Abstract: High purity hydrogen and the valuable by-product of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can be produced by the methane catalytic decomposition. The methane conversion and the performance of CNTs were determined by the choices of catalysts and the condition of decomposition reaction. In this paper, Ni/MgO and Ni/O-D (oxidized diamond) catalysts were prepared by wetness impregnation method. The effects of reaction temperature and space velocity of methane on the methane conversion were investigated in a fixed-bed. The surface area, structure and micrography were characterized with BET, XPS, SEM, EDS technology. The results showed that the conversion of methane was above 8% within 150 min (T=500) for 33Ni/O-D catalyst and higher than 25% within 120 min (T=650) for 41Ni/MgO catalyst. The initial conversion increased with the increasing temperature of the decomposition reaction, but their catalytic activities decreased rapidly while at too higher temperature. To decrease the space velocity of methane was propitious to promote the methane conversion, but not favor of the hydrogen yields. The appearance of carbon resulted from the methane decomposition lied on the support type and the condition of catalytic reaction. It presented as fiber shape on the surface of Ni/O-D at the relatively lower temperature such as 500 and 550, but as grain shape stacked on and overlayed on the surface of the metal nickel while at 650. The carbon fiber can form on the Ni/MgO surface at 650 and the diameter of the carbon fiber increased with the decreasing space velocity.
Abstract: Megalopolis is a group of densely populated metropolitan areas that combine to form an urban complex. Since China introduced the economic reforms in late 1970s, the Chinese urban system has experienced unprecedented growth. The process of urbanisation prevailed in the 1980s, and the process of predominantly large city growth appeared to continue through 1990s and 2000s. In this study, the magnitude and pattern of urbanisation in China during 1990s were examined using remotely sensed imagery acquired by TM/ETM+ sensor onboard the Landsat satellites. The development of megalopolis areas in China was also studied based on the GIS analysis of the increases of urban and built-up area from 1990 to 2000. The analysis suggests that in the traditional agricultural zones in China, e.g., Huang-Huai-Hai Plains, Changjiang River Delta, Pearl River Delta and Sichuan Basin, the urban and built-up areas increased by 1.76 million hectares, of which 0.82 million hectares are expansion of urban areas, an increase of 24.78% compared with 1990 at the national scale. The Yellow River Delta, Changjiang River Delta and Pearl River Delta also saw an increase of urban and built-up area by 63.9%, 66.2% and 83.0% respectively. As a result, three major megalopolises were developed in China: the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong- Macau (Pearl River Delta: PRD) megalopolis area, the Shanghai- Nanjing-Hangzhou (Changjiang River Delta: CRD) megalopolis area and the Beijing-Tianjing-Tangshan-Qinhuangdao (Yellow River Delta-Bohai Sea Ring: YRD) megalopolis area. The relationship between the processed of megalopolisation and the inter-provincial population flow was also explored in the context of social-economic and transport infrastructure development in Post-reform China.
Abstract: CEMTool is a command style design and analyzing
package for scientific and technological algorithm and a matrix based
computation language. In this paper, we present new 2D & 3D
finite element method (FEM) packages for CEMTool. We discuss
the detailed structures and the important features of pre-processor,
solver, and post-processor of CEMTool 2D & 3D FEM packages. In
contrast to the existing MATLAB PDE Toolbox, our proposed FEM
packages can deal with the combination of the reserved words. Also,
we can control the mesh in a very effective way. With the introduction
of new mesh generation algorithm and fast solving technique, our
FEM packages can guarantee the shorter computational time than
MATLAB PDE Toolbox. Consequently, with our new FEM packages,
we can overcome some disadvantages or limitations of the existing
MATLAB PDE Toolbox.
Abstract: Linear Discrimination Analysis (LDA) is a linear
solution for classification of two classes. In this paper, we propose a
variant LDA method for multi-class problem which redefines the
between class and within class scatter matrices by incorporating a
weight function into each of them. The aim is to separate classes as
much as possible in a situation that one class is well separated from
other classes, incidentally, that class must have a little influence on
classification. It has been suggested to alleviate influence of classes
that are well separated by adding a weight into between class scatter
matrix and within class scatter matrix. To obtain a simple and
effective weight function, ordinary LDA between every two classes
has been used in order to find Fisher discrimination value and passed
it as an input into two weight functions and redefined between class
and within class scatter matrices. Experimental results showed that
our new LDA method improved classification rate, on glass, iris and
wine datasets, in comparison to different versions of LDA.
Abstract: Metal cutting is a severe plastic deformation process
involving large strains, high strain rates, and high temperatures.
Conventional analysis of the chip formation process is based on bulk
material deformation disregarding the inhomogeneous nature of the
material microstructure. A series of orthogonal cutting tests of AISI
1045 and 1144 steel were conducted which yielded similar process
characteristics and chip formations. With similar shear angles and cut
chip thicknesses, shear strains for both chips were found to range
from 2.0 up to 2.8. The manganese-sulfide (MnS) precipitate in the
1144 steel has a very distinct and uniform shape which allows for
comparison before and after chip formation. From close observations
of MnS precipitates in the cut chips it is shown that the conventional
approach underestimates plastic strains in metal cutting.
Experimental findings revealed local shear strains around a value of
6. These findings and their implications are presented and discussed.
Abstract: This paper presents the combination of different precipitation data sets and the distributed hydrological model, in order to examine the flood runoff reproductivity of scattered observation catchments. The precipitation data sets were obtained from observation using rain-gages, satellite based estimate (TRMM), and numerical weather prediction model (NWP), then were coupled with the super tank model. The case study was conducted in three basins (small, medium, and large size) located in Central Vietnam. Calculated hydrographs based on ground observation rainfall showed best fit to measured stream flow, while those obtained from TRMM and NWP showed high uncertainty of peak discharges. However, calculated hydrographs using the adjusted rainfield depicted a promising alternative for the application of TRMM and NWP in flood modeling for scattered observation catchments, especially for the extension of forecast lead time.
Abstract: The aspiration of this research article is to target and
focus the gains of university-Industry (U-I) collaborations and
exploring those hurdles which are the obstacles for attaining these
gains. University-Industry collaborations have attained great
importance since 1980 in USA due to its application in all fields of
life. U-I collaboration is a bilateral process where academia is a
proactive member to make such alliances. Universities want to
ameliorate their academic-base with the technicalities of technobabbles.
U-I collaboration is becoming an essential lane for achieving
innovative goals in this century. Many developed nations have set
successful examples to prove this phenomenon as a catalyst to reduce
costs, efforts and personnel for R&D projects. This study is exploits
amplitudes of UI collaboration incentives in the light of success
stories of developed countries. Many universities in USA, UK,
Canada and various European Countries have been engaged with
enterprises for numerous collaborative agreements. A long list of
strategic and short term R&D projects has been executed in
developed countries to accomplish their intended purposes. Due to
the lack of intentions, genuine research and research-oriented
environment, the mentioned field could not grow very well in
developing countries. During last decade, a new wave of research
has induced the institutes of developing countries to promote R&D
culture especially in Pakistan. Higher Education Commission (HEC)
has initiated many projects and funding supports for universities
which have collaborative intentions with industry.
Findings show that rapid innovation, overwhelm the technological
complexities and articulated intellectual-base are major incentives
which steer both partners to establish faculty-industry alliances. Everchanging
technologies, concerned about intellectual property,
different research environment and culture, research relevancy (Basic
or applied), exposure differences and diversity of knowledge
(bookish or practical) are main barriers to establish and retain joint
ventures. Findings also concluded that, it is dire need to support and
enhance cooperation among academia and industry to promote highly
coordinated research behaviors. Author has proposed a roadmap for
developing countries to promote R&D clusters among faculty and
industry to deal the technological challenges and innovation
complexities. Based on our research findings, Model for R&D
Collaboration for developing countries also have been proposed to
promote articulated R&D environment. If developing countries
follow this phenomenon, rapid innovations can be achieved with
limited R&D budget heads.
Abstract: the obligatory step during immunoglobulin and lysozyme concentration process is thermal treatment. The combination of temperature and time used in processing can affect the structure of the proteins and involve unfolding and aggregation. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the heat stability of total Igs, the particular immunoglobulin classes and lysozyme in milk. Milk samples were obtained from conventional dairy herd in Latvia. Raw milk samples were pasteurized in different regimes: 63 °C 30 min, 72 °C 15-20 s, 78 °C 15-20 s, 85 °C 15-20 s, 95 °C 15-20 s. The concentrations of Igs (IgA, IgG, IgM) and lysozyme were determined by turbodimetric method. During research was established, that activity of antimicrobial proteins decreases differently. Less concentration reduce was established in a case of lysozyme.
Abstract: In this paper an algorithm based on the adaptive
neuro-fuzzy controller is provided to enhance the tipover stability of
mobile manipulators when they are subjected to predefined
trajectories for the end-effector and the vehicle. The controller
creates proper configurations for the manipulator to prevent the robot
from being overturned. The optimal configuration and thus the most
favorable control are obtained through soft computing approaches
including a combination of genetic algorithm, neural networks, and
fuzzy logic. The proposed algorithm, in this paper, is that a look-up
table is designed by employing the obtained values from the genetic
algorithm in order to minimize the performance index and by using
this data base, rule bases are designed for the ANFIS controller and
will be exerted on the actuators to enhance the tipover stability of the
mobile manipulator. A numerical example is presented to
demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
Abstract: The search for competitive advantages as one of the
main activities of a company has become a principle of contemporary
theories on Strategic Management. Innovation facilitates a company's
adaptation to the global competitive environment, representing the
important strategic role that it has to play in relation to managerial
performance and, as such, underlines the growing importance of
innovation and the use of a company's technological assets. This
paper therefore studies the effect in the results of four dimensions of
technological innovation strategy on a sample of Spanish wineries,
situated in the Castilla La-Mancha region of Spain, all of which are
registered under the La Mancha Designation of Origin (DO).
Abstract: Gabor-based face representation has achieved enormous success in face recognition. This paper addresses a novel algorithm for face recognition using neural networks trained by Gabor features. The system is commenced on convolving a face image with a series of Gabor filter coefficients at different scales and orientations. Two novel contributions of this paper are: scaling of rms contrast and introduction of fuzzily skewed filter. The neural network employed for face recognition is based on the multilayer perceptron (MLP) architecture with backpropagation algorithm and incorporates the convolution filter response of Gabor jet. The effectiveness of the algorithm has been justified over a face database with images captured at different illumination conditions.
Abstract: The aim of current research was to investigate ASLT method suitability for accelerated beer shelf-life determination. The research was accomplished on popular Latvian beer: light filtrated and unfiltered pasteurized beer with alcohol content 5.2%; dark filtrated pasteurized beer with alcohol content 4.2% with shelf-life five months. Bottled in dark glass bottles beer samples were storage during 20 weeks at several temperature regimes: +10±1 °C, +20±1 °C, +30±1 °C, +40±1 °C. Samples quality parameters as physically-chemical and microbiological was tested every two weeks using standard methods. It is possible to determine beer shelf-life rapidly during storage at +30±1 °C for filtered pasteurized light beer by 2.5 times, unfiltered pasteurized light beer by 1.4 times and for filtered pasteurized dark beer by 1.7 times. During preset experiments it was proved, that it is possible to determine beer shelf-life rapidly using ASLT method if beer storage temperature could be increased by +10±1 °C.
Abstract: This paper presents a physics-based model for the
high-voltage fast recovery diodes. The model provides a good
trade-off between reverse recovery time and forward voltage drop
realized through a combination of lifetime control and emitter
efficiency reduction techniques. The minority carrier lifetime can be
extracted from the reverse recovery transient response and forward
characteristics. This paper also shows that decreasing the amount of
the excess carriers stored in the drift region will result in softer
characteristics which can be achieved using a lower doping level. The
developed model is verified by experiment and the measurement data
agrees well with the model.
Abstract: Amphawa is the most popular weekend destination for
both domestic and international tourists in Thailand. More than 112
homestays and resorts have been developed along the water
resources. This research aims to initiate appropriate environmental
management system for riverside tourist accommodations in
Amphawa by investigating current environmental characteristics.
Eighty-eight riverside tourist accommodations were survey from
specific questionnaire, GPS data were also gathered for spatial
analysis. The results revealed that the accommodations are welled
manage in regards to some environmental aspects. In order to reduce
economic costs, energy efficiency equipment is utilized. A substantial
number of tourist accommodations encouraged waste separation,
followed by transfer to local administration organization. Grease
traps also utilized in order to decrease chemical discharged, grease
and oil from canteen and restaurants on natural environment. The
most notable mitigation is to initiate environmental friendly cleansers
for tourist accommodation along the riverside in tourism destinations.
Abstract: In this investigation, the antibacterial effects of
ethanolic and 7:3 isopropyl –hexane mixture extracts of Zingiber
officinale were evaluated against three Gram positive bacteria, B.
cereus, S.epidermidis, S. aureus and three Gram negative bacteria, E.
coli, K.pneumonia and P.areuginosa. Utilizing paper disk diffusion
and well methods in-vitro, MIC and MBC were determined by
macrodilution. The results showed that ethanolic rhizome extract of
ginger had significantly active than Isopropyl –hexan extract. Further
work needs to be done in these extracts including fractionation to
isolate active constituents and subsequent pharmacological
evaluation.
Abstract: The possible therapeutic effect of cannabidiol, the major non-psychotropic Cannabis constituent, was investigated against acute hepatotoxicity induced by a single oral dose of acetaminophen (500mg/kg) in mice. Cannabidiol (two intraperitoneal injections, 5mg/kg, each) was given 1 hour and 12 hours following acetaminophen administration. Acetaminophen administration caused significant elevations of serum alanine aminotransferase, and hepatic malondialdehyde, and nitric oxide levels, and a significant decrease in hepatic reduced glutathione. Cannabidiol significantly attenuated the deterioration in the measured biochemical parameters resulted from acetaminophen administration. Also, histopathological examination showed that cannabidiol markedly attenuated ameliorated acetaminophen-induced liver tissue damage. These results emphasize that cannabidiol represents a potential therapeutic option to protect against acetaminophen hepartotoxicity which is a common clinical problem.
Abstract: The distillation process in the general sense is a
relatively simple technique from the standpoints of its principles.
When dedicating distillation to water treatment and specifically
producing fresh water from sea, ocean and/ briny waters it is
interesting to notice that distillation has no limitations or domains of
applicability regarding the nature or the type of the feedstock water.
This is not the case however for other techniques that are
technologically quite complex, necessitate bigger capital investments
and are limited in their usability. In a previous paper we have
explored some of the effects of temperature on yield. In this paper,
we continue building onto that knowledge base and focus on the
effects of several additional engineering and design variables on
productivity.
Abstract: Climate change and environmental pressures are
major international issues nowadays. It is time when governments,
businesses and consumers have to respond through more
environmentally friendly and aware practices, products and policies.
This is the prime time to develop alternative sustainable construction
materials, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, save energy, look to
renewable energy sources and recycled materials, and reduce waste.
The utilization of waste materials (slag, fly ash, glass beads, plastic
and so on) in concrete manufacturing is significant due to its
engineering, financial, environmental and ecological benefits. Thus,
utilization of waste materials in concrete production is very much
helpful to reach the goal of the sustainable construction. Therefore,
this study intends to use glass beads in concrete production.
The paper reports on the performance of 9 different concrete
mixes containing different ratios of glass crushed to 5 mm - 20 mm
maximum size and glass marble of 20 mm size as coarse aggregate.
Ordinary Portland cement type 1 and fine sand less than 0.5 mm were
used to produce standard concrete cylinders. Compressive strength
tests were carried out on concrete specimens at various ages. Test
results indicated that the mix having the balanced ratio of glass beads
and round marbles possess maximum compressive strength which is
3889 psi, as glass beads perform better in bond formation but have
lower strength, on the other hand marbles are strong in themselves
but not good in bonding. These mixes were prepared following a
specific W/C and aggregate ratio; more strength can be expected to
achieve from different W/C, aggregate ratios, adding admixtures like
strength increasing agents, ASR inhibitor agents etc.
Abstract: Classification of electroencephalogram (EEG) signals
extracted during mental tasks is a technique that is actively pursued
for Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI) designs. In this paper, we
compared the classification performances of univariateautoregressive
(AR) and multivariate autoregressive (MAR) models
for representing EEG signals that were extracted during different
mental tasks. Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) neural network (NN)
trained by the backpropagation (BP) algorithm was used to classify
these features into the different categories representing the mental
tasks. Classification performances were also compared across
different mental task combinations and 2 sets of hidden units (HU): 2
to 10 HU in steps of 2 and 20 to 100 HU in steps of 20. Five different
mental tasks from 4 subjects were used in the experimental study and
combinations of 2 different mental tasks were studied for each
subject. Three different feature extraction methods with 6th order
were used to extract features from these EEG signals: AR
coefficients computed with Burg-s algorithm (ARBG), AR
coefficients computed with stepwise least square algorithm (ARLS)
and MAR coefficients computed with stepwise least square
algorithm. The best results were obtained with 20 to 100 HU using
ARBG. It is concluded that i) it is important to choose the suitable
mental tasks for different individuals for a successful BCI design, ii)
higher HU are more suitable and iii) ARBG is the most suitable
feature extraction method.
Abstract: This paper presents a subjective job scheduler based
on a 3-layer Backpropagation Neural Network (BPNN) and a greedy
alignment procedure in order formulates a real-life situation. The
BPNN estimates critical values of jobs based on the given subjective
criteria. The scheduler is formulated in such a way that, at each time
period, the most critical job is selected from the job queue and is
transferred into a single machine before the next periodic job arrives.
If the selected job is one of the oldest jobs in the queue and its
deadline is less than that of the arrival time of the current job, then
there is an update of the deadline of the job is assigned in order to
prevent the critical job from its elimination. The proposed
satisfiability criteria indicates that the satisfaction of the scheduler
with respect to performance of the BPNN, validity of the jobs and the
feasibility of the scheduler.