Stochastic flow-shop scheduling with minimizing the expected number of tardy jobs

In this research, minimizing the expected number of tardy jobs in a dynamic m machine flow-shop scheduling problem, i.e., $ {F_m}\left| {{r_j}\left| {{\text{E}}\left[ {\sum {{U_j}} } \right]} \right.} \right. $ is investigated. It is assumed that the jobs with deterministic processing times and stochastic due dates arrive randomly to the flow-shop cell. The due date of each job is assumed to be normally distributed with known mean and variance. A dynamic method is proposed for this problem by which the m machine stochastic flow-shop problem is decomposed into m stochastic single-machine sub-problems. Then, each sub-problem is solved as an independent stochastic single-machine scheduling problem by a mathematical programming model. Comparison of the proposed method with the most effective rule of thumb for the proposed problem, i.e., shortest processing time first rule shows that the proposed method performs 23.9 % better than the SPT rule on average for industry-size scheduling problems.     

Effect of Reactor Ambient Pressure on the Morphology of Spray Dried Magnesium Sulphate Powders

The effect of reducing the reactor air pressure on the morphology of spray dried magnesium sulphate powders is investigated, experimentally. A reactor, capable of drying and pyrolyzing solution sprays at low pressures, is designed and manufactured. A vibrating mesh nebulizer is employed to generate the spray. Four different pressures, starting from 60 Torr to the atmospheric pressure, and two different reactor air temperatures of 130°C and 420°C, are considered. In addition, two different concentrations of magnesium sulphate solutions are tested. The results are explained based on the effect of reactor air pressure on the droplet evaporation rate.     

Fluorescent dye labeled bacteriophages--a new tracer for the investigation of viral transport in porous media: 1. Introduction and characterization

A new method for the study of pathogen transport in porous media is presented. The method is based on conjugation of fluorescent dyes to target bacteriophages and application of the modified bacteriophages for tracer studies. We demonstrate that the relevant transport determining properties of Rhodamine and several fluorescein-labeled phages are practically identical to those of the native bacteriophages. The advantages of the proposed method relative to direct enumeration of bacteriophages by plaque forming unit method, turbidity, fluorescent microspheres, and other alternative tracers are discussed. Notable advantages include simple quantitation by optical methods, unbiased signals even when virus aggregates are formed, and the ability to decouple inactivation kinetics from transport phenomena. Additionally, the signal reflects the removal and transport of the studied microorganism and not a surrogate.     

Investigating different diffuse solar radiation models to analyse solar radiation on inclined surfaces in Oman

In this paper, a detailed analysis of the solar radiation on horizontal and tilted surfaces for six locations in Oman is presented. The locations are (from North to South): Majis/Sohar, Sur, Fahud, Masira, Marmul, and Salalah. These locations spread over Oman and cover different types of landscape. The method is validated through the use of measured data. The effect of tilt angle and orientation on the incident solar radiation is presented along with optimum surface tilt angles and directions for maximum solar radiation collection in these six locations. The solar radiation models used in this paper show good agreement with measured data. The results presented in this paper are extremely useful for quick estimation of solar radiation for calculations of buildings’ cooling load and solar collector system performance. This can be easily extended for other locations with similar landscapes and geographical conditions.     

Prediction of Gas Flow Through Short and Long 2-D Micro- and Nanochannels Using a Generalized Slip Model

This article reports the outcome of our recent effort in prediction of gas slip flow through micro- and nanochannels. Slip nitrogen flow through short (length to height ratio of 20) and long (length to height ratio of 2,500) microchannels is analyzed and discussed using the spectral element method and the generalize slip model boundary condition of Karniadakis and Beskok. The well-known curvature in pressure distribution, due to the compressible behavior of the gas flow, is observed. Comparison of numerical results with the experimental and direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) data as well as previous reported numerical results showed that the generalized slip model is able to produce reliable results for both short and long microchannels.     

Adapting UASB technology for sewage treatment in Palestine and Jordan.

High rate anaerobic technologies offer cost-effective solutions for "sewage" treatment in the temperate climate of Palestine and Jordan. However, local sewage characteristics demand amendments to the conventional UASB reactor design. A solution is found in a parallel operating digester unit that stabilises incoming solids and enriches the UASB sludge bed with methanogenic activity. The digester operational conditions were assessed by operating eight CSTRs fed with primary sludge. The results showed a high degree of sludge stabilization in the parallel digesters at SRTs>or=10 and 15 days at process temperatures of 35 and 25 degrees C, respectively. The technical feasibility of the UASB-digester combination was demonstrated by continuous flow pilot-scale experiments. A pilot UASB reactor was operated for 81 days at 6 hours HRT and 15 degrees C and was fed with raw domestic sewage. This period was subsequently followed by an 83 day operation period incorporating a parallel digester unit, which was operated at 35 degrees C. The UASB-digester combination achieved removal efficiencies of total, suspended, colloidal and dissolved CODs of respectively 66, 87, 44 and 30%. Preliminary model calculations indicated that a total reactor volume of the UASB-digester system corresponding to 8.6 hours HRT might suffice for sewage treatment in Palestine.     

Single-trial subspace-based approach for VEP extraction

A signal subspace approach for extracting visual evoked potentials (VEPs) from the background electroencephalogram (EEG) colored noise without the need for a prewhitening stage is proposed. Linear estimation of the clean signal is performed by minimizing signal distortion while maintaining the residual noise energy below some given threshold. The generalized eigendecomposition of the covariance matrices of a VEP signal and brain background EEG noise is used to transform them jointly to diagonal matrices. The generalized subspace is then decomposed into signal subspace and noise subspace. Enhancement is performed by nulling the components in the noise subspace and retaining the components in the signal subspace. The performance of the proposed algorithm is tested with simulated and real data, and compared with the recently proposed signal subspace techniques. With the simulated data, the algorithms are used to estimate the latencies of P(100), P(200), and P(300) of VEP signals corrupted by additive colored noise at different values of SNR. With the real data, the VEP signals are collected at Selayang Hospital, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and the capability of the proposed algorithm in detecting the latency of P(100) is obtained and compared with other subspace techniques. The ensemble averaging technique is used as a baseline for this comparison. The results indicated significant improvement by the proposed technique in terms of better accuracy and less failure rate.     

Inline monitoring the effect of chemical inhibitor on the calcium carbonate precipitation and agglomeration

The formation of mineral scale particularly calcium carbonate is a problem for industries ranging from oil and gas to desalination plants. Various techniques have been studied to prevent the formation of scale. The use of chemical inhibitors to prevent calcium carbonate agglomeration is widely studied. The present study attempts to show that the inline monitoring technique is a useful tool for laboratory experimental investigation of agglomeration phenomenon. This method is successful in providing the induction time of starting agglomeration. It was shown that the presence of inhibitor delays the agglomeration and affects the deposition of calcium carbonate.In addition the method is found useful in determining the minimum inhibitor concentration and also to screen various types of inhibitors for the selection. The influence of an inhibitor is studied on scaling solution of various calcium ion concentrations. Finally, the result of inline technique was validated by comparing with the conventional one called offline technique. The SEM images reveal that the mechanism of inhibition might be the surface adsorption or distortion of inhibitor molecules on the growing calcium carbonate crystals.     

Holographic memory-based Bayesian optimization algorithm (HM-BOA) in dynamic environments

This paper presents a new evolutionary dynamic optimization algorithm, holographic memory-based Bayesian optimization algorithm (HM-BOA), whose objective is to address the weaknesses of sequential memory-based dynamic optimization approaches. To this end, holographic associative neural memory is applied to one of the recent successful memory-based evolutionary methods, DBN-MBOA (memory-based BOA with dynamic Bayesian networks). Holographic memory is appropriate for encoding environmental changes since its stimulus and response data are represented by a vector of complex numbers such that the phase and the magnitude denote the information and its confidence level, respectively. In the learning process in HM-BOA, holographic memory is trained by probabilistic models at every environmental change. Its weight matrix contains abstract information obtained from previous changes and is used for constructing a new probabilistic model when the environment changes. The unique features of HM-BOA are: 1) the stored information can be generalized, and 2) a small amount of memory is required for storing the probabilistic models. Experimental results adduce grounds for its effectiveness especially in random environments.