Search results for: natural plant recognition

Authors: F. E. Cherati, T. Naij , A. Amraei, Y. Hosseinpor

Abstract:

In order to study the influence of different methods of controlling weeds such as mechanical weeding and mechanical weeder efficiency analysis in mechanical cultivation conditions, in farming year of 2011 an experiment was done in a farm in coupling and development of technology center in Haraz,Iran. The treatments consisted of (I) control treatment: where no weeding was done, (II) use of mechanical weeding without engine and (III) power mechanical weeding. Results showed that experimental treatments had significantly different effects (p=0.05) on yield traits and number of filled grains per panicle, while treatments had the significant effects on grain weight and dry weight of weeds in the first, second and third weeding methods at 1% of confidence level. Treatment (II) had its most significant effect on number of filled grains per panicle and yield performance standpoint, which was 3705.97 kg ha-1 in its highest peak. Treatment (III) was ranked as second influential with 3559.8 kg ha-1. In addition, under (I) treatments, 2364.73 kg ha-1 of yield produced. The minimum dry weights of weeds in all weeding methods were related to the treatment (II), (III) and (I), respectively. The correlation coefficient analysis showed that total yield had a significant positive correlation with the panicle grain yield per plant (r= 0.55*) and the number of grains per panicle-1 (r= 0.57*) and the number of filled grains (r= 0.63*). Total rice yield also had negative correlation of r= -0. 64* with weed dry weight at second weed sampling time (17 DAT). The weed dry weight at third and fourth sampling times (24 and 40 DAT) had negative correlations of -0.65** and r=-0.61* with rice yield, respectively.

Keywords: Dry weight, without engine mechanical weeder, power mechanical weeder, yield rice.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1433

Authors: Ong Sing Goh, C. Ardil, Wilson Wong, Chun Che Fung

Abstract:

The evaluation of conversational agents or chatterbots question answering systems is a major research area that needs much attention. Before the rise of domain-oriented conversational agents based on natural language understanding and reasoning, evaluation is never a problem as information retrieval-based metrics are readily available for use. However, when chatterbots began to become more domain specific, evaluation becomes a real issue. This is especially true when understanding and reasoning is required to cater for a wider variety of questions and at the same time to achieve high quality responses. This paper discusses the inappropriateness of the existing measures for response quality evaluation and the call for new standard measures and related considerations are brought forward. As a short-term solution for evaluating response quality of conversational agents, and to demonstrate the challenges in evaluating systems of different nature, this research proposes a blackbox approach using observation, classification scheme and a scoring mechanism to assess and rank three example systems, AnswerBus, START and AINI.

Keywords: Evaluation, conversational agents, Response Quality, chatterbots

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1910

Authors: Ming-Jen Huang, Chun-Fang Huang, Chiching Wei

Abstract:

With the recent advance of the deep neural network, we observe new applications of NLP (natural language processing) and CV (computer vision) powered by deep neural networks for processing business documents. However, creating a real-world document processing system needs to integrate several NLP and CV tasks, rather than treating them separately. There is a need to have a unified approach for processing documents containing textual and graphical elements with rich formats, diverse layout arrangement, and distinct semantics. In this paper, a framework that fulfills this unified approach is presented. The framework includes a representation model definition for holding the information generated by various tasks and specifications defining the coordination between these tasks. The framework is a blueprint for building a system that can process documents with rich formats, styles, and multiple types of elements. The flexible and lightweight design of the framework can help build a system for diverse business scenarios, such as contract monitoring and reviewing.

Keywords: Document processing, framework, formal definition, machine learning.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 616

Authors: R. Ziaie Moayed, H. Keshavarz Hedayati

Abstract:

Over recent years, due to increased population and increased waste production, groundwater protection has become more important, therefore, designing engineered barrier systems such as landfill liners to prevent the entry of leachate into groundwater should be done with greater accuracy. These measures generally involve the application of low permeability soils such as clays. Bentonite is a natural clay with low permeability which makes it a suitable soil for using in liners. Also zeolite with high cation exchange capacity can help to reduce of hazardous materials risk. Bentonite expands when wet, absorbing as much as several times its dry mass in water. This property may effect on some structural properties of soil such as shear strength. In present study, shear strength parameters are determined by both leachates polluted and not polluted bentonite-amended zeolite soil with mixing rates (B/Z) of 5%-10% and 20% with unconfined compression test to obtain the differences. It is shown that leachate presence causes reduction in resistance in general.

Keywords: Bentonite, zeolite, leachate, shear strength parameters, unconfined compression tests.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 541

Authors: N. K. Srivastava, M. K. Jha, I. D. Mall, Davinder Singh

Abstract:

The treatment of the industrial wastewater can be particularly difficult in the presence of toxic compounds. Excessive concentration of Chromium in soluble form is toxic to a wide variety of living organisms. Biological removal of heavy metals using natural and genetically engineered microorganisms has aroused great interest because of its lower impact on the environment. Ralston metallidurans, formerly known as Alcaligenes eutrophus is a LProteobacterium colonizing industrial wastewater with a high content of heavy metals. Tris-buffered mineral salt medium was used for growing Alcaligenes eutrophus AE104 (pEBZ141). The cells were cultivated for 18 h at 30 oC in Tris-buffered mineral salt medium containing 3 mM disodium sulphate and 46 mM sodium gluconate as the carbon source. The cells were harvested by centrifugation, washed, and suspended in 10 mM Tris HCl, pH 7.0, containing 46 mM sodium gluconate, and 5 mM Chromium. Interaction among induction of chr resistance determinant, and chromate reduction have been demonstrated. Results of this study show that the above bacteria can be very useful for bioremediation of chromium from industrial wastewater.

Keywords: Chromium, Genetic Engineering, IndustrialWastewater, Plasmid

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2320

Authors: A. Alkattib, M. Boumaza

Abstract:

Steam reforming is industrially important as it is  incorporated in several major chemical processes including the  production of ammonia, methanol, hydrogen and ox alcohols. Due to  the strongly endothermic nature of the process, a large amount of heat  is supplied by fuel burning (commonly natural gas) in the furnace  chamber. Reaction conversions, tube catalyst life, energy  consumption and CO2 emission represent the principal factors  affecting the performance of this unit and are directly influenced by  the high operating temperatures and pressures.  This study presents a simulation of the performance of the  reforming of methane in a primary reformer, through a developed  empirical relation which enables to investigate the effects of  operating parameters such as the pressure, temperature, steam to  carbon ratio on the production of hydrogen, as well as the fraction of  non converted methane.  It appears from this analysis that the exit temperature Te, the  operating pressure as well the steam to carbon ratio has an important  effect on the reforming of methane.

 

Keywords: Reforming, methane, performance, hydrogen, parameters.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2451

Authors: Easa Ali Abbasi, Akbar Allahverdizadeh, Reza Jahangiri, Behnam Dadashzadeh

Abstract:

Electrical current measurement is a suitable method for the performance determination of electrical devices. There are two contact and noncontact methods in this measuring process. Contact method has some disadvantages like having direct connection with wire which may endamage the system. Thus, in this paper, a bimorph piezoelectric cantilever beam which has a permanent magnet on its free end is used to measure electrical current in a noncontact way. In mathematical modeling, based on Galerkin method, the governing equation of the cantilever beam is solved, and the equation presenting the relation between applied force and beam’s output voltage is presented. Magnetic force resulting from current carrying wire is considered as the external excitation force of the system. The results are compared with other references in order to demonstrate the accuracy of the mathematical model. Finally, the effects of geometric parameters on the output voltage and natural frequency are presented.

Keywords: Cantilever beam, electrical current measurement, forced excitation, piezoelectric.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1056

Authors: Zita I. Šereš, Ljubica P. Dokić, Dragana M. Šoronja Simović, Cecilia Hodur, Zsuzsanna Laszlo, Ivana Nikolić, Nikola Maravić

Abstract:

In this work the concentration of steepwater from corn starch industry is monitored using ultrafiltration membrane. The aim was to examine the conditions of ultrafiltration of steepwater by applying the membrane of 2.5nm. The parameters that vary during the course of ultrafiltration, were the transmembrane pressure, flow rate, while the permeate flux and the dry matter content of permeate and retentate were the dependent parameter constantly monitored during the process. Experiments of ultrafiltration are conducted on the samples of steepwater, which were obtained from the starch wet milling plant „Jabuka“ Pancevo. The procedure of ultrafiltration on a single-channel 250mm lenght, with inner diameter of 6.8mm and outer diameter of 10mm membrane were carried on. The membrane is made of a-Al₂O₃ with TiO₂ layer obtained from GEA (Germany). The experiments are carried out at a flow rate ranging from 100 to 200lh^-1 and transmembrane pressure of 1-3 bars. During the experiments of steepwater ultrafiltration, the change of permeate flux, dry matter content of permeate and retentate, as well as the absorbance changes of the permeate and retentate were monitored. The experimental results showed that the maximum flux reaches about 40lm^-2h^-1. For responses obtained after experiments, a polynomial model of the second degree is established to evaluate and quantify the influence of the variables. The quadratic equitation fits with the experimental values, where the coefficient of determination for flux is 0.96. The dry matter content of the retentate is increased for about 6%, while the dry matter content of permeate was reduced for about 35-40%, respectively. During steepwater ultrafiltration in permeate stays 40% less dry matter compared to the feed.

Keywords: Ultrafiltration, steepwater, starch industry, ceramic membrane.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2124

Authors: Silvia Tamayo-Moreno, Diana Pérez-Marín

Abstract:

In this paper, the possibility of children studying by using an interactive learning technology called Pedagogic Conversational Agent is presented. The main benefit is that the agent is able to adapt the dialogue to each student and to provide automatic feedback. Moreover, according to Math teachers, in many cases students are unable to solve the problems even knowing the procedure to solve them, because they do not understand what they have to do. The hypothesis is that if students are helped to understand what they have to solve, they will be able to do it. Taken that into account, we have started the development of Dr. Roland, an agent to help students understand Math problems following a User-Centered Design methodology. The use of this methodology is proposed, for the first time, to design pedagogic agents to teach any subject from Secondary down to Pre-Primary education. The reason behind proposing a methodology is that while working on this project, we noticed the lack of literature to design and evaluate agents. To cover this gap, we describe how User-Centered Design can be applied, and which usability techniques can be applied to evaluate the agent.

Keywords: Pedagogic conversational agent, human-computer interaction, user-centered design, natural language interface.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1842

Authors: Himanshu Patel, R. T. Vashi

Abstract:

Adsorption of Toluidine blue dye from aqueous solutions onto Neem Leaf Powder (NLP) has been investigated. The surface characterization of this natural material was examined by Particle size analysis, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). The effects of process parameters such as initial concentration, pH, temperature and contact duration on the adsorption capacities have been evaluated, in which pH has been found to be most effective parameter among all. The data were analyzed using the Langmuir and Freundlich for explaining the equilibrium characteristics of adsorption. And kinetic models like pseudo first- order, second-order model and Elovich equation were utilized to describe the kinetic data. The experimental data were well fitted with Langmuir adsorption isotherm model and pseudo second order kinetic model. The thermodynamic parameters, such as Free energy of adsorption (AG"), enthalpy change (AH') and entropy change (AS°) were also determined and evaluated.

Keywords: Adsorption, isotherm models, kinetic models, temperature, toluidine blue dye, surface chemistry.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1778

Authors: Kenia Martínez, Geniel Talavera, Juan Alonso

Abstract:

Moringa oleifera is a plant containing many nutrients that are mostly concentrated within the leaves. Commonly, the separation process of these nutrients involves solid-liquid extraction followed by evaporation and drying to obtain a concentrated extract, which is rich in proteins, vitamins, carbohydrates, and other essential nutrients that can be used in the food industry. In this work, three drying methods were used, which involved very different temperature and pressure conditions, to evaluate the effect of each method on the vitamin C content and the antioxidant efficiency of the extracts. Solid-liquid extractions of Moringa leaf (LE) were carried out by employing an ethanol solution (35% v/v) at 50 °C for 2 hours. The resulting extracts were then dried i) in a convective oven (CO) at 100 °C and at an atmospheric pressure of 750 mbar for 8 hours, ii) in a vacuum evaporator (VE) at 50 °C and at 300 mbar for 2 hours, and iii) in a freeze-drier (FD) at -40 °C and at 0.050 mbar for 36 hours. The antioxidant capacity (EC₅₀, mg solids/g DPPH) of the dry solids was calculated by the free radical inhibition method employing DPPH˙ at 517 nm, resulting in a value of 2902.5 ± 14.8 for LE, 3433.1 ± 85.2 for FD, 3980.1 ± 37.2 for VE, and 8123.5 ± 263.3 for CO. The calculated antioxidant efficiency (AE, g DPPH/(mg solids·min)) was 2.920 × 10^-5 for LE, 2.884 × 10^-5 for FD, 2.512 × 10^-5 for VE, and 1.009 × 10^-5 for CO. Further, the content of vitamin C (mg/L) determined by HPLC was 59.0 ± 0.3 for LE, 49.7 ± 0.6 for FD, 45.0 ± 0.4 for VE, and 23.6 ± 0.7 for CO. The results indicate that the convective drying preserves vitamin C and antioxidant efficiency to 40% and 34% of the initial value, respectively, while vacuum drying to 76% and 86%, and freeze-drying to 84% and 98%, respectively.

Keywords: Antioxidant efficiency, convective drying, freeze-drying, Moringa oleifera, vacuum drying, vitamin C content.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1776

Authors: Raed Abendeh, Mousa Bani Baker, Zaydoun Abu Salem, Heham Ahmad

Abstract:

The using of waste materials in the construction industry can reduce the dependence on the natural aggregates which are going at the end to deplete. The glass waste is generated in a huge amount which can make one of its disposals in concrete industry effective not only as a green solution but also as an advantage to enhance the performance of mechanical properties and durability of concrete. This article reports the performance of concrete specimens containing different percentages of milled glass waste as a partial replacement of cement (Powder), when they are subject to cycles of freezing and thawing. The tests were conducted on 75-mm cubes and 75 x 75 x 300-mm prisms. Compressive strength based on laboratory testing and non-destructive ultrasonic pulse velocity test were performed during the action of freezing-thawing cycles (F/T). The results revealed that the incorporation of glass waste in concrete mixtures is not only feasible but also showed generally better strength and durability performance than control concrete mixture. It may be said that the recycling of waste glass in concrete mixes is not only a disposal way, but also it can be an exploitation in concrete industry.

Keywords: Durability, glass waste, freeze-thaw cycles, nondestructive test.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2644

Authors: Mohamed M. M. Elnasharty, Azhar M. Elwan

Abstract:

Irradiation deposits energy through ionisation changing the bio-system’s net dipole, allowing the use of dielectric parameters and thermodynamic state functions related to these parameters as biophysical detectors to electrical inhomogeneity within the biosystem. This part is concerned with the effect of Moringa leaves extract, natural supplement, on the response of the biosystem to two different dose rates of irradiation. Having Hb molecule as a representative to the biosystem to be least invasive to the biosystem, dielectric measurements were used to extract the relaxation time of certain process found in the Hb spectrum within the indicated frequency window and the interrelated thermodynamic state functions were calculated from the deduced relaxation time. The results showed that relaxation time was decreased for both dose rates indicating a strong influence of Moringa on the response of biosystem and consequently Hb molecule. This influence was presented in the relaxation time and other parameters as well.

Keywords: Activation energy, DC conductivity, dielectric relaxation, enthalpy change, moringa leaves extract, relaxation time.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 644

Authors: L. J. de Bessa Neto, V. S. Filho, J. V. Ferreira Nunes, G. C. Bergamo

Abstract:

There are many situations in which human activities have significant effects on the environment. Damage to the ozone layer is one of them. The objective of this work is to use the Least Squares Method, considering the linear, exponential, logarithmic, power and polynomial models of the second degree, to analyze through the coefficient of determination (R²), which model best fits the behavior of the chlorodifluoromethane (HCFC-142b) in parts per trillion between 1992 and 2018, as well as estimates of future concentrations between 5 and 10 periods, i.e. the concentration of this pollutant in the years 2023 and 2028 in each of the adjustments. A total of 809 observations of the concentration of HCFC-142b in one of the monitoring stations of gases precursors of the deterioration of the ozone layer during the period of time studied were selected and, using these data, the statistical software Excel was used for make the scatter plots of each of the adjustment models. With the development of the present study, it was observed that the logarithmic fit was the model that best fit the data set, since besides having a significant R² its adjusted curve was compatible with the natural trend curve of the phenomenon.

Keywords: Chlorodifluoromethane (HCFC-142b), ozone (O3), least squares method, regression models.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 797

Authors: Goh Ong Sing, C. Ardil, Wilson Wong, Shahrin Sahib

Abstract:

The evaluation of the question answering system is a major research area that needs much attention. Before the rise of domain-oriented question answering systems based on natural language understanding and reasoning, evaluation is never a problem as information retrieval-based metrics are readily available for use. However, when question answering systems began to be more domains specific, evaluation becomes a real issue. This is especially true when understanding and reasoning is required to cater for a wider variety of questions and at the same time achieve higher quality responses The research in this paper discusses the inappropriateness of the existing measure for response quality evaluation and in a later part, the call for new standard measures and the related considerations are brought forward. As a short-term solution for evaluating response quality of heterogeneous systems, and to demonstrate the challenges in evaluating systems of different nature, this research presents a black-box approach using observation, classification scheme and a scoring mechanism to assess and rank three example systems (i.e. AnswerBus, START and NaLURI).

Keywords: Evaluation, question answering, response quality.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1841

Authors: Evgeniy Burlutskiy

Abstract:

The paper presents a one-dimensional transient mathematical model of compressible non-isothermal multicomponent fluid mixture flow in a pipe. The set of the mass, momentum and enthalpy conservation equations for gas phase is solved in the model. Thermo-physical properties of multi-component gas mixture are calculated by solving the Equation of State (EOS) model. The Soave-Redlich-Kwong (SRK-EOS) model is chosen. Gas mixture viscosity is calculated on the basis of the Lee-Gonzales- Eakin (LGE) correlation. Numerical analysis of rapid gas decompression process in rich and base natural gases is made on the basis of the proposed mathematical model. The model is successfully validated on the experimental data [1]. The proposed mathematical model shows a very good agreement with the experimental data [1] in a wide range of pressure values and predicts the decompression in rich and base gas mixtures much better than analytical and mathematical models, which are available from the open source literature.

Keywords: Mathematical model, Multi-Component gas mixture flow, Rapid Gas Decompression

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1933

Authors: A. Smagina, A. Lindemanis

Abstract:

In the time of globalisation, growing uncertainty, ambiguity and change, traditional way of doing business are no longer sufficient and it is important to consider non-conventional methods and approaches to release creativity and facilitate innovation and growth. Thus, creative industries, as a natural source of creativity and innovation, draw particular attention. This paper explores feasibility of building creative partnerships between creative industries and business and brings attention to mutual benefits derived from such partnerships. Design/approach - This paper is a theoretical exploration of projects, practices and research findings addressing collaboration between creative industries and business. Thus, it concerns creative industries, arts, business and its representatives in order to define requirements for creative partnerships to work and succeed. Findings – Current practices in engaging into arts-business partnerships are still very few, although most of creative partnerships proved to be highly valuable and mutually beneficial. Certain conditions shall be provided in order to benefit from arts-business creative synergy. Originality/value- By integrating different sources of literature, this article provides a base for conducting empirical research in several dimensions within arts-business partnerships.

Keywords: Arts, artists, business, creative industries, partnership

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2255

Authors: Fuad H. Veliev

Abstract:

Negative pressure phenomenon appears in many thermodynamic, geophysical and biophysical processes in the Nature and technological systems. For more than 100 years of the laboratory researches beginning from F. M. Donny’s tests, the great values of negative pressure have been achieved. But this phenomenon has not been practically applied, being only a nice lab toy due to the special demands for the purity and homogeneity of the liquids for its appearance. The possibility of creation of direct wave of negative pressure in real heterogeneous liquid systems was confirmed experimentally under the certain kinetic and hydraulic conditions. The negative pressure can be considered as the factor of both useful and destroying energies. The new approach to generation of the negative pressure waves in impure, unclean fluids has allowed the creation of principally new energy saving technologies and installations to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of different production processes. It was proved that the negative pressure is one of the main factors causing hard troubles in some technological and natural processes. Received results emphasize the necessity to take into account the role of the negative pressure as an energy factor in evaluation of many transient thermohydrodynamic processes in the Nature and production systems.

Keywords: Liquid systems, negative pressure, temperature, wave, metastable state.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2683

Authors: L. Bouqbis, H.W. Koyro, M. C. Harrouni, S. Daoud, L. F. Z. Ainlhout, C. I. Kammann

Abstract:

The application of biochar to soils is becoming more and more common. Its application which is generally reported to improve the physical, chemical, and biological properties of soils, has an indirect effect on soil health and increased crop yields. However, many of the previous results are highly variable and dependent mainly on the initial soil properties, biochar characteristics, and production conditions. In this study, two biochars which are biochar II (BC II) derived from a blend of paper sludge and wheat husks and biochar 005 (BC 005) derived from sewage sludge with a KCl additive, are used, and the physical and chemical properties of BC II are characterized. To determine the potential impact of salt stress and toxic and volatile substances, the second part of this study focused on the effect biochars have on germination of salad (Lactuca sativa L.), barley (Hordeum vulgare), and cress (Lepidium sativum) respectively. Our results indicate that Biochar II showed some unique properties compared to the soil, such as high EC, high content of K, Na, Mg, and low content of heavy metals. Concerning salad and barley germination test, no negative effect of BC II and BC 005 was observed. However, a negative effect of BC 005 at 8% level was revealed. The test of the effect of volatile substances on germination of cress revealed a positive effect of BC II, while a negative effect was observed for BC 005. Moreover, the water holding capacities of biochar-sand mixtures increased with increasing biochar application. Collectively, BC II could be safely used for agriculture and could provide the potential for a better plant growth.

Keywords: Biochar, phytotoxic tests, seedlings growth, water holding capacity.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1061

Authors: Kavita H. Dhanawade, Hanamant S. Dhanawade

Abstract:

Heat transfer enhancement objects like extended surfaces, fins etc. are chosen for their thermal performance as well as for other design parameters depending on various applications. The present paper is on experimental study to investigate the heat transfer enhancement through wire mesh fin arrays equipped with horizontal base plate. The data used in performance analysis were obtained experimentally for the material (mild steel) for different heat inputs such as 40, 60, 80, 100 and 120 watt, by varying wire mesh diameter, fin height and spacing between two fin arrays. Using the Taguchi experimental design method, optimum design parameters and their levels were investigated. Average heat transfer coefficient was considered as a performance characteristic parameter. An L₉ (3³) orthogonal array was selected as an experimental plan. Optimum results were found by experimenting. It is observed that the wire mesh diameter and fin height have a higher impact on heat transfer coefficient as compared to spacing between two fin arrays.

Keywords: Heat transfer enhancement, finned surface, wire mesh diameter, natural convection.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 797

Authors: Marina Kapsali, John S. Anagnostopoulos

Abstract:

Greek islands’ interconnection (IC) with larger power systems, such as the mainland grid, is a crucial issue that has attracted a lot of interest; however, the recent economic recession that the country undergoes together with the highly capital intensive nature of this kind of projects have stalled or sifted the development of many of those on a more long-term basis. On the other hand, most of Greek islands are still heavily dependent on the lengthy and costly supply chain of oil imports whilst the majority of them exhibit excellent potential for wind energy (WE) applications. In this respect, the main purpose of the present work is to investigate −through a parametric study which varies both in wind farm (WF) and submarine IC capacities− the impact of large-scale WE development on the IC of the third in size island of Greece (Lesbos) with the mainland system. The energy and economic performance of the system is simulated over a 25-year evaluation period assuming two possible scenarios, i.e. S(a): without the contribution of the local Thermal Power Plant (TPP) and S(b): the TPP is maintained to ensure electrification of the island. The economic feasibility of the two options is investigated in terms of determining their Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) including also a sensitivity analysis on the worst/reference/best Cases. According to the results, Lesbos island IC presents considerable economic interest for covering part of island’s future electrification needs with WE having a vital role in this challenging venture.

Keywords: Electricity generation cost, levelized cost of energy, mainland grid, wind energy rejection.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1013

Authors: Wisam K. Hussam, Ali Alfeeli, Gergory J. Sheard

Abstract:

Solar panels that use photovoltaic (PV) cells are popular for converting solar radiation into electricity. One of the major problems impacting the performance of PV panels is the overheating caused by excessive solar radiation and high ambient temperatures, which degrades the efficiency of the PV panels remarkably. To overcome this issue, an aluminum heat sink was used to dissipate unwanted heat from PV cells. The dimensions of the heat sink were determined considering the optimal fin spacing that fulfils hot climatic conditions. In this study, the effects of cooling on the efficiency and power output of a PV panel were studied experimentally. Two PV modules were used: one without and one with a heat sink. The experiments ran for 11 hours from 6:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. where temperature readings in the rear and front of both PV modules were recorded at an interval of 15 minutes using sensors and an Arduino microprocessor. Results are recorded for both panels simultaneously for analysis, temperate comparison, and for power and efficiency calculations. A maximum increase in the solar to electrical conversion efficiency of 35% and almost 55% in the power output were achieved with the use of a heat sink, while temperatures at the front and back of the panel were reduced by 9% and 11%, respectively.

Keywords: Photovoltaic cell, natural convection, heat sink, efficiency.

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

Authors: S.H. Mirtalaie, M. Mohammadi, M.A. Hajabasi, F.Hejripour

Abstract:

In this paper the Differential Quadrature Method (DQM) is employed to study the coupled lateral-torsional free vibration behavior of the laminated composite beams. In such structures due to the fiber orientations in various layers, the lateral displacement leads to a twisting moment. The coupling of lateral and torsional vibrations is modeled by the bending-twisting material coupling rigidity. In the present study, in addition to the material coupling, the effects of shear deformation and rotary inertia are taken into account in the definition of the potential and kinetic energies of the beam. The governing differential equations of motion which form a system of three coupled PDEs are solved numerically using DQ procedure under different boundary conditions consist of the combinations of simply, clamped, free and other end conditions. The resulting natural frequencies and mode shapes for cantilever beam are compared with similar results in the literature and good agreement is achieved.

Keywords: Differential Quadrature Method, Free vibration, Laminated composite beam, Material coupling.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2108

Authors: S. Ahmed Sinthia

Abstract:

Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, is one of the densely populated cities in the world. Due to rapid urbanization 60% of its population lives in slum and squatter settlements. The reason behind this poverty is low economic growth, inequitable distribution of income, unequal distribution of productive assets, unemployment and underemployment, high rate of population growth, low level of human resource development, natural disasters, and limited access to public services. Along with poverty, creating pressure on urban land, shelter, plots, open spaces this creates environmental and ecological degradation. These constraints are mostly resulted from the failures of the government policies and measures and only Government can solve this problem. This is now prime time to establish planning and environmental management policy and sustainable urban development for the city and for the urban slum dwellers which are free from eviction, criminals, rent seekers and other miscreants.

Keywords: Economic and resource constraints, environmental degradation and management, government policy, land management and policy, sustainable development.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 5736

Authors: Dim En Nyaung, Thin Lai Lai Thein

Abstract:

Due to the rapid increase of Internet, web opinion sources dynamically emerge which is useful for both potential customers and product manufacturers for prediction and decision purposes. These are the user generated contents written in natural languages and are unstructured-free-texts scheme. Therefore, opinion mining techniques become popular to automatically process customer reviews for extracting product features and user opinions expressed over them. Since customer reviews may contain both opinionated and factual sentences, a supervised machine learning technique applies for subjectivity classification to improve the mining performance. In this paper, we dedicate our work is the task of opinion summarization. Therefore, product feature and opinion extraction is critical to opinion summarization, because its effectiveness significantly affects the identification of semantic relationships. The polarity and numeric score of all the features are determined by Senti-WordNet Lexicon. The problem of opinion summarization refers how to relate the opinion words with respect to a certain feature. Probabilistic based model of supervised learning will improve the result that is more flexible and effective.

Keywords: Opinion Mining, Opinion Summarization, Sentiment Analysis, Text Mining.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2918

Authors: S. Nandagopalan, Dr. B. S. Adiga, N. Deepak

Abstract:

In this paper a novel approach for generalized image retrieval based on semantic contents is presented. A combination of three feature extraction methods namely color, texture, and edge histogram descriptor. There is a provision to add new features in future for better retrieval efficiency. Any combination of these methods, which is more appropriate for the application, can be used for retrieval. This is provided through User Interface (UI) in the form of relevance feedback. The image properties analyzed in this work are by using computer vision and image processing algorithms. For color the histogram of images are computed, for texture cooccurrence matrix based entropy, energy, etc, are calculated and for edge density it is Edge Histogram Descriptor (EHD) that is found. For retrieval of images, a novel idea is developed based on greedy strategy to reduce the computational complexity. The entire system was developed using AForge.Imaging (an open source product), MATLAB .NET Builder, C#, and Oracle 10g. The system was tested with Coral Image database containing 1000 natural images and achieved better results.

Keywords: Content Based Image Retrieval (CBIR), Cooccurrencematrix, Feature vector, Edge Histogram Descriptor(EHD), Greedy strategy.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2916

Authors: Omid A. Zargar

Abstract:

Vibration analysis of most critical equipment is considered as one of the most challenging activities in preventive maintenance. Utilities are heart of the process in big industrial plants like petrochemical zones. Vibration analysis methods and condition monitoring systems of these kinds of equipments are developed too much in recent years. On the other hand, there are too much operation factors like inlet and outlet pressures and temperatures that should be monitored. In this paper, some of the most effective concepts and techniques related to gas turbine vibration analysis are discussed. In addition, a gas turbine SIEMENS 162MW - V94.2 vibration case history related to Iran power industry in Fars province is explained. Vibration monitoring system and machinery technical specification are introduced. Besides, absolute and relative vibration trends, turbine and compressor orbits, Fast Fourier transform (FFT) in absolute vibrations, vibration modal analysis, turbine and compressor start up and shut down conditions, bode diagrams for relative vibrations, Nyquist diagrams and waterfall or three-dimensional FFT diagrams in startup and trip conditions are discussed with relative graphs. Furthermore, Split Resonance in gas turbines is discussed in details. Moreover, some updated vibration monitoring system, blade manufacturing technique and modern damping mechanism are discussed in this paper.

Keywords: Gas turbine, turbine compressor, vibration data collector, utility, condition monitoring, non-contact probe, Relative Vibration, Absolute Vibration, Split Resonance, Time Wave Form (TWF), Fast Fourier transform (FFT).

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3650

Authors: Rose Mbugua, Ramadhan Wanjala, Julius Ndambuki

Abstract:

Natural admixtures provide concrete with enhanced properties but their processing end up making them very expensive resulting in increase to cost of concrete. In this study the effect of Gum from Acacia Karroo (GAK) as set-retarding admixture in cement pastes was studied. The possibility of using GAK as water reducing admixture both in cement mortar concrete was also investigated. Cement pastes with different dosages of GAK were prepared to measure the setting time using different dosages. Compressive strength of cement mortars with 0.7, 0.8 and 0.9% weight of cement and w/c ratio of 0.5 were compared to those with water cement (w/c) ratio of 0.44 but same dosage of GAK. Concrete samples were prepared using higher dosages of GAK (1, 2 and 3% wt of cement) and a water bidder (w/b) of 0.61 were compared to those with the same GAK dosage but with reduced w/b ratio. There was increase in compressive strength of 9.3% at 28 days for cement mortar samples with 0.9% dosage of GAK and reduced w/c ratio.

Keywords: Compressive strength, Gum Acacia Karroo, retarding admixture, setting time, water-reducing admixture.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2065

Authors: Merve Ermis, Akif Kutlu, Nihal Eratlı, Mehmet H. Omurtag

Abstract:

In this study, the free vibration analysis of conical helicoidal rods with two different elliptically oriented cross sections is investigated and the results are compared by the circular cross-section keeping the net area for all cases equal to each other. Problems are solved by using the mixed finite element formulation. Element matrices based on Timoshenko beam theory are employed. The finite element matrices are derived by directly inserting the analytical expressions (arc length, curvature, and torsion) defining helix geometry into the formulation. Helicoidal rod domain is discretized by a two-noded curvilinear element. Each node of the element has 12 DOFs, namely, three translations, three rotations, two shear forces, one axial force, two bending moments and one torque. A parametric study is performed to investigate the influence of elliptical cross sectional geometry and its orientation over the natural frequencies of the conical type helicoidal rod.

Keywords: Conical helix, elliptical cross section, finite element, free vibration.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1258

Authors: Li Gao, Elizabeth Chang, Song Han

Abstract:

With the extensive inclusion of document, especially text, in the business systems, data mining does not cover the full scope of Business Intelligence. Data mining cannot deliver its impact on extracting useful details from the large collection of unstructured and semi-structured written materials based on natural languages. The most pressing issue is to draw the potential business intelligence from text. In order to gain competitive advantages for the business, it is necessary to develop the new powerful tool, text mining, to expand the scope of business intelligence. In this paper, we will work out the strong points of text mining in extracting business intelligence from huge amount of textual information sources within business systems. We will apply text mining to each stage of Business Intelligence systems to prove that text mining is the powerful tool to expand the scope of BI. After reviewing basic definitions and some related technologies, we will discuss the relationship and the benefits of these to text mining. Some examples and applications of text mining will also be given. The motivation behind is to develop new approach to effective and efficient textual information analysis. Thus we can expand the scope of Business Intelligence using the powerful tool, text mining.

Keywords: Business intelligence, document warehouse, text mining.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2638