Characterization of vegetable oils‐alumina membranes interactions by diffuse reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

Adsorption of vegetable oil components, either as pure molecules or as mixtures, on alumina membranes was investigated by diffuse reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. All tested compounds displayed very similar spectra. Triolein and diolein physically adsorb onto alumina by hydrogen bonding with the carbonyl groups of the carboxylic ester and surface hydroxyls. Monolein most likely interacts with glycerol hydroxyls, while phospholipids appear to adsorb either by the ester carbonyl or charged phosphate group. Due to the catalytic properties of alumina some hydrolysis takes place during treatments. The resulting oleic acid, most likely chemisorbs by ionic interactions with the carboxylic C=O bond of the alumina. The fact that no change in the symmetric and asymmetric CH₂ stretches is noticed in comparison with the free (unbound) form indicates that the molecules are not parallel, but at an angle to the surface. When alumina comes into contact with increasing amounts of crude vegetable oils a broadening of the band at 3280 cm^‐1 indicates an increasing adsorption of molecules with free hydroxyls, such as mono‐ and di‐acylglycerols or phospholipids. Among all oil components, sodium oleate seems to adsorb preferentially to alumina. However, a subsequent adsorption of a lipidic monolayer at the membrane surface or even inside the pores, is not consistent with the drastic flux reduction observed in previous studies during microfiltration, and could only initiate formation or/and deposition of macromolecular structures inside membrane pores.     

Minimum Initial Marking Estimation of Labeled Petri Nets Based on GRASP Inspired Method (GMIM)

Abstract

This paper deals with the problem of estimating the Minimum Initial Marking (MIM) of Labeled Petri Nets (L-PN). By the observation of a sequence of labels, we determine the set of possible MIMs related to a given L-PN through an approach based on GRASP (Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure) inspired method – GMIM. The objective is to get the maximum of feasible MIMs by exploring the search space and giving best solutions for real time cyber systems in short time. We consider four basic assumptions during the reasoning: (i) the L-PN structure is known; (ii) for each transition of L-PN, a label is associated, (iii) the label sequence is known, and (iv) all transitions of L-PN are observable. We show the validity and efficiency of our approach by applying the proposed GMIM metaheuristic to two validation examples: Initialization of two parallel machines (example widely cited in literature) and resources allocation in a monitoring problem via mobile robot network.     

Robust H<Subscript>2</Subscript>-PSS design based on LQG control optimized by genetic algorithms

This paper proposes a genetic algorithms (GA) optimization technique applied to power system stabilizer (PSS) for adapt a robust H₂ control based on linear quadratic controller (LQ) and Kalman Filter applied on automatic excitation control of powerful synchronous generators, to improve stability and robustness of power system type single machine connected to an infinite bus system (SMIB). Adaptation technique proposed of the robust H₂ control with the various electrical and mechanical parametric variations based on the optimization of the PSS parameters. The genetic algorithms is a search technique based on the mechanisms of natural selection of a genetic and evolution. This optimization technique is more used in the field of control for solve optimal choice problem of regulators parameters. The integration of GA to robust H₂ control with robustness test (electrical and mechanical parameters variations of the synchronous machine) show considerable improvements in dynamics performances, robustness stability and good adaptation of the robust H₂-PSS parameters under uncertain constraints. This present study was performed using our realized Graphical User Interface (GUI) developed under MATLAB.     

Rheological quantification of molecular parameters: Application to a hydrogen bond forming blend

The component dynamics and molecular parameters were investigated for miscible poly(4‐vinyl phenol)/poly(ethylene oxide) (PVPh/PEO) blends. Global values of molecular weight between entanglements (M_e) were first estimated for the blends and were compared with existing athermal model predictions. Global interchain friction coefficients (ξ) of the blends were deduced from the zero‐shear viscosity. A maximum was observed at a composition of 20–30 wt % of PEO. Chain dimensions of this phase are estimated by using a relationship between the plateau modulus and a packing length (i.e., number of individual chains present in a given small volume of the melt). A slight increase in M_e is observed at low PEO weight fraction (before 0.20), followed by a sharp decrease in M_e values after this concentration. Values of ξ in PVPh/PEO blends show a maximum value at 20–30 wt % of PEO. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 93: 1623–1630, 2004     

Physics‐based spectral sharpening through filter‐chart calibration

The spectral overlap of color‐sampling filters increases errors when using a diagonal matrix transform, for color correction and reduces color distinction. Spectral sharpening is a transformation of colors that was introduced to reduce color‐constancy errors when the colors are collected through spectrally overlapping filters. The earlier color‐constancy methods improved color precision when the illuminant color is changed, but they overlooked the color distinction. In this article, we introduce a new spectral sharpening technique that has a good compromise of color precision and distinction, based on real physical constraints. The spectral overlap is measured through observing a gray reference chart with a set of real and spectrally disjoint filters selected by the user. The new sharpening method enables to sharpen colors obtained by a sensor without knowing the camera response functions. Experiments with real images showed that the colors sharpened by the new method have good levels of color precision and distinction as well. The color‐constancy performance is compared with the data‐based sharpening method in terms of both precision and distinction. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 40, 564–576, 2015     

A multi-agent system for energy management of distributed power sources

The field of energy management is an area increasingly studied. However, most solutions are based on centralized systems and barely fulfil criterion like fault tolerance or adaptability. Also, these systems are often difficult to design because of the “top–down” approach used: the designer generally knows how each component has to respond separately, but a centralized management system focuses his attention solely on the overall reaction of the system. That is why a distributed management solution based on the paradigm of Multi-Agent Systems (MASs) is proposed in this paper. In addition to a more natural conception, based on a “bottom–up” approach, this solution ensures better system reliability. After reviewing the previous works, an application of MAS to power management in a hybrid power source is presented. Then, the system is tested using a simulation model. The results show that this approach is perfectly valid and can respond to most problems of centralized energy management systems (EMSs).     

国际橄榄理事会的定位和使命及相关标准（网络首发、推荐阅读）

The International Olive Council(IOC) is an international intergovernmental organization dedicated to olive oil and table olives, aiming at modernizing olive production, coordinating olive policies, improving the regulation of international trade, defending the quality of the olive sector and promoting olive oil and table olives to increase their consumption. The IOC grants recognition of laboratories and tasting panels in annual trials when they meet the conditions given in the decisions adopting the IOC certificate for laboratories for the physico–chemical testing of olive oil and laboratories for the sensory analysis of virgin olive oils. The IOC establishes analysis methods applying to olive oils and olive pomace oils for purity, quality and organoleptic assessment. The IOC elaborates guides of storage conditions for olive oils and olive pomace oils, of managing virgin olive oil tasting panels and of sensory testing laboratories. In future works, the IOC includes activities to identify analytical criteria for detecting fraud and guaranteeing the quality of olive oils and olive pomace oils.     

On the Barbalat lemma extension for the generalized conformable fractional integrals: Application to adaptive observer design

The Barbalat-type lemma for the generalized conformable fractional-order derivative is examined in this work. An adaptive observer design is presented as an application to validate such proposed theory.     

Two‐sided matching framework for optimal user association in 5G multi‐RAT UDNs

Recently, academic and industrial research communities are paying more explicit attention to the 5G multiple radio access technology ultra‐dense networks (5G multi‐RAT UDNs) for boosting network capacity, especially in UD urban zones. To this aim, in this paper, we intend to tackle the user association problem in 5G multi‐RAT UDNs. By considering the decoupled uplink/downlink access (DUDA), we divide our user association problem into two distinct subproblems representing, respectively, the uplink and the downlink channels. Next, we formulated each one as a nonlinear optimization problem with binary variables. Then, to solve them, we were restricted by the hard complexity, as well as the hard feasibility of centralized user association schemes. Thus, to resolve our user association problem in a reasonable time and distributed manner, we formulated each subproblem as a many‐to‐one matching game based on matching theory. Next, we provide two fully distributed association algorithms to compute the uplink and downlink stable matching among user equipments (UEs) and base stations (BSs). Simulation results corroborate our theoretical model and show the effectiveness and improvement of our achieved results in terms of the overall network performance, quality of service (QoS), and energy efficiency (EE) of UEs.