Rule base reduction: some comments on the use of orthogonaltransforms

Comments on recent publications about the use of orthogonal transforms to order and select rules in a fuzzy rule base. The techniques are well-known from linear algebra, and we comment on their usefulness in fuzzy modeling. The application of rank-revealing methods based on singular value decomposition (SVD) to rule reduction gives rather conservative results. They are essentially subset selection methods, and we show that such methods do not produce an “importance ordering”, contrary to what has been stated in the literature. The orthogonal least-squares (OLS) method, which evaluates the contribution of the rules to the output, is more attractive for systems modeling. However, it has been shown to sometimes assign high importance to rules that are correlated in the premise. This hampers the generalization capabilities of the resulting model. We discuss the performance of rank-revealing reduction methods and advocate the use of a less complex method based on the pivoted QR decomposition. Further, we show how detection of redundant rules can be introduced in OLS by a simple extension of the algorithm. The methods are applied to a problem known from the literature and compared to results reported by other researchers     

Tracing enteric viruses in the European berry fruit supply chain

In recent years, numerous foodborne outbreaks due to consumption of berry fruit contaminated by human enteric viruses have been reported. This European multinational study investigated possible contamination routes by monitoring the entire food chain for a panel of human and animal enteric viruses.     

Simulation of containment thermal-hydraulics in the Marviken Blowdown 16 experiment with ASTEC and CONTAIN codes

The boiling heavy water reactor Blowdown 16 experiment, which was performed in the Marviken experimental facility, was simulated with the ASTEC and CONTAIN codes. The main purpose of the work was the assessment of the codes for simulating thermal-hydraulic phenomena in a BWR containment at accident conditions. Simulated pressures, atmosphere temperatures and wetwell pool masses are compared to experimental measurements. The results show that both codes satisfactorily reproduced the overall containment thermal-hydraulic behaviour. The simulations also allow a more detailed understanding of the governing mechanisms during the performed experiment.     

Influence of hydrogen contamination by mercury on the lifetime of the PEM-type fuel cell

The subject of this study is the influence of traces of mercury present in the hydrogen originating e.g. from the amalgam technology of brine electrolysis on the lifetime of PEM-type fuel cell. Accelerated tests were used in order to record deterioration of laboratory fuel cells’ performance. The power output decrease observed was only partly reversible. As was proven by XPS spectroscopy, the cell performance deterioration originates from the interaction between mercury and the platinum catalyst. The lifetime of the fuel cell was assessed on the basis of the experiments performed as 7000 h for an average mercury concentration in the hydrogen of 10 μg N m⁻³. This is a sufficient value to permit utilization of the hydrogen from this source as a fuel for the fuel cell. It should be kept in the mind, however, that this value was obtained on the basis of the accelerated durability tests.     

Optimal flow distribution over multiple parallel pellet reactors: a model-based approach.

A drinking water treatment plant has a typical configuration of parallel lanes to provide safe drinking water 24 h a day. A new approach for optimising the production of drinking water treatment plants is proposed. This approach is applied to the softening process step and shows promising results in terms of cost reduction by optimising the water distribution over several parallel reactors. The proposed scheme relies on optimal model-based control of a single softening reactor and the use of a bypass.     

Diatomite silica nanoparticles for drug delivery

Diatomite is a natural fossil material of sedimentary origin, constituted by fragments of diatom siliceous skeletons. In this preliminary work, the properties of diatomite nanoparticles as potential system for the delivery of drugs in cancer cells were exploited. A purification procedure, based on thermal treatments in strong acid solutions, was used to remove inorganic and organic impurities from diatomite and to make them a safe material for medical applications. The micrometric diatomite powder was reduced in nanoparticles by mechanical crushing, sonication, and filtering. Morphological analysis performed by dynamic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy reveals a particles size included between 100 and 300 nm. Diatomite nanoparticles were functionalized by 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane and labeled by tetramethylrhodamine isothiocyanate. Different concentrations of chemically modified nanoparticles were incubated with cancer cells and confocal microscopy was performed. Imaging analysis showed an efficient cellular uptake and homogeneous distribution of nanoparticles in cytoplasm and nucleus, thus suggesting their potentiality as nanocarriers for drug delivery.

PACS

87.85.J81.05.Rm; 61.46. + w     

The airborne natural radioactivity in the uranium mine Rožná I

The knowledge of the behaviour of radioactive aerosol particles in the uranium mine atmosphere is very important due to the evaluation of the effective dose for uranium miners. During the research of the project SUJ200402-'Study of behaviour of natural long-lived radionuclides in the mine atmosphere', several measurement campaigns were performed in the last active Central Europe uranium mine Rozna I. The main purpose of this paper is characterisation the radionuclides which creating the main part of the airborne radioactivity in the uranium mine atmosphere. The present paper introduces results of the measurements of airborne radioactivity in stopes of the uranium mine Rozna I. The measurements were performed at the 21st floor at a depth of ～1100 m under the ground. In addition to the concentration of (222)Rn, its progenies, long-lived radionuclides and also the concentration of aerosol particles were measured.