CO2 Abatement by Methanol Production from Flue-Gas in Methanol Plant

This study investigates CO2 mitigation by methanol synthesis from flue gas CO2 and H2 generation through water electrolysis. Electrolytic hydrogen generation is viable provided that the required electrical power is supplied from renewable energy resources; whereby power generation from renewable resources is yet commercial challenging. This approach contribute to zero-emission, moreover it produce oxygen which could be used as feedstock for chemical process. At ZPC, however, oxygen would be utilized through partial oxidation of methane in autothermal reactor (ATR); this makes ease the difficulties of O2 delivery and marketing. On the other hand, onboard hydrogen storage and consumption; in methanol plant; make the project economically more competitive.

Unscented Transformation for Estimating the Lyapunov Exponents of Chaotic Time Series Corrupted by Random Noise

Many systems in the natural world exhibit chaos or non-linear behavior, the complexity of which is so great that they appear to be random. Identification of chaos in experimental data is essential for characterizing the system and for analyzing the predictability of the data under analysis. The Lyapunov exponents provide a quantitative measure of the sensitivity to initial conditions and are the most useful dynamical diagnostic for chaotic systems. However, it is difficult to accurately estimate the Lyapunov exponents of chaotic signals which are corrupted by a random noise. In this work, a method for estimation of Lyapunov exponents from noisy time series using unscented transformation is proposed. The proposed methodology was validated using time series obtained from known chaotic maps. In this paper, the objective of the work, the proposed methodology and validation results are discussed in detail.

Analysis of Self Excited Induction Generator using Particle Swarm Optimization

In this paper, Novel method, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm, based technique is proposed to estimate and analyze the steady state performance of self-excited induction generator (SEIG). In this novel method the tedious job of deriving the complex coefficients of a polynomial equation and solving it, as in previous methods, is not required. By comparing the simulation results obtained by the proposed method with those obtained by the well known mathematical methods, a good agreement between these results is obtained. The comparison validates the effectiveness of the proposed technique.

Internal Force State Recognition of Jiujiang Bridge Based on Cable Force-displacement Relationship

The nearly 21-year-old Jiujiang Bridge, which is suffering from uneven line shape, constant great downwarping of the main beam and cracking of the box girder, needs reinforcement and cable adjustment. It has undergone cable adjustment for twice with incomplete data. Therefore, the initial internal force state of the Jiujiang Bridge is identified as the key for the cable adjustment project. Based on parameter identification by means of static force test data, this paper suggests determining the initial internal force state of the cable-stayed bridge according to the cable force-displacement relationship parameter identification method. That is, upon measuring the displacement and the change in cable forces for twice, one can identify the parameters concerned by means of optimization. This method is applied to the cable adjustment, replacement and reinforcement project for the Jiujiang Bridge as a guidance for the cable adjustment and reinforcement project of the bridge.

Injection Molding of Inconel718 Parts for Aerospace Application Using Novel Binder System Based On Palm Oil Derivatives

Inconel718 has been widely used as a super alloy in aerospace application due to the high strength at elevated temperatures, satisfactory oxidation resistance and heat corrosion resistance. In this study, the Inconel718 has been fabricated using high technology of Metal Injection Molding (MIM) process due to the cost effective technique for producing small, complex and precision parts in high volume compared with conventional method through machining. Through MIM, the binder system is one of the most important criteria in order to successfully fabricate the Inconel718. Even though, the binder system is a temporary, but failure in the selection and removal of the binder system will affect on the final properties of the sintered parts. Therefore, the binder system based on palm oil derivative which is palm stearin has been formulated and developed to replace the conventional binder system. The rheological studies of the mixture between the powder and binders system have been determined properly in order to be successful during injection into injection molding machine. After molding, the binder holds the particles in place. The binder system has to be removed completely through debinding step. During debinding step, solvent debinding and thermal pyrolysis has been used to remove completely of the binder system. The debound part is then sintered to give the required physical and mechanical properties. The results show that the properties of the final sintered parts fulfill the Standard Metal Powder Industries Federation (MPIF) 35 for MIM parts.

Organization as System, Psychic Dynamism as Equilibration: A Conceptualization

Organizations are supposed to be systems and consequently require defining the notion of equilibrium within. However, organizations comprise people and unavoidably entail their irrational aspects. Then, the question is what is the organizational equilibrium and equilibrating mechanisms considering these aspects. Hence, some arguments are provided here to conceptualize human unconsciousness, irrationalities and consequent uncertainties within organizations in the form of a system of psychic dynamism. The assumption is this dynamism maintains the psychic balance of the organization through a psychodynamic point of view. The resultant conceptualization expected to promote the understanding of such aspects in different organizational settings by hypothesizing organizational equilibration from this perspective. As a result, the main expectation is, if it is known that how the organization equilibrates in this sense, we can explain and deal with such irrationalities and unconsciousness by rational and, of course conscious, planning and accomplishing.

Automatic Sleep Stage Scoring with Wavelet Packets Based on Single EEG Recording

Sleep stage scoring is the process of classifying the stage of the sleep in which the subject is in. Sleep is classified into two states based on the constellation of physiological parameters. The two states are the non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and the rapid eye movement (REM). The NREM sleep is also classified into four stages (1-4). These states and the state wakefulness are distinguished from each other based on the brain activity. In this work, a classification method for automated sleep stage scoring based on a single EEG recording using wavelet packet decomposition was implemented. Thirty two ploysomnographic recording from the MIT-BIH database were used for training and validation of the proposed method. A single EEG recording was extracted and smoothed using Savitzky-Golay filter. Wavelet packets decomposition up to the fourth level based on 20th order Daubechies filter was used to extract features from the EEG signal. A features vector of 54 features was formed. It was reduced to a size of 25 using the gain ratio method and fed into a classifier of regression trees. The regression trees were trained using 67% of the records available. The records for training were selected based on cross validation of the records. The remaining of the records was used for testing the classifier. The overall correct rate of the proposed method was found to be around 75%, which is acceptable compared to the techniques in the literature.

Can Nipple Be Used as a Good Indicator of Breast in Breast Motion Research?

There were many studies on how to alleviate breast discomfort by reducing breast motion, in which nipple motion was used to represent breast motion. However, this assumption had not been experimentally validated. The aim of this paper was to experimentally validate if nipple can be used as a good indicator of breast. Seven participants (average of 24.4 years old) were recruited to walk and run on the treadmill at 5km h-1 and 10km h-1 respectively. Six markers were pasted on their bodies to collect motion data of different parts of breasts. The results of Friedman test combined with the relationship among the five markers on the same breast revealed that nipple could be used as a good indicator of breast. Wilcoxon test showed that there was no significant (P

The Coupling of Photocatalytic Oxidation Processes with Activated Carbon Technologies and the Comparison of the Treatment Methods for Organic Removal from Surface Water

The surface water used in this study was collected from the Chao Praya River at the lower part at the Nonthaburi bridge. It was collected and used throughout the experiment. TOC (also known as DOC) in the range between 2.5 to 5.6 mg/l were investigated in this experiment. The use of conventional treatment methods such as FeCl3 and PAC showed that TOC removal was 65% using FeCl3 and 78% using PAC (powder activated carbon). The advanced oxidation process alone showed only 35% removal of TOC. Coupling advanced oxidation with a small amount of PAC (0.05g/L) increased efficiency by upto 55%. The combined BAC with advanced oxidation process and small amount of PAC demonstrated the highest efficiency of up to 95% of TOC removal and lower sludge production compared with other methods.

Application of Boost Converter for Ride-through Capability of Adjustable Speed Drives during Sag and Swell Conditions

Process control and energy conservation are the two primary reasons for using an adjustable speed drive. However, voltage sags are the most important power quality problems facing many commercial and industrial customers. The development of boost converters has raised much excitement and speculation throughout the electric industry. Now utilities are looking to these devices for performance improvement and reliability in a variety of areas. Examples of these include sags, spikes, or transients in supply voltage as well as unbalanced voltages, poor electrical system grounding, and harmonics. In this paper, simulations results are presented for the verification of the proposed boost converter topology. Boost converter provides ride through capability during sag and swell. Further, input currents are near sinusoidal. This eliminates the need of braking resistor also.

The Effect of Ion Nitriding and Carbonitriding on Fretting Fatigue of Steels

The paper deals with the effect of ion nitriding and carbonitriding on fatigue strength of steel parts under the fretting conditions. Instrumented fatigue tests were carried out on surface treated flat bars from EA1N and EA4T steels with different strength. The chosen surfacing decrease importantly an unfavorable fretting effect. Nitridation suppressed the unfavorable effect of fretting almost entirely, while the influence of carbonitridation was less striking. The results were compared with those ones obtained on bars without surfacing. The causes of favorable influence of surfacing are discussed.

Analytical Solutions for Geodesic Acoustic Eigenmodes in Tokamak Plasmas

The analytical solutions for geodesic acoustic eigenmodes in tokamak plasmas with circular concentric magnetic surfaces are found. In the frame of ideal magnetohydrodynamics the dispersion relation taking into account the toroidal coupling between electrostatic perturbations and electromagnetic perturbations with poloidal mode number |m| = 2 is derived. In the absence of such a coupling the dispersion relation gives the standard continuous spectrum of geodesic acoustic modes. The analysis of the existence of global eigenmodes for plasma equilibria with both off-axis and on-axis maximum of the local geodesic acoustic frequency is performed.

Quantity and Quality Aware Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm for Clustering

Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) algorithm is a relatively new swarm intelligence technique for clustering. It produces higher quality clusters compared to other population-based algorithms but with poor energy efficiency, cluster quality consistency and typically slower in convergence speed. Inspired by energy saving foraging behavior of natural honey bees this paper presents a Quality and Quantity Aware Artificial Bee Colony (Q2ABC) algorithm to improve quality of cluster identification, energy efficiency and convergence speed of the original ABC. To evaluate the performance of Q2ABC algorithm, experiments were conducted on a suite of ten benchmark UCI datasets. The results demonstrate Q2ABC outperformed ABC and K-means algorithm in the quality of clusters delivered.

Design Optimization of Cutting Parameters when Turning Inconel 718 with Cermet Inserts

Inconel 718, a nickel based super-alloy is an extensively used alloy, accounting for about 50% by weight of materials used in an aerospace engine, mainly in the gas turbine compartment. This is owing to their outstanding strength and oxidation resistance at elevated temperatures in excess of 5500 C. Machining is a requisite operation in the aircraft industries for the manufacture of the components especially for gas turbines. This paper is concerned with optimization of the surface roughness when turning Inconel 718 with cermet inserts. Optimization of turning operation is very useful to reduce cost and time for machining. The approach is based on Response Surface Method (RSM). In this work, second-order quadratic models are developed for surface roughness, considering the cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut as the cutting parameters, using central composite design. The developed models are used to determine the optimum machining parameters. These optimized machining parameters are validated experimentally, and it is observed that the response values are in reasonable agreement with the predicted values.

Modeling, Simulation and Monitoring of Nuclear Reactor Using Directed Graph and Bond Graph

The main objective developed in this paper is to find a graphic technique for modeling, simulation and diagnosis of the industrial systems. This importance is much apparent when it is about a complex system such as the nuclear reactor with pressurized water of several form with various several non-linearity and time scales. In this case the analytical approach is heavy and does not give a fast idea on the evolution of the system. The tool Bond Graph enabled us to transform the analytical model into graphic model and the software of simulation SYMBOLS 2000 specific to the Bond Graphs made it possible to validate and have the results given by the technical specifications. We introduce the analysis of the problem involved in the faults localization and identification in the complex industrial processes. We propose a method of fault detection applied to the diagnosis and to determine the gravity of a detected fault. We show the possibilities of application of the new diagnosis approaches to the complex system control. The industrial systems became increasingly complex with the faults diagnosis procedures in the physical systems prove to become very complex as soon as the systems considered are not elementary any more. Indeed, in front of this complexity, we chose to make recourse to Fault Detection and Isolation method (FDI) by the analysis of the problem of its control and to conceive a reliable system of diagnosis making it possible to apprehend the complex dynamic systems spatially distributed applied to the standard pressurized water nuclear reactor.

Performance Optimization of Data Mining Application Using Radial Basis Function Classifier

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

Enhanced Parallel-Connected Comb Filter Method for Multiple Pitch Estimation

This paper presents an improvement method of the multiple pitch estimation algorithm using comb filters. Conventionally the pitch was estimated by using parallel -connected comb filters method (PCF). However, PCF has problems which often fail in the pitch estimation when there is the fundamental frequency of higher tone near harmonics of lower tone. Therefore the estimation is assigned to a wrong note when shared frequencies happen. This issue often occurs in estimating octave 3 or more. Proposed method, for solving the problem, estimates the pitch with every harmonic instead of every octave. As a result, our method reaches the accuracy of more than 80%.

Effects of Mold Surface Roughness on Compressible Flow of Micro-Injection Molding

Polymer melt compressibility and mold surface roughness, which are generally ignored during the filling stage of the conventional injection molding, may become increasingly significant in micro injection molding where the parts become smaller. By employing the 2.5D generalized Hele-Shaw model, we presented here the effects of polymer compressibility and mold surface roughness on mold-filling in a micro-thickness cavity. To elucidate the effects of surface roughness, numerical investigations were conducted using a cavity flat plate which has two halves with different surface roughness. This allows the comparison of flow field on two different halves under identical processing conditions but with different roughness. Results show that polymer compressibility and mold surface roughness have effects on mold filling in micro injection molding. There is in shrinkage reduction as the density is increased due to polymer melt compressibility during the filling stage.

Decreasing Power Consumption of a Medical E-textile

In this paper we present a novel design of a wearable electronic textile. After defining a special application, we used the specifications of some low power, tiny elements including sensors, microcontrollers, transceivers, and a fault tolerant special topology to have the most reliability as well as low power consumption and longer lifetime. We have considered two different conditions as normal and bodily critical conditions and set priorities for using different sensors in various conditions to have a longer effective lifetime.

Geostatistical Analysis and Mapping of Groundlevel Ozone in a Medium Sized Urban Area

Ground-level tropospheric ozone is one of the air pollutants of most concern. It is mainly produced by photochemical processes involving nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds in the lower parts of the atmosphere. Ozone levels become particularly high in regions close to high ozone precursor emissions and during summer, when stagnant meteorological conditions with high insolation and high temperatures are common. In this work, some results of a study about urban ozone distribution patterns in the city of Badajoz, which is the largest and most industrialized city in Extremadura region (southwest Spain) are shown. Fourteen sampling campaigns, at least one per month, were carried out to measure ambient air ozone concentrations, during periods that were selected according to favourable conditions to ozone production, using an automatic portable analyzer. Later, to evaluate the ozone distribution at the city, the measured ozone data were analyzed using geostatistical techniques. Thus, first, during the exploratory analysis of data, it was revealed that they were distributed normally, which is a desirable property for the subsequent stages of the geostatistical study. Secondly, during the structural analysis of data, theoretical spherical models provided the best fit for all monthly experimental variograms. The parameters of these variograms (sill, range and nugget) revealed that the maximum distance of spatial dependence is between 302-790 m and the variable, air ozone concentration, is not evenly distributed in reduced distances. Finally, predictive ozone maps were derived for all points of the experimental study area, by use of geostatistical algorithms (kriging). High prediction accuracy was obtained in all cases as cross-validation showed. Useful information for hazard assessment was also provided when probability maps, based on kriging interpolation and kriging standard deviation, were produced.