Approximate design and performance of the robust control charts for monitoring dispersion in Phase I

This article designs and studies the approximate performance of robust dispersion charts, namely, MAD chart, S_n chart, and Q_n chart, in Phase I analysis (recently developed in the literature). The proposed limits are based on false alarm probability for monitoring the dispersion of a process in Phase I analysis. The charting constants are determined to achieve the required nominal FAP (FAP₀). The performance of these structures is evaluated in (i) the attained false alarm rate and (ii) the probability of signals for out‐of‐control situations. The analysis shows that the proposed design of Phase I robust dispersion charts correctly controls the FAP and shows a good performance in detecting the shifts in the process variation. An illustrative example is used to explain the practical implementation of these limits.     

Study on energy efficiency in corn production of Iran

The aims of this study are determining the energy use, qualitative analyzing of energy flow and also investigating energy efficiency by Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) in corn production of Iran during a seven years period. Results indicated that the average of total energy input increased from 40.98 GJ ha⁻¹ in 2001 to 63.64 GJ ha⁻¹ in the year of 2007. Similarly, the average of total output energy rose from 89.03 to 107.54 GJ ha⁻¹ in the same years, respectively. Also the results showed that average energy use efficiency, energy productivity, specific energy and net energy gain in the studied period was 2.59, 0.17 kg MJ⁻¹, 7.24 MJ kg⁻¹ and 51.34 GJ ha⁻¹, respectively. DEA considered the yield (kg ha⁻¹) as output and three major energy inputs; fertilizers, diesel fuel and machinery as input of 10 provinces in each year. Findings revealed that average energy efficiency score was 90.26%. There is impermanent trend in growth of energy efficiency in corn production of Iran, which needed to further analysis in future studies to realize relevant fluctuations in corn farming.     

The canine distemper epidemic in Serengeti: are lions victims of a new highly virulent canine distemper virus strain,or is pathogen circulation stochasticity to blame?

In the year 1994, the Serengeti lion population was decimated by a canine distemper disease outbreak. Retrospective investigations showed that this host population had already been in contact with the pathogen in 1981 without any detected sign of disease. As an alternative to the virus mutation hypothesis to explain this difference in virulences observed in 1981 and 1994, we propose a novel mechanism of disease emergence based on variation in population immunity. We use a stochastic model to show that stochastic fluctuations in pathogen circulation, owing to a low probability of virus transmission from its reservoir to the target host and thereby resulting in variations in the global immunity level of the target host population, can explain the observations made in Serengeti. This mechanism may also be involved in other infectious disease emergences or re-emergences.     

Damage identification of a 2D frame structure using two-stage approach

In this article, a two-stage damage identification approach is employed to detect the site and extent of multiple damage cases in a 2D frame structure. In the first stage, Damage locating vector (DLV) method based on a new indicator called EDS (Exponential decreased stress) is applied to localize the damaged elements. Next, the damage extents of suspected elements are quantified using two metaheuristic algorithms, Water evaporation optimization (WEO) and accelerated WEO. Numerical example consists of a 2D frame structure with two types of meshing elements, 35 and 105 frame elements. For every state, two multiple damage cases are tested in noisy condition. To compare performance of the two-stage method with one-stage optimization method, the studied cases are also run using these two metaheuristic algorithms. The results indicate that the two-stage approach is more effective than one-stage because the number of intact element detected as damaged one and computational errors for actual damaged elements in one-stage method are more while the two-stage approach spends a much shorter time.     

Biological synthesis of very small silver nanoparticles by culture supernatant of Klebsiella pneumonia: The effects of visible-light irradiation and the liquid mixing process

This study has investigated different visible-light irradiation's effect on the formation of silver nanoparticles from silver nitrate using the culture supernatant of Klebsiella pneumonia. Our study shows that visible-light emission can significantly prompt the synthesis of silver nanoparticles. Also, the study experimentally investigated the liquid mixing process effect on silver nanoparticle synthesis by visible-light irradiation. This study successfully synthesized uniformly dispersed silver nanoparticles with a uniform size and shape in the range of 1-6 nm with an average size of 3 nm. Furthermore, the study investigated the mechanism of the reduction of silver ions by culture supernatant of K. pneumonia, and used X-ray diffraction to characterize silver chloride as an intermediate compound. Silver chloride was prepared synthetically and used as a substrate for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles by culture supernatant of K. pneumonia. The silver nanoparticles have been prepared from silver chloride during this investigation for the first time.     

Lipid oxidation of beef fillets during braising with different cooking oils

Effects of braising without oil and with different cooking oils (olive oil, corn oil and partially hydrogenated plants oil) on the susceptibility to lipid oxidation in beef fillets (psoas major) were evaluated. The beef fillets were pan-fried without oil or with the respective oils for five min, followed by 90 min steam cooking (braising). Lipid oxidation status of the samples and the cooking residues was evaluated by peroxide value (PV), acid value (AV), p-Anisidine value (p-AnV), as well as the alteration of the tocopherol content. Total lipids and the individual fatty acid pattern were analyzed in order to determine the impact of the frying medium as well as the cooking procedures on the fat of the braised samples. The decrease in PV simultaneous with the significant increase in p-AnV indicated the progression of lipid oxidation. Tocopherol and fatty acid contents of all the investigated samples exhibited modifications mainly due to the influence of the frying medium and braising process. Although there was a significant change in lipid oxidation parameters, there is no risk in consuming such braised meat.     

Thermal performance of finned aluminum heat sink filled with ERG aluminum foam: Experimental and numerical approach

The rapid improvements in electronic devices have led to a high demand for effective cooling techniques. The purpose of this study was to investigate the heat transfer characteristics and performance of different aluminum heat sinks filled with aluminum foam for an Intel core i7 processor. The aluminum foam heat sinks were subjected to water flow covering the non-Darcy flow regime (300-600 Reynolds numbers). The bottom side of the heat sinks was heated with a heat flux between 8.5 and 13.8 W/cm². Three different heat sinks were examined in this study. Models A, B, and C contained two, three and four channels, respectively. Each channel gap was filled with ERG aluminum foam. The distributions of the local surface temperature and the local Nusselt number were measured for each heat sink design. The experimental data were compared with the numerical results. The average Nusselt number was obtained for the range of Reynolds numbers, and an empirical correlation of the average Nusselt number as a function of the Reynolds number was derived for each heat sink. The pressure drop across the characteristics of each heat sink design was measured. The thermal performance of each aluminum foam heat sink was evaluated based on the average Nusselt number and the required pumping power. The experimental results revealed that model B achieved the highest average Nusselt number compared with models A and C. However, model C had the highest surface to volume ratio; the thermal boundary layers, which are formed on adjacent fin surfaces inside the aluminum foam, interface with each other causing a reduction in the overall heat transfer. The numerical results were in good agreement with experimental data of local Nusselt number and local temperature with maximum relative errors of 2% and 1%, respectively.     

Multi-Objective Optimization of Integrated Surface and Groundwater Resources Under the Clean Development Mechanism

Acquiring sustainable water resources for water-based development of countries is the experts? concern in this field, who seek to follow the clean development mechanism (CDM) regulations and overcome water crisis through integrated water resources management (IWRM). The Great Karun River basin is one of the major basins in the Middle East. This basin, containing six of the largest reservoir dams with a cumulative power plant capacity of more than 10,500 MW generates about 93% of hydropower of Iran. The water balance of the aquifer in the study area was simulated using MODFLOW model while water resources and surface water reserves were simulated by the water evaluation and planning (WEAP) model. A separate simulation was performed with each of two models and the results of two models were coupled using a link file. The multi-objective function optimization process including the maximized supply of demands and hydropower and the minimized aquifer drawdown was completed using non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II). All effective system components, such as inter-basin water transfer, integrated use of water resources, variation of irrigation network efficiencies, and the effect of water shortage were studied and analyzed under the targeted scenarios. Finally, the best scenario, which was capable to supply the future needs until time horizon of 2040 was planned for the basin considering minimization of aquifer drawdown and optimal generation of hydropower resulting in a maximum decrease in emission of greenhouse gases.

     

Low-temperature synthesis of bioactive glass-ceramic microspheres: Effect of processing parameters on the size and morphology

A low-temperature method was developed to produce bioactive glass microspheres (BGMs). The microspheres were fabricated by dispersing the prepared sol in silicon oil, a process called the sol-microemulsion-gel method. The resulting microspheres were characterized by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential thermal analysis (DTA), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) techniques. Furthermore, the effect of various processing parameters such as reaction chamber size and the stirring rate on microspheres diameter was investigated. The results indicated that under optimized conditions, one could obtain BGMs with acceptable sphericity having a narrow size distribution. The obtained microspheres had diameters in the range of 19.3 ± 9.3 μm. The BET specific surface area was 240.33 m²/g. The results also showed that the increase in the reaction chamber size had interesting contradictory effects on BGMs diameter. The increase in the stirring rate intensified the shear forces exerted on the water-based phase and caused the generation of smaller droplets and microspheres.