Optimal Operation of a Multi-Purpose Reservoir Using Neuro-Fuzzy Technique

Present paper is aimed to develop operation policy for a multi-purpose reservoir using Neuro-Fuzzy technique in an efficient way. Ramganga reservoir behind Ramganga dam, Kalagarh, India has been considered as a study reservoir. The developed policy minimizes the damage due to floods and droughts and determines optimum releases against demands for domestic supply, irrigation and hydropower generation for monsoon and non-monsoon periods. Three Fuzzy Rule Based (FRB) models for monsoon period and three for non monsoon period have been developed and tested. Actual releases have been used to formulate the general operation fuzzy rules. Releases computed from all developed models using Fuzzy Mamdani (FM) and ANFIS (Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Interactive System) – Grid and Cluster have been compared and it was found that ANFIS-cluster gives the best results but FM is more users friendly. For any expected inflow, reservoir level and demand, release can be calculated using developed GUI windows of the models.     

Monitoring changes in land use land cover of Yamuna riverbed in Delhi: a multi-temporal analysis

Impact of anthropogenic activities has led to significant changes in riverbeds over a period of time. The objective of the study was to monitor the land use land cover (LULC) of Yamuna riverbed in Delhi and to assess the changes due to natural and anthropogenic activities. The maximum likelihood classification was carried out by using March 1977, April 1999, April 2002 and February 2009 imageries. An overall accuracy of LULC classification of 2009 imagery was around 88.6% based on ground truth data. A significant reduction in the main river course and increase in agricultural activities as well as built up were observed in remote sensing analysis as an outcome of riverbed encroachments. The changed scenario of riverbed not only stresses the riverine ecosystem but also jeopardizes the future consequences on river hydraulics.     

Near‐zero thermal expansion transparent lithium aluminosilicate glass‐ceramic by microwave hybrid heat treatment

The material of choice for space applications which demand very high dimensional stability is lithium aluminosilicate (LAS) based Ultra Low thermal Expansion Glass‐Ceramic (ULEGC). Generally, the controlled crystallization process recommended for the processing of transparent ULEGC involves a long soaking duration to achieve the required crystal number density. This paper brings out the process optimization procedure adopted for realizing transparent and nanocrystalline ULEGC from conventionally processed LAS glass using microwave‐assisted (hybrid) crystallization. The experimental strategy involves two stages (i) identification of the optimum crystallization temperature (T_c) under a microwave field (ii) optimization of a microwave‐assisted crystallization process to achieve near zero Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE).. Optimum heat‐treatment schedules for nucleation and crystallization under a microwave environment were found to be 720°C/24 hours and 775°C/0.3 hours, respectively. The optimized heat‐treatment condition revealed the efficacy of the microwave hybrid heating, by producing nanocrystalline (35‐50 nm) and transparent (>82%) ULEGC having a thermal expansion of ?0.03 × 10^?6 K (0°C to 50°C).     

Human Liver Stem Cell Derived Extracellular Vesicles Alleviate Kidney Fibrosis by Interfering with the β-Catenin Pathway through miR29b

Human liver stem-cell-derived extracellular vesicles (HLSC-EVs) exhibit therapeutic properties in various pre-clinical models of kidney injury. We previously reported an overall improvement in kidney function following treatment with HLSC-EVs in a model of aristolochic acid nephropathy (AAN). Here, we provide evidence that HLSC-EVs exert anti-fibrotic effects by interfering with β-catenin signalling. A mouse model of AAN and an in vitro pro-fibrotic model were used. The β-catenin mRNA and protein expression, together with the pro-fibrotic markers α-SMA and collagen 1, were evaluated in vivo and in vitro following treatment with HLSC-EVs. Expression and functional analysis of miR29b was performed in vitro following HLSC-EV treatments through loss-of-function experiments. Results showed that expression of β-catenin was amplified both in vivo and in vitro, and β-catenin gene silencing in fibroblasts prevented AA-induced up-regulation of pro-fibrotic genes, revealing that β-catenin is an important factor in fibroblast activation. Treatment with HLSC-EVs caused increased expression of miR29b, which was significantly inhibited in the presence of α-amanitin. The suppression of the miR29b function with a selective inhibitor abolished the anti-fibrotic effects of HLSC-EVs, resulting in the up-regulation of β-catenin and pro-fibrotic α-Sma and collagen type 1 genes. Together, these data suggest a novel HLSC-EV-dependent regulatory mechanism in which β-catenin is down regulated by HLSC-EVs-induced miR29b expression.     

An effective NIDS framework based on a comprehensive survey of feature optimization and classification techniques

Neural Computing and Applications - The technological advancement leads to an increase in the usage of the Internet with many applications and connected devices. This increased network size causes...     

Hydrothermal synthesis of NH2-UiO-66 and its application for adsorptive removal of dye

In this research paper we report hydrothermal synthesis of NH₂-UiO-66, a metal organic framework (MOF) with zirconium as metal and amino terephthalic acid as a linker. The synthesized MOF was characterized by XRD, FTIR, SEM and BET surface area. As a potential application in water treatment, an adsorptive removal of safranin dye was studied using the synthesized material. The effect of initial concentration and pH of the dye solution was studied on the dye adsorption capacity of the material. An optimum set of conditions resulting into maximum dye adsorption was found out. The maximum adsorption capacity of the MOF was observed to be 390?mg/g at neutral pH of the solution and at room temperature. The experimental data was fitted with Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin adsorption isotherm models. The kinetics of adsorption was studied using pseudo first order and pseudo second order model. The dye adsorption mechanism was also attempted.     

Limits of Using Signatures for Permutation Independent Boolean Comparison

This paper addresses problems that arise while checking the equivalence of two Boolean functions under arbitrary input permutations. The permutation problem has several applications in the synthesis and verification of combinational logic: it arises in the technology mapping stage of logic synthesis and in logic verification. A popular method to solve it is to compute a signature for each variable that helps to establish a correspondence between the variables. Several researchers have suggested a wide range of signatures that have been used for this purpose. However, for each choice of signature, there remain variables that cannot be uniquely identified. Our research has shown that, for a given example, this set of problematic variables tends to be the same–regardless of the choice of signatures. The paper investigates this problem.     

Shape-programmable macromolecules

Proteins catalyze specific chemical reactions and carry out highly selective molecular recognition because they adopt well-defined three-dimensional structures and position chemically reactive functional groups in specific constellations. Proteins attain these well-defined structures through the complex process of protein folding. We seek to emulate these protein functions by constructing macromolecules that are easier to engineer by avoiding folding altogether. Toward that goal, we have developed an approach for the synthesis of macromolecules with programmable shapes. As described in this Account, we have constructed synthetic building blocks called bis-amino acids that we then couple through pairs of amide bonds to create water-soluble, spiroladder oligomers (bis-peptides) with well-defined three-dimensional structures. Bis-peptides use the conformational preferences of fused rings, stereochemistry, and strong covalent bonds to define their shape, unlike natural proteins and synthetic foldamers, which depend on noncovalent interactions and an unpredictable folding process to attain structure. Using these bis-amino acid monomers, we have built and characterized a number of bis-peptide nanostructures. We also constructed a molecular actuator that undergoes a large change in conformation under the control of metal exchange; the first application of bis-peptides. We are currently developing further approaches to functionalize bis-peptides as scaffolds to present well-defined constellations of functional groups. Such macromolecules could facilitate multifunctional catalysis and molecular recognition and lead to nanoscale molecular devices.     

An open-terrain line source model coupled with street-canyon effects to forecast carbon monoxide at traffic roundabout

A double-lane four-arm roundabout, where traffic movement is continuous in opposite directions and at different speeds, produces a zone responsible for recirculation of emissions within a road section creating canyon-type effect. In this zone, an effect of thermally induced turbulence together with vehicle wake dominates over wind driven turbulence causing pollutant emission to flow within, resulting into more or less equal amount of pollutants upwind and downwind particularly during low winds. Beyond this region, however, the effect of winds becomes stronger, causing downwind movement of pollutants. Pollutant dispersion caused by such phenomenon cannot be described accurately by open-terrain line source model alone. This is demonstrated by estimating one-minute average carbon monoxide concentration by coupling an open-terrain line source model with a street canyon model which captures the combine effect to describe the dispersion at non-signalized roundabout. The results of the modeling matched well with the measurements compared with the line source model alone and the prediction error reduced by about 50%. The study further demonstrated this with traffic emissions calculated by field and semi-empirical methods.