Abstract: The Ni/α-Al2O3 catalysts with different amounts of La
as promoter from 0 to 4 wt % were prepared, characterized and their
catalytic activity was investigated in syngas methanation reaction.
Effects of reaction temperature and lanthanum loading on carbon
oxides conversion and methane selectivity were also studied. Adding
certain amount of lanthanum to 10Ni /α-Al2O3 catalysts can decrease
the average NiO crystallite diameter which leads to higher activity and
stability while excessive addition would cause deactivation quickly.
Stability on stream towards deactivation was observed up to 800 min
at 500 °C, 0.1MPa and 600000 mL·g-1·h-1.
Abstract: The early diagnostic decision making in industrial processes is absolutely necessary to produce high quality final products. It helps to provide early warning for a special event in a process, and finding its assignable cause can be obtained. This work presents a hybrid diagnostic schmes for batch processes. Nonlinear representation of raw process data is combined with classification tree techniques. The nonlinear kernel-based dimension reduction is executed for nonlinear classification decision boundaries for fault classes. In order to enhance diagnosis performance for batch processes, filtering of the data is performed to get rid of the irrelevant information of the process data. For the diagnosis performance of several representation, filtering, and future observation estimation methods, four diagnostic schemes are evaluated. In this work, the performance of the presented diagnosis schemes is demonstrated using batch process data.
Abstract: Steganography, derived from Greek, literally means
“covered writing". It includes a vast array of secret communications
methods that conceal the message-s very existence. These methods
include invisible inks, microdots, character arrangement, digital
signatures, covert channels, and spread spectrum communications.
This paper proposes a new improved version of Least Significant Bit
(LSB) method. The approach proposed is simple for implementation
when compared to Pixel value Differencing (PVD) method and yet
achieves a High embedding capacity and imperceptibility. The
proposed method can also be applied to 24 bit color images and
achieve embedding capacity much higher than PVD.
Abstract: In this paper, we propose a novel fast search algorithm for short MPEG video clips from video database. This algorithm is based on the adjacent pixel intensity difference quantization (APIDQ) algorithm, which had been reliably applied to human face recognition previously. An APIDQ histogram is utilized as the feature vector of the frame image. Instead of fully decompressed video frames, partially decoded data, namely DC images are utilized. Combined with active search [4], a temporal pruning algorithm, fast and robust video search can be realized. The proposed search algorithm has been evaluated by 6 hours of video to search for given 200 MPEG video clips which each length is 15 seconds. Experimental results show the proposed algorithm can detect the similar video clip in merely 80ms, and Equal Error Rate (ERR) of 3 % is achieved, which is more accurately and robust than conventional fast video search algorithm.
Abstract: Biogas, a clean renewable energy, is attracting a growing
concern of researchers and professionals in many fields. Based
on the natural and climatic conditions in semi-arid regions of northwestern
China, the present study introduces a specifically-designed
family-size biogas plant (with a digester of 10m3) with manure
and urine of animals and humanity as raw materials. The biogas
plant is applicable to areas with altitudes of more than 2000 meters
in northwestern China. In addition to the installation cost, a little
operational expenditure, structure, characteristics, benefits of this
small-scale biogas plant, this article introduces a wide range of
specific popularization methods such as training, financial support,
guided tour to the biogas plant, community-based group study and
delivery of operational manuals. The feasibility of the biogas plant is
explored on the basis of the availability of the raw materials. Simple
operations contained in the current work increase the possibility of
the wide use of this small-scale biogas plant in similar regions of the
world.
Abstract: The study area receives a wide variety of wastes
generated by municipalities and the industries like paints and
pigments, metal processing industries, thermal power plants electroprocessing
industries etc. The Physico-chemical and structural
investigation of water from river Pandu indicated high level of
chlorides and calcium which made the water unsuitable for human
use. Algae like Cyclotella fumida, Asterionella Formosa,
Cladophora glomerata, Pediastrum simplex, Scenedesmus bijuga,
Cladophora glomerata were the dominant pollution tolerant species
recorded under these conditions. The sensitive and less abundant
species of algae included Spirogyra sps., Merismopedia sps. The
predominance colonies of Zygnema sps, Phormidium sps,
Mycrocystis aeruginosa, Merismopedia minima, Pandorina morum,
seems to correlate with high organic contents of Pandu river water.
This study assumes significance as some algae can be used as
bioindicators of water pollution and algal floral of a municipal drain
carrying waste effluents from industrial area Kanpur and discharge
them into the river Pandu flowing onto southern outskirts of Kanpur
city.
Abstract: This paper provides a replacement policy for warranty products with different failure rate from the consumer-s viewpoint. Assume that the product is replaced once within a finite planning horizon, and the failure rate of the second product is lower than the failure rate of the first product. Within warranty period (WP), the failed product is corrected by minimal repair without any cost to the consumers. After WP, the failed product is repaired with a fixed repair cost to the consumers. However, each failure incurs a fixed downtime cost to the consumers over a finite planning horizon. In this paper, we derive the model of the expected total disbursement cost within a finite planning horizon and some properties of the optimal replacement policy under some reasonable conditions are obtained. Finally, numerical examples are given to illustrate the features of the optimal replacement policy under various maintenance costs.
Abstract: Among many agro- based cottage industries in India
sericulture has been promoted as an agro-based, labor intensive, rural
oriented cottage industry, providing gainful employment mainly to
the weaker and marginalized section of the society specially tribal.
Sericulture occupies the place of pride in the rural economy can be
practiced even with very low land holding, low gestation, high
returns make sericulture an ideal program, requiring little capital
investment. In 2010-2011 the employment in sericulture sector was
72.5 lakh persons. The involvement of landless rural people in tasar
sericulture is because they understood its potential for rural and tribal
upliftment. This article demonstrates that certain developmental
initiatives have been playing an important role in the socio-economic
progress of tribal masses in Raigarh district and explains the
increased returns from sericulture as a result of development
programs. The study concludes with some suggestions to improve the
long term feasibility of sericulture.
Abstract: Von Willebrand-s disease is the most common
inherited bleeding disorder in humans, it
caused by qualitative abnormalities of the von Willebrand factor
(vWF). Our objective is to determine the prevalence of this disease at
part of the Algerian population in the East and the South by a
biological diagnosis based on specific biological tests (automated
platelet count, the bleeding time (TS), the time of cephalin + activator
(TCA), measure of the prothrombin rate (TP), vWF rate and factor
VIII rate, Molecular electrophoresis of vWF multimers in agarose gel
in the presence of SDS). Four patients of type III or severe
Willebrand-s disease were found on 200 suspect cases. All cases are
showed a deficit in vWF rate (< 5%), and factor VIII (P
Abstract: Cultural stories are political. They register cultural
phenomena and their relations with the world and society in term of
their existence, function, characteristics by using different context.
This paper will provide a new way of rethinking which will help us
to rethink the relationship between fiction and politics. It discusses
the theme of human rights and it shows the relevance between art and
politics by studying the civil society through a literary framework.
Reasons to establish a relationship between fiction and politics are
the relevant themes and universal issues among the two disciplines.
Both disciplines are sets of views and ideas formulated by the human
mind to explain political or cultural phenomenon. Other reasons are
the complexity and depth of the author-s vision, and the need to
explain the violations of human rights in a more active structure
which can relate to emotional and social existence.
Abstract: This paper presents a modified version of the
maximum urgency first scheduling algorithm. The maximum
urgency algorithm combines the advantages of fixed and dynamic
scheduling to provide the dynamically changing systems with
flexible scheduling. This algorithm, however, has a major
shortcoming due to its scheduling mechanism which may cause a
critical task to fail. The modified maximum urgency first scheduling
algorithm resolves the mentioned problem. In this paper, we propose
two possible implementations for this algorithm by using either
earliest deadline first or modified least laxity first algorithms for
calculating the dynamic priorities. These two approaches are
compared together by simulating the two algorithms. The earliest
deadline first algorithm as the preferred implementation is then
recommended. Afterwards, we make a comparison between our
proposed algorithm and maximum urgency first algorithm using
simulation and results are presented. It is shown that modified
maximum urgency first is superior to maximum urgency first, since it
usually has less task preemption and hence, less related overhead. It
also leads to less failed non-critical tasks in overloaded situations.
Abstract: This paper proposes a resonant dc link in PWM ac
chopper. This can solve the spike problems and also reduce the
switching loss. The configuration and PWM pattern of the proposed
technique are presented. The simulation results are used to confirm
the theory.
Abstract: Nowadays for algae cell ultrasonication the
longitudinal ultrasonic piezosystems are used. In this paper a
possibility of creating unique ultrasonic piezoelectric system, which
would allow reducing energy losses and concentrating this energy to
a small closed volume are proposed. The current vibrating systems
whose ultrasonic energy is concentrated inside of hollow cylinder in
which water-algae mixture is flowing. Two, three or multiply
ultrasonic composite systems to concentrate total energy into a
hollow cylinder to creating strong algae cell ultrasonication are used.
The experiments and numerical FEM analysis results using diskshaped
transducer and the first biological test results on algae cell
disruption by ultrasonication are presented as well.
Abstract: Infrared focal plane arrays (IRFPA) sensors, due to
their high sensitivity, high frame frequency and simple structure, have
become the most prominently used detectors in military applications.
However, they suffer from a common problem called the fixed pattern
noise (FPN), which severely degrades image quality and limits the
infrared imaging applications. Therefore, it is necessary to perform
non-uniformity correction (NUC) on IR image. The algorithms of
non-uniformity correction are classified into two main categories, the
calibration-based and scene-based algorithms. There exist some
shortcomings in both algorithms, hence a novel non-uniformity
correction algorithm based on non-linear fit is proposed, which
combines the advantages of the two algorithms. Experimental results
show that the proposed algorithm acquires a good effect of NUC with
a lower non-uniformity ratio.
Abstract: An experiment was conducted under controlled
conditions to study the effect of water extract of leaves, shoots and
roots of either Sisymbrium irio L. =SISIR and/or Descurainia
sophia (L.) Schur =DESSO on the germination and primary growth
of wheat. A split-split plot experiment in CRD with three
replications was used. The main plots were the type of weed: i.e.
SISIR and DESSO and the sub-plots were type of organ: i.e. leaf,
stem and root and, the sub-sub plots were concentration of the
water extract of each organ of the weeds: i.e. 0, 2, 4 and 8 % w/v.
The plant materials were cut in 2-3 cm pieces and then were
ground in a blender. The crushed materials were weighed
according to experimental protocol and the final volume was
reached to 100 ml in distilled water in dark bottles. All bottles were
put on a shaker for 24 hours. The solutions were filtered by muslin
cloth. Whatman paper, 9 cm in diameter, were put in petri dishes
and twenty seeds of wheat were put on it and 5 ml distilled water
or water extract of weeds were added to each petri dish. All petri
dishes were put in constant temperature of 15 0C incubator.
The results showed that the SISIR water extract had a greater
inhibitory effects on germination and primary growth of wheat
than those of DESSO water extract. The water extracts of the
leaves of both weeds had the greatest inhibitory effects on
germination and primary growth of wheat, compared to those of
stems and roots. Increasing the concentration of water extract of
leaves, stems and roots of both weeds up to 8 % caused the greatest
inhibitory effects to wheat and reduced the germination rate and
primary growth of it linearly.
Abstract: A study concerning the photocatalytic decolourization
of Congo red (CR) dye, over artificial UV irradiation is presented.
Photocatalysts based on a commercial titanium dioxide (TiO2)
modified with transition metals (Ni, Cu and Zn) were used. The
dopage method used was wet impregnation. A TiO2 sample without
salt was subjected to the same hydrothermal treatment to be used as
reference. Congo red solutions to several pH conditions (natural and
basic) were used to evaluate photocatalytic performance of each
doped catalysts. Photodecolourization percentage was measured
spectrofotrometically after 3 h of treatment to 499 nm as response
variable. Kinetics investigations of photodegradation indicated that
reactions obey to Langmuir-Hinshelwood model and pseudo–first
order law. The rate constant studies of photocatalytic decolourization
reactions for Zn–TiO2 and Cu–TiO2 photocatalysts indicated that in
all cases the rate constant of the reaction was higher than that of TiO2
undoped. These results show that nature of the metal modifying the
TiO2 influence on the efficiency of the photocatalyst evaluated in
process. Ni does not present an additional effect compared with TiO2,
while Zn enhances the photoactivity due to its electronic properties.
Abstract: The paper presents a set of guidelines for analysis of industrial embedded distributed systems and introduces a mathematical model derived from these guidelines. In this study, the author examines a set of modern communication technologies that are or possibly can be used to build communication links between the subsystems of a distributed embedded system. An investigation of these guidelines results in a algorithm for analysis of specific use cases of target technologies. A goal of the paper acts as an important base for ongoing research on comparison of communication technologies. The author describes the principles of the model and presents results of the test calculations. Practical implementation of target technologies and empirical experiment data are based on a practical experience during the design and test of specific distributed systems in Latvian market.
Abstract: Object-oriented simulation is considered one of the most sophisticated techniques that has been widely used in planning, designing, executing and maintaining construction projects. This technique enables the modeler to focus on objects which is extremely important for thorough understanding of a system. Thus, identifying an object is an essential point of building a successful simulation model. In a maintenance process an object is a maintenance work order (MWO). This study demonstrates a maintenance simulation model for the building maintenance division of Saudi Consolidated Electric Company (SCECO) in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. The model focused on both types of maintenance processes namely: (1) preventive maintenance (PM) and (2) corrective maintenance (CM). It is apparent from the findings that object-oriented simulation is a good diagnostic and experimental tool. This is because problems, limitations, bottlenecks and so forth are easily identified. These features are very difficult to obtain when using other tools.
Abstract: Each new semiconductor technology node
brings smaller transistors and wires. Although this makes
transistors faster, wires get slower. In nano-scale regime, the
standard copper (Cu) interconnect will become a major hurdle
for FPGA interconnect due to their high resistivity and
electromigration. This paper presents the comprehensive
evaluation of mixed CNT bundle interconnects and
investigates their prospects as energy efficient and high speed
interconnect for future FPGA routing architecture. All
HSPICE simulations are carried out at operating frequency of
1GHz and it is found that mixed CNT bundle implemented in
FPGAs as interconnect can potentially provide a substantial
delay and energy reduction over traditional interconnects at
32nm process technology.
Abstract: The main purpose of the research is to investigate the computer experiences and computer attitudes of prospective class teachers. The research also investigated the differences between computer attitudes and computer experiences, computer competencies and the influence of genders. Ninety prospective class teachers participated in the research. Computer Attitude Scale- Marmara (CAS-M), and a questionnaire, about their computer experiences, and opinions toward the use of computers in the classroom setting, were administrated. The major findings are as follows: (1) 62% of prospective class teachers have computer at home; (2) 50% of the computer owners have computers less than three years; (3) No significant differences were found between computer attitudes and gender; (4) Differences were found between general computer attitudes and computer liking attitudes of prospective class teachers based on their computer competencies in favor of more competent ones.