Abstract: Acoustic properties of polymeric liquids are high
sensitive to free gas traces in the form of fine bubbles. Their presence
is typical for such liquids because of chemical reactions, small
wettability of solid boundaries, trapping of air in technological
operations, etc. Liquid temperature influences essentially its
rheological properties, which may have an impact on the bubble
pulsations and sound propagation in the system. The target of the
paper is modeling of the liquid temperature effect on single bubble
dynamics and sound dispersion and attenuation in polymeric solution
with spherical gas bubbles. The basic sources of attenuation (heat
exchange between gas in microbubbles and surrounding liquid,
rheological and acoustic losses) are taken into account. It is supposed
that in the studied temperature range the interface mass transfer has a
minor effect on bubble dynamics. The results of the study indicate
that temperature raise yields enhancement of bubble pulsations and
increase in sound attenuation in the near-resonance range and may
have a strong impact on sound dispersion in the liquid-bubble
mixture at frequencies close to the resonance frequency of bubbles.
Abstract: This paper investigates the connotation, and some of
the realistic implications, of the economic reform of health sector in
under developed countries. The paper investigates the issues that
economic reforms have to address, and the policy targets they are
considered to accomplish. The work argues that the development of
economic reform is not connected only with understanding the
priorities and refining them, furthermore with reformation and
restructuring the organizations through which health policies are
employed. Considering various organizational values, that are likely
to be regular to all economic reform programs, a regulatory approach
to institutional reform is unsuitable. The paper further investigates the
selection of economic reform that may as well influence via technical
suggestions and analysis, but the verdict to continue, and the
consequent success of execution, eventually depends on the
progressive political sustainability. The paper concludes by giving
examples of institutional reforms from various underdeveloped
countries and includes recommendation of the responsibility and
control of donor organizations.
Abstract: In recent research copper and manganese systems
were found to be the most active in CO and organic compounds
oxidation among the base catalysts. The mixed copper manganese
oxide has been widely studied in oxidation reactions because of their
higher activity at low temperatures in comparison with single oxide
catalysts. The results showed that the formation of spinel
CuxMn3−xO4 in the oxidized catalyst is responsible for the activity
even at room temperature. That is why the most of the investigations
are focused on the hopcalite catalyst (CuMn2O4) as the best coppermanganese
catalyst. Now it’s known that this is true only for CO
oxidation, but not for mixture of CO and VOCs. The purpose of this
study is to investigate the alumina supported copper-manganese
catalysts with different Cu/Mn molar ratio in terms of oxidation of
CO, methanol and dimethyl ether. The catalysts were prepared by impregnation of γ-Al2O3 with
copper and manganese nitrates and the catalytic activity
measurements were carried out in two stage continuous flow
equipment with an adiabatic reactor for simultaneous oxidation of all
compounds under the conditions closest possible to the industrial. Gas
mixtures on the input and output of the reactor were analyzed with a
gas chromatograph, equipped with FID and TCD detectors. The
texture characteristics were determined by low-temperature (- 196oС)
nitrogen adsorption in a Quantachrome Instruments NOVA 1200e
(USA) specific surface area & pore analyzer. Thermal, XRD and
TPR analyses were performed. It was established that the active component of the mixed Cu-
Mn/γ–alumina catalysts strongly depends on the Cu/Mn molar ratio.
Highly active alumina supported Cu-Mn catalysts for CO, methanol
and DME oxidation were synthesized. While the hopcalite is the best
catalyst for CO oxidation, the best compromise for simultaneous
oxidation of all components is the catalyst with Cu/Mn molar ratio
1:5.
Abstract: In this paper air quality conditions in Makkah and
Leeds are compared. These two cities have totally different climatic
conditions. Makkah climate is characterised as hot and dry (arid)
whereas that of Leeds is characterised as cold and wet (temperate).
This study uses air quality data from 2012 collected in Makkah,
Saudi Arabia and Leeds, UK. The concentrations of all pollutants,
except NO are higher in Makkah. Most notable, the concentrations of
PM10 are much higher in Makkah than in Leeds. This is probably due
to the arid nature of climatic conditions in Makkah and not solely due
to anthropogenic emission sources, otherwise like PM10 some of the
other pollutants, such as CO, NO, and SO2 would have shown much
greater difference between Leeds and Makkah. Correlation analysis is
performed between different pollutants at the same site and the same
pollutants at different sites. In Leeds the correlation between PM10
and other pollutants is significantly stronger than in Makkah. Weaker
correlation in Makkah is probably due to the fact that in Makkah
most of the gaseous pollutants are emitted by combustion processes,
whereas most of the PM10 is generated by other sources, such as
windblown dust, re-suspension, and construction activities. This is in
contrast to Leeds where all pollutants including PM10 are
predominantly emitted by combustions, such as road traffic.
Furthermore, in Leeds frequent rains wash out most of the
atmospheric particulate matter and suppress re-suspension of dust.
Temporal trends of various pollutants are compared and discussed.
This study emphasises the role of climatic conditions in managing air
quality, and hence the need for region-specific controlling strategies
according to the local climatic and meteorological conditions.
Abstract: Background subtraction and temporal difference are
often used for moving object detection in video. Both approaches are
computationally simple and easy to be deployed in real-time image
processing. However, while the background subtraction is highly
sensitive to dynamic background and illumination changes, the
temporal difference approach is poor at extracting relevant pixels of
the moving object and at detecting the stopped or slowly moving
objects in the scene. In this paper, we propose a simple moving object
detection scheme based on adaptive background subtraction and
temporal difference exploiting dynamic background updates. The
proposed technique consists of histogram equalization, a linear
combination of background and temporal difference, followed by the
novel frame-based and pixel-based background updating techniques.
Finally, morphological operations are applied to the output images.
Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can solve the
drawbacks of both background subtraction and temporal difference
methods and can provide better performance than that of each method.
Abstract: Present work deals with the possible use of fertigation
in agriculture and its impact on the availability of mineral nitrogen
(Nmin) in topsoil and subsoil horizons. The aim of the present study is
to demonstrate the effect of the organic matter presence in fertigation
on microbial transformation and availability of mineral nitrogen
forms. The main investigation reason is the potential use of pretreated
waste water, as a source of organic carbon (Corg) and residual
nutrients (Nmin) for fertigation. Laboratory experiment has been
conducted to demonstrate the effect of the arable land fertilization
method on the Nmin availability in different depths of the soil with
the usage of model experimental containers filled with soil from
topsoil and podsoil horizons that were taken from the precise area.
Tufted hairgrass (Deschampsia caespitosa) has been chosen as a
model plant. The water source protection zone Brezova nad Svitavou
has been a research area where significant underground reservoirs of
drinking water of the highest quality are located. From the second
half of the last century local sources of drinking water show
nitrogenous compounds increase that get here almost only from
arable lands. Therefore, an attention of the following text focuses on
the fate of mineral nitrogen in the complex plant-soil. Research
results show that the fertigation application with Corg in a
combination with mineral fertilizer can reduce the amount of Nmin
leached from topsoil horizon of agricultural soils. In addition, some
plants biomass production reduces may occur.
Abstract: This paper aims to project the construction of a
prototype azimuthal thruster, mounted with materials of low cost and
easy access, testing in a controlled environment to measure their
performance, characteristics and feasibility of future projects. The
construction of the simulation of dynamic positioning software,
responsible for simulating a vessel and reposition it when necessary.
Validation tests were performed in the form of partial or complete
system. These tests validate the system manually or automatically.
The system provides an interface to the user and simulates the
conditions unfavorable positioning of a vessel, accurately calculates
the azimuth angle, the direction of rotation of the helix and the time
that this should be turned on so that the vessel back to position
original. A serial communication connects the Simulation Dynamic
Positioning System with Embedded System causing the usergenerated
data to simulate the DP system arrives in the form of
control signals to the motors of the propellant. This article addresses
issues in the marine industry employees.
Abstract: Zn alloy and composite coatings are widely used in
buildings and structures, automobile and fasteners industries to
protect steel component from corrosion. In this paper, Zn-Ni-Al2O3
nanocomposite coatings were electrodeposited on mild steel using a
novel sol enhanced electroplating method. In this method, transparent
Al2O3 sol was added into the acidic Zn-Ni bath to produced Zn-Ni-
Al2O3 nanocomposite coatings. The effect of alumina sol on the
electrodeposition process, and coating properties was investigated
using cyclic voltammetry, XRD, ESEM and Tafel test. Results from
XRD tests showed that the structure of all coatings was single γ-
Ni5Zn21 phase. Cyclic voltammetry results showed that the
electrodeposition overpotential was lower in the presence of alumina
sol in the bath, and caused the reduction potential of Zn-Ni to shift to
more positive values. Zn-Ni-Al2O3 nanocomposite coatings produced
more uniform and compact deposits, with fine grained microstructure
when compared to Zn-Ni coatings. The corrosion resistance of Zn-Ni
coatings was improved significantly by incorporation of alumina
nanoparticles into the coatings.
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to present a modeling and
control of a quarter-car active suspension system with unknown
mass, unknown time-delay and road disturbance. The objective of
designing the controller is to derive a control law to achieve stability
of the system and convergence that can considerably improve ride
comfort and road disturbance handling. This is accomplished by
using Routh-Hurwitz criterion based on defined parameters.
Mathematical proof is given to show the ability of the designed
controller to ensure the target of design, implementation with the
active suspension system and enhancement dispersion oscillation of
the system despite these problems. Simulations were also performed
to control quarter car suspension, where the results obtained from
these simulations verify the validity of the proposed design.
Abstract: Sodium formate is the chemical substance used for
food additive. Catalase is the important antioxidative enzyme in
protecting the cell from oxidative damage by reactive oxygen species
(ROS). The resultant level of oxidative stress in sodium formatetreated
lymphocytes was investigated. The sodium formate
concentrations of 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 mg/mL were treated in
human lymphocytes for 12 hours. After 12 treated hours, catalase
activity change was measured in sodium formate-treated
lymphocytes. The results showed that the sodium formate
concentrations of 0.4 and 0.6 mg/mL significantly decreased catalase
activities in lymphocytes (P < 0.05). The change of catalase activity
in sodium formate-treated lymphocytes may be the oxidative damage
marker for detect sodium formate exposure in human.
Abstract: The using of waste materials in the construction
industry can reduce the dependence on the natural aggregates which
are going at the end to deplete. The glass waste is generated in a huge
amount which can make one of its disposals in concrete industry
effective not only as a green solution but also as an advantage to
enhance the performance of mechanical properties and durability of
concrete. This article reports the performance of concrete specimens
containing different percentages of milled glass waste as a partial
replacement of cement (Powder), when they are subject to cycles of
freezing and thawing. The tests were conducted on 75-mm cubes and
75 x 75 x 300-mm prisms. Compressive strength based on laboratory
testing and non-destructive ultrasonic pulse velocity test were
performed during the action of freezing-thawing cycles (F/T). The
results revealed that the incorporation of glass waste in concrete
mixtures is not only feasible but also showed generally better strength
and durability performance than control concrete mixture. It may be
said that the recycling of waste glass in concrete mixes is not only a
disposal way, but also it can be an exploitation in concrete industry.
Abstract: This paper is focused on the reference current
calculation in the compensation mode of the active DC traction
substations. The so-called p-q theory of the instantaneous reactive
power is used as theoretical foundation. The compensation goal of
total compensation is taken into consideration for the operation under
both sinusoidal and nonsinusoidal voltage conditions, through the
two objectives of unity power factor and perfect harmonic
cancelation. Four blocks of reference current generation implement
the conceived algorithms and they are included in a specific Simulink
library, which is useful in a DSP dSPACE-based platform working
under Matlab/Simulink. The simulation results validate the
correctness of the implementation and fulfillment of the
compensation tasks.
Abstract: In light of the technological development and its
introduction into the field of education, an online course was
designed in parallel to the 'conventional' course for teaching the
''Qualitative Research Methods''. This course aimed to characterize
learning-teaching processes in a 'Qualitative Research Methods'
course studied in two different frameworks. Moreover, its objective
was to explore the difference between the culture of a physical
learning environment and that of online learning. The research
monitored four learner groups, a total of 72 students, for two years,
two groups from the two course frameworks each year. The courses
were obligatory for M.Ed. students at an academic college of
education and were given by one female-lecturer. The research was
conducted in the qualitative method as a case study in order to attain
insights about occurrences in the actual contexts and sites in which
they transpire. The research tools were open-ended questionnaire and
reflections in the form of vignettes (meaningful short pictures) to all
students as well as an interview with the lecturer. The tools facilitated
not only triangulation but also collecting data consisting of voices
and pictures of teaching and learning. The most prominent findings
are: differences between the two courses in the change features of the
learning environment culture for the acquisition of contents and
qualitative research tools. They were manifested by teaching
methods, illustration aids, lecturer's profile and students' profile.
Abstract: SARA is a common and serious metabolic disorder in
early lactation in dairy cattle and in finishing beef cattle, caused by
diets with high inclusion of cereal grain. This experiment was
performed to determine the efficacy of Megasphaera elsdenii, a
major lactate-utilizing bacterium in prevention/treatment of SARA in
vivo. In vivo experimentation, it was used eight ruminally cannulated
rams and it was applied the rapid adaptation with the mixture of grain
based on wheat (80% wheat, 20% barley) and barley (80% barley,
20% wheat). During the systematic adaptation, it was followed the
probability of SARA formation by being measured the rumen pH
with two hours intervals after and before feeding. After being
evaluated the data, it was determined the ruminal pH ranged from
5.2-5.6 on the condition of feeding with 60 percentage of grain
mixture based on barley and wheat, that assured the definite form of
subacute acidosis. In four days SARA period, M. elsdenii (1010 cfu
ml-1) was inoculated during the first two days. During the SARA
period, it was observed the decrease of feed intake with M. elsdenii
inoculation. Inoculation of M. elsdenii was caused to differentiation
of rumen pH (P
Abstract: The work aims to develop a robot in the form of
autonomous vehicle to detect, inspection and mapping of
underground pipelines through the ATmega328 Arduino platform.
Hardware prototyping is very similar to C / C ++ language that
facilitates its use in robotics open source, resembles PLC used in
large industrial processes. The robot will traverse the surface
independently of direct human action, in order to automate the
process of detecting buried pipes, guided by electromagnetic
induction. The induction comes from coils that send the signal to the
Arduino microcontroller contained in that will make the difference in
intensity and the treatment of the information, and then this
determines actions to electrical components such as relays and
motors, allowing the prototype to move on the surface and getting the
necessary information. This change of direction is performed by a
stepper motor with a servo motor. The robot was developed by
electrical and electronic assemblies that allowed test your application.
The assembly is made up of metal detector coils, circuit boards and
microprocessor, which interconnected circuits previously developed
can determine, process control and mechanical actions for a robot
(autonomous car) that will make the detection and mapping of buried
pipelines plates. This type of prototype can prevent and identifies
possible landslides and they can prevent the buried pipelines suffer an
external pressure on the walls with the possibility of oil leakage and
thus pollute the environment.
Abstract: In this paper a novel color image compression
technique for efficient storage and delivery of data is proposed. The
proposed compression technique started by RGB to YCbCr color
transformation process. Secondly, the canny edge detection method is
used to classify the blocks into the edge and non-edge blocks. Each
color component Y, Cb, and Cr compressed by discrete cosine
transform (DCT) process, quantizing and coding step by step using
adaptive arithmetic coding. Our technique is concerned with the
compression ratio, bits per pixel and peak signal to noise ratio, and
produce better results than JPEG and more recent published schemes
(like CBDCT-CABS and MHC). The provided experimental results
illustrate the proposed technique that is efficient and feasible in terms
of compression ratio, bits per pixel and peak signal to noise ratio.
Abstract: The rapid growth of multimedia technology demands
the secure and efficient access to information. This fast growing lose
the confidence of unauthorized duplication. Henceforth the protection
of multimedia content is becoming more important. Watermarking
solves the issue of unlawful copy of advanced data. In this paper,
blind video watermarking technique has been proposed. A luminance
layer of selected frames is interlaced into two even and odd rows of
an image, further it is deinterlaced and equalizes the coefficients of
the two shares. Color watermark is split into different blocks, and the
pieces of block are concealed in one of the share under the wavelet
transform. Stack the two images into a single image by introducing
interlaced even and odd rows in the two shares. Finally, chrominance
bands are concatenated with the watermarked luminance band. The
safeguard level of the secret information is high, and it is
undetectable. Results show that the quality of the video is not
changed also yields the better PSNR values.
Abstract: A knowledge base stores facts and rules about the
world that applications can use for the purpose of reasoning. By
applying the concept of granular computing to a knowledge base,
several advantages emerge. These can be harnessed by applications
to improve their capabilities and performance. In this paper, the
concept behind such a construct, called a granular knowledge cube,
is defined, and its intended use as an instrument that manages to
cope with different data types and detect knowledge domains is
elaborated. Furthermore, the underlying architecture, consisting of the
three layers of the storing, representing, and structuring of knowledge,
is described. Finally, benefits as well as challenges of deploying it
are listed alongside application types that could profit from having
such an enhanced knowledge base.
Abstract: This paper presents the design and fabrication of a
novel piezoelectric actuator for a gas micro pump with check valve
having the advantages of miniature size, light weight and low power
consumption. The micro pump is designed to have eight major
components, namely a stainless steel upper cover layer, a piezoelectric
actuator, a stainless steel diaphragm, a PDMS chamber layer, two
stainless steel channel layers with two valve seats, a PDMS check
valve layer with two cantilever-type check valves and an acrylic
substrate. A prototype of the gas micro pump, with a size of 52 mm ×
50 mm × 5.0 mm, is fabricated by precise manufacturing. This device
is designed to pump gases with the capability of performing the
self-priming and bubble-tolerant work mode by maximizing the stroke
volume of the membrane as well as the compression ratio via
minimization of the dead volume of the micro pump chamber and
channel. By experiment apparatus setup, we can get the real-time
values of the flow rate of micro pump and the displacement of the
piezoelectric actuator, simultaneously. The gas micro pump obtained
higher output performance under the sinusoidal waveform of 250 Vpp.
The micro pump achieved the maximum pumping rates of 1185
ml/min and back pressure of 7.14 kPa at the corresponding frequency
of 120 and 50 Hz.
Abstract: This study suggests the estimation method of stress
distribution for the beam structures based on TLS (Terrestrial Laser
Scanning). The main components of method are the creation of the
lattices of raw data from TLS to satisfy the suitable condition and
application of CSSI (Cubic Smoothing Spline Interpolation) for
estimating stress distribution. Estimation of stress distribution for the
structural member or the whole structure is one of the important
factors for safety evaluation of the structure. Existing sensors which
include ESG (Electric strain gauge) and LVDT (Linear Variable
Differential Transformer) can be categorized as contact type sensor
which should be installed on the structural members and also there are
various limitations such as the need of separate space where the
network cables are installed and the difficulty of access for sensor
installation in real buildings. To overcome these problems inherent in
the contact type sensors, TLS system of LiDAR (light detection and
ranging), which can measure the displacement of a target in a long
range without the influence of surrounding environment and also get
the whole shape of the structure, has been applied to the field of
structural health monitoring. The important characteristic of TLS
measuring is a formation of point clouds which has many points
including the local coordinate. Point clouds are not linear distribution
but dispersed shape. Thus, to analyze point clouds, the interpolation is
needed vitally. Through formation of averaged lattices and CSSI for
the raw data, the method which can estimate the displacement of
simple beam was developed. Also, the developed method can be
extended to calculate the strain and finally applicable to estimate a
stress distribution of a structural member. To verify the validity of the
method, the loading test on a simple beam was conducted and TLS
measured it. Through a comparison of the estimated stress and
reference stress, the validity of the method is confirmed.