Prediction of local scour around bridge piers using the ANFIS method

Local scour around bridge piers is a complicated physical process and involves highly three-dimensional flows. Thus, the scour depth, which is directly related to the safety of a bridge, cannot be given in the form of the exact relationship of dependent variables via an analytical method. This paper proposes the use of the adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) method for predicting the scour depth around a bridge pier. Five variables including mean velocity, flow depth, size of sediment particles, critical velocity for particles’ initiation of motion, and pier width were used for the scour depth. For comparison, predictions by the artificial neural network (ANN) model were also provided. Both the ANN model and ANFIS method were trained and validated. The findings indicate that the modeling with dimensional variables yields better predictions than when normalized variables are used. The ANN model was applied to a field-scale dataset. Prediction results indicated that the errors are much larger compared to the case of a laboratory-scale dataset. The MAPE by the ANN model trained with part of the field data was not seriously different from that by the model trained with the laboratory data. However, the application of the ANFIS method improved the predictions significantly, reducing the MAPE to the half of that by the ANN model. Five selected empirical formulas were also applied to the same dataset, and Sheppard and Melville’s formula was found to provide the best prediction. However, the MAPEs for the scour depths predicted by empirical formulas are much larger than MAPEs by either the ANN or the ANFIS method. The ANFIS method predicts much better if the range of the training dataset is sufficiently wide to cover the range of the application dataset.

     

Synthesis and biological characterization of low-calorie Schisandra chinensis syrup

Food Science and Biotechnology - Schisandra chinensis (Omija) is a well-known medicinal plant in East Asia. In this study, Omija oligosaccharide syrup was prepared from sucrose with Omija fruit...     

Ramp-preserving denoising for conductivity image reconstruction in magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography

In magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography, among several conductivity image reconstruction algorithms, the harmonic B(z) algorithm has been successfully applied to B(z) data from phantoms and animals. The algorithm is, however, sensitive to measurement noise in B(z) data. Especially, in in vivo animal and human experiments where injection current amplitudes are limited within a few milliampere at most, measured B(z) data tend to have a low SNR. In addition, magnetic resonance (MR) signal void in outer layers of bones and gas-filled organs, for example, produces salt-pepper noise in the MR phase and, consequently, B(z) images. The B(z) images typically present areas of sloped transitions, which can be assimilated to ramps. Conductivity contrasts change ramp slopes in B(z) images and it is critical to preserve positions of those ramps to correctly recover edges in conductivity images. In this paper, we propose a ramp-preserving denoising method utilizing a structure tensor. Using an eigenvalue analysis, we identified local regions of salt-pepper noise. Outside the identified local regions, we applied an anisotropic smoothing to reduce noise while preserving their ramp structures. Inside the local regions of salt-pepper noise, we used an isotropic smoothing. After validating the proposed denoising method through numerical simulations, we applied it to in vivo animal imaging experiments. Both numerical simulation and experimental results show significant improvements in the quality of reconstructed conductivity images.     

Fully rubbery synaptic transistors made out of all-organic materials for elastic neurological electronic skin

Neurologic function implemented soft organic electronic skin holds promise for wide range of applications,such as skin prosthetics,neurorobot,bioelectronics,human-robotic interaction(HRI),etc.Here,we report the development of a fully rubbery synaptic transistor which consists of all-organic materials,which shows unique synaptic characteristics existing in biological synapses.These synaptic characteristics retained even under mechanical stretch by 30%.We further developed a neurological electronic skin in a fully rubbery format based on two mechanoreceptors(for synaptic potentiation or depression)of pressure-sensitive rubber and an all-organic synaptic transistor.By converting tactile signals into Morse Code,potentiation and depression of excitatory postsynaptic current(EPSC)signals allow the neurological electronic skin on a human forearm to communicate with a robotic hand.The collective studies on the materials,devices,and their characteristics revealed the fundamental aspects and applicability of the all-organic synaptic transistor and the neurological electronic skin.     

CPR's new rule 14 provides parties with interim measures,to be heard by a special arbitrator

Esther Seonmin Lee, of Malibu, Calif., analyzes a rule on interim measures in arbitration that is a part of each of the new sets of CPR Institute domestic and international arbitration rules     

An exploratory study of protective inventory in a re-entrant line with protective capacity

While the effect of protective inventory on the performance of simple lines has received considerable attention, the same cannot be said for re-entrant lines. This paper attempts to meet that deficiency. This paper examines two different but related issues. First, the theory of constraints (TOC) evaporating cloud method is employed to show the traditional dilemma of increasing work-in-process (WIP) to fully utilise resources versus decreasing WIP inventory to reduce cycle time. The assumptions and implications of three different management philosophies (traditional, JIT/lean, and TOC) are explored in addressing this dilemma with respect to the use of both protective inventory and protective capacity. Second, given an unbalanced re-entrant line with fixed capacity, simulation is used to explore the effectiveness of using protective inventory by changing the level of WIP on two dependent variables: cycle time and throughput. Two sources of variation are simulated: processing time and breakdowns (machine failures). At a given WIP level, it was found that the amount of protective capacity at non-bottlenecks changed with increases in variability. Therefore the level of WIP inventory (with its protective inventory) and the level of protective capacity needed to protect against variability play a critical role in determining cycle time and throughput of the re-entrant line. While this is an exploratory study, comments on protective inventory and protective capacity are provided based on the three different management philosophies.     

Preparation of monodisperse charged droplets via electrohydrodynamic device for the removal of fine dust particles smaller than 10 μm

Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) device is utilized in various applications and could be useful for the suppression of particulate matter in ambient conditions. In this study, we focused on the ejection of charged droplets containing electrolytes in a microdripping mode and with high charge density. Several different electrolytes with different physical and electrical properties were tested for our EHD process in order to produce the charged droplets stably. Results from series images by high-speed camera represented that droplet size and frequency were dependent on the applied voltage and flow rate, and showed different behaviors in various EHD modes such as dripping, microdripping, mixed dripping, and unstable dripping. Consecutive experimental data for charge density showed that 15?wt% KCl solution was proper to obtain highly charged droplets with the size from 50 to 100?μm. For this solution, the suppression of the fine dust particle was tested for the removal of PM10, PM2.5, and PM1 at various applied voltages. The droplet formation in microdripping mode was effective for the removal of smaller dust particles and could be applicable for the air remediation in indoor or domestic environment.