Reply on the comments regarding the paper “Assessment of temperature gradient effects on moisture transfer through thermogradient coefficient”

This paper is a reply on the paper “A comment to’ Assessment of temperature gradient effects on moisture transfer through thermogradient coefficient’ ” (DOI: 10.1007/s12273-012-0099-y).     

Modelling of Failure of Woven Composites. Part 2: Experimental and Numerical Justification of the Interzone Concept

The failure of woven composites has been examined. This study is presented in two parts:

• Modelling of failure of woven composites. Part 1: nomenclature defining the interzone concept;
• Modelling of failure of woven composites. Part 2: experimental and numerical justification of the interzone concept.

In the first part, the concepts of the interzone and the geometry of an interzone have been defined in a general way for a large panel of woven composites. In the second part, it has been shown that the failure of woven composites is well described by using the interzone concept. The load transfer between intact interzones and broken interzones has been evaluated for two types of loadings (tensile loading and loading in bending). The analysis of these load transfers explains why in the case of a tensile loading the failure is of a sudden-death type whereas in the case of bending loading the failure is progressive. The concept of failure of an interzone has been also defined.     

Triacylglycerol and Glycerophospholipid Identification and Accumulation During Ripening of Pistacia lentiscus L. (Lentisc) Fruit

Triacylglycerol (TAG) and phospholipid (PL) compositions of vegetable oils are considered a marker of quality and are often used in industry to control the purity of the oils and to detect adulteration. In this study, the TAG and PL composition of developing fruit of Pistacia lentiscus were investigated for the first time. The total TAG content was found to increase rapidly during fruit ripening from 105 to 966 mg/100 g of oil respectively between the 35th and the 175th day after fructification (DAF). During this period, 16 different molecular species of TAG were identified and quantified. POO was the major TAG from the second stage of maturation. Only four classes of PL were identified in the P. lentiscus oil: the phosphatidic acid (PA), the phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), the phosphatidylglycerol (PG) and the phosphatidylinositol (PI). The mass spectra obtained showed the presence of nine molecular species of PA, five species of PE and seven molecular species for each PG and PI classes. The total phospholipid content decreased rapidly during fruit ripening, from 45.5 % at the 15th DAF to 6.88 % at the 175th DAF.     

An original observer design for reduced sensor control of Packed U Cells based renewable energy system

This paper presents an original Switched Observer (SO) for reduced-sensor control of a grid-connected Packed U Cells (PUC) multilevel inverter. The proposed SO performance is evaluated using a single-phase 7-level PUC inverter connected to the grid through filtering inductor. Based on the actual grid current, the proposed SO estimates accurately the PUC capacitor voltage, which is fed to the Model Predictive Control (MPC) algorithm while making use of a hybrid model considering both discrete and continuous variables. For real-time application, necessary conditions are given to guarantee the practical stability of the proposed SO under system parameters and input voltage variations according to the selected switching pattern. Theoretical analysis and simulation investigations are conducted to prove that the proposed SO-MPC scheme is stable in closed-loop for all system configurations and has good performances even during various disturbances (load change, parameters mismatch, and input voltage variation).     

Performance enhancement of cascaded qZS-HB based renewable energy system using Model Predictive Control

This paper presents a multi-objective Model Predictive Control (MPC) for a grid connected 2-cell 5-level quasi Z-Source (qZS) Cascaded H-Bridge (CHB) inverter. The main contribution of the proposed control approach is the design of a multi-constraint cost function to achieve multi-objective MPC strategy dealing with the complex nature of the presented qZS-CHB topology. The designed cost function takes into account three control objectives, which are the minimization of the grid current, input current, and capacitors' voltages tracking errors. The best performance scenario is realized through the fine tuning of the constraints' weighting factors based on the grid current's error minimization and the reduction of the double-line frequency ripples on the input current. As a result, the proposed scheme achieves high-quality tracking of the encompassed state variables with the elimination of the double-line frequency power flow through the qZS inductors leading to the reduction of the hysteresis losses and the increase of the overall system efficiency. The performance of the proposed MPC strategy has been investigated and compared to the state of art PI controller. Theoretical analysis and implementation results are given to show that the proposed scheme is suitable for all system configurations and has good performances even during disturbances.     

Effect of hepatic vagotomy on plasma insulin levels during fasting in rats

The present investigation was designed to evaluate the effect of a selective hepatic vagotomy (HV) on the insulin response in rats fasted for 24 h when blood glucose levels were or were not maintained by a constant glucose infusion. Rats were divided into three dietary groups: one group of normally fed rats, one group of 24-h fasted rats, and one group of 24-h fasted rats infused with glucose throughout the fasting period. Each of these groups was subdivided into HV and sham-operated (SHM) rats. Fasting without glucose infusion resulted in a significant (p < 0.05) decrease in plasma glucose, liver glycogen, and insulin concentrations and in a significant (p < 0.01) increase in beta-hydroxybutyrate and FFA concentration. Despite the maintenance of plasma glucose concentrations in the glucose-infused groups, the concentrations of liver glycogen and insulin were still decreased (p < 0.01) and the concentrations of beta-hydroxybutyrate were still increased (p<0.05) at the end of the fasting period. However, no significant differences in insulin or in beta-hydroxybutyrate concentration were found between HV and SHM rats. It is concluded that the decline in plasma glucose concentration during fasting does not totally explain the insulinopenic response to fasting, and that the liver, through the mediation of the hepatic vagus nerve, does not seem to contribute to insulinopenia in 24-h fasted rats.     

Efficient 45nm ASIC Architecture for Full-Search Free Intra Prediction in Real-Time H.264/AVC Decoder

The standard H.264/AVC Intra frame encoding process has several data dependent and computational intensive coding methodologies that limit the overall encoding speed. It causes not only a high degree of computational complexity but also an unacceptable delay especially for the real-time video applications. Based on DCT properties and spatial activity analysis, low power hardware architecture for high throughput Full-Search Free (FSF) Intra mode selection and direction prediction algorithm is proposed. The FSF Intra prediction Algorithm significantly reduces the computational complexity and the processing run-time required for the H.264/AVC Intra frame prediction process. The ASIC implementation for the proposed architecture is carried out and synthesizing results are obtained. The heavily tested 45nm ASIC design is able to achieve an operating frequency of 140 MHz while limiting the overall power consumption to 9.01 mW, which nominates our proposed FSF Intra prediction architecture for interactive real-time H.264/AVC mobile video decoders.     

Noise-Parameter Uncertainties: A Monte Carlo Simulation

This paper reports the formulation and results of a Monte Carlo study of uncertainties in noise-parameter measurements. The simulator permits the computation of the dependence of the uncertainty in the noise parameters on uncertainties in the underlying quantities. Results are obtained for the effect due to uncertainties in the reflection coefficients of the input terminations, the noise temperature of the hot noise source, connector variability, the ambient temperature, and the measurement of the output noise. Representative results are presented for both uncorrelated and correlated uncertainties in the underlying quantities. The simulation program is also used to evaluate two possible enhancements of noise-parameter measurements: the use of a cold noise source as one of the input terminations and the inclusion of a measurement of the “reverse configuration,” in which the noise from the amplifier input is measured directly.     

Analysis of traffic accident injury severity on Spanish rural highways using Bayesian networks

Several different factors contribute to injury severity in traffic accidents, such as driver characteristics, highway characteristics, vehicle characteristics, accidents characteristics, and atmospheric factors. This paper shows the possibility of using Bayesian Networks (BNs) to classify traffic accidents according to their injury severity. BNs are capable of making predictions without the need for pre assumptions and are used to make graphic representations of complex systems with interrelated components. This paper presents an analysis of 1536 accidents on rural highways in Spain, where 18 variables representing the aforementioned contributing factors were used to build 3 different BNs that classified the severity of accidents into slightly injured and killed or severely injured. The variables that best identify the factors that are associated with a killed or seriously injured accident (accident type, driver age, lighting and number of injuries) were identified by inference.     

Optimizing the overlap between the stator teeth of a claw pole transverse-flux permanent-magnet Machine

The paper presents a three-dimensional finite-element analysis-based optimization of the overlap between adjacent stator teeth of a claw pole transverse flux permanent magnet machine (TFPM). Two major optimization criteria are considered: 1) the maximization of the output torque and 2) the minimization of the cogging torque. The paper shows that an overlap of almost 30% fulfills both optimization criteria.