Search results for: Surface water quality

Authors: Shashank.B. Thakre, L.B. Bhuyar, Samir.J. Deshmukh

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The value of overall oxygen transfer Coefficient (KLa), which is the best measure of oxygen transfer in water through aeration, is obtained by a simple approach, which sufficiently explains the utility of the method to eliminate the discrepancies due to inaccurate assumption of saturation dissolved oxygen concentration. The rate of oxygen transfer depends on number of factors like intensity of turbulence, which in turns depends on the speed of rotation, size, and number of blades, diameter and immersion depth of the rotor, and size and shape of aeration tank, as well as on physical, chemical, and biological characteristic of water. An attempt is made in this paper to correlate the overall oxygen transfer Coefficient (KLa), as an independent parameter with other influencing parameters mentioned above. It has been estimated that the simulation equation developed predicts the values of KLa and power with an average standard error of estimation of 0.0164 and 7.66 respectively and with R2 values of 0.979 and 0.989 respectively, when compared with experimentally determined values. The comparison of this model is done with the model generated using Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and both the models were found to be in good agreement with each other.

Keywords: CFD Model, Overall oxygen transfer coefficient, Power, Mathematical Model, Validation.

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Authors: Sanjay Baburao Kulkarni

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Exact solution of an unsteady flow of elastico-viscous fluid through a porous media in a tube of ellipsoidal cross section under the influence of constant pressure gradient has been obtained in this paper. Initially, the flow is generated by a constant pressure gradient. After attaining the steady state, the pressure gradient is suddenly withdrawn and the resulting fluid motion in a tube of ellipsoidal cross section by taking into account of the porosity factor of the bounding surface is investigated. The problem is solved in twostages the first stage is a steady motion in tube under the influence of a constant pressure gradient, the second stage concern with an unsteady motion. The problem is solved employing separation of variables technique. The results are expressed in terms of a nondimensional porosity parameter (K) and elastico-viscosity parameter (β), which depends on the Non-Newtonian coefficient. The flow parameters are found to be identical with that of Newtonian case as elastic-viscosity parameter tends to zero and porosity tends to infinity. It is seen that the effect of elastico-viscosity parameter and the porosity parameter of the bounding surface has significant effect on the velocity parameter.

Keywords: Elastico-viscous fluid, Ellipsoidal cross-section, Porous media, Second order fluids.

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Authors: Nadia El Alami El Hassani, Soukaina Motia, Benachir Bouchikhi, Nezha El Bari

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Doxycycline (DXy) is a cycline antibiotic, most frequently prescribed to treat bacterial infections in veterinary medicine. However, its broad antimicrobial activity and low cost, lead to an intensive use, which can seriously affect human health. Therefore, its spread in the food products has to be monitored. The scope of this work was to synthetize a sensitive and very selective molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) for DXy detection in honey samples. Firstly, the synthesis of this biosensor was performed by casting a layer of carboxylate polyvinyl chloride (PVC-COOH) on the working surface of a gold screen-printed electrode (Au-SPE) in order to bind covalently the analyte under mild conditions. Secondly, DXy as a template molecule was bounded to the activated carboxylic groups, and the formation of MIP was performed by a biocompatible polymer by the mean of polyacrylamide matrix. Then, DXy was detected by measurements of differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). A non-imprinted polymer (NIP) prepared in the same conditions and without the use of template molecule was also performed. We have noticed that the elaborated biosensor exhibits a high sensitivity and a linear behavior between the regenerated current and the logarithmic concentrations of DXy from 0.1 pg.mL⁻¹ to 1000 pg.mL⁻¹. This technic was successfully applied to determine DXy residues in honey samples with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.1 pg.mL⁻¹ and an excellent selectivity when compared to the results of oxytetracycline (OXy) as analogous interfering compound. The proposed method is cheap, sensitive, selective, simple, and is applied successfully to detect DXy in honey with the recoveries of 87% and 95%. Considering these advantages, this system provides a further perspective for food quality control in industrial fields.

Keywords: Electrochemical sensor, molecular imprinted polymer, doxycycline, food control.

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Authors: Suhartini M. Jainury, Rizauddin Ramli, Mohd Nizam A. Rahman

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Lean, which was initially developed by Toyota, is widely implemented in other companies to improve competitiveness. This research is an attempt to identify the adoption of lean in the production system of Malaysian car manufacturer, Proton using case study approach. To gain the in-depth information regarding lean implementation, an activity on the assembly line called Set Parts Supply (SPS) was studied. The result indicates that by using lean principles, tools and techniques in the implementation of SPS enabled to achieve the goals on safety, quality, cost, delivery and morale. The implementation increased the size of the workspace, improved the quality of assembly and the delivery of parts supply, reduced the manpower, achieved cost savings on electricity and also increased the motivation of manpower in respect of attendance at work. A framework of SPS implementation is suggested as a contribution for lean practices in production system.

Keywords: Assembly line, lean manufacturing, production, parts supply.

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Authors: Ahmed N. Shmroukh, Gamal Tag Abdel-Jaber, Rashed D. Aldughpassi

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The feasibility of improving the performance of the proposed solar still unit which operated in very hot climate is investigated numerically and verified with experimental data. This solar desalination unit with proposed auxiliary device as seawater preheating system using petrol based textherm oil was used to produce pure fresh water from seawater. The effective evaporation area of basin is about 1 m². The unit was tested in two main operation modes which are normal and with seawater preheating system. The results showed that, there is good agreement between the theoretical data and the experimental data; this means that the numerical model can be accurately dependable for predicting the proposed solar still performance and design parameters. The results also showed that the fresh water productivity of the solar still in the modified preheating case which is higher than normal case, leads to an increase in productivity of 42%.

Keywords: Improving productivity, seawater desalination, solar stills, theoretical model.

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Authors: L. Menaa, A. Cherifi, K. Tigouirat, M. Choura

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Analyse of locally manufactured Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) durability, used within lining systems at bottom of Municipal Solid Waste (landfill), is done in the present work. For this end, short and middle time creep behavior under tension of the analyzed material is carried out. The locally manufactured material is tested and compared to the European one (LDPE-CE). Both materials was tested in 03 various mediums: ambient and two aggressive (salty water and foam water), using three specimens in each case. A testing campaign is carried out using an especially designed and achieved testing bench. Moreover, characterisation tests were carried out to evaluate the medium effect on the mechanical properties of the tested material (LDPE). Furthermore, experimental results have been used to establish a law regression which can be used to predict creep behaviour of the analyzed material. As a result, the analyzed LDPE material has showed a good stability in different ambient and aggressive mediums; as well, locally manufactured LDPE seems more flexible, compared with the European one. This makes it more useful to the desired application.

Keywords: LDPE membrane, solid waste, aggressive mediums, durability

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Authors: Hala A. Hassan, Vasiliki K. Tsiouri, Konstantinos E. Konstantinos

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Fugitive particulate matter (PM) is a major source of airborne pollution in the Middle East countries. The meteorological conditions and topography of the area makes it highly susceptible to wind-blown particles which raise many air quality concerns. Air quality tools such as field monitoring, emission factors and dispersion modeling have been used in previous research studies to analyze the release and impacts of fugitive PM in the region. However, these tools have been originally developed based on experiments made for European and North American regions. In this work, an experimental campaign was conducted on April-May 2014 in a construction site in Doha city, Qatar. The ultimate goal is to evaluate the applicability of the existing emission factors for construction sites in dry and arid areas like the Middle East.

Keywords: Air pollution, construction, emissions, middle east, fugitive particulate matter.

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Authors: Christopher C. Enweremadu, Hilary L. Rutto

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Vapour recompression system has been used to enhance reduction in energy consumption and improvement in energy effectiveness of distillation columns. However, the effects of certain parameters have not been taken into consideration. One of such parameters is the column heat loss which has either been assumed to be a certain percent of reboiler heat transfer or negligible. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the heat loss from an ethanol-water vapour recompression distillation column with pressure increase across the compressor (VRCAS) and compare the results obtained and its effect on some parameters in similar system (VRCCS) where the column heat loss has been assumed or neglected. Results show that the heat loss evaluated was higher when compared with that obtained for the column VRCCS. The results also showed that increase in heat loss could have significant effect on the total energy consumption, reboiler heat transfer, the number of trays and energy effectiveness of the column.

Keywords: Compressor, distillation column, heat loss, vapourrecompression.

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Authors: Nawapat Detduangchan, Thawien Wittaya

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Photo-crosslinked rice starch-based biodegradable films were prepared by casting film-solution on leveled trays and ultra violet (UV) irradiation was applied for 10 minute. The effect of the content (3%, 6% and 9 wt. %)of photosensitiser (sodium benzoate) on mechanical properties, water vapor permeability (WVP) and structural properties of rice starch films were investigated. The tensile strength increased while elongation at break and water resistance properties of rice starch films decreased with addition and increasing content of photosensitiser. The % crystallinity of rice starch films were decreased when the content of photosensitiser increased and UV were applied. The results showed that the carboxylate group band of sodium benzoate was found in the FTIR spectrum of rice starch films and found that incorporation of 6% of photosensitiser into the films showed a higher absorption band of resulted films. This result pointed out the highest interaction between starch molecules was occurred.

Keywords: Biodegradable film, Rice starch, UV treatment, Photosensitiser, Photo-crosslink

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Authors: Jitendra Jain, Cassandra Hidajat, Hansraj Riteesh Bookun

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Graft patency underpins long-term prognosis after coronary artery bypass grafting surgery (CABG). The benefits of the combined use of only the left internal mammary artery and radial artery, referred to as total arterial revascularisation (TAR), on long-term clinical outcomes and quality of life are relatively unknown. The aim of this study was to identify whether there were differences in long term clinical outcomes between recipients of TAR compared to a cohort of mostly arterial revascularization involving the left internal mammary, at least one radial artery and at least one saphenous vein graft. A retrospective analysis was performed on all patients who underwent TAR or were re-vascularized with supplementary saphenous vein graft from February 1996 to December 2004. Telephone surveys were conducted to obtain clinical outcome parameters including major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE) and Short Form (SF-36v2) Health Survey responses. A total of 176 patients were successfully contacted to obtain postop follow up results. The mean follow-up length from time of surgery in our study was TAR 12.4±1.8 years and conventional 12.6±2.1. PCS score was TAR 45.9±8.8 vs LIMA/Rad/ SVG 44.9±9.2 (p=0.468) and MCS score was TAR 52.0±8.9 vs LIMA/Rad/SVG 52.5±9.3 (p=0.723). There were no significant differences between groups for NYHA class 3+ TAR 9.4% vs. LIMA/Rad/SVG 6.6%; or CCS 3+ TAR 2.35% vs. LIMA/Rad/SVG 0%.

Keywords: CABG, MACCEs, quality of life, total arterial revascularization.

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Authors: J. Elbl, J. K. Friedel, J. Záhora, L. Plošek, A. Kintl, J. Přichystalová, J. Hynšt, L. Dostálová, K. Zákoutská

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This work presents the first results from the long-term experiment, which is focused on the impact of intensive rainfall and long period of drought on microbial activities in soil. Fifteen lysimeters were prepared in the area of our interest. This area is a protection zone of underground source of drinking water. These lysimeters were filed with topsoil and subsoil collected in this area and divided into two groups. These groups differ in fertilization and amount of water received during the growing season. Amount of microbial biomass and leaching of mineral nitrogen and phosphates were chosen as main indicators of microbial activities in soil. Content of mineral nitrogen and phosphates was measured in soil solution, which was collected from each lysimeters. Amount of microbial biomass was determined in soil samples that were taken from the lysimeters before and after the long period of drought and intensive rainfall.

Keywords: Mineral nitrogen, Phosphates, Microbial activities, Drought, Precipitation.

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Authors: Laura Elena De León Prado, Dora Alicia Cortés Hernández, Javier Sánchez

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Among the different cancer treatments that are currently used, hyperthermia has a promising potential due to the multiple benefits that are obtained by this technique. In general terms, hyperthermia is a method that takes advantage of the sensitivity of cancer cells to heat, in order to damage or destroy them. Within the different ways of supplying heat to cancer cells and achieve their destruction or damage, the use of magnetic nanoparticles has attracted attention due to the capability of these particles to generate heat under the influence of an external magnetic field. In addition, these nanoparticles have a high surface area and sizes similar or even lower than biological entities, which allow their approaching and interaction with a specific region of interest. The most used magnetic nanoparticles for hyperthermia treatment are those based on iron oxides, mainly magnetite and maghemite, due to their biocompatibility, good magnetic properties and chemical stability. However, in order to fulfill more efficiently the requirements that demand the treatment of magnetic hyperthermia, there have been investigations using ferrites that incorporate different metallic ions, such as Mg, Mn, Co, Ca, Ni, Cu, Li, Gd, etc., in their structure. This paper reports the synthesis of nanosized Mg_xMn_1-xFe₂O₄ (x = 0.3 and 0.4) ferrites by sol-gel method and their evaluation in terms of heating capability and in vitro hemolysis to determine the potential use of these nanoparticles as thermoseeds for the treatment of cancer by magnetic hyperthermia. It was possible to obtain ferrites with nanometric sizes, a single crystalline phase with an inverse spinel structure and a behavior near to that of superparamagnetic materials. Additionally, at concentrations of 10 mg of magnetic material per mL of water, it was possible to reach a temperature of approximately 45°C, which is within the range of temperatures used for the treatment of hyperthermia. The results of the in vitro hemolysis assay showed that, at the concentrations tested, these nanoparticles are non-hemolytic, as their percentage of hemolysis is close to zero. Therefore, these materials can be used as thermoseeds for the treatment of cancer by magnetic hyperthermia.

Keywords: Ferrites, heating capability, hemolysis, nanoparticles, sol-gel.

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Authors: Liqiang Duan, Ma Jingkai, Lv Zhipeng, Haifan Cai

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The integrated solar combined cycle (ISCC) system has a series of advantages such as increasing the system power generation, reducing the cost of solar power generation, less pollutant and CO₂ emission. In this paper, the parabolic trough collectors with direct steam generation (DSG) technology are considered to replace the heat load of heating surfaces in heat regenerator steam generation (HRSG) of a conventional natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) system containing a PG9351FA gas turbine and a triple pressure HRSG with reheat. The detailed model of the NGCC system is built in ASPEN PLUS software and the parabolic trough collectors with DSG technology is modeled in EBSILON software. ISCC-DSG systems with the replacement of single, two, three and four heating surfaces are studied in this paper. Results show that: (1) the ISCC-DSG systems with the replacement heat load of HPB, HPB+LPE, HPE2+HPB+HPS, HPE1+HPE2+ HPB+HPS are the best integration schemes when single, two, three and four stages of heating surfaces are partly replaced by the parabolic trough solar energy collectors with DSG technology. (2) Both the changes of feed water flow and the heat load of the heating surfaces in ISCC-DSG systems with the replacement of multi-stage heating surfaces are smaller than those in ISCC-DSG systems with the replacement of single heating surface. (3) ISCC-DSG systems with the replacement of HPB+LPE heating surfaces can increase the solar power output significantly. (4) The ISCC-DSG systems with the replacement of HPB heating surfaces has the highest solar-thermal-to-electricity efficiency (47.45%) and the solar radiation energy-to-electricity efficiency (30.37%), as well as the highest exergy efficiency of solar field (33.61%).

Keywords: HRSG, integration scheme, parabolic trough collectors with DSG technology, solar power generation.

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Authors: Yogesh Aggarwal, Paratibha Aggarwal

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The paper presents a comparative performance of the models developed to predict 28 days compressive strengths using neural network techniques for data taken from literature (ANN-I) and data developed experimentally for SCC containing bottom ash as partial replacement of fine aggregates (ANN-II). The data used in the models are arranged in the format of six and eight input parameters that cover the contents of cement, sand, coarse aggregate, fly ash as partial replacement of cement, bottom ash as partial replacement of sand, water and water/powder ratio, superplasticizer dosage and an output parameter that is 28-days compressive strength and compressive strengths at 7 days, 28 days, 90 days and 365 days, respectively for ANN-I and ANN-II. The importance of different input parameters is also given for predicting the strengths at various ages using neural network. The model developed from literature data could be easily extended to the experimental data, with bottom ash as partial replacement of sand with some modifications.

Keywords: Self compacting concrete, bottom ash, strength, prediction, neural network, importance factor.

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Authors: Bruno Félix, André Vasconcelos, José Tribolet

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Nowadays increasingly the population makes use of Information Technology (IT). As such, in recent year the Portuguese government increased its focus on using the IT for improving people-s life and began to develop a set of measures to enable the modernization of the Public Administration, and so reducing the gap between Public Administration and citizens.Thus the Portuguese Government launched the Simplex Program. However these SIMPLEX eGov measures, which have been implemented over the years, present a serious challenge: how to forecast its impact on existing Information Systems Architecture (ISA). Thus, this research is focus in addressing the problem of automating the evaluation of the actual impact of implementation an eGovSimplification and Modernization measures in the Information Systems Architecture. To realize the evaluation we proposes a Framework, which is supported by some key concepts as: Quality Factors, ISA modeling, Multicriteria Approach, Polarity Profile and Quality Metrics

Keywords: Information System Architecture, Evaluation, eGov Simplification measure, Multicriteria Evaluation

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Authors: Muhammad Irfan Aziz, Thomas Owens, Uzair Khaleeq uz Zaman

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The instantaneous and spatial localization for visually impaired people in dynamically changing environments with unexpected hazards and obstacles, is the most demanding and challenging issue faced by the navigation systems today. Since Bluetooth cannot utilize techniques like Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) and Time of Arrival (TOA), it uses received signal strength indicator (RSSI) to measure Receive Signal Strength (RSS). The measurements using RSSI can be improved significantly by improving the existing methodologies related to RSSI. Therefore, the current paper focuses on proposing an improved method using trilateration for localization of Bluetooth devices for visually impaired people. To validate the method, class 2 Bluetooth devices were used along with the development of a software. Experiments were then conducted to obtain surface plots that showed the signal interferences and other environmental effects. Finally, the results obtained show the surface plots for all Bluetooth modules used along with the strong and weak points depicted as per the color codes in red, yellow and blue. It was concluded that the suggested improved method of measuring RSS using trilateration helped to not only measure signal strength affectively but also highlighted how the signal strength can be influenced by atmospheric conditions such as noise, reflections, etc.

Keywords: Bluetooth, indoor/outdoor localization, received signal strength indicator, visually impaired.

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Authors: R. A. Shahmiri, O. C. Standard, J. N. Hart, C. C. Sorrell

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The ceramic yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystal (Y-TZP) has been used as a dental biomaterial for several decades. The strength and toughness of this material can be accounted for by its toughening mechanisms, which include transformation toughening, crack deflection, zone shielding, contact shielding, and crack bridging. Prevention of crack propagation is of critical importance in high-fatigue situations, such as those encountered in mastication and para-function. However, the poor translucence of Y-TZP in polycrystalline form is such that it may not meet the aesthetic requirements due to its white/grey appearance. To improve the optical properties of Y-TZP, more detailed study of the optical properties is required; in particular, precise evaluation of the refractive index, absorption coefficient, and scattering coefficient are necessary. The measurement of the optical parameters has been based on the assumption that light scattered from biological media is isotropically distributed over all angles. In fact, the optical behavior of real biological materials depends on the angular scattering of light due to the anisotropic nature of the materials. The purpose of the present work is to evaluate the optical properties (including color, opacity/translucence, scattering, and fluorescence) of zirconia dental ceramics and their control through modification of the chemical composition, phase composition, and surface microstructure.

Keywords: Optical properties, opacity/translucence, scattering, fluorescence, chemical composition, phase composition, surface microstructure.

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Authors: K. Machida, H. Yamada

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Displacement measurement was conducted on compact normal and shear specimens made of acrylic homogeneous material subjected to mixed-mode loading by digital image correlation. The intelligent hybrid method proposed by Nishioka et al. was applied to the stress-strain analysis near the crack tip. The accuracy of stress-intensity factor at the free surface was discussed from the viewpoint of both the experiment and 3-D finite element analysis. The surface images before and after deformation were taken by a CMOS camera, and we developed the system which enabled the real time stress analysis based on digital image correlation and inverse problem analysis. The great portion of processing time of this system was spent on displacement analysis. Then, we tried improvement in speed of this portion. In the case of cracked body, it is also possible to evaluate fracture mechanics parameters such as the J integral, the strain energy release rate, and the stress-intensity factor of mixed-mode. The 9-points elliptic paraboloid approximation could not analyze the displacement of submicron order with high accuracy. The analysis accuracy of displacement was improved considerably by introducing the Newton-Raphson method in consideration of deformation of a subset. The stress-intensity factor was evaluated with high accuracy of less than 1% of the error.

Keywords: Digital image correlation, mixed mode, Newton-Raphson method, stress intensity factor.

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Authors: Chao-Linag Hsieh, Zheng-Wei Ye, Chen-Kang Huang, Yeun-Chung Lee, Chih-Hong Sun, Tzai-Hung Wen, Jehn-Yih Juang, Joe-Air Jiang

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Air pollution and climate warming become more and more intensified in many areas, especially in urban areas. Environmental parameters are critical information to air pollution and weather monitoring. Thus, it is necessary to develop a suitable air pollution and weather monitoring system for urban areas. In this study, a vehicle monitoring system (VMS) based on the IoT technique is developed. Cars are selected as the research tool because it can reach a greater number of streets to collect data. The VMS can monitor different environmental parameters, including ambient temperature and humidity, and air quality parameters, including PM2.5, NO₂, CO, and O₃. The VMS can provide other information, including GPS signals and the vibration information through driving a car on the street. Different sensor modules are used to measure the parameters and collect the measured data and transmit them to a cloud server through the LoRa protocol. A user interface is used to show the sensing data storing at the cloud server. To examine the performance of the system, a researcher drove a Nissan x-trail 1998 to the area close to the Da’an District office in Taipei to collect monitoring data. The collected data are instantly shown on the user interface. The four kinds of information are provided by the interface: GPS positions, weather parameters, vehicle information, and air quality information. With the VMS, users can obtain the information regarding air quality and weather conditions when they drive their car to an urban area. Also, government agencies can make decisions on traffic planning based on the information provided by the proposed VMS.

Keywords: Vehicle, monitoring system, LoRa, smart city.

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Authors: Abdur Rosyid, Mohamed El-Madany, Mohanad Alata

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Due to simplicity and low cost, rotordynamic system is often modeled by using lumped parameters. Recently, finite elements have been used to model rotordynamic system as it offers higher accuracy. However, it involves high degrees of freedom. In some applications such as control design, this requires higher cost. For this reason, various model reduction methods have been proposed. This work demonstrates the quality of model reduction of rotor-bearing-support system through substructuring. The quality of the model reduction is evaluated by comparing some first natural frequencies, modal damping ratio, critical speeds, and response of both the full system and the reduced system. The simulation shows that the substructuring is proven adequate to reduce finite element rotor model in the frequency range of interest as long as the number and the location of master nodes are determined appropriately. However, the reduction is less accurate in an unstable or nearly-unstable system.

Keywords: Finite element model, rotordynamic system, model reduction, substructuring.

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Authors: Tahereh Talebi, Reza Ghomashchi, Pejman Talemi, Sima Aminorroaya

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Electrophoretic deposition (EPD) of p-type Bi₂Te₃ material has been accomplished, and a high quality crack-free thick film has been achieved for thermoelectric (TE) applications. TE generators (TEG) can convert waste heat into electricity, which can potentially solve global warming problems. However, TEG is expensive due to the high cost of materials, as well as the complex and expensive manufacturing process. EPD is a simple and cost-effective method which has been used recently for advanced applications. In EPD, when a DC electric field is applied to the charged powder particles suspended in a suspension, they are attracted and deposited on the substrate with the opposite charge. In this study, it has been shown that it is possible to prepare a TE film using the EPD method and potentially achieve high TE properties at low cost. The relationship between the deposition weight and the EPD-related process parameters, such as applied voltage and time, has been investigated and a linear dependence has been observed, which is in good agreement with the theoretical principles of EPD. A stable EPD suspension of p-type Bi₂Te₃ was prepared in a mixture of acetone-ethanol with triethanolamine as a stabilizer. To achieve a high quality homogenous film on a copper substrate, the optimum voltage and time of the EPD process was investigated. The morphology and microstructures of the green deposited films have been investigated using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The green Bi₂Te₃ films have shown good adhesion to the substrate. In summary, this study has shown that not only EPD of p-type Bi₂Te₃ material is possible, but its thick film is of high quality for TE applications.

Keywords: Electrical conductivity, electrophoretic deposition, p-type Bi2Te3, thermoelectric materials, thick films.

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Authors: M. Irannezhad, E. H. N. Gashti, U. Moback, B. Kløve

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Climate change would cause mean sea level to rise +1 m by 2100. To prevent coastal floods resulting from the sea level rising, different flood control structures have been built, with acceptable protection levels. Gothenburg with the River Göta älv located on the southwest coast of Sweden is a vulnerable city to the accelerated rises in mean sea level. We evaluated using a sea barrage in the River Göta älv to protect Gothenburg during this century. The highest sea level was estimated to 2.95 m above the current mean sea level by 2100. To verify flood protection against such high sea levels, both barriers have to be closed. To prevent high water level in the River Göta älv reservoir, the barriers would be open when the sea level is low. The suggested flood control structures would successfully protect the city from flooding events during this century.

Keywords: Climate change, Flood control structures, Gothenburg, Sea level rising, Water level model.

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Authors: Ebeed A. Saleh, Kadry M. Sadek, Safaa H. Ghorbal

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Due to the determination of the pollution status of fresh resources in the Egyptian territorial waters is very important for public health; this study was carried out to reveal the levels of heavy metals in the shellfish and their environment and its relation to the highly developed industrial activities in those areas. A total of 100 shellfish samples from the Rosetta, Edku, El-Maadiya, Abo-Kir and El-Max coasts [10 crustaceans (shrimp) and 10 mollusks (oysters)] were randomly collected from each coast. Additionally, 10 samples from both the water and the sediment were collected from each coast. Each collected sample was analyzed for cadmium, chromium, copper, lead and zinc residues using a Perkin Elmer atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS). The results showed that the levels of heavy metals were higher in the water and sediment from Abo-Kir. The heavy metal levels decreased successively for the Rosetta, Edku, El-Maadiya, and El-Max coasts, and the concentrations of heavy metals, except copper and zinc, in shellfish exhibited the same pattern. For the concentration of heavy metals in shellfish tissue, the highest was zinc and the concentrations decreased successively for copper, lead, chromium and cadmium for all coasts, except the Abo-Kir coast, where the chromium level was highest and the other metals decreased successively for zinc, copper, lead and cadmium. In Rosetta, chromium was higher only in the mollusks, while the level of this metal was lower in the crustaceans; this trend was observed at the Edku, El-Maadiya and El-Max coasts as well. Herein, we discuss the importance of such contamination for public health and the sources of shellfish contamination with heavy metals. We suggest measures to minimize and prevent these pollutants in the aquatic environment and, furthermore, how to protect humans from excessive intake.

Keywords: Atomic absorption, heavy metals, sediment, shellfish, water.

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Authors: S. Raja Balachandar, K.Kannan

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A new Meta heuristic approach called "Randomized gravitational emulation search algorithm (RGES)" for solving vertex covering problems has been designed. This algorithm is found upon introducing randomization concept along with the two of the four primary parameters -velocity- and -gravity- in physics. A new heuristic operator is introduced in the domain of RGES to maintain feasibility specifically for the vertex covering problem to yield best solutions. The performance of this algorithm has been evaluated on a large set of benchmark problems from OR-library. Computational results showed that the randomized gravitational emulation search algorithm - based heuristic is capable of producing high quality solutions. The performance of this heuristic when compared with other existing heuristic algorithms is found to be excellent in terms of solution quality.

Keywords: Vertex covering Problem, Velocity, Gravitational Force, Newton's Law, Meta Heuristic, Combinatorial optimization.

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Authors: Carmen E. Zapata, Juan Bautista, Olga Montoya, Claudia Moreno, Marisol Suarez, Alejandra Betancur, Duvan Nanclares, Natalia A. Cano

Abstract:

This study aims to evaluate the diversity of microorganisms in filters PM2.5 and PM10; and determine the genotoxic and cytotoxic activity of the complex mixture present in PM2.5 filters used in the Aburrá Valley Air Quality Monitoring Network (Colombia). The research results indicate that particulate matter PM2.5 of different monitoring stations are bacteria; however, this study of detection of bacteria and their phylogenetic relationship is not complete evidence to connect the microorganisms with pathogenic or degrading activities of compounds present in the air. Additionally, it was demonstrated the damage induced by the particulate material in the cell membrane, lysosomal and endosomal membrane and in the mitochondrial metabolism; this damage was independent of the PM2.5 concentrations in almost all the cases.

Keywords: Cytotoxic, genotoxic, microbiological analysis, PM10, PM2.5.

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Authors: R. A. Isabel, E. Baburaj

Abstract:

Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs) are essential for real-time health monitoring of patients and in diagnosing of many diseases. WBANs comprise many sensors to monitor a large range of ambient conditions. Quality of Service (QoS) is a key challenge in WBAN, because the different state information of the neighboring nodes has to be monitored in an accurate manner. However, energy consumption gets increased while predicting and maintaining the exact information in highly dynamic environments. In order to reduce energy consumption and end to end delay, Markov Chain Based Quality of Service Support (MC-QoSS) method is designed in the health monitoring services of WBAN communication. The energy consumption gets reduced by forming a Markov chain with high energy nodes in the sensor networks communication path. The low energy level sensor nodes are removed using transitional probability in order to reduce end to end delay. High energy nodes are formed in the chain structure of its corresponding path to enhance communication. After choosing the communication path through high energy nodes, the packets are sent to the sink node from the source node with a higher Packet Delivery Ratio. The simulation result shows that MC-QoSS method improves the packet delivery ratio and reduces energy consumption with minimum end to end delay, compared to existing methods.

Keywords: Wireless body area networks, quality of service, Markov chain, health monitoring services.

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Authors: K. Petcharaporn, S. Kumchoo

Abstract:

The acidity (citric acid) is the one of chemical content that can be refer to the internal quality and it’s a maturity index of tomato, The titratable acidity (%TA) can be predicted by a non-destructive method prediction by using the transmittance short wavelength (SW-NIR) spectroscopy in the wavelength range between 665-955 nm. The set of 167 tomato samples divided into groups of 117 tomatoes sample for training set and 50 tomatoes sample for test set were used to establish the calibration model to predict and measure %TA by partial least squares regression (PLSR) technique. The spectra were pretreated with MSC pretreatment and it gave the optimal result for calibration model as (R = 0.92, RMSEC = 0.03%) and this model obtained high accuracy result to use for %TA prediction in test set as (R = 0.81, RMSEP = 0.05%). From the result of prediction in test set shown that the transmittance SW-NIR spectroscopy technique can be used for a non-destructive method for %TA prediction of tomato.

Keywords: Tomato, quality, prediction, transmittance, titratable acidity, citric acid.

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Authors: Nino Abesadze, Marine Mindorashvili, Nino Paresashvili

Abstract:

The main purpose of the article is to make complex statistical analysis of tourist expenses of foreign visitors. We used mixed technique of selection that implies rules of random and proportional selection. Computer software SPSS was used to compute statistical data for corresponding analysis. Corresponding methodology of tourism statistics was implemented according to international standards. Important information was collected and grouped from the major Georgian airports. Techniques of statistical observation were prepared. A representative population of foreign visitors and a rule of selection of respondents were determined. We have a trend of growth of tourist numbers and share of tourists from post-soviet countries constantly increases. Level of satisfaction with tourist facilities and quality of service has grown, but still we have a problem of disparity between quality of service and prices. The design of tourist expenses of foreign visitors is diverse; competitiveness of tourist products of Georgian tourist companies is higher.

Keywords: Tourist, expenses, methods, statistics, analysis.

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Authors: Kei Fujii, Jun Okawa, Kaori Suigetsu

Abstract:

Concatenative speech synthesis is a method that can make speech sound which has naturalness and high-individuality of a speaker by introducing a large speech corpus. Based on this method, in this paper, we propose a voice conversion method whose conversion speech has high-individuality and naturalness. The authors also have two subjective evaluation experiments for evaluating individuality and sound quality of conversion speech. From the results, following three facts have be confirmed: (a) the proposal method can convert the individuality of speakers well, (b) employing the framework of unit selection (especially join cost) of concatenative speech synthesis into conventional voice conversion improves the sound quality of conversion speech, and (c) the proposal method is robust against the difference of genders between a source speaker and a target speaker.

Keywords: concatenative speech synthesis, join cost, speaker individuality, unit selection, voice conversion

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Authors: Melis Inalpulat, Levent Genc

Abstract:

In the present study, an attempt was made to state the Land Use Land Cover (LULC) transformation over three decades around the urban regions of Balıkesir, Bursa, and Çanakkale provincial centers (PCs) in Turkey. Landsat imageries acquired in 1984, 1999 and 2014 were used to determine the LULC change. Images were classified using the supervised classification technique and five main LULC classes were considered including forest (F), agricultural land (A), residential area (urban) - bare soil (R-B), water surface (W), and other (O). Change detection analyses were conducted for 1984-1999 and 1999-2014, and the results were evaluated. Conversions of LULC types to R-B class were investigated. In addition, population changes (1985-2014) were assessed depending on census data, the relations between population and the urban areas were stated, and future populations and urban area needs were forecasted for 2030. The results of LULC analysis indicated that urban areas, which are covered under R-B class, were expanded in all PCs. During 1984-1999 R-B class within Balıkesir, Bursa and Çanakkale PCs were found to have increased by 7.1%, 8.4%, and 2.9%, respectively. The trend continued in the 1999-2014 term and the increment percentages reached to 15.7%, 15.5%, and 10.2% at the end of 30-year period (1984-2014). Furthermore, since A class in all provinces was found to be the principal contributor for the R-B class, urban sprawl lead to the loss of agricultural lands. Moreover, the areas of R-B classes were highly correlated with population within all PCs (R²>0.992). Depending on this situation, both future populations and R-B class areas were forecasted. The estimated values of increase in the R-B class areas for Balıkesir, Bursa, and Çanakkale PCs were 1,586 ha, 7,999 ha and 854 ha, respectively. Due to this fact, the forecasted values for 2,030 are 7,838 ha, 27,866, and 2,486 ha for Balıkesir, Bursa, and Çanakkale, and thus, 7.7%, 8.2%, and 9.7% more R-B class areas are expected to locate in PCs in respect to the same order.

Keywords: Landsat, LULC change, population, urban sprawl.

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