Abstract: Kwashiorkor is one of nutritional problem in
Indonesia, which lead to decrease immune system. This condition
causes susceptibility to infectious disease, especially tuberculosis.
Development of new tuberculosis vaccine will be an important
strategy to eliminate tuberculosis in kwashiorkor. Previous research
showed that 38-kDa Mycobacterium tuberculosis protein is one of the
potent immunogen. However, the role of oral immunization with 38-
kDa Mycobacterium tuberculosis protein to the number of
lymphocytes in the rat model of kwashiorkor is still unknown. We
used kwashiorkor rat model groups with 4% and 2% low protein diet.
Oral immunization with 38-kDa Mycobacterium tuberculosis protein
given with 2 booster every week. The lymphocytes number were
measured by flowcytometry. There was no significant difference
between the number of lymphocytes in the normal rat group and the
kwashiorkor rat groups. It may reveal the role of 38-kDa
Mycobacterium tuberculosis protein as a potent immunogen that can
increase the lymphocytes number from kwashiorkor rat model same
as normal rat.
Abstract: Organic farmers across Saskatchewan face soil
phosphorus (P) shortages. Due to the restriction on inputs in organic
systems, farmers rely on crop rotation and naturally-occurring
arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) for plant P supply. Crop rotation
is important for disease, pest, and weed management. Crops that are
not colonized by AMF (non-mycorrhizal) can decrease colonization
of a following crop. An experiment was performed to quantify soil P
cycling in four cropping sequences under organic management and
determine if mustard (non-mycorrhizal) was delaying the
colonization of subsequent wheat. Soils from the four cropping
sequences were measured for inorganic soil P (Pi), AMF spore
density (SD), phospholipid fatty acid analysis (PLFA, for AMF
biomarker counts), and alkaline phosphatase activity (ALPase,
related to AMF metabolic activity). Plants were measured for AMF
colonization and P content and uptake of above-ground biomass. A
lack of difference in AMF activity indicated that mustard was not
depressing colonization. Instead, AMF colonization was largely
determined by crop type and crop rotation.
Abstract: Power System Security is a major concern in real time
operation. Conventional method of security evaluation consists of
performing continuous load flow and transient stability studies by
simulation program. This is highly time consuming and infeasible
for on-line application. Pattern Recognition (PR) is a promising
tool for on-line security evaluation. This paper proposes a Support
Vector Machine (SVM) based binary classification for static and
transient security evaluation. The proposed SVM based PR approach
is implemented on New England 39 Bus and IEEE 57 Bus systems.
The simulation results of SVM classifier is compared with the other
classifier algorithms like Method of Least Squares (MLS), Multi-
Layer Perceptron (MLP) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA)
classifiers.
Abstract: In order to be able to automatically differentiate
between two modes of permanent flow of a liquid simulating blood,
it was imperative to put together a data bank. Thus, the acquisition of
the various amplitude spectra of the Doppler signal of this liquid in
laminar flow and other spectra in turbulent flow enabled us to
establish an automatic difference between the two modes. According
to the number of parameters and their nature, a comparative study
allowed us to choose the best classifier.
Abstract: Concurrency and synchronization are becoming big
issues as every new PC comes with multi-core processors. A major
reason for Object-Oriented Programming originally was to enable
easier reuse: encode your algorithm into a class and thoroughly
debug it, then you can reuse the class again and again. However,
when we get to concurrency and synchronization, this is often not
possible. Thread-safety issues means that synchronization constructs
need to be entangled into every class involved. We contributed a
detailed literature review of issues and challenges in concurrent
programming and present a methodology that uses the Aspect-
Oriented paradigm to address this problem. Aspects will allow us to
extract the synchronization concerns as schemes to be “weaved in"
later into the main code. This allows the aspects to be separately
tested and verified. Hence, the functional components can be weaved
with reusable synchronization schemes that are robust and scalable.
Abstract: This paper investigates several factors affecting the
cost of capital for listed Romanian companies. Although there is a
large amount of literature investigating the drivers of the cost of
capital internationally, there is currently little evidence from
emergent markets. Based on a sample of 19 Romanian listed
companies followed by financial analysts for the years 2008-2010,
according to Thomson Reuters- I/B/E/S data base, the paper confirms
the international trends, showing that size, corporate governance
policies, and growth are negatively correlated with the cost of capital.
Abstract: This paper presents a multiband CPW-fed slot antenna
with L-slot bowtie tuning stub. The proposed antenna has been
designed for PCS 1900, UMTS, WLAN 802.11 a/b/g and bluetooth
applications, with a cost-effective FR4 substrate. The proposed
antenna still radiate as omni-directional in azimuth plane and
sufficient bandwidth for all above mentions. The proposed antenna
works as dual-wideband, bandwidth at low frequency band and high
frequency are about 45.49 % and 22.39 % respectively. The
experimental results of the constructed prototype are presented and
also compared with simulation results using a commercial software
tool.
Abstract: Due to rapid economic growth, Indonesia's energy needs is rapidly increasing. Indonesia-s primary energy consumption has doubled in 2007 compared to 2003. Indonesia's status change from oil net-exporter to oil net-importer country recently has increased Indonesia's concern over energy security. Due to this, oil import becomes center of attention in the dynamics of Indonesia's energy security. Conventional studies addressing Indonesia's energy security have focused on energy production sector. This study explores Indonesia-s energy security considering energy import sector by modeling and simulating Indonesia-s energy-related policies using system dynamics. Simulation result of Indonesia's energy security in 2020 in Business-As-Usual scenario shows that in term of supply demand ratio, energy security will be very high, but also it poses high dependence on energy import. The Alternative scenario result shows lower energy security in term of supply demand ratio and much lower dependence on energy import. It is also found that the Alternative scenario produce lower GDP growth.
Abstract: The aim of the paper work is to investigate and predict
the static performance of journal bearing in turbulent flow condition
considering micropolar lubrication. The Reynolds equation has been
modified considering turbulent micropolar lubrication and is solved
for steady state operations. The Constantinescu-s turbulence model is
adopted using the coefficients. The analysis has been done for a
parallel and inertia less flow. Load capacity and friction factor have
been evaluated for various operating parameters.
Abstract: Biplot can be used to evaluate cultivars for their oil
percent potential and stability and to evaluate trial sites for their
discriminating ability and representativeness. Multi-environmental
trial (MET) data for oil percent of 10 open pollinating sunflower
cultivars were analyzed to investigate the genotype-environment
interactions. The genotypes were evaluated in four locations with
different climatic conditions in Iran in 2010. In each location, a
Randomized Complete Block design with four replications was used.
According to both mean and stability, Zaria, Master and R453, had
highest performances among all cultivars. The graphical analysis
identified best cultivar for each environment. Cultivars Berezans and
Record performed best in Khoy and Islamabad. Zaria and R453 were
the best genotypes in Sari and Karaj followed by Master and Favorit.
The GGE bi-plot indicated two mega-environments, group one
contained Karaj, Khoy and Islamabad and the second group
contained Sari. The best discriminating location was Karaj followed
with Khoy, Islamabad and Sari. The best representative genotypes
were Zaria, R453, Master and Favorit. Ranking of ten cultivars based
their oil percent was as Zaria > R453 ≈ Master ≈ Favorit > Record ≈
Berezans > Sor > Lakumka > Bulg3 > Bulg5.
Abstract: In this paper, numerical simulations are performed to investigate the effect of disturbance block on flow field of the classical square lid-driven cavity. Attentions are focused on vortex formation and studying the effect of block position on its structure. Corner vortices are different upon block position and new vortices are produced because of the block. Finite volume method is used to solve Navier-Stokes equations and PISO algorithm is employed for the linkage of velocity and pressure. Verification and grid independency of results are reported. Stream lines are sketched to visualize vortex structure in different block positions.
Abstract: In this work a visual and reactive contour following
behaviour is learned by reinforcement. With artificial vision the
environment is perceived in 3D, and it is possible to avoid obstacles
that are invisible to other sensors that are more common in mobile
robotics. Reinforcement learning reduces the need for intervention in
behaviour design, and simplifies its adjustment to the environment,
the robot and the task. In order to facilitate its generalisation to other
behaviours and to reduce the role of the designer, we propose a
regular image-based codification of states. Even though this is much
more difficult, our implementation converges and is robust. Results
are presented with a Pioneer 2 AT on a Gazebo 3D simulator.
Abstract: Pyrite (FeS2) is a promising candidate for cathode
materials in batteries because of it`s high theoretical capacity, low
cost and non-toxicity. In this study, nano size iron disulfide thin film
was prepared on graphite substrate through a new method as battery
cathode. In this way, acetylene black and poly vinylidene fluoride
were used as electron conductor and binder, respectively. Fabricated
thin films were analyzed by XRD and SEM. These results and
electrochemical data confirm improvement of battery discharge
capacity in comparison with commercial type of pyrite.
Abstract: An attempt has been made to develop a
seminumerical model to study temperature variations in dermal
layers of human limbs. The model has been developed for two
dimensional steady state case. The human limb has been assumed to
have elliptical cross section. The dermal region has been divided
into three natural layers namely epidermis, dermis and subdermal
tissues. The model incorporates the effect of important physiological
parameters like blood mass flow rate, metabolic heat generation, and
thermal conductivity of the tissues. The outer surface of the limb is
exposed to the environment and it is assumed that heat loss takes
place at the outer surface by conduction, convection, radiation, and
evaporation. The temperature of inner core of the limb also varies at
the lower atmospheric temperature. Appropriate boundary conditions
have been framed based on the physical conditions of the problem.
Cubic splines approach has been employed along radial direction and
Fourier series along angular direction to obtain the solution. The
numerical results have been computed for different values of
eccentricity resembling with the elliptic cross section of the human
limbs. The numerical results have been used to obtain the
temperature profile and to study the relationships among the various
physiological parameters.
Abstract: The problem of incompressible steady flow simulation around an airfoil is discussed. For some simplest airfoils (circular, elliptical, Zhukovsky airfoils) the exact solution is known from complex analysis. It allows to compute the intensity of vortex layer which simulates the airfoil. Some modifications of the vortex element method are proposed and test computations are carried out. It-s shown that the these approaches are much more effective in comparison with the classical numerical scheme.
Abstract: Gas turbine systems with wet compression have a
potential for future power generation, since they can offer a high
efficiency and a high specific power with a relatively low cost. In this
study influence of ambient condition on the performance of the wet
compression process is investigated with a non-equilibrium analytical
modeling based on droplet evaporation. Transient behaviors of droplet
diameter and temperature of mixed air are investigated for various
ambient temperatures. Special attention is paid for the effects of
ambient temperature, pressure ratio, and water injection ratios on the
important wet compression variables including compressor outlet
temperature and compression work. Parametric studies show that
downing of the ambient temperature leads to lower compressor outlet
temperature and consequently lower consumption of compression
work even in wet compression processes.
Abstract: In the present analysis an unsteady laminar
forced convection water boundary layer flow is considered.
The fluid properties such as viscosity and Prandtl number are
taken as variables such that those are inversely proportional to
temperature. By using quasi-linearization technique the nonlinear
coupled partial differential equations are linearized and
the numerical solutions are obtained by using implicit finite
difference scheme with the appropriate selection of step sizes.
Non-similar solutions have been obtained from the starting
point of the stream-wise coordinate to the point where skin
friction value vanishes. The effect non-uniform mass transfer
along the surface of the cylinder through slot is studied on the
skin friction and heat transfer coefficients.
Abstract: This article deals with the numerical simulation of the
floor heating convector in 3D. Presented convector can operate in
two modes – cooling mode and heating mode. This initial numerical
simulation is focused on cooling mode of the convector. Models with
different temperature of the fins are compared and three various
shapes of the fins are examined as well. The objective of the work is
to predict air flow and heat transfer inside convector for further
optimalization of these devices. For the numerical simulation was
used commercial software Ansys Fluent.
Abstract: The study was designed to evaluate the use of low
concentrations of separan flocculent (Less than 3 ppm) on
physicochemical properties of sugar cane juice. Colour, pH, purity,
turbidity, pol, brix, reducing sugars tannins and polyphenols of
crushed cane (green and burned) juice, mixed juice and clarified
juice were studied. The results showed that pol, brix, reducing sugar
and turbidity are higher in crushed cane juice. Clarified burned juice
had low turbidity, reducing sugars, pol and brix but had significantly
lower pH, purity and colour when compared to crushed juice.
Polyphenols of the crushed juice (1.19%) decreased significantly in
the clarified juice to 0.006%. Addition of separan at a concentration
of 0.015 ppm reduced significantly colour, polyphenols and tannins
and reducing sugar compared to the control.
Abstract: This study include the effect of strain and storage
period and their interaction on some quantitative and qualitative traits
and percentages of the egg components in the eggs collected at the
start of production (at age 24 weeks). Eggs were divided into three
storage periods (1, 7 and 14) days under refrigerator temperature (5-
7)0C. Fifty seven eggs obtained randomly from each strain including
Isa Brown and Lohman White. General Linear Model within
SAS programme was used to analyze the collected data
and correlations between the studied traits were calculated for each
strain.Average egg weight (EW), Haugh Unit (HU), yolk index (YI),
yolk % (HP), albumin % (AP) and yolk to albumin ratio (YAR) was
56.629 gm, 87.968 %, 0.493, 22.13%, 67.74% and 32.76
respectively. Egg produced from ISA Brown surpassed those
produced by Lohman White significantly (P