Search results for: Direct microscopic count

Authors: M R Asadi, G Torkaman, M Hedayati

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We evaluated the effect of sensory (direct current (DC), 600μA) and motor (monophasic current, pulse duration 300μs, 100 Hz, 2.5-3mA) intensities of cathodal electrical stimulation (ES) current to release VEGF and biomechanical properties of wound. 54 male Sprague-dawley rats were randomly assigned into one control and two experimental groups. A full thickness skin incision was made on animals- dorsal region. The experimental groups received ES for 1h/day and every other day. VEGF expression was measured in skin on the 7th day after surgical incision and tensile strength was measured on 21st day. On the 7th day, the values of skin VEGF in the sensory group were significantly greater than those of the other groups (p < 0.05). Sensory and Motor intensity stimulation, can not improve the biomechanical properties of the repaired wounds. It seems the mechanical environment induced by sensory and motor intensity of electrical stimulation, could not simulate the role of normal daily stress and strain to maturation of collagen fibers and their cross links. Further work is needed to determine the relationship between VEGF expression after ES and its effect on tensile strength of healed wound.

Keywords: Biomechanical properties Direct current, Monophasic current, Skin, VEGF

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Authors: Sacide Güzin Mazman, Yasemin Koçak Usluel

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Possible advantages of technology in educational context required the defining boundaries of formal and informal learning. Increasing opportunity to ubiquitous learning by technological support has revealed a question of how to discover the potential of individuals in the spontaneous environments such as social networks. This seems to be related with the question of what purposes in social networks have been being used? Social networks provide various advantages in educational context as collaboration, knowledge sharing, common interests, active participation and reflective thinking. As a consequence of these, the purpose of this study is composed of proposing a new model that could determine factors which effect adoption of social network applications for usage in educational context. While developing a model proposal, the existing adoption and diffusion models have been reviewed and they are thought to be suitable on handling an original perspective instead of using completely other diffusion or acceptance models because of different natures of education from other organizations. In the proposed model; social factors, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and innovativeness are determined four direct constructs that effect adoption process. Facilitating conditions, image, subjective norms and community identity are incorporated to model as antecedents of these direct four constructs.

Keywords: Adoption of innovation, educational context, social networks.

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Authors: Archana Panchapakesan Iyer, Taha Abdullah Kumosani

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Many high-risk pathogens that cause disease in humans are transmitted through various food items. Food-borne disease constitutes a major public health problem. Assessment of the quality and safety of foods is important in human health. Rapid and easy detection of pathogenic organisms will facilitate precautionary measures to maintain healthy food. The Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is a handy tool for rapid detection of low numbers of bacteria. We have designed gene specific primers for most common food borne pathogens such as Staphylococci, Salmonella and E.coli. Bacteria were isolated from food samples of various food outlets and identified using gene specific PCRs. We identified Staphylococci, Salmonella and E.coli O157 using gene specific primers by rapid and direct PCR technique in various food samples. This study helps us in getting a complete picture of the various pathogens that threaten to cause and spread food borne diseases and it would also enable establishment of a routine procedure and methodology for rapid identification of food borne bacteria using the rapid technique of direct PCR. This study will also enable us to judge the efficiency of present food safety steps taken by food manufacturers and exporters.

Keywords: food borne pathogens, PCR, food safety, rapiddetection.

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Authors: Orkide Donma, Mustafa M. Donma

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Association between insulin resistance (IR) and hematological parameters has long been a matter of interest. Within this context, body mass index (BMI), red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets were involved in this discussion. Parameters related to platelets associated with IR may be useful indicators for the identification of IR. Platelet indices such as mean platelet volume (MPV), platelet distribution width (PDW) and plateletcrit (PCT) are being questioned for their possible association with IR. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between platelet (PLT) count as well as PLT indices and the surrogate indices used to determine IR in morbid obese (MO) children. A total of 167 children participated in the study. Three groups were constituted. The number of cases was 34, 97 and 36 children in the normal BMI, MO and metabolic syndrome (MetS) groups, respectively. Sex- and age-dependent BMI-based percentile tables prepared by World Health Organization were used for the definition of morbid obesity. MetS criteria were determined. BMI values, homeostatic model assessment for IR (HOMA-IR), alanine transaminase-to-aspartate transaminase ratio (ALT/AST) and diagnostic obesity notation model assessment laboratory (DONMA-lab) index values were computed. PLT count and indices were analyzed using automated hematology analyzer. Data were collected for statistical analysis using SPSS for Windows. Arithmetic mean and standard deviation were calculated. Mean values of PLT-related parameters in both control and study groups were compared by one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey post hoc tests to determine whether a significant difference exists among the groups. The correlation analyses between PLT as well as IR indices were performed. Statistically significant difference was accepted as p-value < 0.05. Increased values were detected for PLT (p < 0.01) and PCT (p > 0.05) in MO group compared to those observed in children with N-BMI. Significant increases for PLT (p < 0.01) and PCT (p < 0.05) were observed in MetS group in comparison with the values obtained in children with N-BMI (p < 0.01). Significantly lower MPV and PDW values were obtained in MO group compared to the control group (p < 0.01). HOMA-IR (p < 0.05), DONMA-lab index (p < 0.001) and ALT/AST (p < 0.001) values in MO and MetS groups were significantly increased compared to the N-BMI group. On the other hand, DONMA-lab index values also differed between MO and MetS groups (p < 0.001). In the MO group, PLT was negatively correlated with MPV and PDW values. These correlations were not observed in the N-BMI group. None of the IR indices exhibited a correlation with PLT and PLT indices in the N-BMI group. HOMA-IR showed significant correlations both with PLT and PCT in the MO group. All of the three IR indices were well-correlated with each other in all groups. These findings point out the missing link between IR and PLT activation. In conclusion, PLT and PCT may be related to IR in addition to their identities as hemostasis markers during morbid obesity. Our findings have suggested that DONMA-lab index appears as the best surrogate marker for IR due to its discriminative feature between morbid obesity and MetS.

Keywords: Children, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, plateletcrit, platelet indices.

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Authors: D. Hilton

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The importance and significance of this research is based upon the fundamental knowledge reported in the scientific literature that physical activity is inversely associated with obesity. In addition, it is recognized there is a global epidemic of sedentariness while at the same time it is known that morbidity and mortality are associated with physical inactivity and as a result of overweight or obesity. Hence this small study in school students is an important area of research in our community. An application submitted in 2005 for the inaugural Public Health Education Research Trust [PHERT] Post Graduate Research Scholarship scheme organized by the Public Health Association of Australia [PHAA] was awarded 3rd place within Australia. The author and title was: D. Hilton, Methods to increase physical activity in school aged children [literature review, a trial using pedometers and a policy paper]. Third place is a good result, however this did not secure funding for the project, as only first place received $5000 funding. Some years later within Australia, a program commenced called the Global Children's Challenge [GCC]. Given details of the 2005 award above were included an application submission prepared for Parkhill Primary School [PPS] which is located in Victoria, Australia was successful. As a result, an excited combined grade 3/ 4 class at the school [27 students] in 2012 became recipients of these free pedometers. Ambassadors for the program were Mrs Catherine Freeman [OAM], Olympic Gold Medalist – Sydney 2000 [400 meters], while another ambassador was Mr Colin Jackson [CBE] who is a Welsh former sprint and hurdling athlete. In terms of PPS and other schools involved in 2012, website details show that the event started on 19th Sep 2012 and students were to wear the pedometer every day for 50 days [at home and at school] aiming for the recommended 15,000 steps/day recording steps taken in a booklet provided. After the finish, an analysis of the average step count for this school showed that the average steps taken / day was 14, 003 [however only a small percentage of students returned the booklets and units] as unfortunately the dates for the program coincided with school holidays so some students either forgot or misplaced the units / booklets. Unfortunately funding for this program ceased in 2013, however the lasting impact of the trial on student’s knowledge and awareness remains and in fact becomes a good grounding for students in how to monitor basic daily physical activity using a method that is easy, fun, low cost and readily accessible.

Keywords: Walking, exercise, physical activity [motor activity].

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Authors: Yuxuan Huang, Weixin Qian, Hongfang Ma, Haitao Zhang, Weiyong Ying

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Light olefins are important building blocks for chemical industry. Direct conversion of syngas to light olefins has been investigated for decades. Meanwhile, the limit for light olefins selectivity described by Anderson-Schulz-Flory (ASF) distribution model is still a great challenge to conventional Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. The emerging strategy called oxide-zeolite concept (OX-ZEO) is a promising way to get rid of this limit. ZnCrO_x was prepared by co-precipitation method and (NH₄)₂CO₃ was used as precipitant. SAPO-34 was prepared by hydrothermal synthesis, and Tetraethylammonium hydroxide (TEAOH) was used as template, while silica sol, pseudo-boehmite, and phosphoric acid were Al, Si and P source, respectively. The bifunctional catalyst was prepared by mechanical mixing of ZnCrO_x and SAPO-34. Catalytic reactions were carried out under H₂/CO=2, 380 ℃, 1 MPa and 6000 mL·g_cat^-1·h^-1 in a fixed-bed reactor with a quartz lining. Catalysts were characterized by XRD, N₂ adsorption-desorption, NH₃-TPD, H₂-TPR, and CO-TPD. The addition of Al as structure promoter enhances CO conversion and selectivity to light olefins. Zn/Cr ratio, which decides the active component content and chemisorption property of the catalyst, influences CO conversion and selectivity to light olefins at the same time. C_2-4⁼ distribution of 86% among hydrocarbons at CO conversion of 14% was reached when Zn/Cr=1.5.

Keywords: Light olefins, OX-ZEO, syngas, ZnCrOx.

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

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

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

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Authors: D. Adhikari, R. P. Koirala, B.P. Singh

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A self-association model has been used to understand the concentration dependence of free energy of mixing (GM), heat of mixing (HM), entropy of mixing (SM), activity (a) and microscopic structures, such as concentration fluctuation in long wavelength limit (Scc(0)) and Warren-Cowley short range order parameter ( 1 α )for Cu- Tl molten alloys at 1573K. A comparative study of surface tension of the alloys in the liquid state at that temperature has also been carried out theoretically as function of composition in the light of Butler-s model, Prasad-s model and quasi-chemical approach. Most of the computed thermodynamic properties have been found in agreement with the experimental values. The analysis reveals that the Cu-Tl molten alloys at 1573K represent a segregating system at all concentrations with moderate interaction. Surface tensions computed from different approaches have been found to be comparable to each other showing increment with the composition of copper.

Keywords: Concentration fluctuations, surface tension, thermodynamic properties, Quasi-chemical approximation.

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Authors: Hassan Azarkish, Said Farahat, S.Masoud H. Sarvari

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In the present work, the performance of the particle swarm optimization and the genetic algorithm compared as a typical geometry design problem. The design maximizes the heat transfer rate from a given fin volume. The analysis presumes that a linear temperature distribution along the fin. The fin profile generated using the B-spline curves and controlled by the change of control point coordinates. An inverse method applied to find the appropriate fin geometry yield the linear temperature distribution along the fin corresponds to optimum design. The numbers of the populations, the count of iterations and time to convergence measure efficiency. Results show that the particle swarm optimization is most efficient for geometry optimization.

Keywords: Genetic Algorithm, Geometry Optimization, longitudinal Fin, Particle Swarm Optimization

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Authors: Amruta Khairnar, Joy Sen

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Disparity in India has been persisting since independence causing many socioeconomic problems and its removal has become the most prime objective of the planned development in India. Hence the paper attempts to study the disparity at State and Regional level and gives inclusive planning guidelines to achieve balanced regional development. At State level, the relative socioeconomic backwardness of Vidarbha Region based on Interregional analysis using selected indicators like Foreign Direct Investment, Human Development Index, Per Capita District Domestic Product has been assessed and broad guidelines have been proposed. In the later part at Regional level, the relative backwardness of districts based on Intraregional analysis using socioeconomic indicators has been assessed within Nagpur sub region and factors responsible for backwardness & disparity have been indicated. The policy guidelines for Identified sub region have been proposed based on the most significant factor and their extent of relationship explaining backwardness Nagpur sub region.

Keywords: Balanced Growth, Foreign Direct Investment, Human Development Index, Per Capita District Domestic Product, Regional Disparity, Socioeconomic Inequality, Vidarbha Region.

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Authors: N. Norazlimi, R. Ramli

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A study was conducted to determine the diversity and abundance of shorebird species habituating the mudflat area of Jeram Beach and Remis Beach, Selangor, Peninsular Malaysia. Direct observation technique (using binoculars and video camera) was applied to record the presence of bird species in the sampling sites from August 2013 until July 2014. A total of 32 species of shorebird were recorded during both migratory and non-migratory seasons. Of these, eleven species (48%) are migrants, six species (26%) have both migrant and resident populations, four species (17%) are vagrants and two species (9%) are residents. The compositions of the birds differed significantly in all months (χ2 = 84.35, p < 0.001). There is a significant difference in avian abundance between migratory and non-migratory seasons (Mann-Whitney, t = 2.39, p = 0.036). The avian abundance were differed significantly in Jeram and Remis Beaches during migratory periods (t = 4.39, p = 0.001) but not during non-migratory periods (t = 0.78, p = 0.456). Shorebird diversity was also affected by tidal cycle. There is a significance difference between high tide and low tide (Mann-Whitney, t = 78.0, p < 0.005). Frequency of disturbance also affected the shorebird distribution (Mann-Whitney, t = 57.0, p = 0.0134). Therefore, this study concluded that tides and disturbances are two factors that affecting temporal distribution of shorebird in mudflats area.

Keywords: Biodiversity, distribution, migratory birds, direct observation.

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Authors: H. Akhbari, M. Bidi, A. Bakhtiari, S. Eslami

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The present paper aims to the techno-economic feasibility of enhancing low-cost parabolic trough collectors in the light of developing the use of solar energy in under-developed regions where expensive high-tech solar devices cannot be afforded. Moreover, the collector is aimed to produce steam so that its performance is based on heat which can be discovered. In this regard, the manufacturing process and the detailed design models in Solidworks software are elaborated. Furthermore, the colletor’s material is chosen in a way to minimize the costs. Finally, to assess the performance of the built collector, it is installed in the site of Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, and the values of the effective peripheral parameters, such as temperature, wind speed, and most importantly, solar irradiance, are recorded simultaneously in June. According to the results obtained, the manufactured collector with the aperture area of 2 m² (1×2 m) is capable of producing 350 ml.h^-1 steam. Also, the wind influence is comprehensively investigated in this paper. As a case in point, it was measured that as the wind speed maximized to 9.77 km/h, the amount of steam outlet is minimized to 580 ml.

Keywords: Direct steam production, design and fabrication parabolic trough collector, solar water heater, wind impact, experimental investigation.

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Authors: Abhijit Mitra

Abstract:

This paper proposes an efficient finite precision block floating point (BFP) treatment to the fixed coefficient finite impulse response (FIR) digital filter. The treatment includes effective implementation of all the three forms of the conventional FIR filters, namely, direct form, cascaded and par- allel, and a roundoff error analysis of them in the BFP format. An effective block formatting algorithm together with an adaptive scaling factor is pro- posed to make the realizations more simple from hardware view point. To this end, a generic relation between the tap weight vector length and the input block length is deduced. The implementation scheme also emphasises on a simple block exponent update technique to prevent overflow even during the block to block transition phase. The roundoff noise is also investigated along the analogous lines, taking into consideration these implementational issues. The simulation results show that the BFP roundoff errors depend on the sig- nal level almost in the same way as floating point roundoff noise, resulting in approximately constant signal to noise ratio over a relatively large dynamic range.

Keywords: Finite impulse response digital filters, Cascade structure, Parallel structure, Block floating point arithmetic, Roundoff error.

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Authors: Vandna Jowaheer, Naushad A. Mamode Khan

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Com Poisson distribution is capable of modeling the count responses irrespective of their mean variance relation and the parameters of this distribution when fitted to a simple cross sectional data can be efficiently estimated using maximum likelihood (ML) method. In the regression setup, however, ML estimation of the parameters of the Com Poisson based generalized linear model is computationally intensive. In this paper, we propose to use quasilikelihood (QL) approach to estimate the effect of the covariates on the Com Poisson counts and investigate the performance of this method with respect to the ML method. QL estimates are consistent and almost as efficient as ML estimates. The simulation studies show that the efficiency loss in the estimation of all the parameters using QL approach as compared to ML approach is quite negligible, whereas QL approach is lesser involving than ML approach.

Keywords: Com Poisson, Cross-sectional, Maximum Likelihood, Quasi likelihood

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Authors: Ahmed M. Hemeida, Wael A. Farag, Osama A. Mahgoub

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This paper focuses on developing an integrated reliable and sophisticated model for ultra large wind turbines And to study the performance and analysis of vector control on large wind turbines. With the advance of power electronics technology, direct driven multi-pole radial flux PMSG (Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator) has proven to be a good choice for wind turbines manufacturers. To study the wind energy conversion systems, it is important to develop a wind turbine simulator that is able to produce realistic and validated conditions that occur in real ultra MW wind turbines. Three different packages are used to simulate this model, namely, Turbsim, FAST and Simulink. Turbsim is a Full field wind simulator developed by National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The wind turbine mechanical parts are modeled by FAST (Fatigue, Aerodynamics, Structures and Turbulence) code which is also developed by NREL. Simulink is used to model the PMSG, full scale back to back IGBT converters, and the grid.

Keywords: FAST, Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator(PMSG), TurbSim, Vector Control and Pitch Control

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Authors: D. Toghraie, A. R. Azimian

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In this paper, the Lennard -Jones potential is applied to molecules of liquid argon as well as its vapor and platinum as solid surface in order to perform a non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulation to study the microscopic aspects of liquid-vapor-solid interactions. The channel is periodic in x and y directions and along z direction it is bounded by atomic walls. It was found that density of the liquids near the solid walls fluctuated greatly and that the structure was more like a solid than a liquid. This indicates that the interactions of solid and liquid molecules are very strong. The resultant surface tension, liquid density and vapor density are found to be well predicted when compared with the experimental data for argon. Liquid and vapor densities were found to depend on the cutoff radius which induces the use of P3M (particle-particle particle-mesh) method which was implemented for evaluation of force and surface tension.

Keywords: Lennard-Jones Potential, Molecular DynamicsSimulation, Periodic Boundary Conditions (PBC), Non-EquilibriumMolecular Dynamics (NEMD).

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Authors: A. K. Al-Othman, K. M. EL-Nagger

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Direct search methods are evolutionary algorithms used to solve optimization problems. (DS) methods do not require any information about the gradient of the objective function at hand while searching for an optimum solution. One of such methods is Pattern Search (PS) algorithm. This paper presents a new approach based on a constrained pattern search algorithm to solve a security constrained power system economic dispatch problem (SCED). Operation of power systems demands a high degree of security to keep the system satisfactorily operating when subjected to disturbances, while and at the same time it is required to pay attention to the economic aspects. Pattern recognition technique is used first to assess dynamic security. Linear classifiers that determine the stability of electric power system are presented and added to other system stability and operational constraints. The problem is formulated as a constrained optimization problem in a way that insures a secure-economic system operation. Pattern search method is then applied to solve the constrained optimization formulation. In particular, the method is tested using one system. Simulation results of the proposed approach are compared with those reported in literature. The outcome is very encouraging and proves that pattern search (PS) is very applicable for solving security constrained power system economic dispatch problem (SCED).

Keywords: Security Constrained Economic Dispatch, Direct Search method, optimization.

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Authors: A Fouda, Z. Melikyan

Abstract:

Air conditioning systems of houses consume large quantity of electricity. To reducing energy consumption for air conditioning purposes it is becoming attractive the use of evaporative cooling air conditioning which is less energy consuming compared to air chillers. But, it is obvious that higher energy efficiency of evaporative cooling is not enough to judge whether evaporative cooling economically is competitive with other types of cooling systems. To proving the higher energy efficiency and cost effectiveness of the evaporative cooling competitive analysis of various types of cooling system should be accomplished. For noted purpose optimization mathematical model for each system should be composed based on system approach analysis. In this paper different types of evaporative cooling-heating systems are discussed and methods for increasing their energy efficiency and as well as determining of their design parameters are developed. The optimization mathematical models for each of them are composed with help of which least specific costs for each of them are reviled. The comparison of specific costs proved that the most efficient and cost effective is considered the “direct evaporating" system if it is applicable for given climatic conditions. Next more universal and applicable for many climatic conditions system providing least cost of heating and cooling is considered the “direct evaporating" system.

Keywords: air, conditioning, system, evaporative cooling, mathematical model, optimization, thermoeconomic.

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Authors: Takahiro Nakamura, Kenji Takahashi, Hiroyuki Nishida, Shunjiro Shinohara, Takeshi Matsuoka, Ikkoh Funaki, Takao Tanikawa, Tohru Hada

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In order to realize long-lived electric propulsion systems, we have been investigating an electrodeless plasma thruster. In our concept, a helicon plasma is accelerated by the magnetic nozzle for the thrusts production. In addition, the electromagnetic thrust can be enhanced by the additional radio-frequency rotating electric field (REF) power in the magnetic nozzle. In this study, a direct measurement of the electromagnetic thrust and a probe measurement have been conducted using a laboratory model of the thruster under the condition without the REF power input. Fromthrust measurement, it is shown that the thruster produces a sub-milli-newton order electromagnetic thrust force without the additional REF power. The thrust force and the density jump are observed due to the discharge mode transition from the inductive coupled plasma to the helicon wave excited plasma. The thermal thrust is theoretically estimated, and the total thrust force, which is a sum of the electromagnetic and the thermal thrust force and specific impulse are calculated to be up to 650 μN (plasma production power of 400 W, Ar gas mass flow rate of 1.0 mg/s) and 210 s (plasma production power of 400 W, Ar gas mass flow rate of 0.2 mg/s), respectively.

Keywords: Electric propulsion, Helicon plasma, Lissajous acceleration, Thrust stand.

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Authors: B.Rajendra Prasath, P.Tamilporai, Mohd.F.Shabir

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An effort has been taken to simulate the combustion and performance characteristics of biodiesel fuel in direct injection (D.I) low heat rejection (LHR) diesel engine. Comprehensive analyses on combustion characteristics such as cylinder pressure, peak cylinder pressure, heat release and performance characteristics such as specific fuel consumption and brake thermal efficiency are carried out. Compression ignition (C.I) engine cycle simulation was developed and modified in to LHR engine for both diesel and biodiesel fuel. On the basis of first law of thermodynamics the properties at each degree crank angle was calculated. Preparation and reaction rate model was used to calculate the instantaneous heat release rate. A gas-wall heat transfer calculations are based on the ANNAND-s combined heat transfer model with instantaneous wall temperature to analyze the effect of coating on heat transfer. The simulated results are validated by conducting the experiments on the test engine under identical operating condition on a turbocharged D.I diesel engine. In this analysis 20% of biodiesel (derived from Jatropha oil) blended with diesel and used in both conventional and LHR engine. The simulated combustion and performance characteristics results are found satisfactory with the experimental value.

Keywords: Biodiesel, Direct injection, Low heat rejection, Turbocharged engine

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Authors: Juan Llopis, Reyes Gonzalez, Jose Gasco

Abstract:

This paper has as its main aim to analyse how corporate web pages can become an essential tool in order to detect strategic trends by firms or sectors, and even a primary source for benchmarking. This technique has made it possible to identify the key issues in the strategic management of the most excellent large Spanish firms and also to describe trends in their long-range planning, a way of working that can be generalised to any country or firm group. More precisely, two objectives were sought. The first one consisted in showing the way in which corporate websites make it possible to obtain direct information about the strategic variables which can define firms. This tool is dynamic (since web pages are constantly updated) as well as direct and reliable, since the information comes from the firm itself, not from comments of third parties (such as journalists, academicians, consultants...). When this information is analysed for a group of firms, one can observe their characteristics in terms of both managerial tasks and business management. As for the second objective, the methodology proposed served to describe the corporate profile of the large Spanish enterprises included in the Ibex35 (the Ibex35 or Iberia Index is the reference index in the Spanish Stock Exchange and gathers periodically the 35 most outstanding Spanish firms). An attempt is therefore made to define the long-range planning that would be characteristic of the largest Spanish firms.

Keywords: Web Pages, Strategic Management, Corporate Description, Large Firms, Spain.

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Authors: M. Govindarajan, R. M.Chandrasekaran

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Text data mining is a process of exploratory data analysis. Classification maps data into predefined groups or classes. It is often referred to as supervised learning because the classes are determined before examining the data. This paper describes proposed radial basis function Classifier that performs comparative crossvalidation for existing radial basis function Classifier. The feasibility and the benefits of the proposed approach are demonstrated by means of data mining problem: direct Marketing. Direct marketing has become an important application field of data mining. Comparative Cross-validation involves estimation of accuracy by either stratified k-fold cross-validation or equivalent repeated random subsampling. While the proposed method may have high bias; its performance (accuracy estimation in our case) may be poor due to high variance. Thus the accuracy with proposed radial basis function Classifier was less than with the existing radial basis function Classifier. However there is smaller the improvement in runtime and larger improvement in precision and recall. In the proposed method Classification accuracy and prediction accuracy are determined where the prediction accuracy is comparatively high.

Keywords: Text Data Mining, Comparative Cross-validation, Radial Basis Function, runtime, accuracy.

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Authors: Xiao Chen, Xiaoying Kong, Min Xu

Abstract:

This paper presents a road vehicle detection approach for the intelligent transportation system. This approach mainly uses low-cost magnetic sensor and associated data collection system to collect magnetic signals. This system can measure the magnetic field changing, and it also can detect and count vehicles. We extend Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients to analyze vehicle magnetic signals. Vehicle type features are extracted using representation of cepstrum, frame energy, and gap cepstrum of magnetic signals. We design a 2-dimensional map algorithm using Vector Quantization to classify vehicle magnetic features to four typical types of vehicles in Australian suburbs: sedan, VAN, truck, and bus. Experiments results show that our approach achieves a high level of accuracy for vehicle detection and classification.

Keywords: Vehicle classification, signal processing, road traffic model, magnetic sensing.

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Authors: Mohammad S. Laghari, Qurban A. Memon, Gulzar A. Khuwaja

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The paper describes a knowledge based system for analysis of microscopic wear particles. Wear particles contained in lubricating oil carry important information concerning machine condition, in particular the state of wear. Experts (Tribologists) in the field extract this information to monitor the operation of the machine and ensure safety, efficiency, quality, productivity, and economy of operation. This procedure is not always objective and it can also be expensive. The aim is to classify these particles according to their morphological attributes of size, shape, edge detail, thickness ratio, color, and texture, and by using this classification thereby predict wear failure modes in engines and other machinery. The attribute knowledge links human expertise to the devised Knowledge Based Wear Particle Analysis System (KBWPAS). The system provides an automated and systematic approach to wear particle identification which is linked directly to wear processes and modes that occur in machinery. This brings consistency in wear judgment prediction which leads to standardization and also less dependence on Tribologists.

Keywords: Computer vision, knowledge based systems, morphology, wear particles.

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Authors: Jagadish H. Pujar, S. F. Kodad

Abstract:

Recent developments in Soft computing techniques, power electronic switches and low-cost computational hardware have made it possible to design and implement sophisticated control strategies for sensorless speed control of AC motor drives. Such an attempt has been made in this work, for Sensorless Speed Control of Induction Motor (IM) by means of Direct Torque Fuzzy Control (DTFC), PI-type fuzzy speed regulator and MRAS speed estimator strategy, which is absolutely nonlinear in its nature. Direct torque control is known to produce quick and robust response in AC drive system. However, during steady state, torque, flux and current ripple occurs. So, the performance of conventional DTC with PI speed regulator can be improved by implementing fuzzy logic techniques. Certain important issues in design including the space vector modulated (SVM) 3-Ф voltage source inverter, DTFC design, generation of reference torque using PI-type fuzzy speed regulator and sensor less speed estimator have been resolved. The proposed scheme is validated through extensive numerical simulations on MATLAB. The simulated results indicate the sensor less speed control of IM with DTFC and PI-type fuzzy speed regulator provides satisfactory high dynamic and static performance compare to conventional DTC with PI speed regulator.

Keywords: Sensor-less Speed Estimator, Fuzzy Logic Control(FLC), SVM, DTC, DTFC, IM, fuzzy speed regulator.

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Authors: I. Markovska, F. Yovkova, G. Minov, D. Rusev, L. Lyubchev

Abstract:

The present research focus on the processing of mullite-based ceramics from oil refinery industrial wastes and byproducts of agricultural industry and on the investigating of silane modified surface of ceramics. Two waste products were used as initial material – waste aluminum oxide and waste rice husk. The burning - out additives used were waste rise husk. It is known that  the oxide ceramics surface is hydrophilic due to the presence of – OH groups in it. The nature of ceramic surface regarding permeation of water and hydrocarbons can be changed by further treatment with silanes. The samples were studied mainly by X-ray analysis, FT-IR absorbance measurements and microscopic analysis. The X-ray analyses showed the phase composition depends on the firing temperature and on the purity of the starting alumina. Two kind of silanes were used for the transformation of surface from hydrophilic to hydrophobic – trimethoxymethylsilane (TMMS) and trimethylclorsilane (TMCS).

Keywords: Porous mullite ceramics, waste materials, trimethoxymethylsilane, trimethylclorsilane.

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Authors: Vahid Anari, Mina Bakhshi

Abstract:

Visual search and identification of immunohistochemically stained tissue of meningioma was performed manually in pathologic laboratories to detect and diagnose the cancers type of meningioma. This task is very tedious and time-consuming. Moreover, because of cell's complex nature, it still remains a challenging task to segment cells from its background and analyze them automatically. In this paper, we develop and test a computerized scheme that can automatically identify cells in microscopic images of meningioma and classify them into positive (proliferative) and negative (normal) cells. Dataset including 150 images are used to test the scheme. The scheme uses Fuzzy C-means algorithm as a color clustering method based on perceptually uniform hue, saturation, value (HSV) color space. Since the cells are distinguishable by the human eye, the accuracy and stability of the algorithm are quantitatively compared through application to a wide variety of real images.

Keywords: Positive cell, color segmentation, HSV color space, immunohistochemistry, meningioma, thresholding, fuzzy c-means.

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Authors: Choeng-Ryul Choi, Chang-Nyung Kim, Tae-Hyub Hong

Abstract:

A numerical method is developed for simulating the motion of particles with arbitrary shapes in an effectively infinite or bounded viscous flow. The particle translational and angular motions are numerically investigated using a fluid-structure interaction (FSI) method based on the Arbitrary-Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) approach and the dynamic mesh method (smoothing and remeshing) in FLUENT ( ANSYS Inc., USA). Also, the effects of arbitrary shapes on the dynamics are studied using the FSI method which could be applied to the motions and deformations of a single blood cell and multiple blood cells, and the primary thrombogenesis caused by platelet aggregation. It is expected that, combined with a sophisticated large-scale computational technique, the simulation method will be useful for understanding the overall properties of blood flow from blood cellular level (microscopic) to the resulting rheological properties of blood as a mass (macroscopic).

Keywords: Blood Flow, Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI), Micro-Channels, Arbitrary Shapes, Red Blood Cells (RBCs)

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Authors: Mohamed F. Awad, M. Kraume

Abstract:

The objective of this study is to evaluate the occurrence of fungi in aerobic and anoxic activated sludge from membrane bioreactors (MBRs). Thirty-six samples of both aerobic and anoxic activated sludge were taken from 2 MBR treating domestic wastewater. Over a period of eight months 2 samples from each plant were taken per month. The samples were prepared for count and definition of fungi. The obtained data show that, sixty species belonging to 27 genera were collected from activated sludge samples under aerobic and anoxic conditions. Regarding to the fungi definition, under aerobic condition the Geotrichum was found at (8.8%) followed by Penicillium (75.0%), Yeasts (65.7%) and Trichoderma (55.5%), while Yeasts (77.1%) Geotrichum candidumand Penicillium (61.1%) species were the most prevalent in anoxic activated sludge. The results indicate that activated sludge is habitat for growth and sporulation of different groups of fungi, both saprophytic and pathogenic.

Keywords: Aerobic conditions, Anoxic conditions, Activated sludge, Membrane bioreactor, Fungi.

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Authors: Jun Li, Wenze Wang, Zhanggui Hu, Yongwei Zhu, Dunwen Zuo

Abstract:

Non-water based fixed abrasive polishing was adopted to manufacture LBO crystal for nano precision surface quality because of its deliquescent. Ethyl alcohol was selected as the non-water based slurry solvent and ethanediamine, lactic acid, hydrogen peroxide was added in the slurry as a chemical additive, respectively. Effect of different additives with non-water based slurry on material removal rate, surface topography, microscopic appearances, and surface roughness were investigated in fixed abrasive polishing of LBO crystal. The results show the best surface quality of LBO crystal with surface roughness Sa 8.2 nm and small damages was obtained by non-water based slurry with lactic acid. Non-water based fixed abrasive polishing can achieve nano precision surface quality of LBO crystal with high material removal.

Keywords: Non-water based slurry, LBO crystal, Fixed abrasive polishing, Surface roughness.

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