Scholarly

Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon Contamination in Sediment and Wastewater from the Imam Khomeini and Razi Petrochemical Companies- Iran

Year: 2012 Volume: 6 Issue: 9 636 - 639 Pages

Abstract: The present study was performed in Musa bay (northern part of the Persian Gulf) around the coastal area of Bandare-Imam Khomeini and Razi Petrochemical Companies. Sediment samples and effluent samples were collected from the selected stations, from June 2009 to June 2010. The samples were analyzed to determine the degree of hydrocarbon contamination. The average level of TPH concentration in the study area was more than the natural background value at all of the stations, especially at station BI1 which was the main effluent outlet of Bandar-e- Imam Khomeini petrochemical company. Also the concentration of total petroleum hydrocarbon was monitored in the effluents of aforementioned petrochemical companies and the results showed that the concentration of TPH in the effluents of Bandar-e- Imam Khomeini petrochemical company was greater than Razi petrochemical company which is may be related to the products of Bandar-e- Imam Khomeini petrochemical company (aromatics, polymers, chemicals, fuel).

Keywords:
Musa bay
Bandar-e- Imam Khomeini and Razi Petrochemical Companies
TPH

Optimization of PEM Fuel Cell Biphasic Model

Year: 2013 Volume: 7 Issue: 7 562 - 567 Pages

Abstract: The optimal operation of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) requires good water management which is presented under two forms vapor and liquid. Moreover, fuel cells have to reach higher output require integration of some accessories which need electrical power. In order to analyze fuel cells operation and different species transport phenomena a biphasic mathematical model is presented by governing equations set. The numerical solution of these conservation equations is calculated by Matlab program. A multi-criteria optimization with weighting between two opposite objectives is used to determine the compromise solutions between maximum output and minimal stack size. The obtained results are in good agreement with available literature data.

Unsupervised Outlier Detection in Streaming Data Using Weighted Clustering

Year: 2012 Volume: 6 Issue: 11 1500 - 1505 Pages

Abstract: Outlier detection in streaming data is very challenging because streaming data cannot be scanned multiple times and also new concepts may keep evolving. Irrelevant attributes can be termed as noisy attributes and such attributes further magnify the challenge of working with data streams. In this paper, we propose an unsupervised outlier detection scheme for streaming data. This scheme is based on clustering as clustering is an unsupervised data mining task and it does not require labeled data, both density based and partitioning clustering are combined for outlier detection. In this scheme partitioning clustering is also used to assign weights to attributes depending upon their respective relevance and weights are adaptive. Weighted attributes are helpful to reduce or remove the effect of noisy attributes. Keeping in view the challenges of streaming data, the proposed scheme is incremental and adaptive to concept evolution. Experimental results on synthetic and real world data sets show that our proposed approach outperforms other existing approach (CORM) in terms of outlier detection rate, false alarm rate, and increasing percentages of outliers.

Joint Adaptive Block Matching Search (JABMS) Algorithm

Year: 2009 Volume: 3 Issue: 8 2127 - 2131 Pages

Abstract: In this paper a new Joint Adaptive Block Matching Search (JABMS) algorithm is proposed to generate motion vector and search a best match macro block by classifying the motion vector movement based on prediction error. Diamond Search (DS) algorithm generates high estimation accuracy when motion vector is small and Adaptive Rood Pattern Search (ARPS) algorithm can handle large motion vector but is not very accurate. The proposed JABMS algorithm which is capable of considering both small and large motions gives improved estimation accuracy and the computational cost is reduced by 15.2 times compared with Exhaustive Search (ES) algorithm and is 1.3 times less compared with Diamond search algorithm.

Fatigue Crack Initiation and Propagation through Residual Stress Field

Year: 2012 Volume: 6 Issue: 11 2568 - 2572 Pages

Abstract: In this paper fatigue crack initiation and propagation in notched plate under constant amplitude loading through tensile residual stress field of 2024 T351 Al-alloy plate were investigated. Residual stress field was generated by plastic deformation using finite element method (FEM) where isotropic hardening in Von Mises model was applied. Simulation of fatigue behavior was made on AFGROW code. It was shown that the fatigue crack initiation and propagation were affected by level of residual stress filed. In this investigation, the presence of tensile residual stresses at notch (hole) reduces considerably the total fatigue life. It was shown that the decreasing in stress reduces the fatigue crack growth rates.

Computer Aided Drug Design and Studies of Antiviral Drug against H3N2 Influenza Virus

Year: 2011 Volume: 5 Issue: 11 624 - 627 Pages

Abstract: The worldwide prevalence of H3N2 influenza virus and its increasing resistance to the existing drugs necessitates for the development of an improved/better targeting anti-influenza drug. H3N2 influenza neuraminidase is one of the two membrane-bound proteins belonging to group-2 neuraminidases. It acts as key player involved in viral pathogenicity and hence, is an important target of anti-influenza drugs. Oseltamivir is one of the potent drugs targeting this neuraminidase. In the present work, we have taken subtype N2 neuraminidase as the receptor and probable analogs of oseltamivir as drug molecules to study the protein-drug interaction in anticipation of finding efficient modified candidate compound. Oseltamivir analogs were made by modifying the functional groups using Marvin Sketch software and were docked using Schrodinger-s Glide. Oseltamivir analog 10 was detected to have significant energy value (16% less compared to Oseltamivir) and could be the probable lead molecule. It infers that some of the modified compounds can interact in a novel manner with increased hydrogen bonding at the active site of neuraminidase and it might be better than the original drug. Further work can be carried out such as enzymatic inhibition studies; synthesis and crystallizing the drug-target complex to analyze the interactions biologically.

Estimating the Costs of Conservation in Multiple Output Agricultural Setting

Year: 2013 Volume: 7 Issue: 6 1804 - 1811 Pages

Abstract: Scarcity of resources for biodiversity conservation gives rise to the need of strategic investment with priorities given to the cost of conservation. While the literature provides abundant methodological options for biodiversity conservation; estimating true cost of conservation remains abstract and simplistic, without recognising dynamic nature of the cost. Some recent works demonstrate the prominence of economic theory to inform biodiversity decisions, particularly on the costs and benefits of biodiversity however, the integration of the concept of true cost into biodiversity actions and planning are very slow to come by, and specially on a farm level. Conservation planning studies often use area as a proxy for costs neglecting different land values as well as protected areas. These literature consider only heterogeneous benefits while land costs are considered homogenous. Analysis with the assumption of cost homogeneity results in biased estimation; since not only it doesn’t address the true total cost of biodiversity actions and plans, but also it fails to screen out lands that are more (or less) expensive and/or difficult (or more suitable) for biodiversity conservation purposes, hindering validity and comparability of the results. Economies of scope” is one of the other most neglected aspects in conservation literature. The concept of economies of scope introduces the existence of cost complementarities within a multiple output production system and it suggests a lower cost during the concurrent production of multiple outputs by a given farm. If there are, indeed, economies of scope then simplistic representation of costs will tend to overestimate the true cost of conservation leading to suboptimal outcomes. The aim of this paper, therefore, is to provide first road review of the various theoretical ways in which economies of scope are likely to occur of how they might occur in conservation. Consequently, the paper addresses gaps that have to be filled in future analysis.

Characterization of Biodegradable Nanocomposites with Poly (Lactic Acid) and Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Year: 2013 Volume: 7 Issue: 1 65 - 70 Pages

Abstract: In this study, structural, mechanical, thermal and electrical properties of poly (lactic acid) (PLA) nanocomposites with low-loaded (0-1.5 wt%) untreated, heat and nitric acid treated multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were studied. Among the composites, untreated 0.5 wt % MWCNTs and acid-treated 1.0 wt% MWCNTs reinforced PLA show the tensile strength and modulus values higher than the others. These two samples along with pure PLA exhibit the stable orthorhombic α-form, whilst other samples reveal the less stable orthorhombic β-form, as demonstrated by X-ray diffraction study. Differential scanning calorimetry reveals the evolution of the mentioned different phases by controlled cooling and discloses an enhancement of PLA crystallization by nanotubes incorporation. Thermogravimetric analysis shows that the MWCNTs loaded sample degraded faster than PLA. Surface resistivity of the nanocomposites is found to be dropped drastically by a factor of 1013 with a low loading of MWCNTs (1.5 wt%).

Event Template Generation for News Articles

Year: 2012 Volume: 6 Issue: 12 1745 - 1747 Pages

Abstract: In this paper we focus on event extraction from Tamil news article. This system utilizes a scoring scheme for extracting and grouping event-specific sentences. Using this scoring scheme eventspecific clustering is performed for multiple documents. Events are extracted from each document using a scoring scheme based on feature score and condition score. Similarly event specific sentences are clustered from multiple documents using this scoring scheme. The proposed system builds the Event Template based on user specified query. The templates are filled with event specific details like person, location and timeline extracted from the formed clusters. The proposed system applies these methodologies for Tamil news articles that have been enconverted into UNL graphs using a Tamil to UNL-enconverter. The main intention of this work is to generate an event based template.

Two-dimensional Heat Conduction of Direct Cooling in the Rotor of an Electrical Generator(Numerical Analysis)

Year: 2010 Volume: 4 Issue: 7 565 - 570 Pages

Abstract: Two-dimensional heat conduction within a composed solid material with a constant internal heat generation has been investigated numerically in a sector of the rotor a generator. The heat transfer between two adjacent materials is assumed to be purely conduction. Boundary conditions are assumed to be forced convection on the fluid side and adiabatic on symmetry lines. The control volume method is applied for the diffusion energy equation. Physical coordinates are transformed to the general curvilinear coordinates. Then by using a line-by-line method, the temperature distribution in a sector of the rotor has been determined. Finally, the results are normalized and the effect of cooling fluid on the maximum temperature of insulation is investigated.

Perceptions of Corporate Social Responsibility Concept in Greece

Year: 2009 Volume: 3 Issue: 6 1206 - 1212 Pages

Abstract: This study attempts to clarify major perspectives of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the Greek market related to companies that have sufficient CSR. An empirical analysis was undertaken, based on literature review and previous observations and surveys, in order to provide a general analysis of the CSR concept in Greece. The results of Accountability Rating institution were used in order to identify companies that adopt an integrated social responsibility approach. Companies that responded to the survey are both regional and international and belong to different industrial fields. Some of the main survey results reveal: multiple aspects for the CSR concept, weak consensus as regards the importance of stakeholders and benefits from the CSR implementation, the important role of CSR in the decision procedure and CSR practices concerning social issues that affect mostly company-s competitiveness. Sharing companies- experience could address common social issues through CSR best practices and develop new knowledge.

A Sub Pixel Resolution Method

Year: 2010 Volume: 4 Issue: 9 1311 - 1314 Pages

Abstract: One of the main limitations for the resolution of optical instruments is the size of the sensor-s pixels. In this paper we introduce a new sub pixel resolution algorithm to enhance the resolution of images. This method is based on the analysis of multiimages which are fast recorded during the fine relative motion of image and pixel arrays of CCDs. It is shown that by applying this method for a sample noise free image one will enhance the resolution with 10-14 order of error.

Operational Risks for Highway Projects in Malaysia

Year: 2009 Volume: 3 Issue: 5 520 - 523 Pages

Authors:
Farid Ezanee Mohamed Ghazali

Abstract: The Malaysia Highway Authority (MHA) was established by the Government in 1980 for the purpose of designing, constructing and maintaining toll highways in Malaysia that include the North-South Expressway and the Penang Bridge, which were procured using the publicly-funded traditional procurement. However following a recession in the mid 80-s, the operations of these tolledhighways had been privatized to ensure that their operational services continue through private financing as a result of long-term concession agreement concurred between the Malaysian Government and private operators. The change in the contract strategy for highway projects in Malaysia would have a great tendency to dictate a significant risk exposure towards the key parties involved, particularly the Malaysian Government as project principal, unless operational risks are clearly identified and managed via appropriate mitigation measures prior to a contract signing. This research identifies potential operational risks that have a possibility to occur in highway projects in Malaysia from the perspective of public sector clients. Since this research focuses on the operational risks for highway projects in Malaysia, the initial results acquired from literature review on the operational risks of highway projects in some Asian countries are then justified by a number of key individuals from the MHA through interviews. As a result, among key operational risks that have possibility to occur in the highway projects in Malaysia include initial toll-tariff decided by the Government, traffic congestion, change of road network and overloaded freight transportation, which could cause damage to the road surface and hence affecting the operation of a particular highway.

Material Failure Process Simulation by Improve Finite Elements with Embedded Discontinuities

Year: 2014 Volume: 8 Issue: 7 1211 - 1217 Pages

Abstract: This paper shows the advantages of the material failure process simulation by improve finite elements with embedded discontinuities, using a new definition of traction vector, dependent on the discontinuity length and the angle. Particularly, two families of this kind of elements are compared: kinematically optimal symmetric and statically and kinematically optimal non-symmetric. The constitutive model to describe the behavior of the material in the symmetric formulation is a traction-displacement jump relationship equipped with softening after reaching the failure surface. To show the validity of this symmetric formulation, representative numerical examples illustrating the performance of the proposed formulation are presented. It is shown that the non-symmetric family may over or underestimate the energy required to create a discontinuity, as this effect is related with the total length of the discontinuity, fact that is not noticed when the discontinuity path is a straight line.

Role of Oxide Scale Thickness Measurements in Boiler Conditions Assessment

Year: 2011 Volume: 5 Issue: 9 1937 - 1939 Pages

Abstract: Oxide scale thickness measurements are used in assessing the life of different components operating at high temperature environment. Such measurements provide an approximation for the temperature inside components such as reheater and superheater tubes. A number of failures were encountered in one of the boilers in one of Kuwaiti power plants. These failure were mainly in the first row of the primary super heater tubes, therefore, the specialized engineer decide to replace them during the annual shutdown. As a tool for failure analysis, oxide scale thickness measurement were used to investigate the temperature distribution in these tubes. In this paper, the oxide scale thickness of these tubes were measured and used for analysis. The measurements provide an illustration of the distribution of heat transfer of the primary superheater tubes in the boiler system. Remarks and analysis about the design of the boiler are also provided.

A Novel Steganographic Method for Gray-Level Images

Year: 2009 Volume: 3 Issue: 3 802 - 807 Pages

Abstract: In this work we propose a novel Steganographic method for hiding information within the spatial domain of the gray scale image. The proposed approach works by dividing the cover into blocks of equal sizes and then embeds the message in the edge of the block depending on the number of ones in left four bits of the pixel. The proposed approach is tested on a database consists of 100 different images. Experimental results, compared with other methods, showed that the proposed approach hide more large information and gave a good visual quality stego-image that can be seen by human eyes.

Adaptive Block State Update Method for Separating Background

Year: 2009 Volume: 3 Issue: 8 2122 - 2126 Pages

Abstract: In this paper, we proposed the robust mobile object detection method for light effect in the night street image block based updating reference background model using block state analysis. Experiment image is acquired sequence color video from steady camera. When suddenly appeared artificial illumination, reference background model update this information such as street light, sign light. Generally natural illumination is change by temporal, but artificial illumination is suddenly appearance. So in this paper for exactly detect artificial illumination have 2 state process. First process is compare difference between current image and reference background by block based, it can know changed blocks. Second process is difference between current image-s edge map and reference background image-s edge map, it possible to estimate illumination at any block. This information is possible to exactly detect object, artificial illumination and it was generating reference background more clearly. Block is classified by block-state analysis. Block-state has a 4 state (i.e. transient, stationary, background, artificial illumination). Fig. 1 is show characteristic of block-state respectively [1]. Experimental results show that the presented approach works well in the presence of illumination variance.

Oil Debris Signal Detection Based on Integral Transform and Empirical Mode Decomposition

Year: 2011 Volume: 5 Issue: 4 846 - 850 Pages

Authors:
Chuan Li
Ming Liang

Abstract: Oil debris signal generated from the inductive oil debris monitor (ODM) is useful information for machine condition monitoring but is often spoiled by background noise. To improve the reliability in machine condition monitoring, the high-fidelity signal has to be recovered from the noisy raw data. Considering that the noise components with large amplitude often have higher frequency than that of the oil debris signal, the integral transform is proposed to enhance the detectability of the oil debris signal. To cancel out the baseline wander resulting from the integral transform, the empirical mode decomposition (EMD) method is employed to identify the trend components. An optimal reconstruction strategy including both de-trending and de-noising is presented to detect the oil debris signal with less distortion. The proposed approach is applied to detect the oil debris signal in the raw data collected from an experimental setup. The result demonstrates that this approach is able to detect the weak oil debris signal with acceptable distortion from noisy raw data.

A Computer Model of Language Acquisition – Syllable Learning – Based on Hebbian Cell Assemblies and Reinforcement Learning

Year: 2009 Volume: 3 Issue: 1 193 - 196 Pages

Abstract: Investigating language acquisition is one of the most challenging problems in the area of studying language. Syllable learning as a level of language acquisition has a considerable significance since it plays an important role in language acquisition. Because of impossibility of studying language acquisition directly with children, especially in its developmental phases, computer models will be useful in examining language acquisition. In this paper a computer model of early language learning for syllable learning is proposed. It is guided by a conceptual model of syllable learning which is named Directions Into Velocities of Articulators model (DIVA). The computer model uses simple associational and reinforcement learning rules within neural network architecture which are inspired by neuroscience. Our simulation results verify the ability of the proposed computer model in producing phonemes during babbling and early speech. Also, it provides a framework for examining the neural basis of language learning and communication disorders.

Effect of Anoxia on Root Growth and Grain Yield of Wheat Cultivars

Year: 2010 Volume: 4 Issue: 10 764 - 767 Pages

Abstract: Waterlogging reduces shoot and root growth and final yield of wheat. Waterlogged sites have a combination of low slope, high rainfall, heavy texture and low permeability. This study was aimed the importance of waterlogging on root growth and wheat yield. In order to study the effects of different waterlogging duration (0, 10, 20 and 30 days) at growth stages (1-leaf stage, tillering stage and stem elongation stage) on root growth of wheat cultivars (Chamran, Vee/Nac and Yavaroos), one pot experiment was carried out. The experiment was a factorial according to a RCBD with three replications. Results showed that root dry weight and total root length in the anthesis and grain ripening stages and biological and grain yields were significantly different between cultivars, growth stages and waterlogging durations. Vee/Nac was found superior with respect to other cultivars. Susceptibility to waterlogging at different growth stages for cultivars was 1-leaf stage > tillering stage > stem elongation stage. Under waterlogging treatments, grain and biological yields, were decreased 44.5 and 39.8%, respectively. Root length and root dry weight were reduced 55.1 and 45.2%, respectively, too. In this experiment, decrease at root growth because of waterlogging reduced grain and biological yields. Based on the results, even short period (10 days) of waterlogging had unrecoverable effects on the root growth and grain yield of wheat.

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