Determination of the drug dose by fuzzy expert system in treatment of chronic intestine inflammation

In this study, chronic intestine illness symptoms such as sedimentation and prostate specific antigen are used for the design of fuzzy expert system to determine the drug (salazopyrine) dose. Suitable drug dose for patients is obtained by using data of ten patients. The results of some patients are compared with the doses recommended to them by the physician. As a result, it has been seen that proposed system is helped to shorten the treatment duration and minimize or remove the negative effects of determination of drug dose for helping physicians.     

Delayed current zeros due to out-of-phase synchronizing [ofturbogenerators]

Out-of-phase synchronizing occasionally occurs in power stations. The resulting fault current may exhibit delayed current zeros. These delayed current zeros have totally different causes and are quite dissimilar in comparison with the well-known delayed current zeros associated with generator terminal faults. The rapid movement of the rotor from initial out-of-phase angle δ₀ to δ=0 results in a very small AC component and a dominant DC component when δ=0 is reached. The various parameters influencing the extent of the delayed current zeros have been analyzed and are discussed. The most influential parameter is the initial out-of-phase angle δ₀ . Other important parameters are inertia constant of the turbogenerator set and initial deviation from synchronous speed. The influence of incorrect generator modelling on the result has also been demonstrated. The effect of circuit-breaker arc voltages on delayed current zeros has been examined and a comparison made between generator voltage and HV-side circuit-breakers. From this comparison, it follows that while circuit-breakers on both sides of the step-up transformer are necessary from a protection point of view, the generator circuit-breaker should preferably be used for synchronizing operations     

Moment resistance of steel pipes subjected to combined loads

The first part of this paper provides a review of recent investigations on steel pipes subjected to combined loads. Attention is given to studies involving both numerical and experimental components aimed at quantifying the modified moment resistance of pipes subjected to internal pressure and axial force. The comparison of experimental and finite element results indicate that the nonlinear shell finite element analysis is a reliable tool for predicting moment capacities of pipes. The second part of the paper reports two additional full-scale tests recently conducted at the University of Ottawa aimed at expanding the existing experimental database to pipes subjected to more complex load combinations involving twisting moment and shear (in addition to axial force, internal pressure, and bending). The finite element analysis for both tests is shown to provide excellent predictions of pipe moment capacity. The third part of the paper is a systematic parametric study based on the FEA model verified in previous and present investigations, aimed to assess the ability of pipe sections to attain their modified elastic and/or plastic moment resistance as predicted by analytically derived interaction equations. The parameters investigated are the applied torsion, internal pressure, axial force, and the diameter-to-thickness ratio of the pipe.     

Project-oriented task scheduling for mobile robot team

This paper presents a project-oriented framework for multi-robot task scheduling. An agent-based architecture is designed to schedule tasks where robots are considered as resources. The study focused on the problems when the number of available robots is less than the required number. In this case, the problem becomes a resource-constrained scheduling problem. Initially, tasks are scheduled by using Critical path method (CPM), resource leveling method is used to smooth the deviation between the resource requirements and available resource levels, and tasks are allocated to robots. As robots perform their tasks, a monitoring agent observes them and tasks are rescheduled if the difference between the planned and actual completion time of tasks exceeds a predefined threshold. Effectiveness of the proposed approach is shown by using a nine-task two-robot project simulation.     

Antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of the essential oils and methanol extract from Mentha longifolia L. ssp. longifolia

This study was designed to evaluate antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of the essential oil and methanol extract from Mentha longifolia ssp. longifolia. The essential oil showed strong antimicrobial activity against all 30 microorganisms tested whereas the methanol extract almost remained inactive. In contrast, the extract showed much better activity than the essential oil in antioxidant activity assays employed, e.g. in the inhibition of free radical 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and β-carotene/linoleic acid systems. In the former, the extract was able to reduce the stable free radical DPPH with an IC₅₀ of 57.4 μg/ml while that of the oils was 10 700 μg/ml. When compared to BHT, a synthetic antioxidant, both showed weaker antioxidative potential. Similarly, in β-carotene/linoleic acid assay, these samples were not effectively able to inhibit the linoleic acid oxidation; exhibiting only 24% and 36% inhibitions at 2 mg/ml, respectively; both were far below than that of BHT. Total phenolic constituent of the extract was 4.5 g/100 g as gallic acid equivalent. GC–MS analysis of the oil resulted in the identification of 45 constituents, cis-piperitone epoxide, pulegone and piperitenone oxide being the main components.     

Electronic microarrays in DNA computing

DNA Computing is a rapidly-developing interdisciplinary area which could benefit from more experimental results to solve practical problems with the current biological tools. In this study, we have integrated microelectronics and molecular biology techniques for the storage of information and basic arithmetic operations via DNA. Using 16 different complementary sequences of DNA, we stored 4 bits of information on an electronic microarray and read the data via the fluorescent signal strength coming from the microarray pads. We also showed the possibility of addition and subtraction of quantities of fluorescently tagged DNA determined via their fluorescent signal strength. We conclude that the hybrid technology we employed, based on a matured Si-CMOS platform, has the potential to strengthen the pursuit of DNA computation as well as finding its own niche applications.     

Electrical and Structural Properties of RE<Subscript>3</Subscript>Ba<Subscript>5</Subscript>Cu<Subscript>8</Subscript>O<Subscript>18</Subscript> (RE=Y,Sm and Nd) Superconductors

This paper presents the synthesis and characterization of the new superconducting compounds with nominal composition, RE₃Ba₅Cu₈O₁₈, RE=Y, Sm and Nd. The onset critical temperatures of the present samples are 97.5, 97 and 95 K for the RE=Y, Sm and Nd, respectively. The first two values are the highest for the RE–Ba–Cu–O superconductors recorded to date. The RE₃Ba₅Cu₈O₁₈ samples crystallize in the orthorhombic system, with increased unit cell volume as Sm and Nd replace the element Y.     

Prediction of Channel Utilization with Artificial Neural Networks Model in Mac Layer in Wireless Local Area Networks

Wireless Personal Communications - The use of channels in WLANs affects data communication. RTS Fragmentation Threshold (RTSFT), Fragmentation Threshold (FT), and Buffer Size (BS) input values;...     

Utilization of a triple hexagonal split ring resonator (SRR) based metamaterial sensor for the improved detection of fuel adulteration

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - In this work, a triple hexagonal split ring resonator incorporated metamaterial sensor is proposed for the improved detection of fuel...