Abstract: This paper describes the design and development of pico-hydro generation system using consuming water distributed to houses. Water flow in the domestic pipes has kinetic energy that potential to generate electricity for energy storage purposes in addition to the routine activities such as laundry, cook and bathe. The inherent water pressure and flow inside the pipe from utility-s main tank that used for those usual activities is also used to rotate small scale hydro turbine to drive a generator for electrical power generation. Hence, this project is conducted to develop a small scale hydro generation system using consuming water distributed to houses as an alternative electrical energy source for residential use.
Abstract: Cavitation, usually known as a destructive
phenomenon, involves turbulent unsteady two-phase flow. Having
such features, cavitating flows have been turned to a challenging
topic in numerical studies and many researches are being done for
better understanding of bubbly flows and proposing solutions to
reduce its consequent destructive effects. Aeration may be regarded
as an effective protection against cavitation erosion in many
hydraulic structures, like gated tunnels. The paper concerns
numerical simulation of flow in discharge gated tunnel of a dam
using ing RNG k -ε model coupled with the volume of fluid (VOF)
method and the zone which is susceptible of cavitation inception in
the tunnel is predicted. In the second step, a vent is considered in the
mentioned zone for aeration and the numerical simulation is done
again to study the effects of aeration. The results show that aeration
is an impressively useful method to exclude cavitation in mentioned
tunnels.
Abstract: Antibacterial activity of Plumeria alba (Frangipani)
petals methanolic extracts were evaluated against Escherichia coli,
Proteus vulgaris,Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae,
Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus saprophyticus,
Enterococcus faecalis and Serratia marcescens by using disk
diffusion method. Concentration extracts (80 %) showed the highest
inhibition zone towards Escherichia coli (14.3 mm). Frangipani
extract also showed high antibacterial activity against
Staphylococcus saprophyticus, Proteus vulgaris and Serratia
marcescens, but not more than the zones of the positive control used.
Comparison between two broad specrum antibiotics to frangipani
extracts showed that the 80 % concentration extracts produce the
same zone of inhibition as Streptomycin. Frangipani extracts showed
no bacterial activity towards Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas
aeruginosa and Enterococcus faecalis. There are differences in the
sensitivity of different bacteria to frangipani extracts, suggesting that
frangipani-s potency varies between these bacteria. The present
results indicate that frangipani showed significant antibacterial
activity especially to Escherichia coli.
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: This work discusses an innovative methodology for
deployment of service quality characteristics. Four groups of organizational features that may influence the quality of services are identified: human resource, technology, planning, and organizational
relationships. A House of Service Quality (HOSQ) matrix is built to
extract the desired improvement in the service quality characteristics
and to translate them into a hierarchy of important organizational
features. The Mean Square Error (MSE) criterion enables the
pinpointing of the few essential service quality characteristics to be
improved as well as selection of the vital organizational features. The
method was implemented in an engineering supply enterprise and
provides useful information on its vital service dimensions.
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: Fick's second law equations for unsteady state
diffusion of salt into the potato tissues were solved numerically. The
set of equations resulted from implicit modeling were solved using
Thomas method to find the salt concentration profiles in solid phase.
The needed effective diffusivity and equilibrium distribution
coefficient were determined experimentally. Cylindrical samples of
potato were infused with aqueous NaCl solutions of 1-3%
concentrations, and variations in salt concentrations of brine were
determined over time. Solute concentrations profiles of samples were
determined by measuring salt uptake of potato slices. For the studied
conditions, equilibrium distribution coefficients were found to be
dependent on salt concentrations, whereas the effective diffusivity
was slightly affected by brine concentration.
Abstract: Unsteady magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) boundary
layer flow and heat transfer over a continuously stretching surface in
the presence of radiation is examined. By similarity transformation,
the governing partial differential equations are transformed to a set of
ordinary differential equations. Numerical solutions are obtained by
employing the Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg method scheme with shooting
technique in Maple software environment. The effects of
unsteadiness parameter, radiation parameter, magnetic parameter and
Prandtl number on the heat transfer characteristics are obtained and
discussed. It is found that the heat transfer rate at the surface
increases as the Prandtl number and unsteadiness parameter increase
but decreases with magnetic and radiation parameter.
Abstract: We present a genetic algorithm application to the problem of object registration (i.e., object detection, localization and recognition) in a class of medical images containing various types of blood cells. The genetic algorithm approach taken here is seen to be most appropriate for this type of image, due to the characteristics of the objects. Successful cell registration results on real life microscope images of blood cells show the potential of the proposed approach.
Abstract: This paper presents the utilizing of ferroelectric
material on antenna application. There are two different ferroelectric
had been used on the proposed antennas which include of Barium
Strontium Titanate (BST) and Bismuth Titanate (BiT), suitable for
Access Points operating in the WLAN IEEE 802.11 b/g and WiMAX
IEEE 802.16 within the range of 2.3 GHz to 2.5 GHz application.
BST, which had been tested to own a dielectric constant of εr = 15
while BiT has a dielectric constant that higher than BST which is εr =
21 and both materials are in rectangular shaped. The influence of
various parameters on antenna characteristics were investigated
extensively using commercial electromagnetic simulations software
by Communication Simulation Technology (CST). From theoretical
analysis and simulation results, it was demonstrated that ferroelectric
material used have not only improved the directive emission but also
enhanced the radiation efficiency.
Abstract: The extract of milk thistle contains a mix of flavonolignans termed silymarine.. In order to analysis influence of growth regulators, genotype, explant and subculture on the accumulation of flavonolignans, a study was carried out by using two genotype (Budakalszi and Noor abad moghan cultivars), cotyledon and hypocotyle explants, solid media of MS supplemented by different combinations of two growth regulators; Kinetin (0.1, 1 mg/l) and 2,4-D (1, 2 mg/l). Seeds of the plant were germinated in MS media whitout growth regulators in growth chamber at 26°C and darkness condition. In order to callus induction, the culture media was supplemented whit different concentrations of 2,4-D and kinetin. Calli obtained from explants were sub-cultured four times into the fresh media of the first experiment. flavonoides was extracted from calli in four subcultures. The flavonoid components were determined by high- performance liquid choromatography (HPLC) and separated into Taxifolin, Silydianin+Silychristin, Silybin A+B and Isosilybin A+B. Results showed that with increasing callus age, increased accumulation of silybin A+B, but reduced Isosilybin A+B content. Highest accumulation of Taxifolin was observed at first calli. Calli produced from cotyledon explant of Budakalszi cultivar were superior for Silybin A+B, where calli from hypocotyl explant produced higher amount of Taxifolin and Silydianin+Silychristin. The best cultivar for Silymarin production in this study was Budakalszi cultivar. High amount of SBN A+B and TXF were obtained from hypocotil explant.
Abstract: Extracellular ubiquitin in vivo effect on regenerative liver cells and liver histoarchitectonics has been studied. Experiments were performed on mature female white rats. Partial hepatectomy was made using the modified method of Higgins and Anderson. Standard histopathological assessment of liver tissue was used. Proliferative activity of hepatocytes was analyzed by colchicine mitotic index and immunohistochemical staining on ki67. We have found that regardless of number of injections and dose of extracellular ubiquitin liver histology has not been changed, so at tissue level no effect was observed. In vivo double injection of ubiquitin significantly decreases the mitotic activity at 32 hour point after partial hepatectomy. Thus, we can conclude that in vivo injected extracellular ubiquitin inhibits proliferative activity of hepatocytes in partially hepatectomyzed rats.
Abstract: This study deals with the phenomena of reflection and transmission (refraction) of qSV-waves, for an incident of quasi transverse vertically waves, at a plane interface of two semi-infinite piezoelectric elastic media under the influence of the initial stresses. The relations governing the reflection and transmission coefficients of these reflected waves for various suitable boundary conditions are derived. We have shown analytically that reflection and transmission coefficients of (qP) and (qSV) waves depend upon the angle of incidence, the parameters of electric potential, the material constants of the medium as will as the initial stresses presented in the media. The numerical calculations of the reflection and transmission amplitude ratios for different values of initial stresses have been carried out by computer for different materials as examples and the results are given in the form of graphs. Finally, some of particular cases are considered.
Abstract: Utilizing echoic intension and distribution from different organs and local details of human body, ultrasonic image can catch important medical pathological changes, which unfortunately may be affected by ultrasonic speckle noise. A feature preserving ultrasonic image denoising and edge enhancement scheme is put forth, which includes two terms: anisotropic diffusion and edge enhancement, controlled by the optimum smoothing time. In this scheme, the anisotropic diffusion is governed by the local coordinate transformation and the first and the second order normal derivatives of the image, while the edge enhancement is done by the hyperbolic tangent function. Experiments on real ultrasonic images indicate effective preservation of edges, local details and ultrasonic echoic bright strips on denoising by our scheme.
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: Data mining is an extraordinarily demanding field referring to extraction of implicit knowledge and relationships, which are not explicitly stored in databases. A wide variety of methods of data mining have been introduced (classification, characterization, generalization...). Each one of these methods includes more than algorithm. A system of data mining implies different user categories,, which mean that the user-s behavior must be a component of the system. The problem at this level is to know which algorithm of which method to employ for an exploratory end, which one for a decisional end, and how can they collaborate and communicate. Agent paradigm presents a new way of conception and realizing of data mining system. The purpose is to combine different algorithms of data mining to prepare elements for decision-makers, benefiting from the possibilities offered by the multi-agent systems. In this paper the agent framework for data mining is introduced, and its overall architecture and functionality are presented. The validation is made on spatial data. Principal results will be presented.
Abstract: According to the density of the chips, designers are
trying to put so any facilities of computational and storage on single
chips. Along with the complexity of computational and storage
circuits, the designing, testing and debugging become more and more
complex and expensive. So, hardware design will be built by using
very high speed hardware description language, which is more
efficient and cost effective. This paper will focus on the
implementation of 32-bit ALU design based on Verilog hardware
description language. Adder and subtracter operate correctly on both
unsigned and positive numbers. In ALU, addition takes most of the
time if it uses the ripple-carry adder. The general strategy for
designing fast adders is to reduce the time required to form carry
signals. Adders that use this principle are called carry look- ahead
adder. The carry look-ahead adder is to be designed with combination
of 4-bit adders. The syntax of Verilog HDL is similar to the C
programming language. This paper proposes a unified approach to
ALU design in which both simulation and formal verification can
co-exist.
Abstract: In an open real-time system environment, the coexistence of different kinds of real-time and non real-time applications makes the system scheduling mechanism face new requirements and challenges. One two-level scheduling scheme of the open real-time systems is introduced, and points out that hard and soft real-time applications are scheduled non-distinctively as the same type real-time applications, the Quality of Service (QoS) cannot be guaranteed. It has two flaws: The first, it can not differentiate scheduling priorities of hard and soft real-time applications, that is to say, it neglects characteristic differences between hard real-time applications and soft ones, so it does not suit a more complex real-time environment. The second, the worst case execution time of soft real-time applications cannot be predicted exactly, so it is not worth while to cost much spending in order to assure all soft real-time applications not to miss their deadlines, and doing that may cause resource wasting. In order to solve this problem, a novel two-level real-time scheduling mechanism (including scheduling profile and scheduling algorithm) which adds the process of dealing with soft real-time applications is proposed. Finally, we verify real-time scheduling mechanism from two aspects of theory and experiment. The results indicate that our scheduling mechanism can achieve the following objectives. (1) It can reflect the difference of priority when scheduling hard and soft real-time applications. (2) It can ensure schedulability of hard real-time applications, that is, their rate of missing deadline is 0. (3) The overall rate of missing deadline of soft real-time applications can be less than 1. (4) The deadline of a non-real-time application is not set, whereas the scheduling algorithm that server 0 S uses can avoid the “starvation" of jobs and increase QOS. By doing that, our scheduling mechanism is more compatible with different types of applications and it will be applied more widely.
Abstract: Model Predictive Control has been previously applied
to supply chain problems with promising results; however hitherto
proposed systems possessed no information on future demand. A
forecasting methodology will surely promote the efficiency of
control actions by providing insight on the future. A complete supply
chain management framework that is based on Model Predictive
Control (MPC) and Time Series Forecasting will be presented in this
paper. The proposed framework will be tested on industrial data in
order to assess the efficiency of the method and the impact of
forecast accuracy on overall control performance of the supply chain.
To this end, forecasting methodologies with different characteristics
will be implemented on test data to generate forecasts that will serve
as input to the Model Predictive Control module.
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.