Abstract: The influence of human activities produced by dams
along the river beds is minor, but the location of accumulation of
water directly influences the hydrological regime. The most
important effect of the influence of damming on the way water flows
decreases the frequency of floods. The water rate controls the water
flow of the dams. These natural reservoirs become dysfunctional and,
as a result, a new distribution of flow in the downstream sector,
where maximum flow is, brings about, in this case, higher values. In
addition to fishing, middle and lower courses of rivers located by
accumulation also have a role in mitigating flood waves, thus
providing flood protection. The Vaslui also ensures a good part of the
needs of the town water supply. The most important lake is Solesti,
close to the Vaslui River, opened in 1974. A hydrological regime of
accumulation is related to an anthropogenic and natural drainage
system. The design conditions and their manoeuvres drain or fill the
water courses.
Abstract: Contamination of aromatic compounds in water can
cause severe long-lasting effects not only for biotic organism but also
on human health. Several alternative technologies for remediation of
polluted water have been attempted. One of these is adsorption
process of aromatic compounds by using organic modified clay
mineral. Porous structure of clay is potential properties for molecular
adsorptivity and it can be increased by immobilizing hydrophobic
structure to attract organic compounds. In this work natural
montmorillonite were modified with cetyltrimethylammonium
(CTMA+) and was evaluated for use as adsorbents of aromatic
compounds: benzene, toluene, and 2-chloro phenol in its single and
multicomponent solution by ethanol:water solvent. Preparation of
CTMA-montmorillonite was conducted by simple ion exchange
procedure and characterization was conducted by using x-day
diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infra red (FTIR) and gas
sorption analysis. The influence of structural modification of
montmorillonite on its adsorption capacity and adsorption affinity of
organic compound were studied. It was shown that adsorptivity of
montmorillonite was increased by modification associated with
arrangements of CTMA+ in the structure even the specific surface
area of modified montmorillonite was lower than raw
montmorillonite. Adsorption rate indicated that material has affinity
to adsorb compound by following order: benzene> toluene > 2-chloro
phenol. The adsorption isotherms of benzene and toluene showed 1st
order adsorption kinetic indicating a partition phenomenon of
compounds between the aqueous and organophilic CTMAmontmorillonite.
Abstract: A piston cylinder based high pressure differential
thermal analyzer system is developed to investigate phase
transformations, melting, glass transitions, crystallization behavior of
inorganic materials, glassy systems etc., at ambient to 4 GPa and at
room temperature to 1073 K. The pressure is calibrated by the phase
transition of bismuth and ytterbium and temperature is calibrated
by using thermocouple data chart. The system developed is
calibrated using benzoic acid, ammonium nitrate and it has a
pressure and temperature control of ± 8.9 x 10 -4 GPa , ± 2 K
respectively. The phase transition of Asx Te100-x chalcogenides,
ferrous oxide and strontium boride are studied using the
indigenously developed system.
Abstract: Cerium-doped lanthanum bromide LaBr3:Ce(5%)
crystals are considered to be one of the most advanced scintillator
materials used in PET scanning, combining a high light yield, fast
decay time and excellent energy resolution. Apart from the correct
choice of scintillator, it is also important to optimise the detector
geometry, not least in terms of source-to-detector distance in order to
obtain reliable measurements and efficiency. In this study a
commercially available 25 mm x 25 mm BrilLanCeTM 380 LaBr3: Ce
(5%) detector was characterised in terms of its efficiency at varying
source-to-detector distances. Gamma-ray spectra of 22Na, 60Co, and
137Cs were separately acquired at distances of 5, 10, 15, and 20cm. As
a result of the change in solid angle subtended by the detector, the
geometric efficiency reduced in efficiency with increasing distance.
High efficiencies at low distances can cause pulse pile-up when
subsequent photons are detected before previously detected events
have decayed. To reduce this systematic error the source-to-detector
distance should be balanced between efficiency and pulse pile-up
suppression as otherwise pile-up corrections would need to be
necessary at short distances. In addition to the experimental
measurements Monte Carlo simulations have been carried out for the
same setup, allowing a comparison of results. The advantages and
disadvantages of each approach have been highlighted.
Abstract: This paper presents a heuristic to solve large size 0-1 Multi constrained Knapsack problem (01MKP) which is NP-hard. Many researchers are used heuristic operator to identify the redundant constraints of Linear Programming Problem before applying the regular procedure to solve it. We use the intercept matrix to identify the zero valued variables of 01MKP which is known as redundant variables. In this heuristic, first the dominance property of the intercept matrix of constraints is exploited to reduce the search space to find the optimal or near optimal solutions of 01MKP, second, we improve the solution by using the pseudo-utility ratio based on surrogate constraint of 01MKP. This heuristic is tested for benchmark problems of sizes upto 2500, taken from literature and the results are compared with optimum solutions. Space and computational complexity of solving 01MKP using this approach are also presented. The encouraging results especially for relatively large size test problems indicate that this heuristic can successfully be used for finding good solutions for highly constrained NP-hard problems.
Abstract: Concrete performance is strongly affected by the
particle packing degree since it determines the distribution of the
cementitious component and the interaction of mineral particles. By
using packing theory designers will be able to select optimal
aggregate materials for preparing concrete with low cement content,
which is beneficial from the point of cost. Optimum particle packing
implies minimizing porosity and thereby reducing the amount of
cement paste needed to fill the voids between the aggregate particles,
taking also the rheology of the concrete into consideration. For
reaching good fluidity superplasticizers are required. The results from
pilot tests at Luleå University of Technology (LTU) show various
forms of the proposed theoretical models, and the empirical approach
taken in the study seems to provide a safer basis for developing new,
improved packing models.
Abstract: The primary cause of Total Hip Replacement (THR)
failure for younger patients is aseptic loosening. This complication is
twice more likely to happen in acetabular cup than in femoral stem.
Excessive micromotion between bone and implant will cause
loosening and it depends in patient activities, age and bone. In this
project, the effects of different metal back design of press fit on
osseointegration of the acetabular cup are carried out. Commercial
acetabular cup designs, namely Spiked, Superfix and Quadrafix are
modelled and analyzed using commercial finite element software.
The diameter of acetabular cup is based on the diameter of acetabular
rim to make sure the component fit to the acetabular cavity. A new
design of acetabular cup are proposed and analyzed to get better
osseointegration between the bones and implant interface. Results
shows that the proposed acetabular cup designs are more stable
compared to other designs with respect to stress and displacement
aspects.
Abstract: The aim of current study was to investigate the
changes in the quality parameters of Holstein bull semen during the
heat stress and the effect of feeding a source of omega-3 fatty acids
in this period. Samples were obtained from 19 Holstein bulls during
the expected time of heat stress in Iran (June to September 2009).
Control group (n=10) were fed a standard concentrate feed while
treatment group (n=9) had this feed top dressed with 100 g of an
omega-3 enriched nutriceutical. Semen quality was assessed on
ejaculates collected after 1, 5, 9 and 12 weeks of supplementation.
Computer-assisted assessment of sperm motility, viability (eosinnigrosin)
and hypo-osmotic swelling test (HOST) were conducted.
Heat stress affected sperm quality parameters by week 5 and 9
(p
Abstract: In this paper, we consider the effect of the initial
sample size on the performance of a sequential approach that used
in selecting a good enough simulated system, when the number
of alternatives is very large. We implement a sequential approach
on M=M=1 queuing system under some parameter settings, with a
different choice of the initial sample sizes to explore the impacts on
the performance of this approach. The results show that the choice
of the initial sample size does affect the performance of our selection
approach.
Abstract: Image Searching was always a problem specially when these images are not properly managed or these are distributed over different locations. Currently different techniques are used for image search. On one end, more features of the image are captured and stored to get better results. Storing and management of such features is itself a time consuming job. While on the other extreme if fewer features are stored the accuracy rate is not satisfactory. Same image stored with different visual properties can further reduce the rate of accuracy. In this paper we present a new concept of using polynomials of sorted histogram of the image. This approach need less overhead and can cope with the difference in visual features of image.
Abstract: Role of acoustic driving pressure on the
translational-radial dynamics of a moving single bubble
sonoluminescence (m-SBSL) has been numerically
investigated. The results indicate that increase in the
amplitude of the driving pressure leads to increase in the
bubble peak temperature. The length and the shape of the
trajectory of the bubble depends on the acoustic pressure and
because of the spatially dependence of the radial dynamics of
the moving bubble, its peak temperature varies during the
acoustical pulses. The results are in good agreement with the
experimental reports on m-SBSL.
Abstract: With the rapid development in the field of life
sciences and the flooding of genomic information, the need for faster
and scalable searching methods has become urgent. One of the
approaches that were investigated is indexing. The indexing methods
have been categorized into three categories which are the lengthbased
index algorithms, transformation-based algorithms and mixed
techniques-based algorithms. In this research, we focused on the
transformation based methods. We embedded the N-gram method
into the transformation-based method to build an inverted index
table. We then applied the parallel methods to speed up the index
building time and to reduce the overall retrieval time when querying
the genomic database. Our experiments show that the use of N-Gram
transformation algorithm is an economical solution; it saves time and
space too. The result shows that the size of the index is smaller than
the size of the dataset when the size of N-Gram is 5 and 6. The
parallel N-Gram transformation algorithm-s results indicate that the
uses of parallel programming with large dataset are promising which
can be improved further.
Abstract: The present paper considers the steady free convection
boundary layer flow of a viscoelastic fluid on solid sphere with
Newtonian heating. The boundary layer equations are an order higher
than those for the Newtonian (viscous) fluid and the adherence
boundary conditions are insufficient to determine the solution of
these equations completely. Thus, the augmentation an extra
boundary condition is needed to perform the numerical
computational. The governing boundary layer equations are first
transformed into non-dimensional form by using special
dimensionless group and then solved by using an implicit finite
difference scheme. The results are displayed graphically to illustrate
the influence of viscoelastic K and Prandtl Number Pr parameters on
skin friction, heat transfer, velocity profiles and temperature profiles.
Present results are compared with the published papers and are found
to concur very well.
Abstract: This paper discuss the separation of the miscible
liquids by means of fractional distillation. For complete separation of
liquids, the process of heating, condensation, separation and storage
is done automatically to achieve the objective. PIC micro-controller
has been used to control each and every process of the work. The
controller also controls the storage process by activating and deactivating
the conveyors. The liquids are heated which on reaching
their respective boiling points evaporate and enter the condensation
chamber where they convert into liquid. The liquids are then directed
to their respective tanks by means of stepper motor which moves in
three directions, each movement into different tank. The tank on
filling sends the signal to controller which then opens the solenoid
valves. The tank is emptied into the beakers below the nozzle. As the
beaker filled, the nozzle closes and the conveyors come into
operation. The filled beaker is replaced by an empty beaker from
behind. The work can be used in oil industries, chemical industries
and paint industries.
Abstract: Dengue disease is an infectious vector-borne viral
disease that is commonly found in tropical and sub-tropical regions,
especially in urban and semi-urban areas, around the world and
including Malaysia. There is no currently available vaccine or
chemotherapy for the prevention or treatment of dengue disease.
Therefore prevention and treatment of the disease depend on vector
surveillance and control measures. Disease risk mapping has been
recognized as an important tool in the prevention and control
strategies for diseases. The choice of statistical model used for
relative risk estimation is important as a good model will
subsequently produce a good disease risk map. Therefore, the aim of
this study is to estimate the relative risk for dengue disease based
initially on the most common statistic used in disease mapping called
Standardized Morbidity Ratio (SMR) and one of the earliest
applications of Bayesian methodology called Poisson-gamma model.
This paper begins by providing a review of the SMR method, which
we then apply to dengue data of Perak, Malaysia. We then fit an
extension of the SMR method, which is the Poisson-gamma model.
Both results are displayed and compared using graph, tables and
maps. Results of the analysis shows that the latter method gives a
better relative risk estimates compared with using the SMR. The
Poisson-gamma model has been demonstrated can overcome the
problem of SMR when there is no observed dengue cases in certain
regions. However, covariate adjustment in this model is difficult and
there is no possibility for allowing spatial correlation between risks in
adjacent areas. The drawbacks of this model have motivated many
researchers to propose other alternative methods for estimating the
risk.
Abstract: Heart failure is the most common reason of death
nowadays, but if the medical help is given directly, the patient-s life
may be saved in many cases. Numerous heart diseases can be
detected by means of analyzing electrocardiograms (ECG). Artificial
Neural Networks (ANN) are computer-based expert systems that
have proved to be useful in pattern recognition tasks. ANN can be
used in different phases of the decision-making process, from
classification to diagnostic procedures. This work concentrates on a
review followed by a novel method.
The purpose of the review is to assess the evidence of healthcare
benefits involving the application of artificial neural networks to the
clinical functions of diagnosis, prognosis and survival analysis, in
ECG signals. The developed method is based on a compound neural
network (CNN), to classify ECGs as normal or carrying an
AtrioVentricular heart Block (AVB). This method uses three
different feed forward multilayer neural networks. A single output
unit encodes the probability of AVB occurrences. A value between 0
and 0.1 is the desired output for a normal ECG; a value between 0.1
and 1 would infer an occurrence of an AVB. The results show that
this compound network has a good performance in detecting AVBs,
with a sensitivity of 90.7% and a specificity of 86.05%. The accuracy
value is 87.9%.
Abstract: The increasing importance of data stream arising in a
wide range of advanced applications has led to the extensive study of
mining frequent patterns. Mining data streams poses many new
challenges amongst which are the one-scan nature, the unbounded
memory requirement and the high arrival rate of data streams. In this
paper, we propose a new approach for mining itemsets on data
stream. Our approach SFIDS has been developed based on FIDS
algorithm. The main attempts were to keep some advantages of the
previous approach and resolve some of its drawbacks, and
consequently to improve run time and memory consumption. Our
approach has the following advantages: using a data structure similar
to lattice for keeping frequent itemsets, separating regions from each
other with deleting common nodes that results in a decrease in search
space, memory consumption and run time; and Finally, considering
CPU constraint, with increasing arrival rate of data that result in
overloading system, SFIDS automatically detect this situation and
discard some of unprocessing data. We guarantee that error of results
is bounded to user pre-specified threshold, based on a probability
technique. Final results show that SFIDS algorithm could attain
about 50% run time improvement than FIDS approach.
Abstract: Performance of a cobalt doped sol-gel derived silica (Co/SiO2) catalyst for Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (FTS) in slurryphase reactor was studied using paraffin wax as initial liquid media. The reactive mixed gas, hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO) in a molar ratio of 2:1, was flowed at 50 ml/min. Braunauer-Emmett- Teller (BET) surface area and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques were employed to characterize both the specific surface area and crystallinity of the catalyst, respectively. The reduction behavior of Co/SiO2 catalyst was investigated using the Temperature Programmmed Reduction (TPR) method. Operating temperatures were varied from 493 to 533K to find the optimum conditions to maximize liquid fuels production, gasoline and diesel.
Abstract: Models are placed by modeling paradigm at the center of development process. These models are represented by languages, like UML the language standardized by the OMG which became necessary for development. Moreover the ontology engineering paradigm places ontologies at the center of development process; in this paradigm we find OWL the principal language for knowledge representation. Building ontologies from scratch is generally a difficult task. The bridging between UML and OWL appeared on several regards such as the classes and associations. In this paper, we have to profit from convergence between UML and OWL to propose an approach based on Meta-Modelling and Graph Grammars and registered in the MDA architecture for the automatic generation of OWL ontologies from UML class diagrams. The transformation is based on transformation rules; the level of abstraction in these rules is close to the application in order to have usable ontologies. We illustrate this approach by an example.
Abstract: In view of their importance and usefulness in reliability theory and probability distributions, several generalizations of the inverse Gaussian distribution and the Krtzel function are investigated in recent years. This has motivated the authors to introduce and study a new generalization of the inverse Gaussian distribution and the Krtzel function associated with a product of a Bessel function of the third kind )(zKQ and a Z - Fox-Wright generalized hyper geometric function introduced in this paper. The introduced function turns out to be a unified gamma-type function. Its incomplete forms are also discussed. Several properties of this gamma-type function are obtained. By means of this generalized function, we introduce a generalization of inverse Gaussian distribution, which is useful in reliability analysis, diffusion processes, and radio techniques etc. The inverse Gaussian distribution thus introduced also provides a generalization of the Krtzel function. Some basic statistical functions associated with this probability density function, such as moments, the Mellin transform, the moment generating function, the hazard rate function, and the mean residue life function are also obtained.KeywordsFox-Wright function, Inverse Gaussian distribution, Krtzel function & Bessel function of the third kind.