Abstract: In geophysical exploration surveys, the quality of acquired data holds significant importance before executing the data processing and interpretation phases. In this study, 2D seismic reflection survey data of Fort Abbas area, Cholistan Desert, Pakistan was taken as test case in order to assess its quality on statistical bases by using normalized root mean square error (NRMSE), Cronbach’s alpha test (α) and null hypothesis tests (t-test and F-test). The analysis challenged the quality of the acquired data and highlighted the significant errors in the acquired database. It is proven that the study area is plain, tectonically least affected and rich in oil and gas reserves. However, subsurface 3D modeling and contouring by using acquired database revealed high degrees of structural complexities and intense folding. The NRMSE had highest percentage of residuals between the estimated and predicted cases. The outcomes of hypothesis testing also proved the biasness and erraticness of the acquired database. Low estimated value of alpha (α) in Cronbach’s alpha test confirmed poor reliability of acquired database. A very low quality of acquired database needs excessive static correction or in some cases, reacquisition of data is also suggested which is most of the time not feasible on economic grounds. The outcomes of this study could be used to assess the quality of large databases and to further utilize as a guideline to establish database quality assessment models to make much more informed decisions in hydrocarbon exploration field.
Abstract: Simple design of a rotary valve system is capable of controlling intake and exhaust gases, which will eliminate the need of known complex mechanisms. The cost of material and production, maintenance, and noise level of the system can be further reduced. The new mechanism enables the elimination of the overlapping of valves work that reduces gas leakage. This paper examines theoretically the gas flow through the holes of a rotary valve design in a small engine. Preliminary results show that the new gas flow has many positive differences than a conventional poppet-valve system. New dependencies on the gas speed enable the finding of better solutions for the geometry of a rotary valve system that will result in a higher efficiency of an internal-combustion engine of the automotive industry.
Abstract: Calcium oxide (CaO) as carbon dioxide (CO2)
adsorbent at the elevated temperature has been very well-received
thus far. The CaO can be synthesized from natural calcium carbonate
(CaCO3) sources through the reversible calcination-carbonation
process. In the study, cockle shell has been selected as CaO
precursors. The objectives of the study are to investigate the
performance of calcination and carbonation with respect to different
temperature, heating rate, particle size and the duration time. Overall,
better performance is shown at the calcination temperature of 850oC
for 40 minutes, heating rate of 20oC/min, particle size of < 0.125mm
and the carbonation temperature is at 650oC. The synthesized
materials have been characterized by nitrogen physisorption and
surface morphology analysis. The effectiveness of the synthesized
cockle shell in capturing CO2 (0.72 kg CO2/kg adsorbent) which is
comparable to the commercialized adsorbent (0.60 kg CO2/kg
adsorbent) makes them as the most promising materials for CO2
capture.
Abstract: Proteins or genes that have similar sequences are likely to perform the same function. One of the most widely used techniques for sequence comparison is sequence alignment. Sequence alignment allows mismatches and insertion/deletion, which represents biological mutations. Sequence alignment is usually performed only on two sequences. Multiple sequence alignment, is a natural extension of two-sequence alignment. In multiple sequence alignment, the emphasis is to find optimal alignment for a group of sequences. Several applicable techniques were observed in this research, from traditional method such as dynamic programming to the extend of widely used stochastic optimization method such as Genetic Algorithms (GAs) and Simulated Annealing. A framework with combination of Genetic Algorithm and Simulated Annealing is presented to solve Multiple Sequence Alignment problem. The Genetic Algorithm phase will try to find new region of solution while Simulated Annealing can be considered as an alignment improver for any near optimal solution produced by GAs.
Abstract: In this research, the main aim is to investigate the
antimicrobial effectiveness of ammonyx solutions finishing on
Sweatshirt Sport with immersion method. 60 Male healthy subjects
(football player) participated in this study. They were dressed in a
Sweatshirt for 14 days and some microbes found on them were
investigated. The antimicrobial effect of different ammonyx
solutions(1/100, 1/500, 1/1000, 1/2000 v/v solutions of Ammonyx)
on the identified microbes was studied by the zone inhabitation
method in vitro. In the next step the Sweatshirt Sports were treated
with the same different solutions of ammonyx and the antimicrobial
effectiveness was assessed by colony count method in different times
and the results were compared whit untreated ones. Some mechanical
properties of treated cotton/polyester yarn that used in Sweatshirt
Sport were measured after 30 days and were compared with
untreated one. Finally after finishing, scanning electron microscopy
(SEM) was used to compare the surfaces of the finished and
unfinished specimens. The results showed the presence of five
pathogenic microbes on Sweatshirt Sports such as Escherichia coli,
Staphylococcus aureus, Aspergillus, Mucor and Candida. The
inhalation time for treated on Sweatshirt Sports improved. The
amount of colony growth on treated clothes reduced considerably
and moreover the mechanical tests results showed no significant
deterioration effect of studies properties in comparison to the
untreated yarn. The visual examination of the SEM indicated that the
antimicrobial treatments were applied usefully to fabrics.
Abstract: A simple microstructure optical fiber design based on an octagonal cladding structure is presented for simultaneously controlling dispersion and leakage properties. The finite difference method with anisotropic perfectly matched boundary layer is used to investigate the guiding properties. It is demonstrated that octagonal photonic crystal fibers with four rings can assume negative ultra-flattened dispersion of -19 + 0.23 ps/nm/km in the wavelength range of 1.275 μm to 1.68 μm, nearly zero ultra-flattened dispersion of 0 ± 0.40 ps/nm/km in a 1.38 to 1.64 μm, and low confinement losses less than 10-3 dB/km in the entire band of interest.
Abstract: As the fossil fuels kept on depleting, intense research in developing hydrogen (H2) as the alternative fuel has been done to cater our tremendous demand for fuel. The potential of H2 as the ultimate clean fuel differs with the fossil fuel that releases significant amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the surrounding and leads to the global warming. The experimental work was carried out to study the production of H2 from palm kernel shell steam gasification at different variables such as heating rate, steam to biomass ratio and adsorbent to biomass ratio. Maximum H2 composition which is 61% (volume basis) was obtained at heating rate of 100oCmin-1, steam/biomass of 2:1 ratio, and adsorbent/biomass of 1:1 ratio. The commercial adsorbent had been modified by utilizing the alcoholwater mixture. Characteristics of both adsorbents were investigated and it is concluded that flowability and floodability of modified CaO is significantly improved.
Abstract: fibers of pure cellulose can be made from some bacteria such as acetobacter xylinum. Bacterial cellulose fibers are very pure, tens of nm across and about 0.5 micron long. The fibers are very stiff and, although nobody seems to have measured the strength of individual fibers. Their stiffness up to 70 GPa. Fundamental strengths should be at least greater than those of the best commercial polymers, but best bulk strength seems to about the same as that of steel. They can potentially be produced in industrial quantities at greatly lowered cost and water content, and with triple the yield, by a new process. This article presents a critical review of the available information on the bacterial cellulose as a biological nonwoven fabric with special emphasis on its fermentative production and applications. Characteristics of bacterial cellulose biofabric with respect to its structure and physicochemical properties are discussed. Current and potential applications of bacterial cellulose in textile, nonwoven cloth, paper, films synthetic fiber coating, food, pharmaceutical and other industries are also presented.
Abstract: In this paper by using the port-controlled Hamiltonian
(PCH) systems theory, a full-order nonlinear controlled model is first
developed. Then a nonlinear passivity-based robust adaptive control
(PBRAC) of switched reluctance motor in the presence of external
disturbances for the purpose of torque ripple reduction and
characteristic improvement is presented. The proposed controller
design is separated into the inner loop and the outer loop controller.
In the inner loop, passivity-based control is employed by using
energy shaping techniques to produce the proper switching function.
The outer loop control is employed by robust adaptive controller to
determine the appropriate Torque command. It can also overcome the
inherent nonlinear characteristics of the system and make the whole
system robust to uncertainties and bounded disturbances. A 4KW 8/6
SRM with experimental characteristics that takes magnetic saturation
into account is modeled, simulation results show that the proposed
scheme has good performance and practical application prospects.
Abstract: The present study investigates numerically the
phenomenon of vortex-shedding and its suppression in twodimensional
mixed convective flow past a square cylinder under the
joint influence of buoyancy and free-stream orientation with respect
to gravity. The numerical experiments have been conducted at a
fixed Reynolds number (Re) of 100 and Prandtl number (Pr) of 0.71,
while Richardson number (Ri) is varied from 0 to 1.6 and freestream
orientation, α, is kept in the range 0o≤ α ≤ 90o, with 0o
corresponding to an upward flow and 90o representing a cross-flow
scenario, respectively. The continuity, momentum and energy
equations, subject to Boussinesq approximation, are discretized using
a finite difference method and are solved by a semi-explicit pressure
correction scheme. The critical Richardson number, leading to the
suppression of the vortex-shedding (Ric), is estimated by using
Stuart-Landau theory at various free-stream orientations and the
neutral curve is obtained in the Ri-α plane. The neutral curve
exhibits an interesting non-monotonic behavior with Ric first
increasing with increasing values of α upto 45o and then decreasing
till 70o. Beyond 70o, the neutral curve again exhibits a sharp
increasing asymptotic trend with Ric approaching very large values
as α approaches 90o. The suppression of vortex shedding is not
observed at α = 90o (cross-flow). In the unsteady flow regime, the
Strouhal number (St) increases with the increase in Richardson
number.
Abstract: Most Decision Support Systems (DSS) for waste
management (WM) constructed are not widely marketed and lack
practical applications. This is due to the number of variables and
complexity of the mathematical models which include the
assumptions and constraints required in decision making. The
approach made by many researchers in DSS modelling is to isolate a
few key factors that have a significant influence to the DSS. This
segmented approach does not provide a thorough understanding of
the complex relationships of the many elements involved. The
various elements in constructing the DSS must be integrated and
optimized in order to produce a viable model that is marketable and
has practical application. The DSS model used in assisting decision
makers should be integrated with GIS, able to give robust prediction
despite the inherent uncertainties of waste generation and the plethora
of waste characteristics, and gives optimal allocation of waste stream
for recycling, incineration, landfill and composting.
Abstract: Protective clothing limits heat transfer and hampers
task performance due to the increased weight. Militarism protective
clothing enables humans to operate in adverse environments. In the
selection and evaluation of militarism protective clothing attention
should be given to heat strain, ergonomic and fit issues next to the
actual protection it offers.
Fifty Male healthy subjects participated in the study. The subjects
were dressed in shorts, T-shirts, socks, sneakers and four deferent
kinds of militarism protective clothing such as CS, CSB, CS with
NBC protection and CS with NBC- protection added.
Ergonomically and psychological strains of every four cloths were
investigated on subjects by walking on a treadmill (7km/hour) with a
19.7 kg backpack. As a result of these tests were showed that, the
highest heart rate was found wearing the NBC-protection added
outfit, the highest temperatures were observed wearing NBCprotection
added, followed by respectively CS with NBC protection,
CSB and CS and the highest value for thermal comfort (implying
worst thermal comfort) was observed wearing NBC-protection
added.