Short Term Optimal Operation of Water Supply Reservoir under Flood Control Stress using Model Predictive Control

Reservoir operations require enhanced operating procedures for water systems under stress attributed to growing water demand and consequences of changing hydro-climatic conditions. This study focuses on the management of the Yuvacik Dam Reservoir for water supply and flood mitigation in the Marmara Region of Turkey. We present an improved operating technique for fulfilling the conflicting water supply and flood mitigation objectives. This is accomplished by incorporating the long term water supply objectives into a Guide Curve (GC) whereas the extreme floods are attenuated by means of short-term optimization based on Model Predictive Control (MPC). The reference case implements operating rules with a constant GC at maximum forebay elevation targeting the fulfillment of the water supply objective. We compare the reference with a new time-dependent GC, derived using an Implicit Stochastic Optimization (ISO) approach. This new curve shows nearly the same performance regarding the water supply objectives, but significantly reduces the flooding risk downstream of the dam. Possible flood events observed at the end of the wet season, when the reservoir is at the maximum level to enable water supply for the dry season, can be eliminated by the application of an additional short-term optimization by MPC. The robustness of the approach is demonstrated via hindcasting experiments.     

Preparation of nanoparticles with a semi-batch gas-liquid membrane contactor

Nanosized calcium carbonate particles were prepared with a semi-batch gas-liquid membrane contactor. A mathematical model of the semi-batch operated contactor was given, and the effects of Ca(OH)₂ concentration, CO₂ partial pressure and additives on the absorption rate were estimated theoretically. The predicted data were consistent with the experimental results. The Ca(OH)₂ concentration and CO₂ pressure have no apparent effects on the particles. In the presence of PVP and PEG, the particles are well-dispersed and the size is effectively reduced. After reaction, the membranes were washed with dilute hydrochloric acid and the membranes can be reused for at least 9 times without apparent performance deterioration.     

Integration of variable refrigerant flow and heat pump desiccant systems for the cooling season

Energy saving and indoor air condition enhancing potentials by integrating the variable refrigerant flow (VRF) and heat pump desiccant (HPD) systems were investigated in a field performance test during a cooling season. Three different operating modes: non-ventilated, HPD ventilation assisted and HPD ventilation–dehumidification assisted VRF systems were investigated. The HPD systems operated in the ventilation–dehumidification mode dehumidify the outdoor air and supply it to the indoor air during the ventilation. It was found that the VRF systems provided an average of 97.6% of the total cooling energy for the HPD ventilation assisted mode. The remainder was the recovered cool by the HPD systems during ventilation. The VRF systems provided an average of 78.9% of the total cooling energy for the HPD ventilation–dehumidification assisted mode. The remainder was covered by the HPD systems which provided additional sensible and latent cooling. Overall, among the three operating modes, it is concluded that the HPD ventilation–dehumidification assisted VRF outdoor units consume less energy than the HPD ventilation assisted ones, but more than the non-ventilated ones, while providing the best indoor thermal comfort and indoor air quality conditions. For the total system, the HPD ventilation–dehumidification assisted VRF systems consume less energy than the HPD ventilation assisted ones.     

Study of the pre-equilibrium mean free path constant for light and heavy nuclei for (n, xn) reactions

Using pre-equilibrium reaction mechanisms, the neutron-emission spectra produced by (n, xn) reactions for some target (A = 16 ∼ 238) nuclei have been calculated for incident neutron energy in the range of 15–26 MeV. From light nuclei to heavy nuclei, the multiple pre-equilibrium mean free path constants from internal transition have been investigated. The obtained results are discussed and compared with the available experimental data.     

准噶尔盆地南缘复杂构造变速成图方法及效果分析

准噶尔盆地南缘冲断带西段浅层发育有巨厚砾岩段,由于砾岩段在地震速度上没有能量团聚焦,不能反映砾岩段的真实地层速度,造成未准确落实砾岩影响的情况下速度成图精度较低;准南缘中东段有利目标多为高陡构造,地层逆掩严重,地层速度纵横向变化大,由于前期速度成图中无法实现考虑浅层逆掩地层的速度建模,造成深层目的层的变速成图精度较低。针对准南缘速度成图特点,应用标准层校正速度异常方法,消除了地震异常谱点影响,提升了地震速度品质;应用速度异常分析方法,基本搞清了深层速度异常的分布和影响;应用钻井地层速度变速充填方法,在考虑地层逆掩的情况下建立速度模型,形成较为合理的速度场。通过以上技术措施的应用,为准南缘冲断带的油气勘探提供了比较可靠的构造图,在该区的油气勘探中发挥了重要作用。     

Antimicrobial activity and safety of use of Enterococcus faecium PC4.1 isolated from Mongol yogurt

Screening of lactic acid bacteria strains isolated from Mongolian yogurt (Tarag) led to the isolation of Enterococcus faecium PC4.1 with a bacteriocin-like activity against Listeria genus and fungi. The antimicrobial substances in cell free supernatant were sensitive to proteolytic enzymes, while neither acidic conditions nor high temperature affected their activities. These antimicrobial substances were active after storage at 4 °C, ?20 °C and ?80 °C for over one month. The mode of action was determined as bactericidal. In the aim of further use of E. faecium PC4.1 as a biopreservative, the isolate was tested for resistance against antibiotics and for harboring virulence determinants. E. faecium PC4.1 was characterized as free from virulence factors, has low resistance to gentamicin and ampicillin but is susceptible to vancomycin.     

Changes in the microbiological and chemical characteristics of an artisanal Turkish white cheese during ripening

Changes in the physico-chemical and microbiological properties of artisanal Turkish White cheese were studied throughout 105 days of ripening. Total solid, fat in solid, titratable acidity, pH, salt in total solid, total nitrogen, water-soluble nitrogen, ripening index, amino acids and biogenic amines were determined. Also, the counts of lactic acid bacteria, yeast, moulds and coliforms were done. Biogenic amines in cheeses were tyramine, histamine and phenyletylamine while tryptamine was the only detected at the beginning of maturation at the low concentration. Tyramine content increased during ripening reaching, 12.36 mg/kg at 75 days. A significant correlation could not be found (P>0.05) between microorganisms and biogenic amines. Data points represent averages of three experiments.     

Some properties of bacterial cellulose produced by new native strain Gluconacetobacter sp. A06O2 obtained from Turkish vinegar

The aim of the study was to isolate and identify an acetic acid bacterial strain having high cellulose yield and to investigate some physicochemical properties of bacterial cellulose (BC). Acetic acid bacteria were isolated by using 62 samples (vinegar, fruit, vegetable, and soil) from different region of Turkey. The cellulose production ability of 153 isolates was determined. A strain (A06O2) having high and stable cellulose yield was identified by biochemical tests and 16S rRNA gene sequencing and compared with type strain Gluconacetobacter xylinus NRRL B‐759. Based on the results, strain A06O2 was named at the genus level as Gluconacetobacter, however, species level identification could not be made. Celluloses from both strains were purified to investigate the physicochemical properties such as thermal properties, solubility in various solvents, elemental composition, tensile properties, and surface properties by FTIR and SEM. The results showed that the cellulose samples of two bacterial strains differed in the physicochemical properties. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011     

Learning feature-projection based classifiers

This paper aims at designing better performing feature-projection based classification algorithms and presents two new such algorithms. These algorithms are batch supervised learning algorithms and represent induced classification knowledge as feature intervals. In both algorithms, each feature participates in the classification by giving real-valued votes to classes. The prediction for an unseen example is the class receiving the highest vote. The first algorithm, OFP.MC, learns on each feature pairwise disjoint intervals which minimize feature classification error. The second algorithm, GFP.MC, constructs feature intervals by greedily improving the feature classification error. The new algorithms are empirically evaluated on twenty datasets from the UCI repository and are compared with the existing feature-projection based classification algorithms (FIL.IF, VFI5, CFP, k-NNFP, and NBC). The experiments demonstrate that the OFP.MC algorithm outperforms other feature-projection based classification algorithms. The GFP.MC algorithm is slightly inferior to the OFP.MC algorithm, but, if it is used for datasets with large number of instances, then it reduces the space requirement of the OFP.MC algorithm. The new algorithms are insensitive to boundary noise unlike the other feature-projection based classification algorithms considered here.