Energy-efficient cooking methods

Energy-efficient new cooking techniques have been developed in this research. Using a stove with 649?±?20 W of power, the minimum heat, specific heat of transformation, and on-stove time required to completely cook 1 kg of dry beans (with water and other ingredients) and 1 kg of raw potato are found to be: 710 (±24)?kJ, 613 (±20)?kJ, and 1,144?±?10 s, respectively, for beans and 287?±?12 kJ, 200?±?9 kJ, and 466?±?10 s for Irish potato. Extensive researches show that these figures are, to date, the lowest amount of heat ever used to cook beans and potato and less than half the energy used in conventional cooking with a pressure cooker. The efficiency of the stove was estimated to be 52.5?±?2 %. Discussion is made to further improve the efficiency in cooking with normal stove and solar cooker and to save food nutrients further. Our method of cooking when applied globally is expected to contribute to the clean development management (CDM) potential. The approximate values of the minimum and maximum CDM potentials are estimated to be 7.5?×?10¹¹ and 2.2?×?10¹³?kg of carbon credit annually. The precise estimation CDM potential of our cooking method will be reported later.     

Robust and minimum norm partial quadratic eigenvalue assignment in vibrating systems: A new optimization approach

The partial quadratic eigenvalue assignment problem (PQEVAP) concerns reassigning a few undesired eigenvalues of a quadratic matrix pencil to suitably chosen locations and keeping the other large number of eigenvalues and eigenvectors unchanged (no spill-over). The problem naturally arises in controlling dangerous vibrations in structures by means of active feedback control design. For practical viability, the design must be robust, which requires that the norms of the feedback matrices and the condition number of the closed-loop eigenvectors are as small as possible. The problem of computing feedback matrices that satisfy the above two practical requirements is known as the Robust Partial Quadratic Eigenvalue Assignment Problem (RPQEVAP). In this paper, we formulate the RPQEVAP as an unconstrained minimization problem with the cost function involving the condition number of the closed-loop eigenvector matrix and two feedback norms. Since only a small number of eigenvalues of the open-loop quadratic pencil are computable using the state-of-the-art matrix computational techniques and/or measurable in a vibration laboratory, it is imperative that the problem is solved using these small number of eigenvalues and the corresponding eigenvectors. To this end, a class of the feedback matrices are obtained in parametric form, parameterized by a single parametric matrix, and the cost function and the required gradient formulas for the optimization problem are developed in terms of the small number of eigenvalues that are reassigned and their corresponding eigenvectors. The problem is solved directly in quadratic setting without transforming it to a standard first-order control problem and most importantly, the significant “no spill-over property” of the closed-loop eigenvalues and eigenvectors is established by means of a mathematical result. These features make the proposed method practically applicable even for very large structures. Results on numerical experiments show that the proposed method considerably reduces both feedback norms and the sensitivity of the closed-loop eigenvalues. A study on robustness of the system responses of the method under small perturbations show that the responses of the perturbed closed-loop system are compatible with perturbations.     

Nutritional status of rural women in relation to their participation in mixed farming in the Tafresh area of Iran

This study was conducted in the Tafresh area of Iran to assess the dietary patterns, time allocation, and nutritional status of rural women in relation to their participation in mixed farming activities. We selected 75 women from 40 villages by applying a stratified random-sampling technique. Cereals and grains were the major source of energy intake. According to the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) tables of India, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the respondents seemed to have no micronutrient and energy deficiencies during the spring season. They spent most of their time and energy on household, animal husbandry, and crop farming activities. According to measurements of body mass index (BMI), the respondents were well nourished. However, despite the high level of BMI, analysis suggested a negative energy balance. Nevertheless, analysis indicated that rural women with negative energy balance spent more time and energy in mixed farming and had a higher level of participation in related activities. Hence, it is evident from the results that the physical contribution of rural women in mixed farming activities has a detrimental effect on their nutritional status, at least during some parts of the year (e.g., spring or summer). Therefore, there is a need to adjust nutritional interventions to improve the sustainability of their food intake and to develop appropriate technologies in mixed farming to alleviate their work burdens.     

Rainbow refractometry: simultaneous measurement of temperature, refractive index, and size of droplets

The capabilities and limitations of rainbow refractometry, specifically the minimum measurable droplet size and the errors in the refractive index (temperature), have been studied. We evaluate what we believe is a new method of indirectly applying the Lorenz-Mie theory to rainbow refractometry. The results show that this new method reduces the errors and eliminates the biases that may occur if the Airy theory is used. A more precise method to filter the high-frequency oscillations associated with the measurement signals was developed. Finally, it was discovered that the errors associated with rainbow refractometry are such that a single droplet measurement is unreliable. A mean refractive index should be determined on the basis of multiple droplet measurements.     

Characterization of laser and laser/thermal annealed semiconducting iron silicide thin films

-FeSi₂ is an important semiconducting silicide which is being studied extensively. In this paper, we report our results of the effect of laser and laser-thermal annealing on the properties of -FeSi₂. 5N purity Fe was deposited on Si substrate and was subsequently irradiated by CW and pulsed laser separately followed by thermal annealing to reduce the laser induced damage. The samples were then characterized by sheet resistance, X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), optical reflectance and absorption studies. Lastly, -FeSi₂/n-Si heterojunctions were fabricated and the effect of laser treatment on the junction ideality factor was investigated. All these characterizations indicated the formation of good quality -FeSi₂, particularly after pulsed laser followed by thermal treatment.     

Modeling resonance tests for electrostrictive ceramics

The electromechanical coupling coefficient represents a useful figure-of-merit for comparing the quality of different electroactive materials. However, the coupling coefficient for an electrostrictive ceramic is not a unique material parameter, because it depends strongly on the applied DC bias field, AC field amplitude and frequency, and stress. These dependencies make direct comparison between electrostrictors and piezoelectrics somewhat ambiguous. In this paper, we developed a pair of coupling parameters for electrostrictors that were strictly material constants and completely characterized the material's electromechanical quality. We proposed relatively simple, inexpensive resonance testing to measure these new parameters from the electrical admittance of a vibrating electrostrictive rod. The electromechanical coupling coefficient for a specific loading condition is computed from these parameters, allowing direct comparison between electrostrictive and piezoelectric materials.     

Design and manufacturing advisor for turbine disks

The design and manufacturing advisor (DMA) is a generic architecture for an expert system which assists in the process of product design. It integrates various parts of the production environment which affect the final product—such as fabrication, assembly, inspection and inventory. The design process can be partitioned into four stages: problem specification, feature specification, testing and generation. DMA facilitates the development of tractable designs, defined by the intersection of three spaces relating to specifications, features and productibility. The system consists of a domain-independent module and a domain-dependent module, each of which contains subcomponents; this modular structure facilitats system modification, expansion, and portability. The DMA has been validated by specializing the architecture to the design of gas-turbine disks for jet engines.     

Characterization of information improvement due to N revisions and its generalization by a functional equation

The idea of information improvement was introduced by Thiel [3]. This idea was further extended by the first author to information improvement due to 2 and N revisions and specifically states that different experimenters (a finite number) are required to proceed with given distributions P and U and are permitted to choose a suitable revision. We attempted to provide a measure of information corresponding to Theil's measure which reflected the effect of all revisions. In this paper, the authors have studied a joint characterization of information improvement of N revisions and its generalization by considering a suitable functional equation.