Abstract: An experimental investigation was performed on pulp
liquid flow in straight ducts with a square cross section. Fully
developed steady flow was visualized and the fiber concentration was
obtained using a light-section method developed by the author et al.
The obtained results reveal quantitatively, in a definite form, the
distribution of the fiber concentration. From the results and
measurements of pressure loss, it is found that the flow characteristics
of pulp liquid in ducts can be classified into five patterns. The
relationships among the distributions of mean and fluctuation of fiber
concentration, the pressure loss and the flow velocity are discussed,
and then the features for each pattern are extracted. The degree of
nonuniformity of the fiber concentration, which is indicated by the
standard deviation of its distribution, is decreased from 0.3 to 0.05
with an increase in the velocity of the tested pulp liquid from 0.4 to
0.8%.
Abstract: This paper describes a platform that faces the main
research areas for e-learning educational contents. Reusability tackles
the possibility to use contents in different courses reducing costs and
exploiting available data from repositories. In our approach the
production of educational material is based on templates to reuse
learning objects. In terms of interoperability the main challenge lays
on reaching the audience through different platforms. E-learning
solution must track social consumption evolution where nowadays
lots of multimedia contents are accessed through the social networks.
Our work faces it by implementing a platform for generation of
multimedia presentations focused on the new paradigm related to
social media. The system produces videos-courses on top of web
standard SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language)
ready to be published and shared. Regarding interfaces it is
mandatory to satisfy user needs and ease communication. To
overcome it the platform deploys virtual teachers that provide natural
interfaces while multimodal features remove barriers to pupils with
disabilities.
Abstract: The purpose of this study attempts to emphasize the factors relating to intra-family relationships (order point of view) on violence against the women, For this purpose a survey technique on the sample size amounted 100 women of married of city of Ilam in country of Iran were considered. For measurement of violence against the women , the CTS scaled has been used .violence against the women be measured in four dimension ( emotional violence, psycho violence, physical violence, neglect violence). highest violence was related to emotional violence and after are as follow respectively : physical violence and neglect violence. The results showed that women have experienced the violence more than once during the last year, degree of order in family is high. Explanation result indicated that the order variables in family including collective thinking, empathy and communal co-circumstance have significant effects on violence against the women. Via multiple regression analysis variables of empathy, religious tenet and education of husband had significant effect on violence against women. In other words relationships among family effect on violence in family.
Abstract: In the Lost Foam Casting process, melting point
temperature of metal, as well as volume and rate of the foam
degradation have significant effect on the mold filling pattern.
Therefore, gas generation capacity and gas gap length are two
important parameters for modeling of mold filling time of the lost
foam casting processes. In this paper, the gas gap length at the liquidfoam
interface for a low melting point (aluminum) alloy and a high
melting point (Carbon-steel) alloy are investigated by the
photography technique. Results of the photography technique
indicated, that the gas gap length and the mold filling time are
increased with increased coating thickness and density of the foam.
The Gas gap lengths measured in aluminum and Carbon-steel,
depend on the foam density, and were approximately 4-5 and 25-60
mm, respectively. By using a new system, the gas generation
capacity for the aluminum and steel was measured. The gas
generation capacity measurements indicated that gas generation in
the Aluminum and Carbon-steel lost foam casting was about 50 CC/g
and 3200 CC/g polystyrene, respectively.
Abstract: Stormwater wetlands have been mainly designed in an
empirical approach for water quality improvement, with little
quantitative understanding of the internal microbial processes. This
study investigated into heterotrophic bacterial production rate,
heterotrophic bacterial mineralization percentage, and algal biomass
in hypertrophic and eutrophic surface flow stormwater wetlands.
Compared to a nearby wood leachate treatment wetland, the
stormwater wetlands had much higher chlorophyll-a concentrations.
The eutrophic stormwater wetland had improved water quality,
whereas the hypertrophic stormwater wetland had degraded water
quality. Heterotrophic bacterial activities in water were limited in the
stormwater wetlands due to competition of algal growth for nutrients.
The relative contribution of biofilms to the overall heterotrophic
activities was higher in the stormwater wetlands than that in the wood
leachate treatment wetland.
Abstract: The quality of a machined surface is becoming more and more important to justify the increasing demands of sophisticated component performance, longevity, and reliability. Usually, any machining operation leaves its own characteristic evidence on the machined surface in the form of finely spaced micro irregularities (surface roughness) left by the associated indeterministic characteristics of the different elements of the system: tool-machineworkpart- cutting parameters. However, one of the most influential sources in machining affecting surface roughness is the instantaneous state of tool edge. The main objective of the current work is to relate the in-process immeasurable cutting edge deformation and surface roughness to a more reliable easy-to-measure force signals using a robust non-linear time-dependent modeling regression techniques. Time-dependent modeling is beneficial when modern machining systems, such as adaptive control techniques are considered, where the state of the machined surface and the health of the cutting edge are monitored, assessed and controlled online using realtime information provided by the variability encountered in the measured force signals. Correlation between wear propagation and roughness variation is developed throughout the different edge lifetimes. The surface roughness is further evaluated in the light of the variation in both the static and the dynamic force signals. Consistent correlation is found between surface roughness variation and tool wear progress within its initial and constant regions. At the first few seconds of cutting, expected and well known trend of the effect of the cutting parameters is observed. Surface roughness is positively influenced by the level of the feed rate and negatively by the cutting speed. As cutting continues, roughness is affected, to different extents, by the rather localized wear modes either on the tool nose or on its flank areas. Moreover, it seems that roughness varies as wear attitude transfers from one mode to another and, in general, it is shown that it is improved as wear increases but with possible corresponding workpart dimensional inaccuracy. The dynamic force signals are found reasonably sensitive to simulate either the progressive or the random modes of tool edge deformation. While the frictional force components, feeding and radial, are found informative regarding progressive wear modes, the vertical (power) components is found more representative carrier to system instability resulting from the edge-s random deformation.
Abstract: Adhesion strength of exterior or interior coating of
steel pipes is too important. Increasing of coating adhesion on
surfaces can increase the life time of coating, safety factor of
transmitting line pipe and decreasing the rate of corrosion and costs.
Preparation of steel pipe surfaces before doing the coating process is
done by shot and grit blasting. This is a mechanical way to do it.
Some effective parameters on that process, are particle size of
abrasives, distance to surface, rate of abrasive flow, abrasive physical
properties, shapes, selection of abrasive, kind of machine and its
power, standard of surface cleanness degree, roughness, time of
blasting and weather humidity. This search intended to find some
better conditions which improve the surface preparation, adhesion
strength and corrosion resistance of coating. So, this paper has
studied the effect of varying abrasive flow rate, changing the
abrasive particle size, time of surface blasting on steel surface
roughness and over blasting on it by using the centrifugal blasting
machine. After preparation of numbers of steel samples (according to
API 5L X52) and applying epoxy powder coating on them, to
compare strength adhesion of coating by Pull-Off test. The results
have shown that, increasing the abrasive particles size and flow rate,
can increase the steel surface roughness and coating adhesion
strength but increasing the blasting time can do surface over blasting
and increasing surface temperature and hardness too, change,
decreasing steel surface roughness and coating adhesion strength.
Abstract: A method for solving linear and non-linear Goursat
problem is given by using the two-dimensional differential transform
method. The approximate solution of this problem is calculated in
the form of a series with easily computable terms and also the exact
solutions can be achieved by the known forms of the series solutions.
The method can easily be applied to many linear and non-linear
problems and is capable of reducing the size of computational work.
Several examples are given to demonstrate the reliability and the
performance of the presented method.
Abstract: There are two paradigms proposed to provide QoS for Internet applications: Integrated service (IntServ) and Differentiated service (DiffServ).Intserv is not appropriate for large network like Internet. Because is very complex. Therefore, to reduce the complexity of QoS management, DiffServ was introduced to provide QoS within a domain using aggregation of flow and per- class service. In theses networks QoS between classes is constant and it allows low priority traffic to be effected from high priority traffic, which is not suitable. In this paper, we proposed a fuzzy controller, which reduced the effect of low priority class on higher priority ones. Our simulations shows that, our approach reduces the latency dependency of low priority class on higher priority ones, in an effective manner.
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.
Abstract: The client server systems using mobile
communications networks for data transmission became very
attractive for many economic agents, in the purpose of promoting and
offering electronic services to their clients. E-services are suitable for
business developing and financial benefits increasing. The products
or services can be efficiently delivered to a large number of clients,
using mobile Internet access technologies. The clients can have
access to e-services, anywhere and anytime, with the support of 3G,
GPRS, WLAN, etc., channels bandwidth, data services and protocols.
Based on the mobile communications networks evolution and
development, a convergence of technological and financial interests
of mobile operators, software developers, mobile terminals producers
and e-content providers is established. These will lead to a high level
of integration of IT&C resources and will facilitate the value added
services delivery through the mobile communications networks. In
this paper it is presented a client server system, for e-services access,
with Smartphones and PDA-s mobile software applications, installed
on Symbian and Windows Mobile operating systems.
Abstract: The appearance management behavior of tanning by gay men is examined through the lens of Impression Formation. The study proposes that body image, self-esteem, and internalized homophobia are connected and affect the motives for engaging in sun, salon, and cosmetic tanning. Motives examined were: to look masculine, to look attractive to (potential) partners, to look attractive in general, to socialize, to meet a peer standard, and for personal satisfaction. Using regression analysis to examine data of 103 gay men who engage in at least one method of tanning, results reveal that components of body image and internalized homophobia–but not self-esteem–are linked to various motives and methods of tanning. These findings support and extend the literature of Impression Formation Theory and provide practitioners in the health and healthrelated fields new avenues to pursue when dealing with diseases related to tanning.
Abstract: Photonic Crystal (PhC) based devices are being
increasingly used in multifunctional, compact devices in integrated
optical communication systems. They provide excellent
controllability of light, yet maintaining the small size required for
miniaturization. In this paper, the band gap properties of PhCs and
their typical applications in optical waveguiding are considered.
Novel PhC based applications such as nonlinear switching and
tapers are considered and simulation results are shown using the
accurate time-domain numerical method based on Finite Difference
Time Domain (FDTD) scheme. The suitability of these devices for
novel applications is discussed and evaluated.
Abstract: Today-s economy is in a permanent change, causing
merger and acquisitions and co operations between enterprises. As a
consequence, process adaptations and realignments result in systems
integration and software development projects. Processes and
procedures to execute such projects are still reliant on craftsman-ship
of highly skilled workers. A generally accepted, industrialized
production, characterized by high efficiency and quality, seems
inevitable.
In spite of this, current concepts of software industrialization are
aimed at traditional software engineering and do not consider the
characteristics of systems integration. The present work points out
these particularities and discusses the applicability of existing
industrial concepts in the systems integration domain. Consequently
it defines further areas of research necessary to bring the field of
systems integration closer to an industrialized production, allowing a
higher efficiency, quality and return on investment.
Abstract: The advantage of solving the complex nonlinear
problems by utilizing fuzzy logic methodologies is that the
experience or expert-s knowledge described as a fuzzy rule base can
be directly embedded into the systems for dealing with the problems.
The current limitation of appropriate and automated designing of
fuzzy controllers are focused in this paper. The structure discovery
and parameter adjustment of the Branched T-S fuzzy model is
addressed by a hybrid technique of type constrained sparse tree
algorithms. The simulation result for different system model is
evaluated and the identification error is observed to be minimum.
Abstract: The problem of manipulator control is a highly
complex problem of controlling a system which is multi-input, multioutput,
non-linear and time variant. In this paper some adaptive
fuzzy, and a new hybrid fuzzy control algorithm have been
comparatively evaluated through simulations, for manipulator
control. The adaptive fuzzy controllers consist of self-organizing,
self-tuning, and coarse/fine adaptive fuzzy schemes. These
controllers are tested for different trajectories and for varying
manipulator parameters through simulations. Various performance
indices like the RMS error, steady state error and maximum error are
used for comparison. It is observed that the self-organizing fuzzy
controller gives the best performance. The proposed hybrid fuzzy
plus integral error controller also performs remarkably well, given its
simple structure.
Abstract: This paper addresses modeling and optimization of process parameters in powder mixed electrical discharge machining (PMEDM). The process output characteristics include metal removal rate (MRR) and electrode wear rate (EWR). Grain size of Aluminum powder (S), concentration of the powder (C), discharge current (I) pulse on time (T) are chosen as control variables to study the process performance. The experimental results are used to develop the regression models based on second order polynomial equations for the different process characteristics. Then, a genetic algorithm (GA) has been employed to determine optimal process parameters for any desired output values of machining characteristics.
Abstract: Due to their high power-to-weight ratio and low cost,
pneumatic actuators are attractive for robotics and automation
applications; however, achieving fast and accurate control of their
position have been known as a complex control problem. A
methodology for obtaining high position accuracy with a linear
pneumatic actuator is presented. During experimentation with a
number of PID classical control approaches over many operations of
the pneumatic system, the need for frequent manual re-tuning of the
controller could not be eliminated. The reason for this problem is
thermal and energy losses inside the cylinder body due to the
complex friction forces developed by the piston displacements.
Although PD controllers performed very well over short periods, it
was necessary in our research project to introduce some form of
automatic gain-scheduling to achieve good long-term performance.
We chose a fuzzy logic system to do this, which proved to be an
easily designed and robust approach. Since the PD approach showed
very good behaviour in terms of position accuracy and settling time,
it was incorporated into a modified form of the 1st order Tagaki-
Sugeno fuzzy method to build an overall controller. This fuzzy gainscheduler
uses an input variable which automatically changes the PD
gain values of the controller according to the frequency of repeated
system operations. Performance of the new controller was
significantly improved and the need for manual re-tuning was
eliminated without a decrease in performance. The performance of
the controller operating with the above method is going to be tested
through a high-speed web network (GRID) for research purposes.
Abstract: The expression of LFA-1 diverges from the
physiological condition, thus active targeting carrier can provide the
benefits from difference into LFA-1 expression in various conditions.
Here, the selectivity of cIBR-conjugated nanoparticles (cIBR-NPs),
in terms of uptake, was investigated using PBMCs, Mixed PBMCMolt-
3 cells and Molt-3 cells. The expressions of LFA-1 on Molt-3
cells, from flow cytometry and Western blot, possessed the highest
level whereas PBMCs showed the lowest level. The kinetic uptake
profiles of cIBR-NPs were obtained by flow cytometry, which the
degree of cellular uptake presented a similar trend with the level of
LFA-1 indicating the influence of LFA-1 expression on the cellular
uptake of cIBR-NPs. The conformation of LFA-1 had a slight effect
on the cellular uptake of cIBR-NPs. Overall we demonstrated that
cIBR-NPs enhanced cellular uptake and improved the selectivity of
drug carriers to LFA-1 on the leukemia cells, which related with the
order of LFA-1 expression.
Abstract: Pentachlorophenol (PCP) is a polychlorinated
aromatic compound that is widespread in industrial effluents and is
considered to be a serious pollutant. Among the variety of industrial
effluents encountered, effluents from tanning industry are very
important and have a serious pollution potential. PCP is also formed
unintentionally in effluents of paper and pulp industries. It is highly
persistent in soils and is lethal to a wide variety of beneficial
microorganisms and insects, human beings and animals. The natural
processes that breakdown toxic chemicals in the environment have
become the focus of much attention to develop safe and environmentfriendly
deactivation technologies. Microbes and plants are among
the most important biological agents that remove and degrade waste
materials to enable their recycling in the environment. The present
investigation was carried out with the aim of developing a microbial
system for bioremediation of PCP polluted soils. A number of plant
species were evaluated for their ability to tolerate different
concentrations of pentachlorophenol (PCP) in the soil. The
experiment was conducted for 30 days under pot culture conditions.
The toxic effect of PCP on plants was studied by monitoring seed
germination, plant growth and biomass. As the concentration of PCP
was increased to 50 ppm, the inhibition of seed germination, plant
growth and biomass was also increased. Although PCP had a
negative effect on all plant species tested, maize and groundnut
showed the maximum tolerance to PCP. Other tolerating crops
included wheat, safflower, sunflower, and soybean. From the
rhizosphere soil of the tolerant seedlings, as many as twenty seven
PCP tolerant bacteria were isolated. From soybean, 8; sunflower, 3;
safflower 8; maize 2; groundnut and wheat, 3 each isolates were
made. They were screened for their PCP degradation potentials.
HPLC analyses of PCP degradation revealed that the isolate MAZ-2
degraded PCP completely. The isolate MAZ-1 was the next best
isolate with 90 per cent PCP degradation. These strains hold promise
to be used in the bioremediation of PCP polluted soils.