Abstract: Most HWRs currently use natural uranium fuel. Using enriched uranium fuel results in a significant improvement in fuel cycle costs and uranium utilization. On the other hand, reactivity changes of HWRs over the full range of operating conditions from cold shutdown to full power are small. This reduces the required reactivity worth of control devices and minimizes local flux distribution perturbations, minimizing potential problems due to transient local overheating of fuel. Analyzing heavy water effectiveness on neutronic parameters such as enrichment requirements, peaking factor and reactivity is important and should pay attention as primary concepts of a HWR core designing. Two nuclear nuclear reactors of CANDU-type and hexagonal-type reactor cores of 33 fuel assemblies and 19 assemblies in 1.04 P/D have been respectively simulated using MCNP-4C code. Using heavy water and light water as moderator have been compared for achieving less reactivity insertion and enrichment requirements. Two fuel matrixes of (232Th/235U)O2 and (238/235U)O2 have been compared to achieve more economical and safe design. Heavy water not only decreased enrichment needs, but it concluded in negative reactivity insertions during moderator density variations. Thorium oxide fuel assemblies of 2.3% enrichment loaded into the core of heavy water moderator resulted in 0.751 fission to absorption ratio and peaking factor of 1.7 using. Heavy water not only provides negative reactivity insertion during temperature raises which changes moderator density but concluded in 2 to 10 kg reduction of enrichment requirements, depend on geometry type.
Abstract: The most common forensic activity is searching a hard
disk for string of data. Nowadays, investigators and analysts are
increasingly experiencing large, even terabyte sized data sets when
conducting digital investigations. Therefore consecutive searching can
take weeks to complete successfully. There are two primary search
methods: index-based search and bitwise search. Index-based
searching is very fast after the initial indexing but initial indexing
takes a long time. In this paper, we discuss a high speed bitwise search
model for large-scale digital forensic investigations. We used pattern
matching board, which is generally used for network security, to
search for string and complex regular expressions. Our results indicate
that in many cases, the use of pattern matching board can substantially
increase the performance of digital forensic search tools.
Abstract: Constant amplitude fatigue crack growth (FCG) tests
were performed on dissimilar metal welded plates of Type 316L
Stainless Steel (SS) and IS 2062 Grade A Carbon steel (CS). The
plates were welded by TIG welding using SS E309 as electrode. FCG
tests were carried on the Side Edge Notch Tension (SENT)
specimens of 5 mm thickness, with crack initiator (notch) at base
metal region (BM), weld metal region (WM) and heat affected zones
(HAZ). The tests were performed at a test frequency of 10 Hz and at
load ratios (R) of 0.1 & 0.6. FCG rate was found to increase with
stress ratio for weld metals and base metals, where as in case of
HAZ, FCG rates were almost equal at high ΔK. FCG rate of HAZ of
stainless steel was found to be lowest at low and high ΔK. At
intermediate ΔK, WM showed the lowest FCG rate. CS showed
higher crack growth rate at all ΔK. However, the scatter band of data
was found to be narrow. Fracture toughness (Kc) was found to vary
in different locations of weldments. Kc was found lowest for the
weldment and highest for HAZ of stainless steel. A novel method of
characterizing the FCG behavior using an Infrared thermography
(IRT) camera was attempted. By monitoring the temperature rise at
the fast moving crack tip region, the amount of plastic deformation
was estimated.
Abstract: Innovations and innovative activity get the increasing
value for successful financial and economic activity of the countries
and regions. The level of innovative sphere development determines
place of a country or a region in world economy and forms a basis of
steady economic growth. This article is devoted to different aspects
of organization of the national economic safety in the conditions of
innovative development, its problems, risks and threats. Economy
can be considered as aspiring for transition to innovative way only
with finding of economic safety: financial independence, power
stability and technological progress. There are statistical indicators,
defining the level of economic security and factors, threatening
economic safety of the state. The research is based on the analysis of
factors and indicators in conditions of innovative development. The
paper is illustrated by the examples of possible estimated system of
the economic safety level.
Abstract: The aim of this study was to analyse the most
important parameters determining the quality of the motion structure
of the basic classical dance jump – grand jeté.Research sample
consisted of 8 students of the Dance Conservatory in Brno. Using the
system Simi motion we performed a 3D kinematic analysis of the
jump. On the basis of the comparison of structure quality and
measured data of the grand jeté, we defined the optimal values of the
relevant parameters determining the quality of the performance. The
take-off speed should achieve about 2.4 m·s-1, the optimum take-off
angle is 28 - 30º. The take-off leg should swing backward at the
beginning of the flight phase with the minimum speed of 3.3 m·s-1.If
motor abilities of dancers achieve the level necessary for optimal
performance of a classical dance jump, there is room for certain
variability of the structure of the dance jump.
Abstract: Currently, a large number of license activities (Early
Site Permits, Combined Operating License, reactor certifications,
etc.), are pending for review before the United States Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (US NRC). Much of the senior staff at the
NRC is now committed to these review and licensing actions. To
address this additional workload, the NRC has recruited a large
number of new Regulatory Staff for dealing with these and other
regulatory actions such as the US Fleet of Research and Test Reactors
(RTRs). These reactors pose unusual demands on Regulatory Staff
since the US Fleet of RTRs, although few (32 Licensed RTRs as of
2010), they represent a broad range of reactor types, operations, and
research and training aspects that nuclear reactor power plants (such
as the 104 LWRs) do not pose. The NRC must inspect and regulate
all these facilities. This paper addresses selected training topics and
regulatory activities providedNRC Inspectors for RTRs.
Abstract: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic
relapsing-remitting condition that afflicts millions of people
throughout the world and impairs their daily functions and quality of
life. Treatment of IBD depends largely on 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-
ASA) and corticosteroids. The present study aimed to clarify the
effects of 5-aminosalicylic acid, budesonide and currcumin on 90
male albino rats against trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNB) induced
colitis. TNB was injected intrarectally to 50 rats. The other 40 rats
served as control groups. Both 5-ASA (in a dose of 120 mg/kg) and
budesonide (in a dose of 0.1 mg/kg) were administered daily for one
week whereas currcumin was injected intraperitonially (in a dose of
30 mg/kg daily) for 14 days after injection of either TNB in the
colitis rats (group B) or saline in control groups (group A). The study
included estimation of macroscopic score index, histological
examination of H&E stained sections of the colonic tissue,
biochemical estimation of myeloperoxidase (MPO), nitric oxide
(NO), and caspase-3 levels, in addition to studying the effect of tested
drugs on colonic motility. It was found that budesonide and curcumin
improved mucosal healing, reduced both NO production and caspase-
3 level. They had the best impact on the disturbed colonic motility in
TNBS-model of colitis.
Abstract: Homogeneous composites of alumina and zirconia
with a small amount of MgO (99%) were obtained for ZTA ceramic containing 0.05 wt% MgO in
1500 °C.
Abstract: This research proposes the state of art on how to control or find the trajectory paths of the RRP robot when the prismatic joint is malfunction. According to this situation, the minimum energy of the dynamic optimization is applied. The RRP robot or similar systems have been used in many areas such as fire fighter truck, laboratory equipment and military truck for example a rocket launcher. In order to keep on task that assigned, the trajectory paths must be computed. Here, the open loop control is applied and the result of an example show the reasonable solution which can be applied to the controllable system.
Abstract: Verapamil has been shown to inhibit fentanyl uptake in vitro and is a potent P-glycoprotein inhibitor. Tissue partitioning of loperamide, a commercially available opioid, is closely controlled by the P-gp efflux transporter. The following studies were designed to evaluate the effect of opioids on verapamil partitioning in the lung and brain, in vivo. Opioid (fentanyl or loperamide) was administered by intravenous infusion to Sprague Dawley rats alone or in combination with verapamil and plasma, with lung and brain tissues were collected at 1, 5, 6, 8, 10 and 60 minutes. Drug dispositions were modeled by recirculatory pharmacokinetic models. Fentanyl slightly increased the verapamil lung (PL) partition coefficient yet decreased the brain (PB) partition coefficient. Furthermore, loperamide significantly increased PLand PB. Fentanyl reduced the verapamil volume of distribution (V1) and verapamil elimination clearance (ClE). Fentanyl decreased verapamil brain partitioning, yet increased verapamil lung partitioning. Also, loperamide increased lung and brain partitioning in vivo. These results suggest that verapamil and fentanyl may be substrates of an unidentified inward transporter in brain tissue and confirm that verapamil and loperamide are substrates of the efflux transporter P-gp.
Abstract: The aim of the study is to investigate a number of characteristics of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) indicators that should be adopted by CSR assessment methodologies. For the purpose of this paper, a survey among the Greek companies that belong to FTSE 20 in Athens Exchange (FTSE/Athex-20) has been conducted, as these companies are expected to pioneer in the field of CSR. The results show consensus as regards the characteristics of indicators such as the need for the adoption of general and specific sector indicators, financial and non-financial indicators, the origin and the weight rate. However, the results are contradictory concerning the appropriate number of indicators for the assessment of CSR and the unit of measurement. Finally, the company-s sector is a more important dimension of CSR than the size and the country where the company operates. The purpose of this paper is to standardize the main characteristics of CSR indicators.
Abstract: The effect of magnetic field on germination
characteristics of two wheat Seeds has been studied under laboratory
conditions. Seeds were magnetically exposed to magnetic field
strengths, 125 or 250mT for different periods of time. Mean
germination time and the time required to obtain 10, 25, 50, 75 and
90%of seeds to germinate were calculated. The germination time for
each treatment were in general, higher than corresponding control
values, in the other word in treated seeds time required for mean seed
germination time increased nearly 3 hours in compared non treated
control seeds. T10 for doses D5, D6, D11 and D12 significantly higher
than the control values for both cultivars. Mean germination time
(MGT) in both cultivars significantly increased when the time of
seed exposed at magnetic field treatments increased , about 3 and 2
hour respectively for Omid and BCR cultivars.
Abstract: This work presents a comparison between the Annual
Energy Output (AEO) of two commercial vertical-axis wind turbines
(VAWTs) for a low-wind urban site: both a drag-driven and a liftdriven
concepts are examined in order to be installed on top of the
new Via dei Giustinelli building, Trieste (Italy). The power-curves,
taken from the product specification sheets, have been matched to the
wind characteristics of the selected installation site. The influence of
rotor swept area and rated power on the performance of the two
proposed wind turbines have been examined in detail, achieving a
correlation between rotor swept area, electrical generator size and
wind distribution, to be used as a guideline for the calculation of the
AEO.
Abstract: An exact algorithm for a n-link manipulator movement amidst arbitrary unknown static obstacles is presented.
The algorithm guarantees the reaching of a target configuration of the manipulator in a finite number of steps. The algorithm is
reduced to a finite number of calls of a subroutine for planning a trajectory in the presence of known forbidden states. The polynomial approximation algorithm which is used as the subroutine is presented. The results of the exact algorithm
implementation for the control of a seven link (7 degrees of
freedom, 7DOF) manipulator are given.
Abstract: There was studied dynamic of the number of
nematodes fauna of various ecosystems of Gombori Mountain Ridge
that belongs to peak of fauna dynamic. The nature of dynamic is in
general similar in all six biotypes and the difference is evident only in
total number of nematodes.
Abstract: WikID is a wiki for industrial design engineers. An
important aspect for the viability of a wiki is the loyalty of the user
community to share their information and knowledge by adding this
knowledge to the wiki. For the initiators of a wiki it is therefore
important to use every aspect to stimulate the user community to
actively participate. In this study the focus is on the styling of the
website. The central question is: How could the WikID website be
visually designed to achieve a user experience which will incite the
user to actively participate in the WikID community? After a
literature study on the influencing factors of a website, a new
interface has been designed by applying the rules found, in order to
expand this website-s active user community. An online
questionnaire regarding the old or the new website gave insights in
the opinions of users. As expected, the new website was rated more
positively than the old website. However, the differences are limited.
Abstract: Temperature, humidity and precipitation in an area,
are parameters proved influential in the climate of that area, and one
should recognize them so that he can determine the climate of that
area. Climate changes are of primary importance in climatology, and
in recent years, have been of great concern to researchers and even
politicians and organizations, for they can play an important role in
social, political and economic activities. Even though the real cause
of climate changes or their stability is not yet fully recognized, they
are a matter of concern to researchers and their importance for
countries has prompted them to investigate climate changes in
different levels, especially in regional, national and continental level.
This issue has less been investigated in our country. However, in
recent years, there have been some researches and conferences on
climate changes. This study is also in line with such researches and
tries to investigate and analyze the trends of climate changes
(temperature and precipitation) in Sefid-roud (the name of a river)
basin. Three parameters of mean annual precipitation, temperature,
and maximum and minimum temperatures in 36 synoptic and
climatology stations in a statistical period of 49 years (1956-2005) in
the stations of Sefid-roud basin were analyzed by Mann-Kendall test.
The results obtained by data analysis show that climate changes are
short term and have a trend. The analysis of mean temperature
revealed that changes have a significantly rising trend, besides the
precipitation has a significantly falling trend.
Abstract: Aggressive scaling of MOS devices requires use of ultra-thin gate oxides to maintain a reasonable short channel effect and to take the advantage of higher density, high speed, lower cost etc. Such thin oxides give rise to high electric fields, resulting in considerable gate tunneling current through gate oxide in nano regime. Consequently, accurate analysis of gate tunneling current is very important especially in context of low power application. In this paper, a simple and efficient analytical model has been developed for channel and source/drain overlap region gate tunneling current through ultra thin gate oxide n-channel MOSFET with inevitable deep submicron effect (DSME).The results obtained have been verified with simulated and reported experimental results for the purpose of validation. It is shown that the calculated tunnel current is well fitted to the measured one over the entire oxide thickness range. The proposed model is suitable enough to be used in circuit simulator due to its simplicity. It is observed that neglecting deep sub-micron effect may lead to large error in the calculated gate tunneling current. It is found that temperature has almost negligible effect on gate tunneling current. It is also reported that gate tunneling current reduces with the increase of gate oxide thickness. The impact of source/drain overlap length is also assessed on gate tunneling current.
Abstract: Alkali Activated Slag Concrete (AASC) mixes are manufactured by activating ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) using sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate solutions. The aim of the present experimental research was to investigate the effect of increasing the dosages of sodium oxide (Na2O, in the range of 4 to 8%) and the activator modulus (Ms) (i.e. the SiO2/Na2O ratio, in the range of 0.5 to 1.5) of the alkaline solutions, on the workability and strength characteristics of self-cured (air-cured) alkali activated Indian slag concrete mixes. Further the split tensile and flexure strengths for optimal mixes were studied for each dosage of Na2O.It is observed that increase in Na2O concentration increases the compressive, split-tensile and flexural strengths, both at the early and later-ages, while increase in Ms, decreases the workability of the mixes. An optimal Ms of 1.25 is found at various Na2O dosages. No significant differences in the strength performances were observed between AASCs manufactured with alkali solutions prepared using either of potable and de-ionized water.
Abstract: Industrial robots play a vital role in automation
however only little effort are taken for the application of robots in
machining work such as Grinding, Cutting, Milling, Drilling,
Polishing etc. Robot parallel manipulators have high stiffness,
rigidity and accuracy, which cannot be provided by conventional
serial robot manipulators. The aim of this paper is to perform the
modeling and the workspace analysis of a 3 DOF Parallel
Manipulator (3 DOF PM). The 3 DOF PM was modeled and
simulated using 'ADAMS'. The concept involved is based on the
transformation of motion from a screw joint to a spherical joint
through a connecting link. This paper work has been planned to
model the Parallel Manipulator (PM) using screw joints for very
accurate positioning. A workspace analysis has been done for the
determination of work volume of the 3 DOF PM. The position of the
spherical joints connected to the moving platform and the
circumferential points of the moving platform were considered for
finding the workspace. After the simulation, the position of the joints
of the moving platform was noted with respect to simulation time and
these points were given as input to the 'MATLAB' for getting the
work envelope. Then 'AUTOCAD' is used for determining the work
volume. The obtained values were compared with analytical
approach by using Pappus-Guldinus Theorem. The analysis had been
dealt by considering the parameters, link length and radius of the
moving platform. From the results it is found that the radius of
moving platform is directly proportional to the work volume for a
constant link length and the link length is also directly proportional
to the work volume, at a constant radius of the moving platform.