Search results for: totally chlorine free (TCF).

Authors: M Tayari, SZ Moosavi-nejad, A Shabani, M Rezaei Tavirani

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Free Hemoglobin promotes the accumulation of hydroxyl radicals by the heme iron, which can react with endogenous hydrogen peroxide to produce free radicals which may cause severe oxidative cell damage. Haptoglobin binds to Hemoglobin strongly and Haptoglobin-Hemoglobin binding is irreversible. Peroxidase activity of Haptoglobin(2-2)-Hemoglobin complex was assayed by following increase of absorption of produced tetraguaiacol as the second substrate of Haptoglobin-Hemoglobin complex at 470 nm and 42°C by UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The results have shown that peroxidase activity of Haptoglobin(2-2)-Hemoglobin complex is modulated via homotropic effect of hydrogen peroxide as allostric substrate. On the other hand antioxidant property of Haptoglobin(2- 2)-Hemoglobin was increased via heterotropic effect of the two drugs (especially ampicillin) on peroxidase activity of the complex. Both drugs also have mild effect on quality of homotropic property of peroxidase activity of Haptoglobin(2-2)-Hemoglobin complex. Therefore, in vitro studies show that the two drugs may help Hp-Hb complex to remove hydrogen peroxide from serum at pathologic temperature ature (42 C).

Keywords: Haptoglobin, Hemoglobin, Antioxidant, Antibiotics.

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Authors: Ali Shariq Imran, M. Younus Javed, Naveed Sarfraz Khattak

Abstract:

This paper presents a novel method for data hiding based on neighborhood pixels information to calculate the number of bits that can be used for substitution and modified Least Significant Bits technique for data embedding. The modified solution is independent of the nature of the data to be hidden and gives correct results along with un-noticeable image degradation. The technique, to find the number of bits that can be used for data hiding, uses the green component of the image as it is less sensitive to human eye and thus it is totally impossible for human eye to predict whether the image is encrypted or not. The application further encrypts the data using a custom designed algorithm before embedding bits into image for further security. The overall process consists of three main modules namely embedding, encryption and extraction cm.

Keywords: Data hiding, image processing, information security, stagonography.

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Authors: Bita Bayatsarmadi, Shi-Zhang Qiao

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Oxygen Reduction Reaction (ORR) performance of iron and nitrogen co-doped porous carbon nanoparticles (Fe-NPC) with various physical and (electro) chemical properties have been investigated. Fe-NPC nanoparticles are synthesized via a facile soft-templating procedure by using Iron (III) chloride hexa-hydrate as iron precursor and aminophenol-formaldehyde resin as both carbon and nitrogen precursor. Fe-NPC nanoparticles shows high surface area (443.83 m2g-1), high pore volume (0.52 m3g-1), narrow mesopore size distribution (ca. 3.8 nm), high conductivity (IG/ID=1.04), high kinetic limiting current (11.71 mAcm-2) and more positive onset potential (-0.106 V) compared to metal-free NPC nanoparticles (-0.295V) which make it high efficient ORR metal-free catalysts in alkaline solution. This study may pave the way of feasibly designing iron and nitrogen containing carbon materials (Fe-N-C) for highly efficient oxygen reduction electro-catalysis.

Keywords: Electro-catalyst, mesopore structure, oxygen reduction reaction, soft-template.

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Authors: M. A. Gad, A. Z. Al-Herrawy

Abstract:

Microsporidia comprises various pathogenic species can infect humans by means of water. Moreover, chlorine disinfection of drinking-water has limitations against this protozoan pathogen. A total of 48 water samples were collected from two drinking water treatment plants having two different filtration systems (slow sand filter and rapid sand filter) during one year period. Samples were collected from inlet and outlet of each plant. Samples were separately filtrated through nitrocellulose membrane (142 mm, 0.45 µm), then eluted and centrifuged. The obtained pellet from each sample was subjected to DNA extraction, then, amplification using genus-specific primer for microsporidia. Each microsporidia-PCR positive sample was performed by two species specific primers for Enterocytozoon bieneusi and Encephalitozoon intestinalis. The results of the present study showed that the percentage of removal for microsporidia through different treatment processes reached its highest rate in the station using slow sand filters (100%), while the removal by rapid sand filter system was 81.8%. Statistically, the two different drinking water treatment plants (slow and rapid) had significant effect for removal of microsporidia. Molecular identification of microsporidia-PCR positive samples using two different primers for Enterocytozoon bieneusi and Encephalitozoon intestinalis showed the presence of the two pervious species in the inlet water of the two stations, while Encephalitozoon intestinalis was detected in the outlet water only. In conclusion, the appearance of virulent microsporidia in treated drinking water may cause potential health threat.

Keywords: Removal, efficacy, microsporidia, drinking water treatment plants, PCR.

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Authors: Lenka Ševelová, Aleš Florian

Abstract:

To improve the efficiency of parametric studies or tests planning the method is proposed, that takes into account all input parameters, but only a few simulation runs are performed to assess the relative importance of each input parameter. For K input parameters with N input values the total number of possible combinations of input values equals NK. To limit the number of runs, only some (totally N) of possible combinations are taken into account. The sampling procedure Updated Latin Hypercube Sampling is used to choose the optimal combinations. To measure the relative importance of each input parameter, the Spearman rank correlation coefficient is proposed. The sensitivity and the influence of all parameters are analyzed within one procedure and the key parameters with the largest influence are immediately identified.

Keywords: Concrete, pavement, simulation, reliability, Latin Hypercube Sampling, parametric studies.

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Authors: Belabbas Yagoubi, Yahya Slimani

Abstract:

Workload and resource management are two essential functions provided at the service level of the grid software infrastructure. To improve the global throughput of these software environments, workloads have to be evenly scheduled among the available resources. To realize this goal several load balancing strategies and algorithms have been proposed. Most strategies were developed in mind, assuming homogeneous set of sites linked with homogeneous and fast networks. However for computational grids we must address main new issues, namely: heterogeneity, scalability and adaptability. In this paper, we propose a layered algorithm which achieve dynamic load balancing in grid computing. Based on a tree model, our algorithm presents the following main features: (i) it is layered; (ii) it supports heterogeneity and scalability; and, (iii) it is totally independent from any physical architecture of a grid.

Keywords: Grid computing, load balancing, workload, tree based model.

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Authors: Montri Maleewong, Sirod Sirisup

Abstract:

The POD-assisted projective integration method based on the equation-free framework is presented in this paper. The method is essentially based on the slow manifold governing of given system. We have applied two variants which are the “on-line" and “off-line" methods for solving the one-dimensional viscous Bergers- equation. For the on-line method, we have computed the slow manifold by extracting the POD modes and used them on-the-fly along the projective integration process without assuming knowledge of the underlying slow manifold. In contrast, the underlying slow manifold must be computed prior to the projective integration process for the off-line method. The projective step is performed by the forward Euler method. Numerical experiments show that for the case of nonperiodic system, the on-line method is more efficient than the off-line method. Besides, the online approach is more realistic when apply the POD-assisted projective integration method to solve any systems. The critical value of the projective time step which directly limits the efficiency of both methods is also shown.

Keywords: Projective integration, POD method, equation-free.

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Authors: H. Nur Gorkemli, Mehmet Fidan

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After the first acquaintance with internet in April 1993, number of internet users increased rapidly in Turkey. Almost half of the population between 16-74 age group use internet in the country. Hospitals are one of the areas where the internet is intensively being used like many other businesses. As a part of public relations application, websites are important tools for hospitals to reach a wide range of target audience within and outside the organization. With their websites, hospitals have opportunities to give information about their organization, strengthen their image, compete with their rivals, interact with shareholders, reflect their transparency and meet with new audiences. This study examines web sites of totally 34 hospitals which are located in Konya. Institutions are categorized as public and private hospitals and then three main research categories are determined: content, visual and technical. Main and sub categories are examined by using content analysis method. Results are interpreted in scope of public and private institutions and as a whole.

Keywords: Health Communication, Hospital, Internet, Webpages, Websites

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Authors: Faheem Ahmed, Piers Campbell, Ahmad Jaffar, Luiz Capretz

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Free and open source software is gaining popularity at an unprecedented rate of growth. Organizations despite some concerns about the quality have been using them for various purposes. One of the biggest concerns about free and open source software is post release software defects and their fixing. Many believe that there is no appropriate support available to fix the bugs. On the contrary some believe that due to the active involvement of internet user in online forums, they become a major source of communicating the identification and fixing of defects in open source software. The research model of this empirical investigation establishes and studies the relationship between open source software defects and online public forums. The results of this empirical study provide evidence about the realities of software defects myths of open source software. We used a dataset consist of 616 open source software projects covering a broad range of categories to study the research model of this investigation. The results of this investigation show that online forums play a significant role identifying and fixing the defects in open source software.

Keywords: About Open source software, software engineering, software defect management, empirical software engineering.

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Authors: Mohd Hafiz Musa, Zulfadhli Hasan Adli, M . N . Khairul Arifin

Abstract:

In seismic survey, the information regarding the velocity of compression wave (Vp) as well as shear wave (Vs) are very useful especially during the seismic interpretation. Previous studies showed that both Vp and Vs determined by above methods are totally different with respect to each other but offered good approximation. In this study, both Vp and Vs of consolidated granite rock were studied by using ultrasonic testing method and seismic refraction method. In ultrasonic testing, two different condition of rock are used which is dry and wet. The differences between Vp and Vs getting by using ultrasonic testing and seismic refraction were investigated and studied. The effect of water content in granite rock towards the value of Vp and Vs during ultrasonic testing are also measured. Within this work, the tolerance of the differences between the velocity of seismic wave getting from ultrasonic testing and the velocity of seismic wave getting from seismic refraction are also measured and investigated.

Keywords: Compressional wave, Granite, Shear Wave, Velocity

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Authors: Sushil Kumar Saraswat, K. K. Pant

Abstract:

Co metal supported on SiO2 and Al2O3 catalysts with a metal loading varied from 30 of 70 wt.% were evaluated for decomposition of methane to COx free hydrogen and carbon nanomaterials. The catalytic runs were carried out from 550-800oC under atmospheric pressure using fixed bed vertical flow reactor. The fresh and spent catalysts were characterized by BET surface area analyzer, XRD, SEM, TEM and TG analysis. The data showed that 50% Co/Al2O3 catalyst exhibited remarkable higher activity at 800oC with respect to H2 production compared to rest of the catalysts. However, the catalytic activity and durability was greatly declined at higher temperature. The main reason for the catalytic inhibition of Co containing SiO2 catalysts is the higher reduction temperature of Co2SiO4. TEM images illustrate that the carbon materials with various morphologies, carbon nanofibers (CNFs), helical-shaped CNFs and branched CNFs depending on the catalyst composition and reaction temperature were obtained.

Keywords: Carbon nanotubes, Cobalt, Hydrogen Production, Methane decomposition.

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Authors: Magdi M. E. Zumrawi, Khalid A. Eltayeb

Abstract:

Chemical stabilization is a technique commonly used to improve the expansive soil properties. In this regard, an attempt has been made to evaluate the influence of Calcium Chloride (CaCl2) stabilizer on the engineering properties of expansive soil. A series of laboratory experiments including consistency limits, free swell, compaction, and shear strength tests were performed to investigate the effect of CaCl2 additive with various percentages 0%, 2%, 5%, 10% and 15% for improving expansive soil. The results obtained shows that the increase in the percentage of CaCl2decreased the liquid limit and plasticity index leading to significant reduction in the free swell index. This, in turn, increased the maximum dry density and decreased the optimum moisture content which results in greater strength. The unconfined compressive strength of soil stabilized with 5% CaCl2 increased approximately by 50% as compared to virgin soil. It can be concluded that CaCl2 had shown promising influence on the strength and swelling properties of expansive soil, thereby giving an advantage in improving problematic expansive soil.

Keywords: Calcium chloride, chemical stabilization, expansive soil, improving.

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Authors: Serap Durmus

Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to exemplify the relation of architecture and philosophy over the Japanese architect Toyo Ito’s conceptual architecture. The study is practiced in ‘Architecture and Philosophy Readings’ elective course with 22 sophomore architecture students in Karadeniz Technical University Department of Architecture. It is planned as a workshop, which discusses the design philosophy of Toyo Ito’s buildings and the reflections of concept in his intellectual architecture. So, the paper contains Toyo Ito’s philosophy, his discourses and buildings and also thinking similarities with philosopher Gilles Deleuze. Thus, the workshop of course is about architecture and philosophy relationship. With this aspect, a holistic graphic representation is aimed for Toyo Ito who thinks that everything composes a whole. As a result, it can be said that architect and philosopher interaction in architecture and philosophy relation supports creative thinking. Conceptual architecture of Toyo Ito has philosophical roots and his philosophy can be read over his buildings and can be represent totally via a holistic pattern.

Keywords: Architecture, philosophy, Toyo Ito, conceptual architecture, Gilles Deleuze.

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Authors: Min Kyung An

Abstract:

In this paper, we study the data collection problem in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) adopting the two interference models: The graph model and the more realistic physical interference model known as Signal-to-Interference-Noise-Ratio (SINR). The main issue of the problem is to compute schedules with the minimum number of timeslots, that is, to compute the minimum latency schedules, such that data from every node can be collected without any collision or interference to a sink node. While existing works studied the problem with unit-sized and unbounded-sized message models, we investigate the problem with the bounded-sized message model, and introduce a constant factor approximation algorithm. To the best known of our knowledge, our result is the first result of the data collection problem with bounded-sized model in both interference models.

Keywords: Data collection, collision-free, interference-free, physical interference model, SINR, approximation, bounded-sized message model, wireless sensor networks, WSN.

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Authors: J. Zamastil, V. Patkos

Abstract:

Recent progress in calculation of the one-loop selfenergy of the electron bound in the Coulomb field is summarized. The relativistic multipole expansion is introduced. This expansion is based on a single assumption: except for the part of the time component of the electron four-momentum corresponding to the electron rest mass, the exchange of four-momentum between the virtual electron and photon can be treated perturbatively. For non Sstates and normalized difference n3
En −
E1 of the S-states this itself yields very accurate results after taking the method to the third order. For the ground state the perturbation treatment of the electron virtual states with very high three-momentum is to be avoided. For these states one can always rearrange the pertinent expression in such a way that free-particle approximation is allowed. Combination of the relativistic multipole expansion and free-particle approximation yields very accurate result after taking the method to the ninth order. These results are in very good agreement with the previous results obtained by the partial wave expansion and definitely exclude the possibility that the uncertainity in determination of the proton radius comes from the uncertainity in the calculation of the one-loop selfenergy.

Keywords: Hydrogen-like atoms, self-energy.

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Authors: Fred Lacy

Abstract:

Electrical resistivity is a fundamental parameter of metals or electrical conductors. Since resistivity is a function of temperature, in order to completely understand the behavior of metals, a temperature dependent theoretical model is needed. A model based on physics principles has recently been developed to obtain an equation that relates electrical resistivity to temperature. This equation is dependent upon a parameter associated with the electron travel time before being scattered, and a parameter that relates the energy of the atoms and their separation distance. Analysis of the energy parameter reveals that the equation is optimized if the proportionality term in the equation is not constant but varies over the temperature range. Additional analysis reveals that the theoretical equation can be used to determine the mean free path of conduction electrons, the number of defects in the atomic lattice, and the ‘equivalent’ charge associated with the metallic bonding of the atoms. All of this analysis provides validation for the theoretical model and provides insight into the behavior of metals where performance is affected by temperatures (e.g., integrated circuits and temperature sensors).

Keywords: Callendar–van Dusen, conductivity, mean free path, resistance temperature detector, temperature sensor.

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Authors: M.R. Isvandzibaei, M.R. Alinaghizadeh, A.H. Zaman

Abstract:

In the present work, study of the vibration of thin cylindrical shells made of a functionally gradient material (FGM) composed of stainless steel and nickel is presented. Material properties are graded in the thickness direction of the shell according to volume fraction power law distribution. The objective is to study the natural frequencies, the influence of constituent volume fractions and the effects of boundary conditions on the natural frequencies of the FG cylindrical shell. The study is carried out using third order shear deformation shell theory. The analysis is carried out using Hamilton's principle. The governing equations of motion of FG cylindrical shells are derived based on shear deformation theory. Results are presented on the frequency characteristics, influence of constituent volume fractions and the effects of clamped-free boundary conditions

Keywords: Vibration, FGM, cylindrical shell, Hamilton's principle, clamped supported.

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Authors: Hemani Kaushal, V.K.Jain, Subrat Kar

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The performance of ground to deep space optical communication systems is degraded by distortion of the beam as it propagates through the turbulent atmosphere. Turbulence causes fluctuations in the intensity of the received signal which ultimately affects the acquisition time required to acquire and locate the spaceborne target using narrow laser beam. In this paper, performance of free-space optical (FSO) communication system in atmospheric turbulence has been analyzed in terms of acquisition time for coherent and non-coherent modulation schemes. Numerical results presented in graphical and tabular forms show that the acquisition time increases with the increase in turbulence level. This is true for both schemes. The BPSK has lowest acquisition time among all schemes. In non-coherent schemes, M-PPM performs better than the other schemes. With the increase in M, acquisition time becomes lower, but at the cost of increase in system complexity.

Keywords: Atmospheric Turbulence, Acquisition Time, BinaryPhase Shift Keying (BPSK), Free-Space Optical (FSO)Communication System, M-ary Pulse Position Modulation (M-PPM), Coherent/Non-coherent Modulation Schemes.

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Authors: Mustafa Altin, Sakir Tasdemir, Gamze Fahriye Pehlivan, Sadiye Didem Boztepe Erkis, Sevda Altin

Abstract:

In this study, an experiment was executed related to the strength of wooden materials which have been commonly used both in the past and present against pressure and whether fire retardant materials used against fire have any effects or not. Totally 81 samples which included 3 different wood species, 3 different sizes, 2 different fire retardants and 2 unprocessed samples were prepared. Compressive pressure tests were applied to the prepared samples, their variance analyses were executed in accordance with the obtained results and it was aimed to determine the most convenient wooden materials and fire-retardant coating material. It was also determined that the species of wood and the species of coating caused the decrease and/or increase in the resistance against pressure.

Keywords: Resistance of wood against pressure, species of wood, variance analysis, wood coating, wood fire safety.

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Authors: Nameesh Miglani, Rajeev Saha, R. S. Parihar

Abstract:

Estimation of the quality regarding higher education within a university is practically long drawn process besides being difficult to measure primarily due to lack of a standard scale. National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) evolved a methodology of assessment which involves self-appraisal by each university/college and an assessment of performance by an expert committee. The attributes involved in assessing a university may not be totally independent from each other thereby necessitating the consideration of interdependencies. The present study focuses on evaluation of assessment criteria using graph theoretic approach and fuzzy treatment of data collected from the students. The technique will provide a suitable platform to university management team to cross check assessment of education quality by considering interdependencies of the attributes using graph theory.

Keywords: Graph theory, NAAC accreditation criteria, Indian University accreditation process.

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Authors: Hyun June Kim, Tailong Shi, Seden Akdagli, Sam Most, Yuling Yan

Abstract:

Quantitative analyses of whisker movements provide a means to study functional recovery and regeneration of mouse facial nerve after an injury. However, accurate tracking of the mouse whisker movement is challenging. Most methods for whisker tracking require manual intervention, e.g. fixing the head of the mouse during a study. Here we describe a semi-automated image processing method, which is applied to high-speed video recordings of free-moving mice to track the whisker movements. We first track the head movement of a mouse by delineating the lower head contour frame-by-frame that allows for detection of the location and orientation of the head. Then, a region of interest is identified for each frame; the subsequent application of a mask and the Hough transform detects the selected whiskers on each side of the head. Our approach is used to examine the functional recovery of damaged facial nerves in mice over a course of 21 days.

Keywords: Mystacial macrovibrissae, whisker tracking, head tracking, facial nerve recovery.

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Authors: Prabh Preet Singh, Harpreet Kaur

Abstract:

This paper presents a method for single image dehazing based on dark channel prior (DCP). The property that the intensity of the dark channel gives an approximate thickness of the haze is used to estimate the transmission and atmospheric light. Instead of constant atmospheric light, the proposed method employs scene depth to estimate spatially varying atmospheric light as it truly occurs in nature. Haze imaging model together with the soft matting method has been used in this work to produce high quality haze free image. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach produces better results than the classic DCP approach as color fidelity and contrast of haze free image are improved and no over-saturation in the sky region is observed. Further, lifting Haar wavelet transform is employed to reduce overall execution time by a factor of two to three as compared to the conventional approach.

Keywords: Depth based atmospheric light, dark channel prior, lifting wavelet.

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Authors: Indunil Jayatilake, Warna Karunasena, Weena Lokuge

Abstract:

An Australian manufacturer has fabricated an innovative GFRP sandwich panel made from E-glass fiber skin and a modified phenolic core for structural applications. Debonding, which refers to separation of skin from the core material in composite sandwiches, is one of the most common types of damage in composites. The presence of debonding is of great concern because it not only severely affects the stiffness but also modifies the dynamic behaviour of the structure. Generally it is seen that the majority of research carried out has been concerned about the delamination of laminated structures whereas skin-core debonding has received relatively minor attention. Furthermore it is observed that research done on composite slabs having multiple skin-core debonding is very limited. To address this gap, a comprehensive research investigating dynamic behaviour of composite panels with single and multiple debonding is presented. The study uses finite-element modelling and analyses for investigating the influence of debonding on free vibration behaviour of single and multilayer composite sandwich panels. A broad parametric investigation has been carried out by varying debonding locations, debonding sizes and support conditions of the panels in view of both single and multiple debonding. Numerical models were developed with Strand7 finite element package by innovatively selecting the suitable elements to diligently represent their actual behavior. Three-dimensional finite element models were employed to simulate the physically real situation as close as possible, with the use of an experimentally and numerically validated finite element model. Comparative results and conclusions based on the analyses are presented. For similar extents and locations of debonding, the effect of debonding on natural frequencies appears greatly dependent on the end conditions of the panel, giving greater decrease in natural frequency when the panels are more restrained. Some modes are more sensitive to debonding and this sensitivity seems to be related to their vibration mode shapes. The fundamental mode seems generally the least sensitive mode to debonding with respect to the variation in free vibration characteristics. The results indicate the effectiveness of the developed three dimensional finite element models in assessing debonding damage in composite sandwich panels.

Keywords: Debonding, free vibration behaviour, GFRP sandwich panels, three dimensional finite element modelling.

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Authors: Laith Jaafer Habeeb

Abstract:

The present work is concerned with the free convective two dimensional flow and heat transfer, in isotropic fluid filled porous rectangular enclosure with differentially heated walls for steady state incompressible flow have been investigated for non- Darcy flow model. Effects of Darcy number (0.0001 £Da£ 10), Rayleigh number (10 £Ra£ 5000), and aspect ratio (0.25 £AR£ 4), for a range of porosity (0.4 £e£ 0.9) with and without moving lower wall have been studied. The cavity was insulated at the lower and upper surfaces. The right and left heated surfaces allows convective transport through the porous medium, generating a thermal stratification and flow circulations. It was found that the Darcy number, Rayleigh number, aspect ratio, and porosity considerably influenced characteristics of flow and heat transfer mechanisms. The results obtained are discussed in terms of the Nusselt number, vectors, contours, and isotherms.

Keywords: Numerical study, moving-wall cavity flow, saturated porous medium, different Darcy and Rayleigh numbers.

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Authors: Lertchai Ratana-Arporn, Aphisith Angkhanit

Abstract:

The objective of this study was to develop safety practices which is suitable for Thai industrial operators from Incident and Injury Free, IIF to create safety behavior and reduce the un-safe records in the petroleum industry. A number of 310 technicians i.e., 295 males and 15 females, in service maintenance section participated in this program. The safety attitude level and safety behavior level for pre-attended and post-attended the developed safety practices of the technicians were evaluated using questionnaire procedure and on-site observation. After applied the developed practice program, both of the safety attitudes and safety behavior were increased to be at very good level and good level, respectively. Evaluating the follow-up unsafe records, it was found that the injury was reduced from 0.11 to 0 case/month, the medical treatment case was reduced from 0.22 to 0 case/month and the first aid case was reduced from 1 to 0.33 case/month. The developed safety working practice was successfully implemented to Thai industrial operators.

Keywords: Incident and Injury Free, safety practices, Thai industrial operators, "WeCare".

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Authors: P. Paengkoum, A. Lukkananukool, S. Bureenok, Y. Kawamoto, Y. Imura, J. Mitchaothai, S. Paengkoum, S. Traiyakun

Abstract:

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of tropical forage source and feeding system on fatty acid composition and antioxidant activity in meat goats. Twenty male crossbred goats (Boer x Saanen), were included in the current study and the study design was assigned to be a 2 x 3 factorial in completely randomized design. All goats were slaughtered after 120 days of experimental period. Dietary tropical roughage sources were grass (Mulata II) and legume (Verano stylo). Both types of roughage were offered to the experimental meat goat as 3 feeding regimes; cut-and-carry, silage and grazing. All goats were fed basal concentrate diet at 1.5% of body weight, and they were fed ad libitum the roughages.Chemical composition, fatty acid profile and antioxidation activity of dietary treatments in all feeding system and longissimus dorsi (LD) muscles in all groups were quantified. The results have shown that the fat content in both types of studied roughage sources ranged from about 2.0% to 4.0% of DM and the fatty acid composition of those was mainly C16:0, C18:2n6 and C18:3n3, with less proportion for C18:1n9. The free-radical scavenging activity of the Mulato II was lower than that of the Verano stylo. The free-radical scavenging activity of the Mulato II was lower than that of the Verano stylo. For LD muscle, the fatty acid composition was mainly C16:0, C18:0 and C18:1n9, with less proportion for C18:2n6. The LD muscle of the goats fed with Mulato II and the Verano stylo by grazing had highest free-radical scavenging activity, compared to those fed with cut-and-carry and silage regime, although there were rather high unsaturated fatty acids in LD muscle. Thus, feeding the meat goats with the Mulato II and Verano stylo by grazing would be beneficial effect for consumers to intake high unsaturated fatty acids and lower risk for oxidation from goat meat.

Keywords: Feeding system, goat, CLA, meat.

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Authors: Yunxia Zhang, Jiti Zhou, Jianbo Guo, Xiuhong Zhang, Lihong Zhao, Shouzhi Yuan

Abstract:

Novel nitrogen removal technologies via nitrite pathway attract increasing interest in recent years. In this study, batch experiments were performed to investigate nitrite accumulation characteristics and shifts in nitrifying community structure at different growth environments including ammonia concentration, pH and alkalinity. It was found that nitrite accumulation ratios were maintained at around 95% at studied conditions, and the optimum pH and Alk/N (ratio between alkalinity and nitrogen) for ammonium oxidization were 8.5 and 8.33, respectively. Fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis of nitrifying bacteria showed that high free ammonia (from influent ammonium or caused by high pH) significantly altered the structure of nitrifying community, leading to abundance of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB), especially Nitrososmonas, and inhibition of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB). The results suggest that free ammonia plays more important role than other studied conditions on nitrite accumulation.

Keywords: Partial nitrification, Nitrite accumulation, Nitrifyingbacteria, Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH).

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Authors: Ahmed M. Farag, Wael F. Mohamed, Atef A. Ata, Burhamy M. Burhamy

Abstract:

The main objective of the present paper is to derive an easy numerical technique for the analysis of the free vibration through the stepped regions of plates. Based on the utilities of the step by step integration initial values IV and Finite differences FD methods, the present improved Initial Value Finite Differences (IVFD) technique is achieved. The first initial conditions are formulated in convenient forms for the step by step integrations while the upper and lower edge conditions are expressed in finite difference modes. Also compatibility conditions are created due to the sudden variation of plate thickness. The present method (IVFD) is applied to solve the fourth order partial differential equation of motion for stepped plate across two different panels under the sudden step compatibility in addition to different types of end conditions. The obtained results are examined and the validity of the present method is proved showing excellent efficiency and rapid convergence.

Keywords: Vibrations, Step by Step Integration, Stepped plate, Boundary.

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Authors: Dhananjay C. Joshi, Jung-Hsin Lin

Abstract:

Protein-protein interactions (PPI) play a crucial role in many biological processes such as cell signalling, transcription, translation, replication, signal transduction, and drug targeting, etc. Structural information about protein-protein interaction is essential for understanding the molecular mechanisms of these processes. Structures of protein-protein complexes are still difficult to obtain by biophysical methods such as NMR and X-ray crystallography, and therefore protein-protein docking computation is considered an important approach for understanding protein-protein interactions. However, reliable prediction of the protein-protein complexes is still under way. In the past decades, several grid-based docking algorithms based on the Katchalski-Katzir scoring scheme were developed, e.g., FTDock, ZDOCK, HADDOCK, RosettaDock, HEX, etc. However, the success rate of protein-protein docking prediction is still far from ideal. In this work, we first propose a more practical measure for evaluating the success of protein-protein docking predictions,the rate of first success (RFS), which is similar to the concept of mean first passage time (MFPT). Accordingly, we have assessed the ZDOCK bound and unbound benchmarks 2.0 and 3.0. We also createda new benchmark set for protein-protein docking predictions, in which the complexes have experimentally determined binding affinity data. We performed free energy calculation based on the solution of non-linear Poisson-Boltzmann equation (nlPBE) to improve the binding mode prediction. We used the well-studied thebarnase-barstarsystem to validate the parameters for free energy calculations. Besides,thenlPBE-based free energy calculations were conducted for the badly predicted cases by ZDOCK and ZRANK. We found that direct molecular mechanics energetics cannot be used to discriminate the native binding pose from the decoys.Our results indicate that nlPBE-based calculations appeared to be one of the promising approaches for improving the success rate of binding pose predictions.

Keywords: protein-protein docking, protein-protein interaction, molecular mechanics energetics, Poisson-Boltzmann calculations

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Authors: Tanveer A. Khan, Xue Y. Deng, Yan K. Wang, Xu Si-Wen

Abstract:

Experiments have been carried out at sub-critical Reynolds number to investigate free-to-roll motions induced by forebody and/or wings complex flow on a 30° swept back nonslender wings-slender body-model for static and dynamic (pitch-up) cases. For the dynamic (pitch-up) case it has been observed that roll amplitude decreases and lag increases with increase in pitching speed. Decrease in roll amplitude with increase in pitch rate is attributed to low disturbing rolling moment due to weaker interaction between forebody and wing flow components. Asymmetric forebody vortices dominate and control the roll motion of the model in dynamic case when non-dimensional pitch rate ≥ 1x10-2. Effectiveness of the active control scheme utilizing rotating nose with artificial tip perturbation is observed to be low in the angle of attack region where the complex flow over the wings has contributions from both forebody and wings.

Keywords: Artificial Tip Perturbation, ExperimentalInvestigations, Forebody Asymmetric Vortices, Non-slender Wings-Body Model, Wing Rock

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