RFID-enabled item-level product information revelation

We consider a homogeneous product market and the incentive for oligopolists to share item-level product information with their customers. Enabled by Radio Frequency Identification technology, each firm has the option to record and reveal item-level information of a proportion of its products. We consider a two-stage game where each firm first decides its production plan and then determines its level of information revelation. With a constant clearance discount rate, we derive pure strategy equilibria that are subgame perfect and demonstrate that complete information sharing is the unique Nash equilibrium for the game when the common demand is volatile and that no information revelation is the unique Nash equilibrium when demand is not volatile. Furthermore, we show that the Nash equilibrium is the same with a decreasing clearance discount rate and that neither complete information revelation nor zero information revelation is consistent with an equilibrium with an increasing discount rate. Results are similar in a duopoly non-homogeneous product market scenario.     

Thermodynamic models for vapor-liquid equilibria of nitrogen + oxygen + carbon dioxide at low temperatures

For the design and optimization of CO₂ recovery from alcoholic fermentation processes by distillation, models for vapor-liquid equilibria (VLE) are needed. Two such thermodynamic models, the Peng-Robinson equation of state (EOS) and a model based on Henry’s law constants, are proposed for the ternary mixture N₂ + O₂ + CO₂. Pure substance parameters of the Peng-Robinson EOS are taken from the literature, whereas the binary parameters of the Van der Waals one-fluid mixing rule are adjusted to experimental binary VLE data. The Peng-Robinson EOS describes both binary and ternary experimental data well, except at high pressures approaching the critical region. A molecular model is validated by simulation using binary and ternary experimental VLE data. On the basis of this model, the Henry’s law constants of N₂ and O₂ in CO₂ are predicted by molecular simulation. An easy-to-use thermodynamic model, based on those Henry’s law constants, is developed to reliably describe the VLE in the CO₂-rich region.     

Study of the microbial diversity and antimicrobial properties of Irish edible brown seaweeds

Brown Irish edible seaweeds, Himanthalia elongata, Laminaria sachharina and Laminaria digitata, were evaluated for the microbiota in raw and heat processed form. Raw seaweeds showed complete absence of aerobic mesophiles, halophiles, yeasts and molds. However, heating at 85 °C for 15 min resulted in spore germination. Bacterial counts as high as 10⁷ were observed for aerobic mesophiles and halophiles. Heating above 95 °C for 15 min resulted in complete inactivation of surface microflora. Bacteria belonging to Bacillaceae, Paenibacillaceae, Moraxellaceae and Enterobacteriaceae family were identified by 16S rRNA sequencing. In vitro antimicrobial activity of the methanolic extracts of the seaweed on food pathogenic and food spoilage bacteria were also evaluated. The seaweeds in their raw state had almost 100% inhibition against Listeria monocytogenes; 98% and 93% inhibition was achieved against Pseudomonas aeruginosa by H. elongata and L. saccharina extracts, respectively. Heating the seaweeds resulted in the reduction of antimicrobial activity as compared to raw. The effect was more pronounced against Gram negative bacteria.     

An Improved Chua's Circuit and Its Use in Hyperchaotic Circuit

An improved implementation of Chua's circuit using dual output current conveyor is presented. The present proposal offers the advantages of low component count, current mode processing, availability of current across inductor and availability of voltage across inductor in form of current. The application of present circuit in designing low hardware inductorless hyperchaotic circuit is also presented. The paper concludes with a discussion of advantages of present proposal of Chua's circuit and inductorless hyper chaotic circuit thus designed over their earlier counterparts. The designs are adequately supported by SPICE simulation results. Patent pending.     

Fenton and Electro-Fenton Methods for Oxidation of H-Acid and Reactive Black 5

Oxidative treatment of H-acid (HA) and Reactive Black 5 (RB5) using Fenton reagent (Fe2+/H2O2) and the electro-Fenton (EF) method is reported. Optimization of doses of ferrous iron and hydrogen peroxide was carried out in each case using HA; and the oxidation of RB5 was also carried out under the optimized conditions. Approximately 71% chemical oxygen demand (COD) was removed in 2 h using the conventional Fenton method at optimized doses: Fe2+ = 0.3?g/L (5.37 mM), H2O2 = 6?mL/L (53.0 mM), H2O2/Fe2+ = 10. In contrast, more than 92% COD was removed in 15 min using the EF method with an optimized Fe2+ dose of 0.130?g/L (2.34 mM) and 8?ml/L (70.6 mM) of H2O2. The pseudo-first-order rate constants (k) for the Fenton reagent and EF method were 0.054 and 0.38?min?1. The COD removal through the EF method was seven times faster. The calculated energy requirement of the EF method was 0.82?kg?COD/kW?h at the minimum applied current (0.25 A) when approximately 92.5% COD was removed. In the case of RB5, about 67 and 87% COD was removed under optimized Fenton and electro-Fenton conditions, respectively. The higher efficiency of the EF method was attributed to incremental addition of Fe2+ and accompanying higher H2O2/Fe2+ molar ratio. The results are discussed in the light of the mechanism for Fenton’s oxidation.     

Determining Hydraulic Characteristics of Production Wells using Genetic Algorithm

Proper well management requires the determination of characteristic hydraulic parameters of production wells such as well loss coefficient (C) and aquifer loss coefficient (B), which are conventionally determined by the graphical analysis ofstep-drawdowntest data. However, in the present study, the efficacy of a non-conventional optimization technique called Genetic Algorithm (GA), which ensures near-optimal or optimal solutions, is assessedin determining well parameters from step-drawdown test data. Computer programs were developed to optimize the well parametersby GA technique for two cases: (i) optimization of B and C only, and (ii) optimization of B, C and p (exponent) as well as to evaluate the well condition. The reliability and robustness of the developed computer programs were tested usingnine sets of published and unpublished step-drawdown data from varying hydrogeologic conditions. The well parameters obtained by the GA technique were compared with those obtained by the conventional graphical method in terms of root mean square error(RMSE) and visual inspection. It was revealed that the GA technique yielded more reliable well parameters with significantlylow values of RMSE for almost all the datasets, especially in caseof three-variable optimization. The optimal values of the parametersB, C and p for the nine datasets were found to range from 0.382 to 2.292 min m^-2, 0.091 to 3.262, and 1.8 to 3.6, respectively. Because of a wide variation of p, the GA techniqueresulted in considerably different but dependable and robust well parameters as well as well specific capacity and well efficiency compared to the graphical method. The condition of three wells was found to be good, one well bad and that of the remaining five wells satisfactory. The performance evaluation of the developed GA code indicated that a proper selection of generation number and population size is essential to ensure efficient optimization. Furthermore,a sensitivity analysis of the obtained optimal parameters demonstrated that the GA technique resulted in a unique set ofthe parameters for all the nine datasets. It is concluded thatthe GA technique is an effective and reliable numerical tool for determining the characteristic hydraulic parameters of production wells.     

Increasing coverage to improve detection of network and host anomalies

For intrusion detection, the LERAD algorithm learns a succinct set of comprehensible rules for detecting anomalies, which could be novel attacks. LERAD validates the learned rules on a separate held-out validation set and removes rules that cause false alarms. However, removing rules with possible high coverage can lead to missed detections. We propose three techniques for increasing coverage—Weighting, Replacement and Hybrid. Weighting retains previously pruned rules and associate weights to them. Replacement, on the other hand, substitutes pruned rules with other candidate rules to ensure high coverage. We also present a Hybrid approach that selects between the two techniques based on training data coverage. Empirical results from seven data sets indicate that, for LERAD, increasing coverage by Weighting, Replacement and Hybrid detects more attacks than Pruning with minimal computational overhead.     

Scheduling UET-UCT tasks: branch-and-bound search in the priority space

The paper is concerned with the problem of scheduling partially ordered unit execution time tasks on parallel processors with unit communication delays and release times. Two criteria are considered, the maximum lateness and its particular case, the makespan. This problem plays an important role in scheduling theory and was originally inspired by the applications to multi-processor computer systems. It is well known that for both criteria the problem is NP-hard in the strong sense. The paper presents an implementation of the branch-and-bound method which does not partition the feasible region explicitly. The theoretical results are complemented by computational experiments.     

Homogeneous charge compression ignition of binary fuel blends

The present experimental investigation aims to understand the homogeneous combustion chemistry associated with binary blends of three surrogate components for practical fuels, including toluene, isooctane, and diisobutylene-1 (DIB-1). Specifically, high-pressure autoignition characteristics of the three neat fuel components as well as the fuel blends of toluene + isooctane and toluene + DIB-1 are studied herein. Experiments are conducted in a rapid compression machine at compressed pressures varying from 15 to 45 bar and under low to intermediate temperatures. To obtain insights into interactions among fuels, the relative proportion of the two neat fuels in the reactive mixtures is systematically varied, while the total fuel mole fraction and equivalence ratio are kept constant. Experimental results demonstrate that ignition delays for neat toluene are more than an order of magnitude longer than those for neat isooctane. Whereas DIB-1 has ignition delays shorter than those for isooctane at higher temperatures, at temperatures lower than 820 K DIB-1 shows a longer ignition delay. Although the ignition delays of binary blends lie in between the two extremes of neat components, the variation of ignition delay with the relative fuel proportion is seen to be highly nonlinear. Especially, a small addition of isooctane or DIB-1 to toluene can result in greatly enhanced reactivity. In addition, the effect of DIB-1 addition to toluene is more significant than the effect of isooctane addition. Furthermore, in the compressed temperature range from 820 to 880 K, ignition delay of the toluene + isooctane blend shows greater sensitivity to temperature than that of isooctane.