAS Simulations of Optical Antenna Structures
Authors: K.Tavzarashvili, G.Ghvedashili
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A semi-analytic boundary discretization method, the Method of Auxiliary Sources (MAS) is used to analyze Optical Antennas consisting of metallic parts. In addition to standard dipoletype antennas, consisting of two pieces of metal, a new structure consisting of a single metal piece with a tiny groove in the center is analyzed. It is demonstrated that difficult numerical problems are caused because optical antennas exhibit strong material dispersion, loss, and plasmon-polariton effects that require a very accurate numerical simulation. This structure takes advantage of the Channel Plasmon-Polariton (CPP) effect and exhibits a strong enhancement of the electric field in the groove. Also primitive 3D antenna model with spherical nano particles is analyzed.
Keywords: optical antenna, channel plasmon-polariton, computational physics, Method of Auxiliary Sources
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19142306 Modeling Thermo-Photo-Voltaic Selective Emitter Based on a Semi-Transparent Emitter with Integrated Narrow Band-Pass Pre-Filter
Authors: F. Stake
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This work is a parametric study combining simple and well known optical theories. These simple theories are arranged to form part of one answer to the question: “Can a semi-transparent Thermo-Photo-Voltaic (TPV) emitter have an optical extinction spectrum so much greater than its optical absorption spectrum that it becomes its own band-pass pre-filter, and if so, how well might it be expected to suppress light of undesired wavelengths?” In the report, hypothetical materials and operating temperatures will be used for comparative analyses only. Thermal emission properties of these hypothetical materials were created using two openly available FORTRAN programs. Results indicate that if using highly transparent materials it may be possible to create a thermal emitter that is its own band-pass pre-filter.Keywords: Christensen effect, DISORT, index of refraction, scattering.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 6032305 Corporate Governance, Shareholder Monitoring and Cost of Debt in Malaysia
Authors: Zulkufly Ramly
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This paper attempts to investigate the effect of corporate governance and shareholder monitoring mechanisms on cost of debt of Malaysian listed firms. We assess the quality of corporate governance using comprehensive corporate governance index, which consists of 139 items in six broad categories. We classify shareholder monitoring mechanisms into concentrated ownership, family, insider and government ownerships. Using panel sample from 2003 to 2007, regression results show that high corporate governance quality and concentrated ownership lower firm cost of debt. Debt issuers consider board structure and procedures, board compensation practices, accountability and audit, transparency and social and environmental activities as integral components of a good corporate governance framework.
Keywords: Corporate governance index, cost of debt, ownership structure, Malaysia.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 35082304 Mechanical and Chemical Reliability Assessment of Silica Optical Fibres
Authors: Irina Severin, M. Caramihai, K. Chung, G. Tasca, T. Park
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The current study has investigated the ageing phenomena of silica optical fibres in relation to water activity which might be accelerated when exposed to a supplementary energy, such as microwaves. A controlled stress by winding fibres onto accurate diameter mandrel was applied. Taking into account that normally a decrease in fibre strength is induced in time by chemical action of water, the effects of cumulative reagents such as: water, applied stress and supplementary energy (microwave) in some cases acted in the opposite manner. The microwave effect as a structural relaxation catalyst appears unexpected, even if the overall gain in fibre strength is not high, but the stress corrosion factor revealed significant increase in certain simulation conditions.Keywords: optical fibres, mechanical testing, aging, microwave, structural relaxation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16292303 CFD Modeling of High Temperature Seal Chamber
Authors: Mikhail P. Strongin, Ragupathi Soundararajan
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The purpose of this work is fast design optimization of the seal chamber. The study includes the mass transfer between lower and upper chamber on seal chamber for hot water application pumps. The use of Fluent 12.1 commercial code made it possible to capture complex flow with heat-mass transfer, radiation, Tailor instability, and buoyancy effect. Realizable k-epsilon model was used for turbulence modeling. Radiation heat losses were taken into account. The temperature distribution at seal region is predicted with respect to heat addition. Results show the possibilities of the model simplifications by excluding the water domain in low chamber from calculations. CFD simulations permit to improve seal chamber design to meet target water temperature around the seal. This study can be used for the analysis of different seal chamber configurations.Keywords: CFD, heat transfer, seal chamber, high temperature water
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16752302 Feature Selection Approaches with Missing Values Handling for Data Mining - A Case Study of Heart Failure Dataset
Authors: N.Poolsawad, C.Kambhampati, J. G. F. Cleland
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In this paper, we investigated the characteristic of a clinical dataseton the feature selection and classification measurements which deal with missing values problem.And also posed the appropriated techniques to achieve the aim of the activity; in this research aims to find features that have high effect to mortality and mortality time frame. We quantify the complexity of a clinical dataset. According to the complexity of the dataset, we proposed the data mining processto cope their complexity; missing values, high dimensionality, and the prediction problem by using the methods of missing value replacement, feature selection, and classification.The experimental results will extend to develop the prediction model for cardiology.Keywords: feature selection, missing values, classification, clinical dataset, heart failure.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 32112301 A Design of Anisotropic Wet Etching System to Reduce Hillocks on Etched Surface of Silicon Substrate
Authors: Alonggot Limcharoen Kaeochotchuangkul, Pathomporn Sawatchai
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This research aims to design and build a wet etching system, which is suitable for anisotropic wet etching, in order to reduce etching time, to reduce hillocks on the etched surface (to reduce roughness), and to create a 45-degree wall angle (micro-mirror). This study would start by designing a wet etching system. There are four main components in this system: an ultrasonic cleaning, a condenser, a motor and a substrate holder. After that, an ultrasonic machine was modified by applying a condenser to maintain the consistency of the solution concentration during the etching process and installing a motor for improving the roughness. This effect on the etch rate and the roughness showed that the etch rate increased and the roughness was reduced.
Keywords: Anisotropic wet etching, wet etching system, Hillocks, ultrasonic cleaning.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 696