Abstract: This paper presents the application of finite dynamic
programming, specifically the "Markov Chain" model, as part of the
decision making process of a company in the cosmetics sector located
in the vicinity of Bogota DC. The objective of this process was to
decide whether the company should completely reconstruct its
wastewater treatment plant or instead optimize the plant through the
addition of equipment. The goal of both of these options was to make
the required improvements in order to comply with parameters
established by national legislation regarding the treatment of waste
before it is released into the environment. This technique will allow
the company to select the best option and implement a solution for
the processing of waste to minimize environmental damage and the
acquisition and implementation costs.
Abstract: Because of high thermal efficiency and low CO2
emission, diesel engines are being used widely in many industrial
fields although it makes many PM and NOx which give both human
health and environment a negative effect. NOx regulations for diesel
engines, however, are being strengthened and it is impossible to meet
the emission standard without NOx reduction devices such as SCR
(Selective Catalytic Reduction), LNC (Lean NOx Catalyst), and LNT
(Lean NOx Trap). Among the NOx reduction devices, urea-SCR
system is known as the most stable and efficient method to solve the
problem of NOx emission. But this device has some issues associated
with the ammonia slip phenomenon which is occurred by shortage of
evaporation and thermolysis time, and that makes it difficult to achieve
uniform distribution of the injected urea in front of monolith.
Therefore, this study has focused on the mixing enhancement between
urea and exhaust gases to enhance the efficiency of the SCR catalyst
equipped in catalytic muffler by changing inlet gas temperature and
spray conditions to improve the spray uniformity of the urea water
solution. Finally, it can be found that various parameters such as inlet
gas temperature and injector and injection angles significantly affect
the evaporation and mixing of the urea water solution with exhaust
gases, and therefore, optimization of these parameters are required.
Abstract: Second line antiretroviral therapy (ART) regimen is
used when patients fail their first line regimen. There are many
factors such as non-adherence, drug resistance as well as virological
and immunological failure that lead to second line highly active
antiretroviral therapy (HAART) regimen treatment failure. This study
was aimed at determining predictor factors to treatment failure with
second line HAART and analyzing median survival time.
An observational, retrospective study was conducted in Sungai
Buloh Hospital (HSB) to assess current status of HIV patients treated
with second line HAART regimen. Convenience sampling was used
and 104 patients were included based on the study’s inclusion and
exclusion criteria. Data was collected for six months i.e. from July
until December 2013. Data was then analysed using SPSS version 18.
Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses were used to measure
median survival times and predictor factors for treatment failure.
The study population consisted mainly of male subjects, aged 30-
45 years, who were heterosexual, and had HIV infection for less than
6 years. The most common second line HAART regimen given was
lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r)-based combination. Kaplan-Meier
analysis showed that patients on LPV/r demonstrated longer median
survival times than patients on indinavir/ritonavir (IDV/r) based
combination (p
Abstract: Recently GPS data is used in a lot of studies to
automatically reconstruct travel patterns for trip survey. The aim is to
minimize the use of questionnaire surveys and travel diaries so as to
reduce their negative effects. In this paper data acquired from GPS and
accelerometer embedded in smart phones is utilized to predict the
mode of transportation used by the phone carrier. For prediction,
Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Adaptive boosting (AdaBoost)
are employed. Moreover a unique method to improve the prediction
results from these algorithms is also proposed. Results suggest that the
prediction accuracy of AdaBoost after improvement is relatively better
than the rest.
Abstract: We have studied a method to widen the spectrum
of optical pulses that pass through an InGaAsP waveguide for
application to broadband optical communication. In particular, we
have investigated the competitive effect between spectral broadening
arising from nonlinear refraction (optical Kerr effect) and shrinking
due to two photon absorption in the InGaAsP waveguide with
χ(3) nonlinearity. The shrunk spectrum recovers broadening by
the enhancement effect of the nonlinear refractive index near the
bandgap of InGaAsP with a bandgap wavelength of 1490 nm. The
broadened spectral width at around 1525 nm (196.7 THz) becomes
10.7 times wider than that at around 1560 nm (192.3 THz) without
the enhancement effect, where amplified optical pulses with a pulse
width of ∼ 2 ps and a peak power of 10 W propagate through a
1-cm-long InGaAsP waveguide with a cross-section of 4 (μm)2.
Abstract: We present our approach on using continuous delivery
pattern for release management. One of the key practices of agile and
lean teams is the continuous delivery of new features to stakeholders.
The main benefits of this approach lie in the ability to release new
applications rapidly which has real strategic impact on the
competitive advantage of an organization. Organizations that
successfully implement Continuous Delivery have the ability to
evolve rapidly to support innovation, provide stable and reliable
software in more efficient ways, decrease the amount of resources
need for maintenance, and lower the software delivery time and costs.
One of the objectives of this paper is to elaborate a case study where
IT division of Central Securities Depository Institution (MKK) of
Turkey apply Continuous Delivery pattern to improve release
management process.
Abstract: Fibrin degradation is an important part in prevention
or treatment of intravascular thrombosis and cardiovascular diseases.
Plasmin like fibrinolytic enzymes has given new hope to patient with
cardiovascular diseases by treating fibrin aggregation related diseases
with traditional plasminogen activator which have many side effects.
Various researches involving wide range of sources for production of
fibrinolytic proteases, from bacteria, fungi, insects and fermented
foods. But few have looked into endophytic fungi as a potential
source. Sixteen (16) endophytic fungi were isolated from Hibiscus sp.
leaves from six different locations in Shah Alam, Selangor. Only two
endophytic fungi, FH3 and S13 showed positive fibrinolytic protease
activities. FH3 produced 5.78cm and S13 produced 4.48cm on Skim
Milk Agar after 4 days of incubation at 27°C. Fibrinolytic activity
was observed; 3.87cm and 1.82cm diameter clear zone on fibrin plate
of FH3 and S13 respectively. 18srRNA was done for identification of
the isolated fungi with positive fibrinolytic protease. S13 had the
highest similarity (100%) to that of Penicillium citrinum strain TG2
and FH3 had the highest similarity (99%) to that of Fusarium sp.
FW2PhC1, Fusarium sp. 13002, Fusarium sp. 08006, Fusarium
equiseti strain Salicorn 8 and Fungal sp. FCASAn-2. Media
composition variation showed the effects of carbon nitrogen on
protein concentration, where the decrement of 50% of media
composition caused drastic decrease in protease of FH3 from 1.081 to
0.056 and also S13 from 2.946 to 0.198.
Abstract: This paper presents the design and analysis of Liquid
Crystal (LC) based tunable reflectarray antenna with different design
configurations within X-band frequency range. The effect of LC
volume used for unit cell element on frequency tunability and
reflection loss performance has been investigated. Moreover different
slot embedded patch element configurations have been proposed for
LC based tunable reflectarray antenna design with enhanced
performance. The detailed fabrication and measurement procedure
for different LC based unit cells has been presented. The waveguide
scattering parameter measured results demonstrated that by using the
circular slot embedded patch elements, the frequency tunability and
dynamic phase range can be increased from 180MHz to 200MHz and
120° to 124° respectively. Furthermore the circular slot embedded
patch element can be designed at 10GHz resonant frequency with a
patch volume of 2.71mm3 as compared to 3.47mm3 required for
rectangular patch without slot.
Abstract: The study examines the influence of marital status on
consumers of products and services using blogs as a source of
information. A pre-designed questionnaire was used to collect the
primary data from the respondents (experiences). Data were collected
from one hundred and eighty seven respondents residing in and
around the Emirates of Sharjah and Dubai of the United Arab
Emirates. The collected data was analyzed with the help of statistical
tools such as averages, percentages, factor analysis, Student’s t-test
and Structural Equation Modelling Technique.
Objectives of the study are to know the reasons how married and
unmarried or single consumers of products and services are
motivated to use blogs as a source of information, to know whether
the consumers of products and services irrespective of their marital
status share their views and experiences with other bloggers and to
know the respondents’ future intentions towards blogging.
The study revealed the following: Majority of the respondents
have the motivation to blog because they are willing to receive
comments on what they post about services, convenience of blogs to
search for information about services and products, by blogging
respondents share information on the symptoms of a disease/ disorder
that may be experienced by someone, helps to share information
about ready to cook mix products and are keen to spend more time
blogging in the future.
Abstract: This paper presents a regression model with
autocorrelated errors in which the inputs are social moods obtained by
analyzing the adjectives in Twitter posts using a document topic
model, where document topics are extracted using LDA. The
regression model predicts Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) more
precisely than autoregressive moving-average models.
Abstract: A simple multi-wavelength passively Q-switched
Erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) is demonstrated using low cost
multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) based saturable absorber
(SA), which is prepared using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a host
polymer. The multi-wavelength operation is achieved based on
nonlinear polarization rotation (NPR) effect by incorporating 50 m
long photonic crystal fiber (PCF) in the ring cavity. The EDFL
produces a stable multi-wavelength comb spectrum for more than 14
lines with a fixed spacing of 0.48 nm. The laser also demonstrates a
stable pulse train with the repetition rate increases from 14.9 kHz to
25.4 kHz as the pump power increases from the threshold power of
69.0 mW to the maximum pump power of 133.8 mW. The minimum
pulse width of 4.4 μs was obtained at the maximum pump power of
133.8 mW while the highest energy of 0.74 nJ was obtained at pump
power of 69.0 mW.
Abstract: In the present work, detailed analysis on flow characteristics of a pair of immiscible liquids through horizontal pipeline is simulated by using ANSYS FLUENT 6.2. Moderately viscous oil and water (viscosity ratio = 107, density ratio = 0.89 and interfacial tension = 0.024 N/m) have been taken as system fluids for the study. Volume of Fluid (VOF) method has been employed by assuming unsteady flow, immiscible liquid pair, constant liquid properties, and co-axial flow. Meshing has been done using GAMBIT. Quadrilateral mesh type has been chosen to account for the surface tension effect more accurately. From the grid independent study, we have selected 47037 number of mesh elements for the entire geometry. Simulation successfully predicts slug, stratified wavy, stratified mixed and annular flow, except dispersion of oil in water, and dispersion of water in oil. Simulation results are validated with horizontal literature data and good conformity is observed. Subsequently, we have simulated the hydrodynamics (viz., velocity profile, area average pressure across a cross section and volume fraction profile along the radius) of stratified wavy and annular flow at different phase velocities. The simulation results show that in the annular flow, total pressure of the mixture decreases with increase in oil velocity due to the fact that pipe cross section is completely wetted with water. Simulated oil volume fraction shows maximum at the centre in core annular flow, whereas, in stratified flow, maximum value appears at upper side of the pipeline. These results are in accord with the actual flow configuration. Our findings could be useful in designing pipeline for transportation of crude oil.
Abstract: Abundant and cheap agricultural waste of oil palm trunk (OPT) juice was used to produce bioethanol. Two strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and a strain of Pichia stipitis were used to produce bioethanol from the OPT juice. Fermentation was conducted at previously optimized condition at 30oC and without shaking. The kinetic parameters were estimated and calculated. Monod equation and Hinshelwood model is used to relate the specific growth to the concentration of the limiting substrate and also to simulate bioethanol production rate. Among the three strains, single S. cerevisiae Kyokai no. 7 produce the highest ethanol yield of 0.477 g/l.h within the shortest time (12 h). This yeast also produces more than 20 g/l ethanol concentration within 10 h of fermentation.
Abstract: There is an essential need for obtaining the mathematical representation of fish body undulations, which can be used for designing and building new innovative types of marine propulsion systems with less environmental impact. This research work presents a case study to derive the mathematical model for fish body movement. Observation and capturing image methods were used in this study in order to obtain a mathematical representation of Clariasbatrachus fish (catfish). An experiment was conducted by using an aquarium with dimension 0.609 m x 0.304 m x 0.304 m, and a 0.5 m ruler was attached at the base of the aquarium. Progressive Scan Monochrome Camera was positioned at 1.8 m above the base of the aquarium to provide swimming sequences. Seven points were marked on the fish body using white marker to indicate the fish movement and measuring the amplitude of undulation. Images from video recordings (20 frames/s) were analyzed frame by frame using local coordinate system, with time interval 0.05 s. The amplitudes of undulations were obtained for image analysis from each point that has been marked on fish body. A graph of amplitude of undulations versus time was plotted by using computer to derive a mathematical fit. The function for the graph is polynomial with nine orders.
Abstract: The powders of Ba(Ce1-xZrx)0.90Y0.1O3-δ (BCZY) with 0.2 ≤ x ≤ 0.6 have been prepared by a modified sol-gel method. Triethylenetetramine (TETA) was employed as chelating agent. Phase formation of calcined powders at 1100oC and sintered pellets at 1400oC of BCZY were examined by an X-ray diffractrometer (XRD). XRD results showed the calcined powder and sintered pellet formed a single perovskite phase over the entire range of x values. As the amount of zirconium substitution (x values) increase, the main peaks are shifted to the higher 2theta values which suggest a complete substitution of zirconium into cerium sites. All the obtained calcined powders and sintered pellets possess cubic structure (Pm-3m) at all x values.
Abstract: An extensive amount of work has been done in data
clustering research under the unsupervised learning technique in Data
Mining during the past two decades. Moreover, several approaches
and methods have been emerged focusing on clustering diverse data
types, features of cluster models and similarity rates of clusters.
However, none of the single clustering algorithm exemplifies its best
nature in extracting efficient clusters. Consequently, in order to
rectify this issue, a new challenging technique called Cluster
Ensemble method was bloomed. This new approach tends to be the
alternative method for the cluster analysis problem. The main
objective of the Cluster Ensemble is to aggregate the diverse
clustering solutions in such a way to attain accuracy and also to
improve the eminence the individual clustering algorithms. Due to
the massive and rapid development of new methods in the globe of
data mining, it is highly mandatory to scrutinize a vital analysis of
existing techniques and the future novelty. This paper shows the
comparative analysis of different cluster ensemble methods along
with their methodologies and salient features. Henceforth this
unambiguous analysis will be very useful for the society of clustering
experts and also helps in deciding the most appropriate one to resolve
the problem in hand.
Abstract: Fluid rheology may have essential impact on sound propagation in a liquid-filled pipe, especially, in a low frequency range. Rheological parameters of liquid are temperature-sensitive, which ultimately results in a temperature dependence of the wave speed and attenuation in the waveguide. The study is devoted to modeling of this effect at sound propagation in an elastic pipe with polymeric liquid, described by generalized Maxwell model with non-zero high-frequency viscosity. It is assumed that relaxation spectrum is distributed according to the Spriggs law; temperature impact on the liquid rheology is described on the basis of the temperature-superposition principle and activation theory. The dispersion equation for the waveguide, considered as a thin-walled tube with polymeric solution, is obtained within a quasi-one-dimensional formulation. Results of the study illustrate the influence of temperature on sound propagation in the system.
Abstract: The purpose of this work is to optimize a Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM) for an automotive application, specifically for a fully electric car. A new optimization approach is proposed. This unique approach transforms automotive customer requirements into an optimization problem, based on sound knowledge of a SRM theory. The approach combines an analytical and a finite element analysis of the motor to quantify static nonlinear and dynamic performance parameters, as phase currents and motor torque maps, an output power and power losses in order to find the optimal motor as close to the reality as possible, within reasonable time. The new approach yields the optimal motor which is competitive with other types of already proposed motors for automotive applications. This distinctive approach can also be used to optimize other types of electrical motors, when parts specifically related to the SRM are adjusted accordingly.
Abstract: This work studied the ability of adipose tissue-derived
mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) to form stroma for expansion of
cord blood hematopoietic cells. We showed that 72-hour interaction
of MSCs with cord blood mononuclear cells (MNCs) in vitro at
atmospheric (20%) and low (5%) O2 conditions increased the
expression of ICAM-1, HCAM (at the beginning of interaction) on
MSCs. Viability of MSCs and MNCs were maintained at high level.
Adhesion of MNCs to MSCs was faster at 20% O2. MSCs promoted
the proliferation of adhered MNCs to form the suspension containing
great number of hematopoietic colony-forming units, and this effect
was more pronounced at 5% O2. Thus, adipose-derived MSCs
supplied sufficient stromal support to cord blood MNCs both at 20%
and 5% О2, providing their adhesion with further expansion of new
generation of different hematopoietic lineages.
Abstract: In this paper, we present a new maintenance model
for a partially observable system subject to two failure modes,
namely a catastrophic failure and a failure due to the system
degradation. The system is subject to condition monitoring and the
degradation process is described by a hidden Markov model. A
cost-optimal Bayesian control policy is developed for maintaining
the system. The control problem is formulated in the semi-Markov
decision process framework. An effective computational algorithm is
developed, illustrated by a numerical example.