Stability and Hopf bifurcation in an hexagonal governor system

In this paper we study the Lyapunov stability and the Hopf bifurcation in a system coupling an hexagonal centrifugal governor with a steam engine. Here are given sufficient conditions for the stability of the equilibrium state and of the bifurcating periodic orbit. These conditions are expressed in terms of the physical parameters of the system, and hold for parameters outside a variety of codimension two. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Peat as a natural solid-phase for copper preconcentration and determination in a multicommuted flow system coupled to flame atomic absorption spectrometry

The physical and chemical characteristics of peat were assessed through measurement of pH, percentage of organic matter, cationic exchange capacity (CEC), elemental analysis, infrared spectroscopy and quantitative analysis of metals by ICP OES. Despite the material showed to be very acid in view of the percentage of organic matter, its CEC was significant, showing potential for retention of metal ions. This characteristic was exploited by coupling a peat mini-column to a flow system based on the multicommutation approach for the in-line copper concentration prior to flame atomic absorption spectrometric determination. Cu(II) ions were adsorbed at pH 4.5 and eluted with 0.50 mol L(-1) HNO(3). The influence of chemical and hydrodynamic parameters, such as sample pH, buffer concentration, eluent type and concentration, sample flow-rate and preconcentration time were investigated. Under the optimized conditions, a linear response was observed between 16 and 100 mu g L(-1), with a detection limit estimated as 3 mu g L(-1) at the 99.7% confidence level and an enrichment factor of 16. The relative standard deviation was estimated as 3.3% (n = 20). The mini-column was used for at least 100 sampling cycles without significant variation in the analytical response. Recoveries from copper spiked to lake water or groundwater as well as concentrates used in hemodialysis were in the 97.3-111 % range. The results obtained for copper determination in these samples agreed with those achieved by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS) at the 95% confidence level. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A physical organic chemistry approach to dissolution of cellulose: effects of cellulose mercerization on its properties and on the kinetics of its decrystallization

The effects of alkali treatment on the structural characteristics of cotton linters and sisal cellulose samples have been studied. Mercerization results in a decrease in the indices of crystallinity and the degrees of polymerization, and an increase in the alpha-cellulose contents of the samples. The relevance of the structural properties of cellulose to its dissolution is probed by studying the kinetics of cellulose decrystallization, prior to its solubilization in LiCl/N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc). Our data show that the decrystallization rate constants and activation parameters are only slightly dependent on the physico-chemical properties of the starting celluloses. This multi-step reaction is accompanied by a small enthalpy and large, negative, entropy of activation. These results are analyzed in terms of the interactions within the biopolymer chains during decrystallization, as well as those between the two ions of the electrolyte and both DMAc and cellulose.

Real-Time Recognition System for Traffic Signs

The aim of this thesis project is to develop the Traffic Sign Recognition algorithm for real time. Inreal time environment, vehicles move at high speed on roads. For the vehicle intelligent system itbecomes essential to detect, process and recognize the traffic sign which is coming in front ofvehicle with high relative velocity, at the right time, so that the driver would be able to pro-actsimultaneously on instructions given in the Traffic Sign. The system assists drivers about trafficsigns they did not recognize before passing them. With the Traffic Sign Recognition system, thevehicle becomes aware of the traffic environment and reacts according to the situation.The objective of the project is to develop a system which can recognize the traffic signs in real time.The three target parameters are the system’s response time in real-time video streaming, the trafficsign recognition speed in still images and the recognition accuracy. The system consists of threeprocesses; the traffic sign detection, the traffic sign recognition and the traffic sign tracking. Thedetection process uses physical properties of traffic signs based on a priori knowledge to detect roadsigns. It generates the road sign image as the input to the recognition process. The recognitionprocess is implemented using the Pattern Matching algorithm. The system was first tested onstationary images where it showed on average 97% accuracy with the average processing time of0.15 seconds for traffic sign recognition. This procedure was then applied to the real time videostreaming. Finally the tracking of traffic signs was developed using Blob tracking which showed theaverage recognition accuracy to 95% in real time and improved the system’s average response timeto 0.04 seconds. This project has been implemented in C-language using the Open Computer VisionLibrary.

Testing of combined heating systems for small houses: Improved procedures for whole system test methods : Deliverable 2.3

Dynamic system test methods for heating systems were developed and applied by the institutes SERC and SP from Sweden, INES from France and SPF from Switzerland already before the MacSheep project started. These test methods followed the same principle: a complete heating system – including heat generators, storage, control etc., is installed on the test rig; the test rig software and hardware simulates and emulates the heat load for space heating and domestic hot water of a single family house, while the unit under test has to act autonomously to cover the heat demand during a representative test cycle. Within the work package 2 of the MacSheep project these similar – but different – test methods were harmonized and improved. The work undertaken includes:  • Harmonization of the physical boundaries of the unit under test. • Harmonization of the boundary conditions of climate and load. • Definition of an approach to reach identical space heat load in combination with an autonomous control of the space heat distribution by the unit under test. • Derivation and validation of new six day and a twelve day test profiles for direct extrapolation of test results.   The new harmonized test method combines the advantages of the different methods that existed before the MacSheep project. The new method is a benchmark test, which means that the load for space heating and domestic hot water preparation will be identical for all tested systems, and that the result is representative for the performance of the system over a whole year. Thus, no modelling and simulation of the tested system is needed in order to obtain the benchmark results for a yearly cycle. The method is thus also applicable to products for which simulation models are not available yet. Some of the advantages of the new whole system test method and performance rating compared to the testing and energy rating of single components are:  • Interaction between the different components of a heating system, e.g. storage, solar collector circuit, heat pump, control, etc. are included and evaluated in this test. • Dynamic effects are included and influence the result just as they influence the annual performance in the field. • Heat losses are influencing the results in a more realistic way, since they are evaluated under "real installed" and representative part-load conditions rather than under single component steady state conditions.   The described method is also suited for the development process of new systems, where it replaces time-consuming and costly field testing with the advantage of a higher accuracy of the measured data (compared to the typically used measurement equipment in field tests) and identical, thus comparable boundary conditions. Thus, the method can be used for system optimization in the test bench under realistic operative conditions, i.e. under relevant operating environment in the lab.   This report describes the physical boundaries of the tested systems, as well as the test procedures and the requirements for both the unit under test and the test facility. The new six day and twelve day test profiles are also described as are the validation results.

Flood Risk Management In Small Urban River Using A Sustainable Urban Drainage System: Wortley Beck, Leeds, Uk

In the UK, urban river basins are particularly vulnerable to flash floods due to short and intense rainfall. This paper presents potential flood resilience approaches for the highly urbanised Wortley Beck river basin, south west of the Leeds city centre. The reach of Wortley Beck is approximately 6km long with contributing catchment area of 30km2 that drain into the River Aire. Lower Wortley has experienced regular flooding over the last few years from a range of sources, including Wortley Beck and surface and ground water, that affects properties both upstream and downstream of Farnley Lake as well as Wortley Ring Road. This has serious implications for society, the environment and economy activity in the City of Leeds. The first stage of the study involves systematically incorporating Wortley Beck’s land scape features on an Arc-GIS platform to identify existing green features in the region. This process also enables the exploration of potential blue green features: green spaces, green roofs, water retention ponds and swales at appropriate locations and connect them with existing green corridors to maximize their productivity. The next stage is involved in developing a detailed 2D urban flood inundation model for the Wortley Beck region using the CityCat model. CityCat is capable to model the effects of permeable/impermeable ground surfaces and buildings/roofs to generate flood depth and velocity maps at 1m caused by design storm events. The final stage of the study is involved in simulation of range of rainfall and flood event scenarios through CityCat model with different blue green features. Installation of other hard engineering individual property protection measures through water butts and flood walls are also incorporated in the CityCat model. This enables an integrated sustainable flood resilience strategy for this region.

Reducing The Risk Of Floods In Urban Areas With Combined Inland-River System

With the change of the water environment in accordance with climate change, the loss of lives and properties has increased due to urban flood. Although the importance of urban floods has been highlighted quickly, the construction of advancement technology of an urban drainage system combined with inland-river water and its relevant research has not been emphasized in Korea. In addition, without operation in consideration of combined inland-river water, it is difficult to prevent urban flooding effectively. This study, therefore, develops the uncertainty quantification technology of the risk-based water level and the assessment technology of a flood-risk region through a flooding analysis of the combination of inland-river. The study is also conducted to develop forecast technology of change in the water level of an urban region through the construction of very short-term/short-term flood forecast systems. This study is expected to be able to build an urban flood forecast system which makes it possible to support decision making for systematic disaster prevention which can cope actively with climate change.

Newly Automated System For Integrated Assessment Of The Conditions Of Underwater Gas Pipelines

An underwater gas pipeline is the portion of the pipeline that crosses a river beneath its bottom. Underwater gas pipelines are subject to increasing dangers as time goes by. An accident at an underwater gas pipeline can lead to technological and environmental disaster on the scale of an entire region. Therefore, timely troubleshooting of all underwater gas pipelines in order to prevent any potential accidents will remain a pressing task for the industry. The most important aspect of resolving this challenge is the quality of the automated system in question. Now the industry doesn't have any automated system that fully meets the needs of the experts working in the field maintaining underwater gas pipelines. Principle Aim of this Research: This work aims to develop a new system of automated monitoring which would simplify the process of evaluating the technical condition and decision making on planning and preventive maintenance and repair work on the underwater gas pipeline. Objectives: Creation a shared model for a new, automated system via IDEF3; Development of a new database system which would store all information about underwater gas pipelines; Development a new application that works with database servers, and provides an explanation of the results obtained from the server; Calculation of the values MTBF for specified pipelines based on quantitative data obtained from tests of this system. Conclusion: The new, automated system PodvodGazExpert has been developed for timely and qualitative determination of the physical conditions of underwater gas pipeline; The basis of the mathematical analysis of this new, automated system uses principal component analysis method; The process of determining the physical condition of an underwater gas pipeline with this new, automated system increases the MTBF by a factor of 8.18 above the existing system used today in the industry.

Development Of Water Pollution Early Warning System For Oyster Harvesting Areas

The objective of this study is to develop a Pollution Early Warning System (PEWS) for efficient management of water quality in oyster harvesting areas. To that end, this paper presents a web-enabled, user-friendly PEWS for managing water quality in oyster harvesting areas along Louisiana Gulf Coast, USA. The PEWS consists of (1) an Integrated Space-Ground Sensing System (ISGSS) gathering data for environmental factors influencing water quality, (2) an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model for predicting the level of fecal coliform bacteria, and (3) a web-enabled, user-friendly Geographic Information System (GIS) platform for issuing water pollution advisories and managing oyster harvesting waters. The ISGSS (data acquisition system) collects near real-time environmental data from various sources, including NASA MODIS Terra and Aqua satellites and in-situ sensing stations managed by the USGS and the NOAA. The ANN model is developed using the ANN program in MATLAB Toolbox. The ANN model involves a total of 6 independent environmental variables, including rainfall, tide, wind, salinity, temperature, and weather type along with 8 different combinations of the independent variables. The ANN model is constructed and tested using environmental and bacteriological data collected monthly from 2001 – 2011 by Louisiana Molluscan Shellfish Program at seven oyster harvesting areas in Louisiana Coast, USA. The ANN model is capable of explaining about 76% of variation in fecal coliform levels for model training data and 44% for independent data. The web-based GIS platform is developed using ArcView GIS and ArcIMS. The web-based GIS system can be employed for mapping fecal coliform levels, predicted by the ANN model, and potential risks of norovirus outbreaks in oyster harvesting waters. The PEWS is able to inform decision-makers of potential risks of fecal pollution and virus outbreak on a daily basis, greatly reducing the risk of contaminated oysters to human health.

RWater – A Cyber Enabled Tool For Hydrologic Modeling And Analysis

Existing distributed hydrologic models are complex and computationally demanding for using as a rapid-forecasting policy-decision tool, or even as a class-room educational tool. In addition, platform dependence, specific input/output data structures and non-dynamic data-interaction with pluggable software components inside the existing proprietary frameworks make these models restrictive only to the specialized user groups. RWater is a web-based hydrologic analysis and modeling framework that utilizes the commonly used R software within the HUBzero cyber infrastructure of Purdue University. RWater is designed as an integrated framework for distributed hydrologic simulation, along with subsequent parameter optimization and visualization schemes. RWater provides platform independent web-based interface, flexible data integration capacity, grid-based simulations, and user-extensibility. RWater uses RStudio to simulate hydrologic processes on raster based data obtained through conventional GIS pre-processing. The program integrates Shuffled Complex Evolution (SCE) algorithm for parameter optimization. Moreover, RWater enables users to produce different descriptive statistics and visualization of the outputs at different temporal resolutions. The applicability of RWater will be demonstrated by application on two watersheds in Indiana for multiple rainfall events.

In search of academic identity : physical education, sport science and the field of human movement studies

This thesis addresses the problem of the academic identity of the area traditionally referred to as physical education. The study is a critical examination of the argu ments for the justi cation of this area as an autonomous branch of knowledge. The investigation concentrates on a selected number of arguments. The data collection comprised articles books and proceedings of conferences. The preliminary assessment of these materials resulted in a classi cation of the arguments into three groups. The rst group comprises the arguments in favour of physical education as an academic discipline. The second includes the arguments supporting a science of sport. The third consists of the arguments in favour of to a eld of human movement study. The examination of these arguments produced the following results. (a) The area of physical education does not satisfy the conditions presupposed by the de nition of academic discipline. This is so because the area does not form an integrated system of scienti c theories. (b) The same di culty emerges from the examination of the ar guments for sport science. There is no science of sport because there is no integrated system of scienti c theories related to sport. (c) The arguments in favour of a eld of study yielded more productive results. However di culties arise from the de nition of human movement. The analysis of this concept showed that its limits are not well demarcated. This makes it problematic to take human movement as the focus of a eld of studies. These aspects led to the conclusion that such things as an academic discipline of physical education sport science and eld of human movement studies do not exist. At least there are not such things in the sense of autonomous branches of knowledge. This does not imply that a more integrated inquiry based on several disciplines is not possible and desirable. This would enable someone entering phys ical education to nd a more organised structure of knowledge with some generally accepted problem situations procedures and theories on which to base professional practice.

Seven stories: location based story-delivery system

Location aware content-based experiences have a substantial tradition in HCI, several projects over the last two decades have explored the association of digital media to specific locations or objects. However, a large portion of the literature has little focus on the creative side of designing of the experience and on the iterative process of user evaluations. In this thesis we present two iterations in the design and evaluation of a location based story delivery system (LBSDS), inspired by local folklore and oral storytelling in Madeira. We started by testing an already existing location based story platform, PlaceWear, with short multimedia clips that recounted local traditions and folktales, to this experience we called iLand. An initial evaluation of iLand, was conducted; we shadowed users during the experience and then they responded to a questionnaire. By analyzing the evaluation results we uncovered several issues that informed the redesign of the system itself as well as part of the story content. The outcome of this re design was the 7Stories experience. In the new experience we performed the integration of visual markers in the interface and the framing of the fragmented story content through the literary technique of the narrator. This was done aiming to improving the connection of the audience to the physical context where the experience is delivered. The 7Stories experience was evaluated following a similar methodology to the iLand evaluation but the user’s experience resulted considerably different; because of the same setting for the experience in both versions and the constancy of the most of the content across the two versions we were able to assess the specific effect of the new design and discuss its strengths and shortcomings. Although we did not run a formal and strict comparative test between the two evaluations, it is evident from the collected data how the specific design changes to our LBSDS influenced the user experience.

Stochastic simulation of time-series models combined with geostatistics to predict water-table scenarios in a Guarani Aquifer System outcrop area, Brazil

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Integrated sediment quality assessment in Paranagua Estuarine System, Southern Brazil

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Physical, chemical and microbiological aspects during the dry and rainy seasons in a pond covered by macrophyte used in aquaculture water supply

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)