Penetration model for absorption with chemical reaction in the presence of heat generation,bulk flow and effects of the gaseous environment

A penetration model for gas absorption into a laminar liquid stream in the presence of chemical reaction and large heat generation was investigated theoretically, accounting for the presence of the gaseous environment, not considered in previous analyses, as well as the transverse bulk flow contribution to the total mass transfer. A complete formulation was performed which is based solely upon the conservation equations in both phases with the appropriate matching conditions at the gas-liquid interface. A boundary layer model was assumed for the fluid mechanical behaviour of the gaseous surroundings. The liquid stream initially had a uniform velocity in the axial direction. After being exposed to the absorbed gas, the flow field in the liquid stream was found to conform with a uniform axial velocity along with a transverse component, solely dependent on the axial distance. The numerical solution was demonstrated for the absorption of chlorine into toluene which has been investigated experimentally by others. It was found that the effect of heat conduction from the liquid stream surface to the gaseous surroundings is negligible as compared to other heat contributions. The contribution due to the bulk flow of the absorbed gas, previously neglected, to the total absorption flux was found significant. In all cases it was appreciable at the entrance region and of the order of 17%. Evaluation of the above-mentioned experimental results revealed a deviation of 25% in the total absorption flux of chlorine between calculations based on a simplified model and the more general one presented here. It is thus concluded that the a priori neglect of the effect of the gaseous environment as well as bulk flow contribution is not justified for absorption of gases with high solubilities and large heat effects.     

Introduction of Formal Reliability Engineering in Israel

During my sabbatical leave in Israel, I approached reliability engineering in a number of ways. The papers I delivered in conferences, lectures, workshops, short courses, in-plant training, and indoctrination in reliability engineering appreciably increased interest in the reliability discipline. Engineers in Israel for the first time took the 1981 American Society for Quality Control (ASQC) examination for ASQC certification as reliability engineers. The results of the 1981 April examination were gratifying: 11 passed the examination and were awarded the CRE (ASQCCertified Reliability Engineer).     

Influence of systemic diseases and environmental factors on age at appearance, location and type of acquired cataract

We studied 257 patients scheduled for cataract surgery for possible correlation with systemic diseases, blood chemistry, and environmental exposure. We found that posterior subcapsular cataract appeared in patients 10 years younger on average than those with other types of cataract. Nuclear cataract patients had higher blood levels of uric acid and creatinine and lower blood levels of calcium. We suggest capsular insult as a possible pathophysiological explanation for cataract formation in young age groups (as well as diabetes) and a toxic effect of blood metabolites in patients with renal failure, resulting in earlier and more prevalent sclerosis of lens fibers. No effect of smoking or of exposure to sunlight on the distribution of various types of cataracts was noted.     

Some Generalised Characteristics of the Electro-dynamics of the Plasma Focus in Its Axial Phase: Illustrated by an Application to Independantly Determine the Drive Current Fraction and the Mass Swept-Up Fraction

We describe the axial phase of the Mather plasma focus by two coupled equations of motion and circuit. We non-dimensionalised these equations resulting in two coupled equations which are characterised by only three scaling parameters α, β and δ which are ratios of electrical to transit times, inductances and impedances respectively. The normalised current waveform, trajectory and speed profile are unique for each combination of α, β, δ which are the ratios of characteristic times (electrical discharge vs. axial transit), inductances (tube inductance vs. static inductance) and impedances (stray resistance vs. electrical surge impedance). This leads to important information and insight into various aspects of the axial phase. In the present work we show that in a time-matched plasma focus shot we deduce the value of axial phase current fraction f_c simply by measuring the calibrated voltage waveform and the uncalibrated current waveform. The scaling parameters β and δ are fixed; and by form-fitting the measured current waveform to the normalised current waveform using the value of α of the shot is determined uniquely; from which the peak current and the ratio of peak to average speed [the speed form factor (SFF)] are obtained. The average transit speed is measured by time-of-flight using the voltage upturn as indicator of end of axial phase. Then the SFF yields the peak speed. The measured voltage (back EMF), peak current and peak axial speed (all at the end of axial phase) allows the unambiguous measurement of f_c. The value of the mass swept-up fraction f_m is deduced from α which is the ratio of the characteristic discharge and the characteristic transit times, both deduced during the non-dimensionalisation of the equations. Analysis of a time-matched shot in the INTI PF at 15 kV, 3 Torr D₂ gave f_c = 0.68 and f_m = 0.05.     

Effect of CdO addition on photon,electron, and neutron attenuation properties of boro-tellurite glasses

This research article aims to study the effect of CdO addition on the radiation shielding characteristics of boro-tellurite glasses in the composition of 50B₂O₃ - (50-x) TeO2- xCdO, where x = 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 mol%. These glasses were exposed to gamma radiation and the transmitted gamma photons were evaluated for energies varying from 15 keV to 15 MeV using Geant4 simulation toolkit. The number of transmitted photons was then used to characterize the gamma shielding for the studied glasses in terms of linear/mass attenuation coefficients, MFP, Z_eff, and HVL. The simulation outcomes were theoretically confirmed by using Phy-X software. The beta (electron) shielding characterization of the involved glasses was also investigated by determining the projectile range and stopping power using ESTAR software. Additionally, the fast neutron shielding characterization of the glasses was achieved by evaluating removal cross-section (Σ_R). The results reveal that the CdO has a small influence on the shielding performance of the boro-tellurite glasses against gamma, beta, and neutron radiations. The shielding performance of the boro-tellurite glasses was compared with that of common shielding materials in terms of MFP. It can be concluded that the boro-tellurite glasses regardless of the concentration of CdO content have promising shielding performance to be used for radiation applications.     

Fuzzy modeling and particle swarm optimization for determining the optimal operating parameters to enhance the bio-methanol production from sugar cane bagasse

This work aims to maximize the production of bio-methanol from sugar cane bagasse through pyrolysis. The maximum value of the bio-methanol yield can be obtained as soon as the optimal operating parameters in a pyrolysis batch reactor are well defined. Using the experimental data, the fuzzy logic technique is used to build a robust model that describes the yield of bio-methanol production. Then, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm is utilized to estimate the optimal values of the operating parameters that maximize the bio-methanol yield. Three different operating parameters influence the yield of bio-methanol from sugar cane bagasse through pyrolysis. The controlling parameters are considered as the reaction temperature (°C), reaction time (min), and nitrogen flow (L/min). Accordingly, during the optimization process, these parameters are used as the decision variables set for the PSO optimizer in order to maximize the yield of bio-methanol, which is considered as a cost function. The results demonstrated a well-fitting between the fuzzy model and the experimental data compared with previous predictions obtained by an artificial neural network (ANN) model. The mean square errors of the model predictions are 0.11858 and 0.0259, respectively, for the ANN and fuzzy-based models, indicating that fuzzy modeling increased the prediction accuracy to 78.16% compared with ANN. Based on the built model, the PSO optimizer accomplished a substantial improvement in the yield of bio-methanol by 20% compared to that obtained experimentally, without changing system design or the materials used.     

Using text mining for personalization and recommendation for an enriched hybrid learning experience

Students are nowadays given many options to consume educational content in digital formats as alternatives to printed material. Previous research suggests that while digital content has advantages, printed media still provides other benefits that cannot be matched by digital. Therefore, technology should leverage the benefits of both. In this paper, we present the Meaningful Education and Training Information System, a multifaceted hybrid textbook learning platform. The goal of the system is to provide an easy digital‐to‐print‐to‐digital content creation and reading service. The Meaningful Education and Training Information System incorporates technologies for layout, personalization, cocreation, and assessments. These facilitate common teacher/student tasks and help provide a richer, more effective learning experience. Our system has been demonstrated in multiple international education events, partner engagements, and pilots with local universities and high schools.     

Grey Wolf Optimization Based Tuning of Terminal Sliding Mode Controllers for a Quadrotor

The research on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) has intensified considerably thanks to the recent growth in the fields of advanced automatic control, artificial intelligence, and miniaturization. In this paper, a Grey Wolf Optimization (GWO) algorithm is proposed and successfully applied to tune all effective parameters of Fast Terminal Sliding Mode (FTSM) controllers for a quadrotor UAV. A full control scheme is first established to deal with the coupled and underactuated dynamics of the drone. Controllers for altitude, attitude, and position dynamics become separately designed and tuned. To work around the repetitive and time-consuming trial-error-based procedures, all FTSM controllers’ parameters for only altitude and attitude dynamics are systematically tuned thanks to the proposed GWO metaheuristic. Such a hard and complex tuning task is formulated as a nonlinear optimization problem under operational constraints. The performance and robustness of the GWO-based control strategy are compared to those based on homologous metaheuristics and standard terminal sliding mode approaches. Numerical simulations are carried out to show the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed GWO-tuned FTSM controllers for the altitude and attitude dynamics’ stabilization and tracking. Nonparametric statistical analyses revealed that the GWO algorithm is more competitive with high performance in terms of fastness, non-premature convergence, and research exploration/ exploitation capabilities.     

Optimal Implementation of Photovoltaic and Battery Energy Storage in Distribution Networks

Recently, implementation of Battery Energy Storage (BES) with photovoltaic (PV) array in distribution networks is becoming very popular in overall the world. Integrating PV alone in distribution networks generates variable output power during 24-hours as it depends on variable natural source. PV can be able to generate constant output power during 24-hours by installing BES with it. Therefore, this paper presents a new application of a recent metaheuristic algorithm, called Slime Mould Algorithm (SMA), to determine the best size, and location of photovoltaic alone or with battery energy storage in the radial distribution system (RDS). This algorithm is modeled from the behavior of SMA in nature. During the optimization process, the total active power loss during 24-hours is used as an objective function considering the equality and inequality constraints. In addition, the presented function is based on the probabilistic for PV output and different types of system load. The candidate buses for integrating PV and BES in the distribution network are determined by the real power loss sensitivity factor (PLSF). IEEE 69-bus RDS with different types of loads is used as a test system. The effectiveness of SMA is validated by comparing its results with those obtained by other well-known optimization algorithms.