Abstract: Nitrogen loss from irrigated cropland, particularly
sandy soils, significantly contributes to nitrate (NO3
-) levels in
surface and groundwaters. Thus, it is of great interest to use
inexpensive natural products that can increase the fertilizer efficiency
and decrease nitrate leaching. In this study, the ability of natural
Iranian zeolite clinoptilolite (Cp) and surfactant modified zeolite
clinoptilolite (SMZ) to remove NH4
+ and NO3
-, respectively, from
aqueous solutions was determined. The feasibility of using Cp and
SMZ as soil amendment to reduce nitrate leaching from soil using
lysimeters was also investigated. Zeolite showed 10.23% to 88.42%
NH4
+ removal efficiency over a wide range of initial NH4
+
concentrations. Nitrate removal efficiency by SMZ was 32.26% to
82.26%. Field study results showed that Cp and SMZ significantly (p
< 0.05) reduced leachate NO3-N concentration compared to control.
There was no significant difference between maximum and mean
leachate NO3-N concentration of SMZ lysimeters and those of Cp
lysimeters.
Abstract: In the present research, the titanium-catalyzed
ethylene dimerization and more specifically, the concomitant byproducts
and polymer formation have been studied in the presence of 2,5-dimethoxytetrahydrofuran as an electron donor compound in the
combination with triethylaluminium (TEA) as activator. Then, we
added ethylene chlorobromide as a new efficient promoter to the
relevant catalyst system. Finally, the behavior of novel homogeneous
[Titanium tetrabutoxide (Ti(OC4H9)4)/2,5-dimethoxytetrahydrofuran/
TEA/ethylene chlorobromide] was investigated in the various
operating conditions for the optimum production of 1-butene. In the
optimum conditions, a very high ethylene conversion (almost 90.77
%), a relative high selectivity to 1-butene (79.00 %), yield of reaction equal to 71.70 % and a significant productivity (turnover frequency
equal to 1370 h-1) were achieved.
Abstract: This paper presents the design, development and characterization of contractile water jet thruster (CWJT) for mini underwater robot. Instead of electric motor, this CWJT utilizes the Ionic Polymer Metal Composite (IPMC) as the actuator to generate the water jet. The main focus of this paper is to analyze the conceptual design of the proposed CWJT which would determine the thrust force value, jet flow behavior and actuator’s stress. Those thrust force and jet flow studies were carried out using Matlab/Simscape simulation software. The actuator stress had been analyzed using COSMOS simulation software. The results showed that there was no significant change for jet velocity at variable cross sectional nozzle area. However, a significant change was detected for jet velocity at different nozzle cross sectional area ratio which was up to 37%. The generated thrust force has proportional relation to the nozzle cross sectional area.
Abstract: This work concerns the measurements of a Bulk
Acoustic Waves (BAW) emission filter S parameters and compare
with prototypes simulated types. Thanks to HP-ADS, a co-simulation
of filters- characteristics in a digital radio-communication chain is
performed. Four cases of modulation schemes are studied in order to
illustrate the impact of the spectral occupation of the modulated
signal. Results of simulations and co-simulation are given in terms of
Error Vector Measurements to be useful for a general sensibility
analysis of 4th/3rd Generation (G.) emitters (wideband QAM and
OFDM signals)
Abstract: The spreading characteristics of acoustically excited
swirling double-concentric jets were studied experimentally. The
central jet was acoustically excited at low and high pulsation
intensities. A smoke wire flow visualization and a hot-wire
anemometer velocity measurement results show that excitation forces
a vortex ring to roll-up from the edge of the central tube during each
excitation period. At low pulsation intensities, the vortex ring evolves
downstream, and eventually breaks up into turbulent eddies. At high
pulsation intensities, the primary vortex ring evolves and a series of
trailing vortex rings form during the same period of excitation. The
trailing vortex rings accelerate while evolving downstream and
overtake the primary vortex ring within the same cycle. In the
process, the primary vortex ring becomes unstable and breaks up
early. The effect of the fast traveling trailing vortex rings combined
with the swirl motion of the annular flow improve jet spreading
compared with the naturally evolving jets.
Abstract: We have applied new accelerated algorithm for linear
discriminate analysis (LDA) in face recognition with support vector
machine. The new algorithm has the advantage of optimal selection
of the step size. The gradient descent method and new algorithm has
been implemented in software and evaluated on the Yale face
database B. The eigenfaces of these approaches have been used to
training a KNN. Recognition rate with new algorithm is compared
with gradient.
Abstract: The present research focus on the processing of mullite-based ceramics from oil refinery industrial wastes and byproducts of agricultural industry and on the investigating of silane modified surface of ceramics. Two waste products were used as initial material – waste aluminum oxide and waste rice husk. The burning - out additives used were waste rise husk. It is known that the oxide ceramics surface is hydrophilic due to the presence of – OH groups in it. The nature of ceramic surface regarding permeation of water and hydrocarbons can be changed by further treatment with silanes. The samples were studied mainly by X-ray analysis, FT-IR absorbance measurements and microscopic analysis. The X-ray analyses showed the phase composition depends on the firing temperature and on the purity of the starting alumina. Two kind of silanes were used for the transformation of surface from hydrophilic to hydrophobic – trimethoxymethylsilane (TMMS) and trimethylclorsilane (TMCS).
Abstract: Process improvements have drawn much attention in
practical software engineering. The capability maturity levels from
CMMI have become an important index to assess a software company-s
software engineering capability. However, in countries like
Taiwan, customers often have no choices but to deal with vendors that
are not CMMI prepared or qualified. We call these vendors maturitylevel-
1 (ML1) vendors. In this paper, we describe our experience
from consulting an e-school project. We propose an approach to help
our client tackle the ML1 vendors. Through our system analysis, we
produce a design. This design is suggested to be used as part of
contract and a blueprint to guide the implementation.
Abstract: An experimental study is presented on the effect of
Conservation Agriculture (CA) compared to Conventional
Agriculture (ConvA) upon Maize Yield based on split-plot model.
Two factors have been considered: A Factor-Fertilization with two
variants: A1- N40P40 kg/ha and A2- N90P70 kg/ha; B Factor- Crop
protection with 4 variants : B1- 4 treatments, B2-3 treatments, B3- 2
treatments and B4- 1 treatment. In comparison with conventional
agriculture, CA determined lower maize yields. Fertilization is the
key factor determining a yield gain of 973.58 kg/ha in ConvA and
1,123.33 kg/ha in CA. A reduced number of treatments determined a
yield decline. The A-B interaction had a positive effect on maize
yield when a larger amount of fertilizer and 4 or 3 treatments were
applied in ConvA and a benefic in CA for highest fertilization level
and 2 treatments. The B2A2 ConvA variant was the most efficient
leading to 302.67 kg/ha gain while B3A2 CA variant brought 181.33
kg production gain.
Abstract: The flow field within the combustor of scramjet
engine is very complex and poses a considerable challenge in the
design and development of a supersonic combustor with an optimized
geometry. In this paper comprehensive numerical studies on flow
field characteristics of different cavity based scramjet combustors
with transverse injection of hydrogen have been carried out for both
non-reacting and reacting flows. The numerical studies have been
carried out using a validated 2D unsteady, density based 1st-order
implicit k-omega turbulence model with multi-component finite rate
reacting species. The results show a wide variety of flow features
resulting from the interactions between the injector flows, shock
waves, boundary layers, and cavity flows. We conjectured that an
optimized cavity is a good choice to stabilize the flame in the
hypersonic flow, and it generates a recirculation zone in the scramjet
combustor. We comprehended that the cavity based scramjet
combustors having a bearing on the source of disturbance for the
transverse jet oscillation, fuel/air mixing enhancement, and flameholding
improvement. We concluded that cavity shape with
backward facing step and 45o forward ramp is a good choice to get
higher temperatures at the exit compared to other four models of
scramjet combustors considered in this study.
Abstract: Bubble generation was observed using a high-speed
camera in subcooled flow boiling at low void fraction. Constant heat
flux was applied on one side of an upward rectangular channel to
make heated test channel. Water as a working fluid from high
subcooling to near saturation temperature was injected step by step to
investigate bubble behavior during void development. Experiments
were performed in two different pressures condition close to 2bar and
4bar. It was observed that in high subcooling when boiling was
commenced, bubble after nucleation departed its origin and slid
beside heated surface. In an observation window mean release
frequency of bubble fb,mean, nucleation site Ns and mean bubble
volume Vb,mean in each step of experiments were measured to
investigate wall vaporization rate. It was found that in proximity of
PNVG vaporization rate was increased significantly in compare with
condensation rate which remained in low value.
Abstract: Shirvan is located in plain in Northern Khorasan province north east of Iran and has semiarid to temperate climate. To investigate the annual changes in some qualitative parameters such as electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids and chloride concentrations which have increased during ten continuous years. Fourteen groundwater sources including deep as well as semi-deep wells were sampled and were analyzed using standard methods. The trends of obtained data were analyzed during these years and the effects of different factors on the changes in electrical conductivity, concentration of chloride and total dissolved solids were clarified. The results showed that the amounts of some qualitative parameters have been increased during 10 years time which has led to decrease in water quality. The results also showed that increased in urban populations as well as extensive industrialization in the studied area are the most important reasons to influence underground water quality. Furthermore decrease in water quantity is also evident due to more water utilization and occurrence of recent droughts in the region during recent years.
Abstract: This paper deals with the project selection problem. Project selection problem is one of the problems arose firstly in the field of operations research following some production concepts from primary product mix problem. Afterward, introduction of managerial considerations into the project selection problem have emerged qualitative factors and criteria to be regarded as well as quantitative ones. To overcome both kinds of criteria, an analytic network process is developed in this paper enhanced with fuzzy sets theory to tackle the vagueness of experts- comments to evaluate the alternatives. Additionally, a modified version of Least-Square method through a non-linear programming model is augmented to the developed group decision making structure in order to elicit the final weights from comparison matrices. Finally, a case study is considered by which developed structure in this paper is validated. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis is performed to validate the response of the model with respect to the condition alteration.
Abstract: This contribution aims to outline some topics around the process of introduction of compulsory electronic exchange of documents (so called e-Boxes) in public administration. The research was conducted in order to gauge the difference between the expectation of those using internal email and their experience in reality. Both qualitative and quantitative research is employed to lead also to an estimation of the willingness and readiness of government bodies, business units and citizens to adopt new technologies. At the same time the most potent barriers to successful e-communication through the e-Boxes are identified.
Abstract: Many studies have applied the Theory of Planned
Behavior (TPB) in predicting health behaviors among unique
populations. However, a new paradigm is emerging where focus is
now directed to modification and expansion of the TPB model rather
than utilization of the traditional theory. This review proposes new
models modified from the Theory of Planned Behavior and suggest
an appropriate study design that can be used to test the models within
physical activity and dietary practice domains among Type 2
diabetics in Kenya. The review was conducted by means of literature
search in the field of nutrition behavior, health psychology and
mixed methods using predetermined key words. The results identify
pre-intention and post intention gaps within the TPB model that need
to be filled. Additional psychosocial factors are proposed to be
included in the TPB model to generate new models and the efficacy
of these models tested using mixed methods design.
Abstract: Locality Sensitive Hashing (LSH) is one of the most
promising techniques for solving nearest neighbour search problem in
high dimensional space. Euclidean LSH is the most popular variation
of LSH that has been successfully applied in many multimedia
applications. However, the Euclidean LSH presents limitations that
affect structure and query performances. The main limitation of the
Euclidean LSH is the large memory consumption. In order to achieve
a good accuracy, a large number of hash tables is required. In this
paper, we propose a new hashing algorithm to overcome the storage
space problem and improve query time, while keeping a good
accuracy as similar to that achieved by the original Euclidean LSH.
The Experimental results on a real large-scale dataset show that the
proposed approach achieves good performances and consumes less
memory than the Euclidean LSH.
Abstract: Heavy metals have bad effects on environment and
soils and it can uptake by natural HAP .natural Hap is an inexpensive
material that uptake large amounts of various heavy metals like Zn
(II) .Natural HAP (N-HAP), extracted from bovine cortical bone ash,
is a good choice for substitution of commercial HAP. Several
experiments were done to investigate the sorption capacity of Zn (II)
to N-HAP in various particles sizes, temperatures, initial
concentrations, pH and reaction times. In this study, the sorption of
Zinc ions from a Zn solution onto HAP particles with sizes of 1537.6
nm and 47.6 nm at three initial pH values of 4.50, 6.00 and 7.50 was
studied. The results showed that better performance was obtained
through a 47.6 nm particle size and higher pH values. The
experimental data were analyzed using Langmuir, Freundlich, and
Arrhenius equations for equilibrium, kinetic and thermodynamic
studies. The analysis showed a maximum adsorption capacity of NHAP
as being 1.562 mmol/g at a pH of 7.5 and small particle size.
Kinetically, the prepared N-HAP is a feasible sorbent that retains Zn
(II) ions through a favorable and spontaneous sorption process.
Abstract: This paper discusses an artificial mind model and its
applications. The mind model is based on some theories which assert
that emotion is an important function in human decision making. An
artificial mind model with emotion is built, and the model is applied to
action selection of autonomous agents. In three examples, the agents
interact with humans and their environments. The examples show the
proposed model effectively work in both virtual agents and real robots.
Abstract: Home is important for Chinese people. Because the
information regarding the house attributes and surrounding
environments is incomplete in most real estate agency, most house
buyers are difficult to consider the overall factors effectively and only
can search candidates by sorting-based approach. This study aims to
develop a decision support system for housing purchasing, in which
surrounding facilities of each house are quantified. Then, all
considered house factors and customer preferences are incorporated
into Simple Multi-Attribute Ranking Technique (SMART) to support
the housing evaluation. To evaluate the validity of proposed approach,
an empirical study was conducted from a real estate agency. Based on
the customer requirement and preferences, the proposed approach can
identify better candidate house with consider the overall house
attributes and surrounding facilities.