Scholarly

Body Mass Index for Australian Athletes Participating in Rugby Union, Soccer and Touch Football at the World Masters Games

Year: 2011 Volume: 5 Issue: 5 201 - 204 Pages

Abstract: Whilst there is growing evidence that activity across the lifespan is beneficial for improved health, there are also many changes involved with the aging process and subsequently the potential for reduced indices of health. Data gathered on a subsample of 535 football code athletes, aged 31-72 yrs ( = 47.4, s = ±7.1), competing at the Sydney World Masters Games (2009) demonstrated a significantly (p < 0.001), reduced classification of obesity using Body Mass Index (BMI) when compared to the general Australian population. This evidence of improved classification in one index of health (BMI < 30) for master athletes (when compared to the general population) implies there are either improved levels of this index of health due to adherence to sport or possibly the reduced BMI is advantageous and contributes to this cohort adhering (or being attracted) to masters sport. Demonstration of this proportionately under-investigated World Masters Games population having improved health over the general population is of particular interest.

A Comparison of Inflow Generation Methods for Large-Eddy Simulation

Year: 2012 Volume: 6 Issue: 8 1414 - 1419 Pages

Abstract: A study of various turbulent inflow generation methods was performed to compare their relative effectiveness for LES computations of turbulent boundary layers. This study confirmed the quality of the turbulent information produced by the family of recycling and rescaling methods which take information from within the computational domain. Furthermore, more general inflow methods also proved applicable to such simulations, with a precursor-like inflow and a random inflow augmented with forcing planes showing promising results.

Numerical Analysis of a Centrifugal Fan for Improved Performance using Splitter Vanes

Year: 2009 Volume: 3 Issue: 12 1449 - 1455 Pages

Abstract: The flow field in a centrifugal fan is highly complex with flow reversal taking place on the suction side of impeller and diffuser vanes. Generally performance of the centrifugal fan could be enhanced by judiciously introducing splitter vanes so as to improve the diffusion process. An extensive numerical whole field analysis on the effect of splitter vanes placed in discrete regions of suspected separation points is possible using CFD. This paper examines the effect of splitter vanes corresponding to various geometrical locations on the impeller and diffuser. The analysis shows that the splitter vanes located near the diffuser exit improves the static pressure recovery across the diffusing domain to a larger extent. Also it is found that splitter vanes located at the impeller trailing edge and diffuser leading edge at the mid-span of the circumferential distance between the blades show a marginal improvement in the static pressure recovery across the fan. However, splitters provided near to the suction side of the impeller trailing edge (25% of the circumferential gap between the impeller blades towards the suction side), adversely affect the static pressure recovery of the fan.

Screening and Identification of Microorganisms – Potential Producers of Arachidonic Acid

Year: 2013 Volume: 7 Issue: 7 494 - 497 Pages

Abstract: Microorganisms isolated from water and soil of Kazakhstan to identify potential high-effective producers of the arachidonic acid, exhibiting a wide range of physiological activity and having practical applications were screened. Based on the results of two independent tests (the test on the sensitivity of the growth processes of microorganisms to acetylsalicylic acid - an irreversible inhibitor of PGH-synthase involved in the metabolism of arachidonic acid and its derivatives, the test for inhibition of peroxidase activity of membrane-bounding fraction of PGH - synthase by acetylsalicylic acid) were selected microbial cultures which are potential highproducer of arachidonic acid. They are characterized by a stable strong growth in the laboratory conditions. Identification of microorganism cultures based on morphological, physiological, biochemical and molecular genetic characteristics was performed.

A Simple Constellation Precoding Technique over MIMO-OFDM Systems

Year: 2010 Volume: 4 Issue: 5 782 - 786 Pages

Abstract: This paper studies the design of a simple constellation precoding for a multiple-input multiple-output orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) system over Rayleigh fading channels where OFDM is used to keep the diversity replicas orthogonal and reduce ISI effects. A multi-user environment with K synchronous co-channel users is considered. The proposed scheme provides a bandwidth efficient transmission for individual users by increasing the system throughput. In comparison with the existing coded MIMO-OFDM schemes, the precoding technique is designed under the consideration of its low implementation complexity while providing a comparable error performance to the existing schemes. Analytic and simulation results have been presented to show the distinguished error performance.

Dynamic Inverted Index Maintenance

Year: 2007 Volume: 1 Issue: 11 3393 - 3398 Pages

Authors:
Leo Galambos

Abstract: The majority of today's IR systems base the IR task on two main processes: indexing and searching. There exists a special group of dynamic IR systems where both processes (indexing and searching) happen simultaneously; such a system discards obsolete information, simultaneously dealing with the insertion of new in¬formation, while still answering user queries. In these dynamic, time critical text document databases, it is often important to modify index structures quickly, as documents arrive. This paper presents a method for dynamization which may be used for this task. Experimental results show that the dynamization process is possible and that it guarantees the response time for the query operation and index actualization.

Calibration of Parallel Multi-View Cameras

Year: 2011 Volume: 5 Issue: 11 2143 - 2150 Pages

Abstract: This paper focuses on the calibration problem of a multi-view shooting system designed for the production of 3D content for auto-stereoscopic visualization. The considered multiview camera is characterized by coplanar and decentered image sensors regarding to the corresponding optical axis. Based on the Faugéras and Toscani-s calibration approach, a calibration method is herein proposed for the case of multi-view camera with parallel and decentered image sensors. At first, the geometrical model of the shooting system is recalled and some industrial prototypes with some shooting simulations are presented. Next, the development of the proposed calibration method is detailed. Finally, some simulation results are presented before ending with some conclusions about this work.

How Can We Carry Out Green Incentives Most Efficiently?

Year: 2009 Volume: 3 Issue: 6 644 - 649 Pages

Authors:
Peter Yang

Abstract: Green incentives are included in the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009" (ARRA). It is, however, unclear how these government incentives can be carried out most effectively according to market-based principles and if they can serve as a catalyst for an accelerated green transformation and an ultimate solution to the current U.S. and global economic and financial crisis. The article will compare the existing U.S. green economic policies with those in Germany, identify problems, and suggest improvements to allow the green stimulus incentives to achieve the best results in the process of an accelerated green transformation. The author argues that the current U.S. green stimulus incentives can only be most successful if they are carried out as part of a visionary, comprehensive, long-term, and consistent strategy of the green economic transformation.

Percolation Transition with Hidden Variables in Complex Networks

Year: 2010 Volume: 4 Issue: 12 1463 - 1466 Pages

Abstract: A new class of percolation model in complex networks, in which nodes are characterized by hidden variables reflecting the properties of nodes and the occupied probability of each link is determined by the hidden variables of the end nodes, is studied in this paper. By the mean field theory, the analytical expressions for the phase of percolation transition is deduced. It is determined by the distribution of the hidden variables for the nodes and the occupied probability between pairs of them. Moreover, the analytical expressions obtained are checked by means of numerical simulations on a particular model. Besides, the general model can be applied to describe and control practical diffusion models, such as disease diffusion model, scientists cooperation networks, and so on.

Demonstration of a Low-Cost Monocycle Pulse for UWB Radio Transceiver

Year: 2010 Volume: 4 Issue: 12 1708 - 1710 Pages

Abstract: This paper presents a simple and original method for the generation of short monocycle pulses based on the transient response of a passive band-pass filter. The recorded sub-nanosecond pulses show a good symmetry and a small ringing (13 % of the peak amplitude). Their spectral density covers the range 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz. The possibility to adapt the pulse spectral density to the indoor FCC frequency mask is demonstrated with a prototype working at a reduced frequency (FCC/1000). A detection technique is proposed.

Support Vector Machines For Understanding Lane Color and Sidewalks

Year: 2009 Volume: 3 Issue: 2 287 - 290 Pages

Abstract: Understanding road features such as lanes, the color of lanes, and sidewalks in a live video captured from a moving vehicle is essential to build video-based navigation systems. In this paper, we present a novel idea to understand the road features using support vector machines. Various feature vectors including color components of road markings and the difference between two regions, i.e., chosen AOIs, and so on are fed into SVM, deciding colors of lanes and sidewalks robustly. Experimental results are provided to show the robustness of the proposed idea.

Performance Enhancement of Membrane Distillation Process in Fruit Juice Concentration by Membrane Surface Modification

Year: 2010 Volume: 4 Issue: 12 875 - 880 Pages

Abstract: In this work Membrane Distillation is applied to concentrate orange Juice. Clarified orange juice (11o Brix) obtained from fresh fruits and a sugar solution was subjected to membrane distillation. The experiments were performed on a flat sheet module using orange juice and sucrose solution as feeds. The concentration of a sucrose solution, used as a model fruit juice and also orange juice, was carried out in a direct contact membrane distillation using hydrophobic PTFE membrane of pore size 0.2 μm and porosity 70%. Surface modification of PTFE membrane has been carried out by treating membrane with alcohol and water solution to make it hydrophilic and then hydrophobicity was regained by drying. The influences of the feed temperature, feed concentration, flow rate, operating time on the permeate flux were studied for treated and non treated membrane. In this work treated and non treated membrane were compared in terms of water flux, Within the tested range, MD with surface modified membrane the water flux has been significantly improved by treating the membrane surface.

Optimization of Pretreatment and Enzymatic Saccharification of Cogon Grass Prior Ethanol Production

Year: 2013 Volume: 7 Issue: 5 251 - 254 Pages

Abstract: The dilute acid pretreatment and enzymatic saccharification of lignocellulosic substrate, cogon grass (Imperata cylindrical, L.) was optimized prior ethanol fermentation using simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) method. The optimum pretreatment conditions, temperature, sulfuric acid concentration, and reaction time were evaluated by determining the maximum sugar yield at constant enzyme loading. Cogon grass, at 10% w/v substrate loading, has optimum pretreatment conditions of 126°C, 0.6% v/v H2SO4, and 20min reaction time. These pretreatment conditions were used to optimize enzymatic saccharification using different enzyme combinations. The maximum saccharification yield of 36.68mg/mL (71.29% reducing sugar) was obtained using 25FPU/g-cellulose cellulase complex combined with 1.1% w/w of cellobiase, ß-glucosidase, and 0.225% w/w of hemicellulase complex, after 96 hours of saccharification. Using the optimum pretreatment and saccharification conditions, SSF of treated substrates was done at 37°C for 120 hours using industrial yeast strain HBY3, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The ethanol yield for cogon grass at 4% w/w loading was 9.11g/L with 5.74mg/mL total residual sugar.

Recovering Artifacts from Legacy Systems Using Pattern Matching

Year: 2008 Volume: 2 Issue: 10 3296 - 3300 Pages

Abstract: Modernizing legacy applications is the key issue facing IT managers today because there's enormous pressure on organizations to change the way they run their business to meet the new requirements. The importance of software maintenance and reengineering is forever increasing. Understanding the architecture of existing legacy applications is the most critical issue for maintenance and reengineering. The artifacts recovery can be facilitated with different recovery approaches, methods and tools. The existing methods provide static and dynamic set of techniques for extracting architectural information, but are not suitable for all users in different domains. This paper presents a simple and lightweight pattern extraction technique to extract different artifacts from legacy systems using regular expression pattern specifications with multiple language support. We used our custom-built tool DRT to recover artifacts from existing system at different levels of abstractions. In order to evaluate our approach a case study is conducted.

Effects of Salinity and Drought Levels in Seed Germination of Five Crop Species

Year: 2010 Volume: 4 Issue: 8 501 - 504 Pages

Abstract: The heterotrophic seedling growth can be defined as a product of two components: (1) the weight of mobilized seed reserve, and (2) conversion efficiency of utilized seed reserve to seedling tissue. The first component can be further divided into (1) initial seed weight, and (2) the fraction of seed reserve, which is mobilized. The objective of this study was the identification of the sensitive seedling growth component(s) in response to drought and salinity stresses. Two experiments were separately conducted using various salinity levels (osmotic pressure) of 0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1, 1.25 and 1.5 MPa created using NaCl as first experiment and by polyethylene glycol (drought stress) of 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1, 1.2 and 1.4 MPa in second experiment. Seeds of five crops species (Hordeum vulgare, Brassica napus, Zea mays, Medicago sativa and Medicago scutellata) were used in each experiment. In both experiments, seedling growth, fraction of seed reserve utilization and weight of mobilized seed reserve decreased with increasing drought and salt intensity. However, drought and salinity stresses had no effect on the conversion efficiency. It was concluded that the sensitive component of seedling growth is the weight of mobilized seed reserve.

Optical Induction of 2D and 3D Photonic Lattices in Photorefractive Materials based on Talbot effect

Year: 2012 Volume: 6 Issue: 3 179 - 183 Pages

Abstract: In this paper we report the technique of optical induction of 2 and 3-dimensional (2D and 3D) photonic lattices in photorefractive materials based on diffraction grating self replication -Talbot effect. 1D and 2D different rotational symmery diffraction masks with the periods of few tens micrometers and 532 nm cw laser beam were used in the experiments to form an intensity modulated light beam profile. A few hundred micrometric scale replications of mask generated intensity structures along the beam propagation axis were observed. Up to 20 high contrast replications were detected for 1D annular mask with 30

Characteristics of Turbulent Round Jets in its Potential-Core Region

Year: 2012 Volume: 6 Issue: 1 8 - 14 Pages

Abstract: In this work, stationary hot-wire measurements are carried out to investigate the characteristics of a round free jet in its potential core region (0 ≤ x/d ≤ 10). Measurements are carried out on an incompressible round jet for a range of Reynolds numbers from 4000 to 8000, calculated based on the jet exit mean velocity and the nozzle diameter. The effect of flow velocity on the development characteristics of the jet in the core region is analyzed. Timeaveraged statistics, spectra of velocity and its higher order moments are presented and explained.

An E-Learning Tool for The Self-Study of Mathematics for the CPE Examination

Year: 2010 Volume: 4 Issue: 10 2019 - 2024 Pages

Abstract: In this paper, we give an overview of an online elearning tool which has been developed for kids aged from nine to eleven years old in Mauritius for the self-study of Mathematics in order to prepare them for the CPE examination. The software does not intend to render obsolete the existing pedagogical approaches. Nowadays, the teaching-learning process is mainly focused towards the class-room model. Moreover, most of the e-learning platforms that exist are simply static ways of delivering resources using the internet. There is nearly no interaction between the learner and the tool. Our application will enable students to practice exercises online and also work out sample examination papers. Another interesting feature is that the kid will not have to wait for someone to correct the work as the correction will be done online and on the spot. Additional feedback is also provided for some exercises.

Effect of Preloading on the Contact Stress Distribution of a Dovetail Interface

Year: 2010 Volume: 4 Issue: 10 935 - 940 Pages

Abstract: This paper presents the influence of preloading on a) the contact tractions, b) slip levels and c) stresses at the dovetail blade-disc interface of an aero-engine through a three-dimensional (3D) finite element (FE) modeling and analysis. The preloading is applied by an interference fit at the dovetail interface and the bulk loading is applied through the rotational speed of rotor. Preloading at the dovetail interface reduces the peak contact pressure developed due to bulk loading up to 35%, and reduces the peak contact pressure and stress difference between top and bottom contact edges. Increasing the level of preloading reduces the cyclic stress amplitude at the interface up to certain values of preload and as a consequence, an improvement in fatigue life could be expected. Fretting damage, due to vibration and wind milling effect during engine ground condition, can be minimized by preloading the dovetail interface.

High Efficiency Class-F Power Amplifier Design

Year: 2013 Volume: 7 Issue: 12 1552 - 1554 Pages

Authors:
Abdalla Mohamed Eblabla

Abstract: Due to the high increase in and demand for a wide assortment of applications that require low-cost, high-efficiency, and compact systems, RF power amplifiers are considered the most critical design blocks and power consuming components in wireless communication, TV transmission, radar, and RF heating. Therefore, much research has been carried out in order to improve the performance of power amplifiers. Classes-A, B, C, D, E and F are the main techniques for realizing power amplifiers. An implementation of high efficiency class-F power amplifier with Gallium Nitride (GaN) High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT) was realized in this paper. The simulation and optimization of the class-F power amplifier circuit model was undertaken using Agilent’s Advanced Design system (ADS). The circuit was designed using lumped elements.

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