Search results for: short time scale variation

Authors: Meor O. Hamzah, Seyed R. Omranian, Ali Jamshidi, Mohd R M. Hasan

Abstract:

This paper characterizes the effects of artificial short term aging in the laboratory on the rheological properties of virgin 80/100 penetration grade asphalt binder. After several years in service, asphalt mixture started to deteriorate due to aging. Aging is a complex physico-chemical phenomenon that influences asphalt binder rheological properties causing a deterioration in asphalt mixture performance. To ascertain asphalt binder aging effects, the virgin, artificially aged and extracted asphalt binder were tested via the Rolling Thin film Oven (RTFO), Dynamic Shear Rheometer (DSR) and Rotational Viscometer (RV). A comparative study between laboratory and field aging conditions were also carried out. The results showed that the specimens conditioned for 85 minutes inside the RTFO was insufficient to simulate the actual short term aging caused that took place in the field under Malaysian field conditions

Keywords: Asphalt binder, Short term aging, Rheological properties, Viscosity, Temperature susceptibility.

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Authors: Vitalice K. Oduol, C. Ardil

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The paper presents frame and burst acquisition in a satellite communication network based on time division multiple access (TDMA) in which the transmissions may be carried on different transponders. A unique word pattern is used for the acquisition process. The search for the frame is aided by soft-decision of QPSK modulated signals in an additive white Gaussian channel. Results show that when the false alarm rate is low the probability of detection is also low, and the acquisition time is long. Conversely when the false alarm rate is high, the probability of detection is also high and the acquisition time is short. Thus the system operators can trade high false alarm rates for high detection probabilities and shorter acquisition times.

Keywords: burst acquisition, burst time plan, frame acquisition, satellite access, satellite TDMA, unique word detection

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Authors: Abimbola M. Enitan, John O. Odiyo, Feroz M. Swalaha

Abstract:

The study of microbial ecology and their function in anaerobic digestion processes are essential to control the biological processes. This is to know the symbiotic relationship between the microorganisms that are involved in the conversion of complex organic matter in the industrial wastewater to simple molecules. In this study, diversity and quantity of bacterial community in the granular sludge taken from the different compartments of a full-scale upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor treating brewery wastewater was investigated using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR). The phylogenetic analysis showed three major eubacteria phyla that belong to Proteobacteria, Firmicutes and Chloroflexi in the full-scale UASB reactor, with different groups populating different compartment. The result of qPCR assay showed high amount of eubacteria with increase in concentration along the reactor’s compartment. This study extends our understanding on the diverse, topological distribution and shifts in concentration of microbial communities in the different compartments of a full-scale UASB reactor treating brewery wastewater. The colonization and the trophic interactions among these microbial populations in reducing and transforming complex organic matter within the UASB reactors were established.

Keywords: Bacteria, brewery wastewater, real-time quantitative PCR, UASB reactor.

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Authors: Halil Ersin Soken, Chingiz Hajiyev

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In the normal operation conditions of a pico satellite, conventional Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) gives sufficiently good estimation results. However, if the measurements are not reliable because of any kind of malfunction in the estimation system, UKF gives inaccurate results and diverges by time. This study, introduces Robust Unscented Kalman Filter (RUKF) algorithms with the filter gain correction for the case of measurement malfunctions. By the use of defined variables named as measurement noise scale factor, the faulty measurements are taken into the consideration with a small weight and the estimations are corrected without affecting the characteristic of the accurate ones. Two different RUKF algorithms, one with single scale factor and one with multiple scale factors, are proposed and applied for the attitude estimation process of a pico satellite. The results of these algorithms are compared for different types of measurement faults in different estimation scenarios and recommendations about their applications are given.

Keywords: attitude algorithms, Kalman filters, robustestimation.

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Authors: Mahmoud Gilany, Wael Al-Hasawi

Abstract:

Preliminary studies on Kuwait high voltage transmission system show significant increase in the short circuit level at some of the grid substations and some generating stations. This increase results from the growth in the power transmission systems in size and complexity. New generating stations are expected to be added to the system within the next few years. This paper describes the study analysis performed to evaluate the available and potential solutions to control SC levels in Kuwait power system. It also presents a modified planning of the transmission network in order to fulfill this task.

Keywords: Short circuit current, network splitting, fault current limiter, power transmission planning.

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Authors: Yiannis Koumpouros, Effie Papageorgiou, Alexandra Karavasili, Foteini Koureta

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The objective of the present study was to develop a scale called PYTHEIA. The PYTHEIA is a self-reported measure for the assessment of rehabilitation and assistive robotics and other assistive technology devices. The development of PYTHEIA faced the absence of a valid instrument that can be used to evaluate the assistive robotic devices both as a whole, as well as any of their individual components or functionalities implemented. According to the results presented, PYTHEIA is a valid and reliable scale able to be applied to different target groups for the subjective evaluation of various assistive technology devices.

Keywords: Rehabilitation, assistive technology, assistive robots, rehabilitation robots, scale, psychometric test, assessment, validation, user satisfaction.

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Authors: Marasovic Branka, Aljinovic Zdravka, Poklepovic Tea

Abstract:

Numerical methods like binomial and trinomial trees and finite difference methods can be used to price a wide range of options contracts for which there are no known analytical solutions. American options are the most famous of that kind of options. Besides numerical methods, American options can be valued with the approximation formulas, like Bjerksund-Stensland formulas from 1993 and 2002. When the value of American option is approximated by Bjerksund-Stensland formulas, the computer time spent to carry out that calculation is very short. The computer time spent using numerical methods can vary from less than one second to several minutes or even hours. However to be able to conduct a comparative analysis of numerical methods and Bjerksund-Stensland formulas, we will limit computer calculation time of numerical method to less than one second. Therefore, we ask the question: Which method will be most accurate at nearly the same computer calculation time?

Keywords: Bjerksund and Stensland approximations, Computational analysis, Finance, Options pricing, Numerical methods.

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Authors: M. Kidouche, H. Habbi, M. Zelmat, S. Grouni

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In analyzing large scale nonlinear dynamical systems, it is often desirable to treat the overall system as a collection of interconnected subsystems. Solutions properties of the large scale system are then deduced from the solution properties of the individual subsystems and the nature of the interconnections. In this paper a new approach is proposed for the stability analysis of large scale systems, which is based upon the concept of vector Lyapunov functions and the decomposition methods. The present results make use of graph theoretic decomposition techniques in which the overall system is partitioned into a hierarchy of strongly connected components. We show then, that under very reasonable assumptions, the overall system is stable once the strongly connected subsystems are stables. Finally an example is given to illustrate the constructive methodology proposed.

Keywords: Comparison principle, First integral, Large scale system, Lyapunov stability.

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Authors: Katleho Daniel Makatjane, Diteboho Lawrence Xaba, Ntebogang Dinah Moroke

Abstract:

The current study investigates the behaviour of time-varying parameters that are based on the score function of the predictive model density at time t. The mechanism to update the parameters over time is the scaled score of the likelihood function. The results revealed that there is high persistence of time-varying, as the location parameter is higher and the skewness parameter implied the departure of scale parameter from the normality with the unconditional parameter as 1.5. The results also revealed that there is a perseverance of the leptokurtic behaviour in stock returns which implies the returns are heavily tailed. Prior to model estimation, the White Neural Network test exposed that the stock price can be modelled by a GAS model. Finally, we proposed further researches specifically to model the existence of time-varying parameters with a more detailed model that encounters the heavy tail distribution of the series and computes the risk measure associated with the returns.

Keywords: Generalized autoregressive score model, stock returns, time-varying.

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Authors: J. Ranjbarn, A. Alibeigloo

Abstract:

In this paper, we present an analytical method for analysis of nano-scale spherical shell subjected to thermo-mechanical shocks based on nonlocal elasticity theory. Thermo-mechanical properties of nano shpere is assumed to be temperature dependent. Governing partial differential equation of motion is solved analytically by using Laplace transform for time domain and power series for spacial domain. The results in Laplace domain is transferred to time domain by employing the fast inverse Laplace transform (FLIT) method. Accuracy of present approach is assessed by comparing the the numerical results with the results of published work in literature. Furtheremore, the effects of non-local parameter and wall thickness on the dynamic characteristics of the nano-sphere are studied.

Keywords: Nano-scale spherical shell, nonlocal elasticity theory, thermomechanical shock.

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Authors: Rafik Medjoudj, Rabah Medjoudj, D. Aissani

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The electrical substation components are often subject to degradation due to over-voltage or over-current, caused by a short circuit or a lightning. A particular interest is given to the circuit breaker, regarding the importance of its function and its dangerous failure. This component degrades gradually due to the use, and it is also subject to the shock process resulted from the stress of isolating the fault when a short circuit occurs in the system. In this paper, based on failure mechanisms developments, the wear out of the circuit breaker contacts is modeled. The aim of this work is to evaluate its reliability and consequently its residual lifetime. The shock process is based on two random variables such as: the arrival of shocks and their magnitudes. The arrival of shocks was modeled using homogeneous Poisson process (HPP). By simulation, the dates of short-circuit arrivals were generated accompanied with their magnitudes. The same principle of simulation is applied to the amount of cumulative wear out contacts. The objective reached is to find the formulation of the wear function depending on the number of solicitations of the circuit breaker.

Keywords: reliability, short-circuit, models of shocks.

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Authors: Salem Alsanusi, Loubna Bentaher

Abstract:

Response Surface Methods (RSM) provide statistically validated predictive models that can then be manipulated for finding optimal process configurations. Variation transmitted to responses from poorly controlled process factors can be accounted for by the mathematical technique of propagation of error (POE), which facilitates ‘finding the flats’ on the surfaces generated by RSM. The dual response approach to RSM captures the standard deviation of the output as well as the average. It accounts for unknown sources of variation. Dual response plus propagation of error (POE) provides a more useful model of overall response variation. In our case, we implemented this technique in predicting compressive strength of concrete of 28 days in age. Since 28 days is quite time consuming, while it is important to ensure the quality control process. This paper investigates the potential of using design of experiments (DOE-RSM) to predict the compressive strength of concrete at 28th day. Data used for this study was carried out from experiment schemes at university of Benghazi, civil engineering department. A total of 114 sets of data were implemented. ACI mix design method was utilized for the mix design. No admixtures were used, only the main concrete mix constituents such as cement, coarseaggregate, fine aggregate and water were utilized in all mixes. Different mix proportions of the ingredients and different water cement ratio were used. The proposed mathematical models are capable of predicting the required concrete compressive strength of concrete from early ages.

Keywords: Mix proportioning, response surface methodology, compressive strength, optimal design.

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Authors: Rotchanakitumnuai, Siriluck

Abstract:

The objectives of the study are to examine the determinants of ERP implementation success factors of ERP implementation. The result indicates that large scale ERP implementation success consist of eight factors: project management competence, knowledge sharing, ERP system quality , understanding, user involvement, business process re-engineering, top management support, organization readiness.

Keywords: large scale ERP, implementation success factors, Thailand

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Authors: Elizabeth Stojanovski

Abstract:

Associations between life events and various forms of cancers have been identified. The purpose of a recent random-effects meta-analysis was to identify studies that examined the association between adverse events associated with changes to financial status including decreased income and breast cancer risk. The same association was studied in four separate studies which displayed traits that were not consistent between studies such as the study design, location, and time frame. It was of interest to pool information from various studies to help identify characteristics that differentiated study results. Two random-effects Bayesian meta-analysis models are proposed to combine the reported estimates of the described studies. The proposed models allow major sources of variation to be taken into account, including study level characteristics, between study variance and within study variance, and illustrate the ease with which uncertainty can be incorporated using a hierarchical Bayesian modelling approach.

Keywords: Random-effects, meta-analysis, Bayesian, variation.

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Authors: M. A. Malakoutian, V. Fathipour, M. Fathipour, A. Mojab, M. M. Allame, M. Moradinasab

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In this paper, we have examined the effect of process parameter variation on the electrical characteristics of an LDMOS device. The rate of change in the electrical parameters such as cut off frequency, breakdown voltage and drain saturation current as a function of the process parameters is investigated

Keywords: LDMOS, Process Parameters, characteristics, parameter variation.

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Authors: S. A. Moeini, M. T.Ahmadian

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Structural behavior of ring stiffened thick walled cylinders made of functionally graded materials (FGMs) is investigated in this paper. Functionally graded materials are inhomogeneous composites which are usually made from a mixture of metal and ceramic. The gradient compositional variation of the constituents from one surface to the other provides an elegant solution to the problem of high transverse shear stresses that are induced when two dissimilar materials with large differences in material properties are bonded. FGM formation of the cylinder is modeled by power-law exponent and the variation of characteristics is supposed to be in radial direction. A finite element formulation is derived for the analysis. According to the property variation of the constituent materials in the radial direction of the wall, it is not convenient to use conventional elements to model and analyze the structure of the stiffened FGM cylinders. In this paper a new cylindrical super-element is used to model the finite element formulation and analyze the static and modal behavior of stiffened FGM thick walled cylinders. By using this super-element the number of elements, which are needed for modeling, will reduce significantly and the process time is less in comparison with conventional finite element formulations. Results for static and modal analysis are evaluated and verified by comparison to finite element formulation with conventional elements. Comparison indicates a good conformity between results.

Keywords: FGMs, Modal analysis, Static analysis, Stiffened cylinders.

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Authors: Ijaz Ul Haq, Fiorenzo Franceschini

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The distributed manufacturing methodology brings a new concept of decentralized manufacturing operations close to the proximity of end users. A preliminary scale, to measure distributed capacity and evaluate positioning of firms, is developed in this research. In the first part of the paper, a literature review has been performed which highlights the explorative nature of the studies conducted to present definitions and classifications due to novelty of this topic. From literature, five dimensions of distributed manufacturing development stages have been identified: localization, manufacturing technologies, customization and personalization, digitalization and democratization of design. Based on these determinants a conceptual scale is proposed to measure the status of distributed manufacturing of a generic firm. A multiple case study is then conducted in two steps to test the conceptual scale and to identify the corresponding level of distributed potential in each case study firm.

Keywords: Conceptual scale, distributed manufacturing, firm’s distributed capacity, manufacturing continuum.

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Authors: Sukaesi Marianti

Abstract:

This study aims to develop the Relational Mobility Scale for the Indonesian population and to investigate its psychometric properties. New items of the scale were created taking into account the Indonesian population which consists of two parallel forms (A and A’). This study uses 30 newly orchestrated items while keeping in mind the characteristics of the targeted population. The scale was administered to 433 public high school students in Malang, Indonesia. Construct validity of its factor structure was demonstrated using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. The result exhibits that he model fits the data, and that the delayed alternate form method shows acceptable result. Results yielded that 21 items of the three-dimensional Relational Mobility Scale is suitable for measuring relational mobility in high school students of Indonesian population.

Keywords: Confirmatory factor analysis, exploratory factor analysis, delayed alternate form, Indonesian population, relational mobility scale.

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Authors: Lili Wang, Meng Hu

Abstract:

In this paper, a class of recurrent neural networks (RNNs) with variable delays are studied on almost periodic time scales, some sufficient conditions are established for the existence and global exponential stability of the almost periodic solution. These results have important leading significance in designs and applications of RNNs. Finally, two examples and numerical simulations are presented to illustrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the results.

Keywords: Recurrent neural network, Almost periodic solution, Global exponential stability, Time scale.

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Authors: Youngpo Lee, Seokho Yoon

Abstract:

In this paper, we propose a distance estimation scheme for radar systems using direct sequence ultra wideband (DS-UWB) signals. The proposed distance estimation scheme averages out the noise by accumulating the correlator outputs of the radar, and thus, helps the radar to employ a short-length DS-UWB signal reducing the correlation processing time. Numerical results confirm that the proposed distance estimation scheme provides a better estimation performance and a reduced correlation processing time compared with those of the conventional DS-UWB radars.

Keywords: Radar, DS-UWB, distance estimation, correlation accumulation.

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Authors: N. M. Nawi, R. S. Ransing, M. R. Ransing

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The conjugate gradient optimization algorithm is combined with the modified back propagation algorithm to yield a computationally efficient algorithm for training multilayer perceptron (MLP) networks (CGFR/AG). The computational efficiency is enhanced by adaptively modifying initial search direction as described in the following steps: (1) Modification on standard back propagation algorithm by introducing a gain variation term in the activation function, (2) Calculation of the gradient descent of error with respect to the weights and gains values and (3) the determination of a new search direction by using information calculated in step (2). The performance of the proposed method is demonstrated by comparing accuracy and computation time with the conjugate gradient algorithm used in MATLAB neural network toolbox. The results show that the computational efficiency of the proposed method was better than the standard conjugate gradient algorithm.

Keywords: Adaptive gain variation, back-propagation, activation function, conjugate gradient, search direction.

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Authors: Danilo López, Nelson Vera, Luis Pedraza

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This paper analyzes fundamental ideas and concepts related to neural networks, which provide the reader a theoretical explanation of Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks operation classified as Deep Learning Systems, and to explicitly present the mathematical development of Backward Pass equations of the LSTM network model. This mathematical modeling associated with software development will provide the necessary tools to develop an intelligent system capable of predicting the behavior of licensed users in wireless cognitive radio networks.

Keywords: Neural networks, multilayer perceptron, long short-term memory, recurrent neuronal network, mathematical analysis.

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Authors: Chimaobi Valentine Okolo

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This paper seeks to assess the implications of bank consolidation on lending, which largely determine the survival and performance of small and medium scale enterprises and in turn the development of the Nigerian economy. Ordinary least square technique, correlation matrix test and Granger –causality test were employed to measure the extent to which lending to small and medium scale enterprises were influenced. The result showed that bank deposit (BD) impacted on lending to small and medium scale enterprises. Commercial and merchant bank lending rate had statistically insignificant effect on the dependent variable. There is a shift of focus by commercial banks from small and medium scale enterprises (small customers) to major investors (big customers). While micro finance banks work hard at providing funds to small and medium scale entrepreneurs, their capacity to meet the needs of these entrepreneurs is constrained. The capital and deposits of micro finance bank should be boosted in order to effectively support small and medium scale enterprises through loans.

Keywords: Asset size, bank consolidation, lending, small and medium enterprises.

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Authors: Zixin Liu, Shu Lü, Shouming Zhong, Mao Ye

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The problem of exponential stability and periodicity for a class of cellular neural networks (DCNNs) with time-varying delays is investigated. By dividing the network state variables into subgroups according to the characters of the neural networks, some sufficient conditions for exponential stability and periodicity are derived via the methods of variation parameters and inequality techniques. These conditions are represented by some blocks of the interconnection matrices. Compared with some previous methods, the method used in this paper does not resort to any Lyapunov function, and the results derived in this paper improve and generalize some earlier criteria established in the literature cited therein. Two examples are discussed to illustrate the main results.

Keywords: Cellular neural networks, exponential stability, time varying delays, partitioned matrices, periodic solution.

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Authors: Prakash K. Aithal, U. Dinesh Acharya, Rajesh Gopakumar

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Edge is variation of brightness in an image. Edge detection is useful in many application areas such as finding forests, rivers from a satellite image, detecting broken bone in a medical image etc. The paper discusses about finding edge of multiple aerial images in parallel. The proposed work tested on 38 images 37 colored and one monochrome image. The time taken to process N images in parallel is equivalent to time taken to process 1 image in sequential. Message Passing Interface (MPI) and Open Computing Language (OpenCL) is used to achieve task and pixel level parallelism respectively.

Keywords: Edge detection, multicore, GPU, openCL, MPI.

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Authors: M. Alardhi, A. Almazrouee, S. Alsaleh

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Oxide scale thickness measurements are used in assessing the life of different components operating at high temperature environment. Such measurements provide an approximation for the temperature inside components such as reheater and superheater tubes. A number of failures were encountered in one of the boilers in one of Kuwaiti power plants. These failure were mainly in the first row of the primary super heater tubes, therefore, the specialized engineer decide to replace them during the annual shutdown. As a tool for failure analysis, oxide scale thickness measurement were used to investigate the temperature distribution in these tubes. In this paper, the oxide scale thickness of these tubes were measured and used for analysis. The measurements provide an illustration of the distribution of heat transfer of the primary superheater tubes in the boiler system. Remarks and analysis about the design of the boiler are also provided.

Keywords: Super heater tubes, oxide scale measurements, overheating.

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Authors: Achouri Ryma, Hatem Dhaouadi, Hatem Mhiri, Philippe Bournot

Abstract:

Stirred tanks are widely used in all industrial sectors. The need for further studies of the mixing operation and its different aspects comes from the diversity of agitation tools and implemented geometries in addition to the specific characteristics of each application. Viscous fluids are often encountered in industry and they represent the majority of treated cases, as in the polymer sector, food processing, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. That's why in this paper, we will present a three-dimensional numerical study using the software Fluent, to study the effect of varying the fluid viscosity in a stirred tank with a Rushton turbine. This viscosity variation was performed by adding carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) to the fluid (water) in the vessel. In this work, we studied first the flow generated in the tank with a Rushton turbine. Second, we studied the effect of the fluid viscosity variation on the thermodynamic quantities defining the flow. For this, three viscosities (0.9% CMC, 1.1% CMC and 1.7% CMC) were considered.

Keywords: CFD, CMC, Mixing, Viscosity, Rushton turbine.

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Authors: N. Kaneva, A. Bojinova, K. Papazova

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Thin ZnO films are deposited on glass substrates via sol–gel method and dip-coating. The films are prepared from zinc acetate dehydrate as a starting reagent. After that the as-prepared ZnO sol is aged for different periods (0, 1, 3, 5, 10, 15 and 30 days). Nanocrystalline thin films are deposited from various sols. The effect ZnO sols aging time on the structural and photocatalytic properties of the films is studied. The films surface is studied by Scanning Electron Microscopy. The effect of the aging time of the starting solution is studied in the photocatalytic degradation of Reactive Black 5 (RB5) by UV-vis spectroscopy. The experiments are conducted upon UV-light illumination and in complete darkness. The variation of the absorption spectra shows the degradation of RB5 dissolved in water, as a result of the reaction, occurring on the surface of the films and promoted by UV irradiation. The initial concentrations of dye (5, 10 and 20 ppm) and the effect of the aging time are varied during the experiments. The results show, that the increasing aging time of starting solution with respect to ZnO generally promotes photocatalytic activity. The thin films obtained from ZnO sol, which is aged 30 days have best photocatalytic degradation of the dye (97,22%) in comparison with the freshly prepared ones (65,92%). The samples and photocatalytic experimental results are reproducible. Nevertheless, all films exhibit a substantial activity in both UV light and darkness, which is promising for the development of new ZnO photocatalysts by sol-gel method.

Keywords: ZnO thin films, sol-gel, photocatalysis, aging time.

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Authors: Khemanand Moheeput, Smita S. D. Goorah, Satish K. Ramchurn

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We report a computational study of the spreading dynamics of a viral infection in a complex (scale-free) network. The final epidemic size distribution (FESD) was found to be unimodal or bimodal depending on the value of the basic reproductive number R0 . The FESDs occurred on time-scales long enough for intermediate-time epidemic size distributions (IESDs) to be important for control measures. The usefulness of R0 for deciding on the timeliness and intensity of control measures was found to be limited by the multimodal nature of the IESDs and by its inability to inform on the speed at which the infection spreads through the population. A reduction of the transmission probability at the hubs of the scale-free network decreased the occurrence of the larger-sized epidemic events of the multimodal distributions. For effective epidemic control, an early reduction in transmission at the index cell and its neighbors was essential.

Keywords: Basic reproductive number, epidemic control, scalefree network, viral infection.

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Authors: F. Fekak, A. Gravouil, M. Brun, B. Depale

Abstract:

During an earthquake, a bridge crane may be subjected to multiple impacts between crane wheels and rail. In order to model such phenomena, a time-history dynamic analysis with a multi-scale approach is performed. The high frequency aspect of the impacts between wheels and rails is taken into account by a Lagrange explicit event-capturing algorithm based on a velocity-impulse formulation to resolve contacts and impacts. An implicit temporal scheme is used for the rest of the structure. The numerical coupling between the implicit and the explicit schemes is achieved with a heterogeneous asynchronous time-integrator.

Keywords: Earthquake, bridge crane, heterogeneous asynchronous time-integrator, impacts.

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