Search

The aim of this study is assessment of the priority selection emphasis on characteristics in terms of optimized and non-optimized conditions of production system in dairy cows. Optimization is the approach of finding the best accessible value of a predefined objective function within a determined range of effective variables. In optimized conditions for cow future profitability, the decision to cull cattle from herd is based on future predicted profitability of cows. Dynamic planning is an efficient mathematical method which is used to study and optimization of multi-stage decision problems. One of the main challenges in estimating economic value of characteristics is inefficiency of production system. In this study, in order to estimating the economic values and relative importance of characteristics in efficient and inefficient conditions of production system, the average data of six Holstein herds was used which is recorded under supervision of breeding center. After optimizing production system for culling and replacement policies in the herd, a unit is added to the considered characteristic average in order to calculate the economic value of a characteristic after this changes, the production system optimized. The current value of the system calculated in optimized condition before and after changing characteristic and economic value of characteristics obtained from their difference. Relative importance of characteristics such as calving interval, milk production, milk fat, birth weight, mature live weight, increasing daily weight pre-weaning, increasing daily weight after weaning and the first calving age in non-optimized condition of production system are estimated respectively 2.06, 95.62, -4.34, -0.64, 1.90, 1.25, 1.93 and 2.22 percent and In optimized condition of production system are 0.42, 92.55, -0.642, 0.32, 2.00, 1.15, 1.81 and 2.37 percent respectively.

Under the bad sea conditions and weak Beidou navigation signal environment, it is difficult to locate the ship on the sea, and the Beidou navigation system can’t work well. Beidou pseudolite system can improve the performance of Beidou navigation system as a navigation signal transmitter fixed on the ground, the signal of which can improve satellite positioning constellation structure, and improve the system availability reliability and precision. In order to ensure the interoperability and non-correlation of the Beidou pseudolite and the Beidou navigation system, the pseudolite ranging-codes should be selected in the same code space of the satellite ranging-codes and the residual pseudo random code generated by the 2 taps design scheme does not satisfy the performance requirements of the ranging-codes. To solve this issue, a combined design scheme with 3 taps is proposed, and 12 kinds of pseudolite ranging-codes are optimally selected according to the optimum design parameters of ranging-codes. The waveform and correlation of the selected pseudolite ranging-codes are analyzed by MATLAB, the acquisition simulation is carried out by using the new pseudolite ranging-codes. The experimental results show that the new 3-taps based ranging codes design scheme behaves a good balance, correlation and spectral characteristics.

From recent research, lignocellulosic materials assert themselves as good precursors for the manufacture of highly carbonaceous and porous materials. Hence, the perspective of this work is the preparation of the low-cost activated carbons (ACs) based on puck shells ( Afrostyrax lepidophyllus ) with a large surface area. To achieve this, chemical activation using phosphoric acid and sodium hydroxide as an activating agent was carried out. The response surface methodology through Box-Behnken design was used to optimize the preparation conditions. Box-Behnken design was used to optimize the preparation conditions. The factors whose influences have been studied are the concentration of activating agent (0.5-1.5 mol l -1 ), the carbonization temperature (300-500°C) and the residence time (30-100 min). The AC obtained by phosphoric acid was named CRP and impregnated with sodium hydroxide CRB. The ideal conditions for the preparation of the ACs obtained from the maximum iodine number (647.29 for CRP and 575.15 mg g -1 for CRB) were: 1.5 mol l -1 for the concentration of activating agent at a carbonization temperature of 500°C during 62 min for CRP and 0.85 mol l -1 for the concentration of activating agent at a carbonization temperature of 500°C during 59 min for CRB. These two materials prepared were characterized by several techniques pH at the point of zero charge (pHpzc), Boehm titration, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, XRD analysis, BET method, Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy, which confirmed the acidic nature of CRP and the basic nature of CRB carbons. The specific surface of the micropores was 509.05 and 27.53 m 2 g -1 , respectively. It provides a new valorization of agricultural waste for the preparation of effective-cost microporous ACs as an adsorbent that can be applied in water treatment industries., Competing Interests: We declare we have no competing interests., (© 2023 The Authors.)

An optimized hardware architecture for fast normalized cross-correlation (NCC) is essential in real-time high-speed applications. Typical applications of NCC are in object localization, as one of the best motion estimators and as a similarity measure in the field of image processing. However, high computational cost is a significant drawback of NCC. To reduce computation time and hardware resource usages, this paper presents a feed-forward single-path architecture with parallel computation of numerator and denominator components of NCC. The cross-correlation of two signals is implemented in the frequency domain using pipelined architecture of 2D FFT with polyphase sequential subband decomposition technique. The FFT can be determined for any even length of signal when compared to the traditional method involving a power of two-signal length. The proposed pipelined architecture of NCC is more efficient in terms of computational complexity and memory requirement. This proposed architecture is implemented in Verilog HDL with fixed-point data type which helps to devise simple and efficient architecture, which gives excellent SQNR of more than 90 dB with 22-bit output word length. It can operate at the maximum clock frequency of 220.4 MHz, takes a total NCC time of 4.36 μ s and has a latency of 996 cycles, giving a throughput of 220 Msamples/s for a block size of 2 4 × 2 4 pixels using Virtex-7 FPGA. This pipelined architecture not only offers an attractive solution for different sizes of image block, but also improves the speed of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing heat fluxes in decreasing sizes of a microchannel heat sink have necessitated studies into better systems, in particular a more capable coolant for improved thermal management. Nanofluids have been at the forefront with their higher thermal conductivity as compared to the base fluid alone. However, few investigations have looked into the role played by surfactants, a component used for dispersion and stability of nanofluids, and their influence on thermophysical properties and thermal performance. Optimized performances of carbon nanotube nanofluids with different surfactants at different volume fractions under laminar flow are studied. Using the thermal resistance model and experimental data for thermal conductivity and viscosity of nanofluids, the thermal resistance and pumping power are simultaneously minimized using multi-objective genetic algorithm. Results showed that the nanotube nanofluid with lignin as the surfactant performed better thermally and hydrodynamically, due to lower viscosity at high carbon nanotube concentration compared to the nanotube nanofluid with sodium polycarboxylate surfactant. As an example, a 29% and 28% increase in pressure drop is found for sodium polycarboxylate-based nanofluid at a volume fraction of 0.1% for a circular and square MCHS, respectively. A similar pattern is observed at higher volume fraction as well, even higher pressure drop with increasing volume fraction. Also, it is shown that microchannel heat sink with circular cross section performed better than that with square section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silica aerogels are transparent and excellent thermal insulators; however, application in energy-efficient windows has been elusive. The main reason is fragility that renders handling and processing extremely difficult. One way to overcome the fragility issue of silica aerogels is via cross-linking technology, in which a polymer is applied conformally over their entire skeletal framework. Extremely strong materials may be obtained by that approach; however, the penalty is loss of transparency. This study was designed to reach a compromise among those competing requirements. Aerogels based on co-gelation of tetramethylorthosilicate (TMOS) and 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) were prepared and were cross-linked with a triisocyanate (Desmodur N3200A). The two independent variables, the total silane concentration in the sol and the concentration of the monomer in the cross-linking bath, were varied according to a full-factorial model. The nanostructure was characterized with SEM and SAXS. The porous structure with N2 sorption. Properties of interest with respect to the intended application were the thermal conductivity, the elastic modulus, and the haze. The latter has two components, from the bulk and the surface. Cross-linking places the polymer inside secondary aggregates that behave as core–shell particles with increased scattering, due to refractive index mismatch. Surface haze can be minimized by molding with clean glass plates and careful handling. Guided by our statistical model, we demonstrate optimal samples with bulk densities in the range of 0.25–0.33 g cm−3, porosities in the range of 76–83% v/v, bulk haze around 10%, Young's modulus in the range of 30–70 MPa, and thermal conductivities in the range of 18–22 mW m−1 K−1. Those samples were strong enough to be machined with conventional tools (band saws, diamond cutters), they displayed sufficient clarity, and their thermal conductivity was lower than that of still air. Highlights: Polymer cross-linked silica aerogels bear a conformal polymer coating over the primary particles, and it may grow to fill the mesoporous space within secondary particles. The cross-linking process furnishes mechanically strong materials, but clarity is compromised. This is a full-factorial study of the effect of the amount of silica and of the polymer on the thermal conductivity (λ), elastic modulus (E), and haze (H) of cross-linked silica aerogels. Synthetic conditions have been identified that furnish materials with a good combination of properties suitable for applications in thermally insulating windows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Baghdad College of Economic Sciences University is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The high rate moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) processes were designed for wastewater treatment to meet the past effluent discharge norms of biological oxygen demand (BOD) <50 mg/l. However, they are incapable of meeting current effluent discharge norms which consist of BOD <10 mg/l and total nitrogen <10 mg/l. This study analyses the effect and variation of organic loading rate from 1.21 kg to 4.59 kg chemical oxygen demand (COD)/(m³ day) and surface load- ing rate from 4.9 g to 24 g COD/(m² day) on a high rate MBBR performance. The results of COD reduction (CODred) and subsequent ammoniacal nitrogen reduction (NH3-Nred) were in the range of 65.4% to 87.8% and 11.8% to 47.2% respectively. The pro- jected graphical optimization defines the design parameters for MBBR and also predicts CODred and subsequent NH3-Nred. By understanding this sub- sequent NH3-Nred in the MBBR system, future designs for engineering technologies will be aided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lessons learned process enables an organization to learn from its mistakes and successes. Thanks to this process an organization can reduce the risk of repeating mistakes and increase the chance that successes are repeated. This article aims to present the results of the research, especially, results of the process analysis of sharing lessons in the Czech Armed Forces. Based on the procedural deficiencies identification, benchmarking comparisons with lessons learned process of other organizations were carried out. The purpose of the benchmarking was to do away with the above mentioned deficiencies. To use benchmarking was beneficial from the point of view of a simplified model processing. The final part of the article introduces set of recommendation including the optimized model of the lessons learned process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

H. pylori infection is the main cause of gastritis, gastroduodenal ulcer disease, and gastric cancer. Fluoroquinolones such as levofloxacin, or more recently moxifloxacin or sitafloxacin, are efficacious alternatives to standard antibiotics for H. pylori eradication. The aim of the present review is to summarize the role of quinolone-based eradication therapies, mainly focusing on the optimization strategies aimed to increase their efficacy. Several meta-analyses have shown that, after failure of a first-line eradication treatment, a levofloxacin-containing rescue regimen is at least equally effective, and better tolerated, than the generally recommended bismuth quadruple regimen. Compliance with the levofloxacin regimens is excellent, and the safety profile is favourable. Higher cure rates have been reported with longer treatments (>10–14 days), and 500 mg levofloxacin daily is the recommended dose. Adding bismuth to the standard triple regimen (PPI-amoxicillin-levofloxacin) has been associated with encouraging results. Unfortunately, resistance to quinolones is easily acquired and is increasing in most countries, being associated with a decrease in the eradication rate of H. pylori. In summary, a quinolone (mainly levofloxacin)-containing regimen is an encouraging second-line (or even third-line) strategy, and a safe and simple alternative to bismuth quadruple therapy in patients whose previous H. pylori eradication therapy has failed.

Recirculation in a combustion chamber is required for stabilizing the flame and reducing pollutants. The swirlers can generate recirculation in a combustion chamber, inducing a swirling flow that breaks vorticity and improves the mixing of air and fuel. The swirl number (Sn) is related to the formation of recirculation in conditions of high-intensity flows with Sn > 0.6. Thus, the optimized design of a swirler is necessary to generate enough turbulence that keeps the flame stable. We present the optimized design of a swirler considering the main parameters for a non-premixed combustion chamber. This optimization is made with genetic algorithms to ensure the generation of a recirculation zone in the combustion chamber. This recirculation phenomenon is simulated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models and applying the renormalization group (RNG) k-ε turbulence method. The chemistry is parameterized as a function of the mixture fraction and dissipation rate. A CFD comparison of a baseline swirler model and the proposed optimized swirler model shows that a recirculation zone with high intensity and longer length is generated in the primary zone of the combustion chamber when the optimized model is used. Furthermore, the CFD models depict swirling effects in the turbulent non-premixed flame, in which the stabilization is sensitive to the recirculation zone. The temperature results obtained with the CFD models agree well with the experimental results. The proposed design can help designers enhance the performance of combustion chambers and decrease the generation of CO and NOx.

To improve the tracking stability control of unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), an intelligent control algorithm was proposed on the basis of an optimized radial basis function (RBF) neural network. The design process was as follows. First, the adaptation value and mutation probability were modified to improve the traditional optimization algorithm. Then, the improved genetic algorithms (GA) were used to optimize the network parameters online to improve their approximation performance. Additionally, the RBF neural network was used to approximate the function uncertainties of the USV motion system to eliminate the chattering caused by the uninterrupted switching of the sliding surface. Finally, an intelligent control law was introduced based on the sliding mode control with the Lyapunov stability theory. The simulation tests showed that the intelligent control algorithm can effectively guarantee the control accuracy of USVs. In addition, a comparative study with the sliding mode control algorithm based on an RBF network and fuzzy neural network showed that, under the same conditions, the stabilization time of the intelligent control system was 33.33% faster, the average overshoot was reduced by 20%, the control input was smoother, and less chattering occurred compared to the previous two attempts.

A high-fidelity reversible data hiding (RDH) algorithm using a discrete cosine transform (DCT) coefficients energy analysis-based predictor and optimized embedding is proposed. The algorithm utilizes the characteristic of energy distribution of natural image DCT coefficients to predict pixel values, which improves the prediction accuracy over conventional methods. Moreover, the algorithm establishes a pure load-image distortion function, which can be used to find optimized pixel expansion direction, secret message embedding location, and pixel sorting/selection threshold in each round of the multipass embedding process. Thus, the algorithm can better balance both image quality and data hiding capacity. Experimental results show that for high-fidelity RDH applications, comparing with several classical methods, the proposed algorithm always produces a high quality stego image in the same embedding capacity. © 2018 SPIEand IS&T [DOI: 10.1117/1.JEI.27.6.063021] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lactosucrose is a kind of trisaccharide that functions as a significant prebiotic in the maintenance of gastrointestinal homeostasis for human. In this study, a levansucrase from Brenneria goodwinii was further used for the lactosucrose production. The recombinant levansucrase showed efficiency in the lactosucrose production by transfructosylation from sucrose and lactose, and no other oligosaccharide or polysaccharide was detected in the reaction mixture. The transfructosylation product by this recombinant enzyme was structurally determined to be lactosucrose by FT-IR and NMR. The production condition was optimized as pH at 6.0, temperature at 35 °C, 5 U mL−1 enzyme, 180 g L−1 sucrose, and 180 g L−1 lactose. Under the optimal condition, the enzyme could approximately produce 100 g L−1 lactosucrose when the reaction reached equilibrium. The recombinant levansucrase could effectively and exclusively catalyze the formation of lactosucrose, which might expand the enzymatic choice for further preparation of lactosucrose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the power conversion efficiency (PEC) of dye-sensitized solar cells has been improved by using co-sensitized nanocomposite photoanodes. In the first step, mix dye solutions of ruthenizer (N719) and organic dye (RK-1) have been prepared for the sensitization of pristine TiO 2 films. Among these dye solutions, 0.2 mM N719/0.3 mM RK-1 solution gives the highest PCE of 8.45%, which is superior to that of individually sensitized solar cells (N719 = 6.54% and RK-1 = 5.69%). In the second step, nanocomposites of TiO 2 and graphene have been prepared by changing the composition of graphene from 0.05% to 0.2%. The dispersion of graphene in TiO 2 has been confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The optimized dye solution of 0.2 mM N719/0.3 mM RK-1 has been used to sensitize TiO 2 /graphene thin films. The solar cell based on TiO 2 /0.1%GR nanocomposite film shows the power conversion efficiency of 9.45%, which is about 45% and 66% higher than TiO 2 /N719 and TiO 2 /RK-1 based DSSCs, respectively. The overall enhancement in PCE can be credited to increase light absorption, improve light harvesting efficiency and fast electron transport, which ultimately enhance the current density of solar cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research work biowaiver studies of newly developed and optimized Meloxicam 7.5mg and 15mg water dispersible formulations were carried out at different dissolution media i.e. 0.1N HCl, phosphate buffer pH 4.5, pH 6.8, and pH 7.5 at 50 rpm. For this purpose reference (MA9 and MB9) and tests (MA2, MA4, MA6, MA7 and MA8 (15 mg) and MB2, MB4, MB6, MB7and MB8 (7.5 mg) formulations were compared. In vitro patterns were analyzed by using model-independent and model-dependent methods. Results indicated that all formulation at pH 0.1N HCl and phosphate buffer pH 4.5 followed Weibull model, while at pH 6.8 and pH 7.5 all formulations followed Hixson-Crowell model. Similarly results of model independent methods demonstrated that all the reference formulations were found to be similar with the tests formulations. Results indicated that Biowaiver could be granted to all the optimized water dispersible meloxicam formulations of both batches, so waiver for bioequivalence study can be allowed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract. Direct stimulation of the cortical surface is used clinically for cortical mapping and modulation of local activity. Future applications of cortical modulation and brain-computer interfaces may also use cortical stimulation methods. One common method to deliver current is through electrocorticography (ECoG) stimulation in which a dense array of electrodes are placed subdurally or epidurally to stimulate the cortex. However, proximity to cortical tissue limits the amount of current that can be delivered safely. It may be desirable to deliver higher current to a specific local region of interest (ROI) while limiting current to other local areas more stringently than is guaranteed by global safety limits. Two commonly used global safety constraints bound the total injected current and individual electrode currents. However, these two sets of constraints may not be sufficient to prevent high current density locally (hot-spots). In this work, we propose an efficient approach that prevents current density hot-spots in the entire brain while optimizing ECoG stimulus patterns for targeted stimulation. Specifically, we maximize the current along a particular desired directional field in the ROI while respecting three safety constraints: one on the total injected current, one on individual electrode currents, and the third on the local current density magnitude in the brain. This third set of constraints creates a computational barrier due to the huge number of constraints needed to bound the current density at every point in the entire brain. We overcome this barrier by adopting an efficient two-step approach. In the first step, the proposed method identifies the safe brain region, which cannot contain any hot-spots solely based on the global bounds on total injected current and individual electrode currents. In the second step, the proposed algorithm iteratively adjusts the stimulus pattern to arrive at a solution that exhibits no hot-spots in the remaining brain. We report on simulations on a realistic finite element (FE) head model with five anatomical ROIs and two desired directional fields. We also report on the effect of ROI depth and desired directional field on the focality of the stimulation. Finally, we provide an analysis of optimization runtime as a function of different safety and modeling parameters. Our results suggest that optimized stimulus patterns tend to differ from those used in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimization is considered to be the integral part of designing a wide range of engineering solutions. Manual optimization is a hectic job to obtain desired optimized results using hit and trial method. Monotonic adaptive kernel algorithm optimizes the solution to the target stress by using linear interpolation function and checking current values on every iterative step and computing differential load. Using monotonic adaptive kernel algorithm, numerical simulations are conducted on gasketed bolted flange pipe joints to achieve required preload in the bolts as per industrial guidelines for their optimized performance. It is observed that the monotonic adaptive kernel algorithm produces more accurate and fast results conforming to the desired target values as compared to the manual and semiautomatic optimization techniques implemented for the gasketed bolted flange pipe joint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to use supply chain management in a wood furniture company and find its effect on the management indices of that company. The supply chain is a complex system consisting three or more commercial units which directly include at least one connected product procedure, financial service, and/or information from one source to a customer. In fact, in every company and factory, a cycle is carried out from raw material producing stage to product delivery to final customer. To be more precise, this cycle itself includes different rings such as provider, producer, and customer. Actually, in creating present procedures, time factor should be reduced to satisfy the customer more. In this study, data connected to a wood furniture company were provided through supply chain management model. Likewise, optimized program was offered using GAMS programming software. Considering the acquired results, the use of this model can revolutionize the wood furniture industry of Iran, regarding competitive features. As a result, it develops the aforementioned industry.

The aim of this study is assessment of the priority selection emphasis on characteristics in terms of optimized and non-optimized conditions of production system in dairy cows. Optimization is the approach of finding the best accessible value of a predefined objective function within a determined range of effective variables. In optimized conditions for cow future profitability, the decision to cull cattle from herd is based on future predicted profitability of cows. Dynamic planning is an efficient mathematical method which is used to study and optimization of multi-stage decision problems. One of the main challenges in estimating economic value of characteristics is inefficiency of production system. In this study, in order to estimating the economic values and relative importance of characteristics in efficient and inefficient conditions of production system, the average data of six Holstein herds was used which is recorded under supervision of breeding center. After optimizing production system for culling and replacement policies in the herd, a unit is added to the considered characteristic average in order to calculate the economic value of a characteristic after this changes, the production system optimized. The current value of the system calculated in optimized condition before and after changing characteristic and economic value of characteristics obtained from their difference. Relative importance of characteristics such as calving interval, milk production, milk fat, birth weight, mature live weight, increasing daily weight pre-weaning, increasing daily weight after weaning and the first calving age in non-optimized condition of production system are estimated respectively 2.06, 95.62, -4.34, -0.64, 1.90, 1.25, 1.93 and 2.22 percent and In optimized condition of production system are 0.42, 92.55, -0.642, 0.32, 2.00, 1.15, 1.81 and 2.37 percent respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the bad sea conditions and weak Beidou navigation signal environment, it is difficult to locate the ship on the sea, and the Beidou navigation system can't work well. Beidou pseudolite system can improve the performance of Beidou navigation system as a navigation signal transmitter fixed on the ground, the signal of which can improve satellite positioning constellation structure, and improve the system availability reliability and precision. In order to ensure the interoperability and non-correlation of the Beidou pseudolite and the Beidou navigation system, the pseudolite ranging-codes should be selected in the same code space of the satellite ranging-codes and the residual pseudo random code generated by the 2 taps design scheme does not satisfy the performance requirements of the ranging-codes. To solve this issue, a combined design scheme with 3 taps is proposed, and 12 kinds of pseudolite ranging-codes are optimally selected according to the optimum design parameters of ranging-codes. The waveform and correlation of the selected pseudolite ranging-codes are analyzed by MATLAB, the acquisition simulation is carried out by using the new pseudolite ranging-codes. The experimental results show that the new 3-taps based ranging codes design scheme behaves a good balance, correlation and spectral characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background As with any other infectious disease, we should aim for treatments offering ≥90% Helicobacter pylori eradication rates in clinical practice. Aim To summarize optimization strategies aimed to increase the efficacy of H. pylori eradication therapies. Methods A systematic bibliographic search (in PubMed up to August 2016) was designed to identify studies investigating optimization strategies aimed to increase the efficacy of H. pylori eradication therapies. Results The most direct way to optimize a treatment is using higher doses of drugs unless it has been shown that lower doses are equally effective. Similarly, prescriptions should use 14-day duration unless a shorter scheme has been shown locally to be equally effective. Double-dose proton-pump inhibitor therapy is recommended for triple therapy and may probably increase the efficacy of nonbismuth concomitant regimen as well. The efficacy of triple therapies in the presence of resistance can be significantly improved by the addition of bismuth salts, which offer an additive effect in combination with antibiotics. Overall, probiotics seem to reduce antibiotic side effects, but the increase in eradication rates is not so evident; therefore, they cannot be generally recommended for clinical practice yet. Conclusions Using potent acid inhibition and/or higher antibiotic doses-especially by increasing the number of daily intakes-and lengthening treatments up to 14 days improves efficacy in most regimens and should be generally recommended. Triple therapies can be efficiently improved by the addition of bismuth salts, turning them into quadruple therapies. Finally, some treatments will require a combination of optimization strategies to significantly improve results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents results of detailed nonlinear finite element analysis of gasketed bolted flange pipe joints of different sizes (1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 20 in.) of 900# pressure class for achieving proper preload close to the target stress values with and without considering yielding at bolt and flange and gasket crushing recommended by ASME and industrial guidelines for optimized performance using customized optimization algorithm. In addition, two strategies torque control method and stretch control method are used which is a normal practice in the industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-layered feedforward backpropagation (BP) artificial neural networks (ANN) and multiple nonlinear regression (MnLR) models were developed to estimate biogas and methane yield in an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor treating potato starch processing wastewater (PSPW). Anaerobic process parameters were optimized to identify their importance on methanation. pH, total chemical oxygen demand, ammonium, alkalinity, total Kjeldahl nitrogen, total phosphorus, volatile fatty acids and hydraulic retention time selected based on principal component analysis were used as input variables, whiles biogas and methane yield were employed as target variables. Quasi-Newton method and conjugate gradient backpropagation algorithms were best among eleven training algorithms. Coefficient of determination ( R 2 ) of the BP-ANN reached 98.72% and 97.93% whiles MnLR model attained 93.9% and 91.08% for biogas and methane yield, respectively. Compared with the MnLR model, BP-ANN model demonstrated significant performance, suggesting possible control of the anaerobic digestion process with the BP-ANN model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

WiFi Direct (WD) is a state of the art technology for a Device-to-Device (D2D) communication in 802.11 networks. The performance of the WD system can be significantly affected by some key factors such as the type of application, specifications of MAC and PHY layer parameters, and surrounding environment etc. It is, therefore, important to develop a system model that takes these factors into account. In this paper, we focus on investigating the design parameters of the PHY layer that could maximize the efficiency of the WD 802.11 system. For this purpose, a basic theoretical model is formulated for a WD network under a 2x2 Multiple In Multiple Out (MIMO) TGn channel B model. The design level parameters such as input symbol rate and antenna spacing, as well as the effects of the environment, are thoroughly examined in terms of path gain, spectral density, outage probability and Packet Error Rate (PER). Thereafter, a novel adaptive algorithm is proposed to choose optimal parameters in accordance with the Quality of Experience (QoE) for a targeted application. The simulation results show that the proposed method outperforms the standard method thereby achieving an optimal performance in an adaptive manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In existing fuel cell flow field design, porous flow fields have shown to have excellent self-humidifying capability due to its highly controllable pore space, capillary pumping ability, and certain structural flexibility. However, the uniformly distributed structure is difficult to adapt to the complex water-gas distribution inside the fuel cell. Therefore, this paper designs an optimized structure based on the pre-developed fiber porous flow field. Experimental results show that, compared with the original fuel cell, the peak power density of the optimized fiber porous self-humidifying flow field is increased by 15.21%, and the average output current of long-term constant voltage (0.4 V) is increased by 3.5%. It is also found that the temperature rises under long-time operation (45 °C–56 °C) will further enhance the output power. • Optimized fiber porous self-humidifying flow field plate was manufactured. • Concentration depletion at the corners of porous flow fields was solved. • Power output performance and stability were improved after structural optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Early-stage human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive (HER2-positive) breast cancers (BCs) are routinely treated with intense perioperative chemotherapy combined with HER2-targeted agents. There is thus an unmet need for knowledge about treatment patterns and outcomes among patients 70 years of age or older, as this is an under-represented subset of patients in large clinical trials., Methods: We used a deidentified cohort derived from a nationwide electronic health record database to conduct a retrospective cohort study of patients with HER2-positive BCs. Descriptive statistics were used to evaluate tumor characteristics, treatment patterns across age groups, and pathologic complete response rates. We used Kaplan-Meier survival curves to estimate recurrence-free and overall survivals; Cox proportional methods were used for adjustments with covariates of interest, including age as a categorical variable., Results: We included 395 patients with HER2-positive stage I to III BCs who were 70 years of age or older. Most patients had tumors with high nuclear-grade T2 tumors, and received surgical treatment first. Most patients (61.7%) who received HER2 therapies underwent treatment in the adjuvant setting; paclitaxel and trastuzumab combination was the most commonly used adjuvant regimen. Older age was associated with increased hazard of recurrence or death. We did not detect significant evidence of decline in performance status, but there was modest weight drop after perioperative HER2 treatments., Conclusion: Findings suggest that patients in this older-age cohort were treated with de-escalated perioperative strategies and had poorer outcomes; our findings should be validated in future studies., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

A problem often coped on many domains such as wood manufacturing, glass, plastics and metallic platework industry, is the shaping or cutting off a big plate in many pieces. With this purpose there are algorithms of optimizing for positioning the parts following to be cut off from a row plate. From mathematical point of view, in positioning the parts on a raw plate the number of solutions increase four times evrey time a new part is added, and in case of finding the best solution for about few hundreds of pieces or parts would require years of processing on the most performant computers nowadays – for an analogy remember the famous story with the rice beads which the King had to pay to the master teaching him the chess: twice more for each square of the chessboard; for the total quantity assessment, King ascertained that the crops in his whole life wouldn’t have been enough.

Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) is an important biochemical indicator for determining the degree of water pollution and guiding the design of wastewater treatment processes. BOD sensors based on microbial electrochemical technology can conduct real-time online monitoring of organic matter and have attracted extensive attention. However, research on microbial electrolytic cell (MEC)-type BOD sensors is at the stage of theoretical exploration. Here, we designed and optimized a highly sensitive MEC-type BOD sensor by screening inoculants, comparing electrode materials, and optimizing the reactor configuration. The results showed that effective means to optimize a BOD sensor for fast activation and sensitive testing included the inoculation of the MEC reactor effluent with large amounts of biomass and highly active bacteria, selection of carbon felt electrodes with excellent adsorption and permeability, miniaturization of the reactor, regulation of suitable electrode spacing, and design of the penetrating fluid structure. Then, the optimized sensing system was applied to determine the BOD concentration in model solutions of sodium acetate in a laboratory environment, where it accurately measured BOD concentrations in the range of 10–500 mg/L and maintained good parallelism during long-term operation. Next, the MEC-type BOD sensors were put into practice in the field as an alarm for accidents at an actual sewage plant. The whole BOD sensing system was quickly assembled on site and started up, and it gave an early warning shortly after the concentration of organic matter in the water suddenly increased, thus showing a high potential for engineering applications. This study broadened the domains of application of MEC-type BOD sensors in environmental monitoring, and promoted the development of technological innovation in water ecology and environmental monitoring. [Display omitted] • Inoculant, electrode material, and configuration are key factors for sensors. • Optimized sensor can distinguish 10 mg/L of BOD variations within 5 min. • The data gave a significant fit in 10–50 and 50–500 mg BOD/L. • Final sensor has capabilities of rapid deployment and online monitoring in field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficient QoS-aware web services selection from the numerous number of functionally substitutable web services to deliver complex tasks is a current call from the business world. QoS-aware web services selection is a multi-objective optimization problem. Current approaches adapt genetic algorithms (GA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) to solve it. However, the execution time performance of QoS-aware web services selection to achieve the maximum fitness value is still a concern for practical distributed applications. This paper proposes an efficient technique to solve this problem using the Social Spider Algorithm (SSA). The experiments evaluate the efficiency and feasibility of the proposed algorithm against PSO. SSA is found to outperform PSO in terms of both execution time and fitness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates chromium aluminum silicon nitride (CrAlSiN) hard films fabricated using reactive magnetron co-sputter with adjusted deposition parameters. The hard films were prepared on glass and tungsten carbide tools at a substrate temperature of 350 °C. The targets were Cr, W and Si, with 40 sccm Ar as the plasma gas and 40 sccm N 2 as the reactive gas. An orthogonal array, the signal-to-noise ratio and analysis of variance are used to analyze the effect of the deposition parameters. Using the Taguchi method for design of a robust experiment, the interactions between factors are also investigated. The main deposition parameters, such as Cr direct current (DC) power (reverse time 5 μs), Al DC power (reverse time 5 μs), Si radio frequency (RF) power, and bias the substrates with RF power, were optimized, with regard to the microstructure, morphology, mechanical and tribological properties of CrAlSiN films. The results of this study show that the substrate bias has the most significant effect on hardness. The experimental results also show that the Taguchi method allows a suitable solution to the problem, with the minimum number of trials compared to a full factorial design. With the optimized CrAlSiN hard films deposition conditions, the hardness, Young's modulus and friction coefficient were 31.26 Gpa, 258.58 Gpa and 0.50, respectively. Further, this study also investigates the properties of machining MAR-M247 nickel-based superalloy, testing differently coated tools in dry conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hypersonic crew vehicles need reliable thermal protection systems (TPS) to ensure their safety. Since there exists relative large temperature difference between cabin airflow and TPS structure, the TPS shield that covers the cabin is always subjected to a non-adiabatic inner boundary condition, which may influence the heat transfer characteristic of the TPS. However, previous literatures always neglected the influence of the inner boundary by assuming that it was perfectly adiabatic. The present work focuses on studying the impact of cabin environment on the thermal performance. A modified TPS model is created with a mixed thermal boundary condition to connect the cabin environment with the TPS. This helps make the simulation closer to the real situation. The results stress that cabin environment greatly influences the temperature profile inside the TPS, which should not be neglected in practice. Moreover, the TPS size can be optimized during the design procedure if taking the effect of cabin environment into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving a proper preload in the bolts of a gasketed bolted flanged pipe joint during joint assembly is considered important for its optimized performance. This paper presents results of detailed non-linear finite element analysis of an optimized bolt tightening strategy of different joint sizes for achieving proper preload close to the target stress values. Industrial guidelines are considered for applying recommended target stress values with TCM (torque control method) and SCM (stretch control method) using a customized optimization algorithm. Different joint components performance is observed and discussed in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates students' comprehensive quality by using a number of indicators. The students' comprehensive quality indicators are nonlinearity which influence each other. The BP network model is good at solving nonlinear problem, so a BP neural network assessment model optimized by genetic algorithm has been established to judge the quality of students. The method uses historical data to train BP neural network. The results implemented by MATLAB show that, neural network possesses memorizing and learning capability, and its function can be achieved true judgment. Compared with BP neural network model, the model has the advantages of less number of iterations, convergence speed and strong generalization ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents results of detailed non-linear finite element analysis (FEA) of gasketed bolted flange pipe joints (GBFJ) of different sizes (1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 20 inch) of 900# pressure class for achieving proper preload close to the target stress values with and without considering yielding at bolt and flange and gasket crushing recommended by ASME and industrial guidelines for optimized performance using customized optimization algorithm. In addition, two strategies TCM (torque control method) and SCM (stretch control method) are used which is a normal practice in the industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In real-time image interpolation, polynomial-based approaches are used because they are simple and practical. The unknown pixels in the image grid are obtained using polynomial-based upscaling by taking into account the weighted average of adjacent pixels. It causes degradation in high frequency (HF) parts of the image due to blurring artifacts. Numerous edge-directed and learning-based techniques are discussed in the literature, which also introduces blurring in the image's high variance region. To address the aforementioned issue, one pre-processing method based on the concept of unsharp masking is proposed in order to generate sharpened high resolution (HR) images from low resolution (LR) images. The LR image is blurred using a weighted average filter, which is based on the concept of unsharp masking. The difference between the LR image and the blurred LR image is then extracted to represent the loss edge portion of the image. This error or degraded HF image is sharpened iteratively using a cuckoo optimized sharpening filter known as the Iteratively Optimized Sharpening (IOS) filter. The subtle is then collected by iteratively applying ISO and combining it with the LR image using one optimized gain factor, resulting in a sharpened LR image. This pre-processing is done prior to interpolation to compensate for the loss of HF details. To up-sample the sharpened LR image, the MAKIMA scheme is used. Because of MAKIMA, the image's edges and boundaries are preserved. As a result, an HR image with sharpened edges and texture details can be obtained. In comparison to existing techniques, the proposed algorithm yields better results in terms of visual quality and objectivity. Various image databases are used to assess the efficiency of the proposed method. • In low-light conditions or due to camera lens limitations, images are of poor quality. • To increase the resolution of these images, upscaling is used. • When compared to a camera lens, this is a better value. • As a result, incorporating it into real-world applications is simple. • A simple method based on the concept of unsharp masking is proposed to increase the resolution of a low-resolution image. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]