158 research outputs found
INDIGENOUS CASTOR OIL BIODIESEL AN ALTERNATIVE FUEL FOR DIESEL ENGINE
Rising petroleum prices, increasing threat to the environment from exhaust emissions and global warming have generated intense international interest in developing alternative non-petroleum fuels for engines. The present work aims to find out the prospects and opportunities of using methyl esters of castor as fuels in an automobile. The suitability of such fuels in transportation vehicles helps in saving foreign exchange and use can be made of locally available resources. Tests were conducted on a four stroke, four cylinder, D.I. diesel engine with Diesel and Biodiesel. The results of the emission tests on smoke meter are compared for 100% castor biodiesel (BC100) with that of neat diesel. No modifications were done on the engine. The results indicate that there is a reduction of 30%-35% in smoke density while using Biodiesel. It can be thus be concluded that methyl esters of castor oil can be used as a substitute for diesel fuel in automobiles
A New Approach of Clustering Feedback Sessions for Inferring User Search Goals
Internet information is growing every day exponentially. In order to find out the exact required information from this web search engines has become absolutely necessary tool for the web users. It has also become more difficult to provide user the required information. When Different users provide an ambiguous query to a search engine, they might be having different search goals. Therefore, it is required to find and analyze user search goals to improve the performance of a search engine and user experience. By representing the results in cluster we find out different user search goals for a query. It has advantages in improving search engine relevance and user experience. It extends the delivery and quality of internet information services to the end user. It also improves performance of Web server system. Query classification, search result reorganization and session boundary detection are the approaches attempt to find out user search goals. But the mentioned approaches has many limitations. A new approach has been implemented that overcomes the limitations and analyze, discover user search goals using feedback sessions. This approach first takes the user search query. For each single result of the search query pseudo-documents are generated. Using K-means++ clustering algorithm, these pseudo-documents are clustered. Each cluster can be considered as one user search goal. Finally in restructured result is given to the user where each URL is categorized into a cluster centered by the inferred search goals. Then depending upon user click through, results are restructured and represented to the user in order to satisfy the information need.
DOI: 10.17762/ijritcc2321-8169.15071
Survey on the Use of Feedback Sessions for Inferring User Search Goals
Largest source of web traffic are search engines. Search engines are being used by different kind of users for different purpose. When users are searching something they have a different search goal in mind. Thus the queries are mostly ambiguous one. In order to improve search engine relevance and thus user experience inference and analysis of user search is required. To get the best results it is needful to capture different user search goals. This paper first talks about the different ways of inferring user search goals. Then insights of new approach has been discussed. A new algorithm firstly specifies a framework to analyze user search goals by clustering feedback sessions. There should be a proper way to represent these feedback sessions. In the second step of this algorithm pseudo-documents are prepared to represent feedback sessions. With this original results are restructured. This in turn is used to select optimal user search goals
Nanocrystalline Zr3Al Made through Amorphization by Repeated Cold Rolling and Followed by Crystallization
The intermetallic compound Zr3Al is severely deformed by the method of
repeated cold rolling. By X-ray diffraction it is shown that this leads to
amorphization. TEM investigations reveal that a homogeneously distributed
debris of very small nanocrystals is present in the amorphous matrix that is
not resolved by X-ray diffraction. After heating to 773 K, the crystallization
of the amorphous structure leads to a fully nanocrystalline structure of small
grains (10 - 20 nm in diameter) of the non-equilibrium Zr2Al phase. It is
concluded that the debris retained in the amorphous phase acts as nuclei. After
heating to 973 K the grains grow to about 100 nm in diameter and the compound
Zr3Al starts to form, that is corresponding to the alloy composition
Surface step effects on Si (100) under uniaxial tensile stress, by atomistic calculations
This paper reports a study of the influence of the step at a silicon surface
under an uniaxial tensile stress, using an empirical potential. Our aim was to
find conditions leading to nucleation of dislocations from the step. We
obtained that no dislocations could be generated with such conditions. This
behaviour, different from the one predicted for metals, could be attributed
either to the covalent bonding or to the cubic diamond structure
D-4F, an apoA-1 mimetic, decreases airway hyperresponsiveness, inflammation, and oxidative stress in a murine model of asthma
Asthma is characterized by oxidative stress and inflammation of the airways. Although proinflammatory lipids are involved in asthma, therapies targeting them remain lacking. Ac-DWFKAFYDKVAEKFKEAFNH2 (4F) is an apolipoprotein (apo)A-I mimetic that has been shown to preferentially bind oxidized lipids and improve HDL function. The objective of the present study was to determine the effects of 4F on oxidative stress, inflammation, and airway resistance in an established murine model of asthma. We show here that ovalbumin (OVA) -sensitization increased airway hyperresponsiveness, eosinophil recruitment, and collagen deposition in lungs of C57BL/6J mice by a mechanism that could be reduced by 4F. OVA sensitization induced marked increases in transforming growth factor (TGF)β-1, fibroblast specific protein (FSP)-1, anti-T15 autoantibody staining, and modest increases in 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE) Michael\u27s adducts in lungs of OVA-sensitized mice. 4F decreased TGFβ-1, FSP-1, anti-T15 autoantibody, and 4-HNE adducts in the lungs of the OVA-sensitized mice. Eosinophil peroxidase (EPO) activity in bronchial alveolar lavage fluid (BALF), peripheral eosinophil counts, total IgE, and proinflammatory HDL (p-HDL) were all increased in OVA-sensitized mice. 4F decreased BALF EPO activity, eosinophil counts, total IgE, and p-HDL in these mice. These data indicate that 4F reduces pulmonary inflammation and airway resistance in an experimental murine model of asthma by decreasing oxidative stress
Energetics and atomic mechanisms of dislocation nucleation in strained epitaxial layers
We study numerically the energetics and atomic mechanisms of misfit
dislocation nucleation and stress relaxation in a two-dimensional atomistic
model of strained epitaxial layers on a substrate with lattice misfit.
Relaxation processes from coherent to incoherent states for different
transition paths are studied using interatomic potentials of Lennard-Jones type
and a systematic saddle point and transition path search method. The method is
based on a combination of repulsive potential minimization and the Nudged
Elastic Band method. For a final state with a single misfit dislocation, the
minimum energy path and the corresponding activation barrier are obtained for
different misfits and interatomic potentials. We find that the energy barrier
decreases strongly with misfit. In contrast to continuous elastic theory, a
strong tensile-compressive asymmetry is observed. This asymmetry can be
understood as manifestation of asymmetry between repulsive and attractive
branches of pair potential and it is found to depend sensitively on the form of
the potential.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Assessment of the reliability of the motor unit size index (MUSIX) in single subject “round-robin” and multi-centre settings
Objective
The motor unit size index (MUSIX) is incorporated into the motor unit number index (MUNIX). Our objective was to assess the intra-/inter-rater reliability of MUSIX in healthy volunteers across single subject “round robin” and multi-centre settings.
Methods
Data were obtained from i). a round-robin assessment in which 12 raters (6 with prior experience and 6 without) assessed six muscles (abductor pollicis brevis, abductor digiti minimi, biceps brachii, tibialis anterior, extensor digitorum brevis and abductor hallucis) and ii). a multi-centre study with 6 centres studying the same muscles in 66 healthy volunteers. Intra/inter-rater data were provided by 5 centres, 1 centre provided only intra-rater data.
Intra/inter-rater variability was assessed using the coefficient of variation (COV), Bland-Altman plots, bias and 95% limits of agreement.
Results
In the round-robin assessment intra-rater COVs for MUSIX ranged from 7.8% to 28.4%. Inter-rater variability was between 7.8% and 16.2%. Prior experience did not impact on MUSIX values. In the multi-centre study MUSIX was more consistent than the MUNIX. Abductor hallucis was the least reliable muscle.
Conclusions
The MUSIX is a reliable neurophysiological biomarker of reinnervation.
Significance
MUSIX could provide insights into the pathophysiology of a range of neuromuscular disorders, providing a quantitative biomarker of reinnervation
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