Archives-July 2014

Thermal energy can be stored as latent heat in which energy is stored when a substance changes from one phase to another by either melting or freezing. Paraffin wax has been widely used for latent heat thermal energy storage system applications due to large latent heat and desirable thermal characteristics. Paraffin wax has lower heat transfer rates during melting/freezing processes due to its inherent low thermal conductivity. This paper reviews and summaries the recent experimental and theoretical works on the thermal conductivity enhancement of paraffin wax.

Power generation efficiency of a DMFC depends on the concentration of methanol solution, hence analysis on the development of methanol concentration sensor is getting importance. Measurement of methanol concentration using various techniques namely MEMS, Capacitive type, Dielectric constant and piezoelectric crystal are critically analyzed in this paper. Based on the specific requirement, a particular type of methanol concentration sensor is utilized for the defined power output of DMFC.

Direct Methanol Fuel Cells (DMFC) offers one of the most promising alternatives to the replacement of fossil fuels. However effective the design of the fuel cell may be, it cannot perform effectively without proper modelling and simulation. The importance and the need for the modelling of a DMFC are discussed in detail. The modeling of the key components such as the gas diffusion layer, MEA, flow distribution, catalyst thickness which contributes to the performance of the fuel cell are discussed.

In this study a mathematical Analysis is used to estimate the energy efficiencies of cucumber producers based on eight energy inputs including human labor, diesel fuel, machinery, fertilizers, chemicals, water for irrigation, electricity and seed energy and single output of cucumber production. Data were collected using face-to-face surveys from 20 greenhouses in Isfahan province of Iran. Energy indices, technical, pure technical and scale efficiencies were calculated by using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach for 20 cucumber greenhouses. Total energy input and output were calculated as 163994 MJha-1 and 62496 MJha-1, respectively, whereas diesel fuel consumption with 45.15% was the highestlevel between energy inputs. Energy output-input ratio, energy productivity and net energy gain were 0.38, 0.47 kg MJ?1, -101498MJ ha?1, respectively. Results showed that DEA approach was a very useful tool for benchmarking and improving the energy efficiency in agricultural production. The use of this methodology provides an important knowledge about the wasteful uses of energy.

The objectives of this study were to determine the energy consumption and evaluation of relationship between inputs and output for wheat production in Shahrkord region, Iran. For this propose data were collected from 60 wheat farms using a face to face questionnaire. The results revealed that total energy input for wheat production was found to be 31188.25 MJ ha-1 that the share of non-renewable energy form (89%) was more than renewable energy form (11%).Electricity has the highest share by 38.25% followed by total fertilizers and diesel fuel. Energy use efficiency, energy productivity, and net energy were 3.03, 0.21 kg MJ-1, and 65012.08 MJ ha-1, respectively. The regression results revealed that the contribution of energy inputs on crop yield (except for diesel fuelenergies) was significant. Machinery energy was the most significant input (0.798) which affects the output level.It indicates that a 1% increase in the energy machinery input led to 0.798% increase in yield in these circumstances. The results also showed the impacts of indirect and renewable energy on yield are negative. It was concluded that additional use of machinery, and increasing mechanization level, would result more yield in the area.

Well-designed course assignments are a critical component of effective teaching and learning processes. It is our responsibility to create an assignment that is reflective of the course goal. Course assignments are created to measure the extent of our student’s knowledge. Therefore, based on our experience and knowledge, we have written below how at Mongolian University of Science and Technology the Profesional English course’s assignments should be created and carried out.

The first instar larvae of Tribolium castaneum were treated with sub-lethal concentrations (LC20 and LC40) of Lufenuron through the culture medium for 2days, 4days, 8days and 16days to investigate total soluble protein content in the larval tissues during development. It was found that for all concentrations tested, there was a significant reduction in total soluble protein content of the treated larvae as compared to that of control. At LC20 and LC40, there was a progressive decrease in the total soluble protein as a function of increase in age of the larvae. Thus sub-lethal concentrations of Lufenuron alter the total soluble protein content of Tribolium castaneum larvae during development there by resulting in developmental abnormalities as observed earlier by Salokhe et al.,(2010).

The field of computer graphics is rapidly maturing to the point where human subjects have difficulty distinguishing photorealistic computer generated images (PRCG) from photographic images (PIM). In legal situations and in the intelligence community where photographs are used as evidence, it is crucial to understand whether the image is authentic or forged. So, it is very essential to develop the system which can distinguish between original images and computer generated images. Computer graphics many softwares are capable of generating highly photorealistic images that can be impossible to differentiate from photographic images. Therefore, classifying photographic images and photorealistic computer graphics has become an important problem for image forgery detection. So, we are providing the novel approach for this problem using Demosaicing algorithm. Demosaicing algorithm is having some special features. Missing color values are determined from a weighted linear combination of neighboring pixels. The process of demosaicing interpolates the raw image to produce at each pixel an estimate for each color channel. With proper analysis, traces of demosaicing are exhibited in the peak of an analysis signal. The presence of demosaicing indicates the image is from a digital camera rather than generated by a computer.

Three years after independence, Indian lifestyle has undergone many changes. Food and taste habits are no exception to this. Indian households today welcome food with convenience in cooking and purchase. The Indian economy has been growing at a tremendous pace for the last few years, with growth rates of 9.6 percent in 2006 and 9.2 percent in 2007. Despite the global slowdown that hit economies across the globe, India is considered to have survived it to a satisfactory extent. The Indian economy is growing at a steady pace with the direct impact being steadily rising income levels of the Indian population. The rising income levels in the population is a very interesting phenomena because of two reasons one being the fact that 55 percent of the population is under the age of 25 years and secondly, the changed family structure of the population, especially in cities (nuclear families with more than one earning member). What this leads to is an increase in spending, but an increase in spending with a changed consumer behavior. This is also seen in the change in the eating-out habits of the population. It is seen that more and more people eat out these days and for a multitude of reasons, ranging from lack of option for a home cooked meal to wanting to have a relaxing experience from a hard day at work to spending time with friends/family and so on. The avenues available to them have also increased over the last few years. Rising disposable incomes and changing consumer behavior brought about a complete change in the way people choose to eat out. The eating out frequency and habits has undergone a total change over the last decade. One reason for such a significant change has been along with the income and a demographic profile is the growing influence of the west. It is because of this that food habits of countries like India are changing and there is a rapid growth in the fast food industry. It is seen that the trend of going to eat out has increased tremendously. And to cater to this of the basic need for food. There is a plethora of other factors on which this decision depends. Demand a number of restaurants have come up. The eating out decision now no longer is based in the satisfaction.

The Present research has focused on mechanical behaviour of aluminium oxide reinforced aluminium metal matrix composites. Aluminium metal matrix composites are fabricated using stir casting process by varying the reinforcement percentage volumes between 0 and 10, with 30 ?m particles size. To study the mechanical behaviour through the effect of weight percentage of aluminium oxide, the fabricated specimens are tested for the mechanical and physical properties such as tensile strength, hardness and density and these values are compared with theoretical values which are obtained through the rule of mixtures. The mechanical properties of the composites are found to be greatly influenced with increasing the percentage volume of the reinforcement. Also it was observed that the experimental values of mechanical behaviour of AMMCs are nearer to the theoretical values.