Simple Units Research Articles

Modular-mini refineries: Business opportunities in developing economies

Despite generally low return on investment, modular-mini refineries from simple diesel production units to more sophisticated refineries are increasingly becoming a choice of flexible and cost-effective supply for oil producers in remote regions, particularly in developing economies with reasonable to rich oil resources. The new wave of mini refineries includes the modular refinery in Fujairah, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria’s burgeoning market for mini-refineries and their increasing role in the development strategy of Indonesia. Honeywell International reports a market for its readymade mobile refineries in war-torn Iraq. Significant rationalization of the refining industry during last three and half decades and considerations like changing environmental legislations or investment incentives to mitigate security of supply issues and sudden finds of light sweet crude as in USA, have all led to change in investment pattern in the refining industry, thereby leading to the growth of modular-mini refineries in different nations. This has been further supported by factors like ability to boost industrialization growth and development of the country. Relatively low capital cost, speed and ease of construction are the other main advantages of modular-mini refineries. The necessary conditions for such viable investment usually include a location in close proximity and access to oil supplies, and being close to markets with considerable logistical advantages that reduce the high cost of distribution to remote locations. This article is an attempt to review the current status of modular-mini refineries as business opportunities in developing economies like Nigeria and Indonesia, based on published information.

Application and Study of artificial neural network intelligent control

Artificial neural network is a computing system formed by several very simple parallel processing units connected with each other in a certain way. Its function depends on the structure of the network, the strength of connection and the processing mode of each unit. The system processes information by its state’s dynamic response to external input information. It is an important branch of intelligent control. By imitating human brain structure and some information processing mechanism, it can solve the nonlinear, uncertain and large lag system, and has a wide range of applications.

Developing a multilingual dictionary of touristic-cultural terms (with Croatian as the source language)

Abstract This paper deals with the challenge of developing a multilingual dictionary of touristic-cultural terms with Croatian as the source language, based on the principles of lexicography which include the rigorous metalexicographic methodology and the practical needs of users (tourism professionals, managers, teachers, and students of philological careers, as well as those related to tourism and hospitality). The project, broadly speaking, is divided into three phases. The current, first phase of research includes the elaboration of a corpus comprising a series of terms, simple units, or expressions from different areas with special attention to the realia of the source language, which do not exist in the target languages (German, English, Spanish and others). The second phase will involve the lemmatization of entries, their classification, the elaboration of appendices, and the modeling of parameters and definers that will be used in the lexicographical definition. The third phase covers the elaboration of the microstructure. At this stage, special emphasis will be placed on the type of lexicographic definitions (and their combinations) that will be used in the dictionary. It is expected that the dictionary would have photographic materials under copyright.

High-flame retarding properties of polyacrylonitrile copolymer nanocomposites with synergistic effect of elemental sulfur-doped reduced graphene oxide and bio-derived catechol units

Polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based flame retardants have been investigated as environmentally friendly high-flame retarding materials. High-flame retarding properties can be achieved in PAN copolymers via efficient thermal oxidative stabilization (TOS). In this study, PAN copolymers of dihydroxy styrene monomers with simple catechol units were synthesized as high-flame retardants using an efficient TOS process. To further improve the flame-retarding properties, PAN copolymer composites were prepared with graphene oxide (GO) and sulfur-doped reduced GO (SrGO). Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis revealed that the activation energy of the composites for cyclization reaction during TOS decreased with SrGO content. Micro combustion calorimeter revealed enhanced flame-retarding properties of P(AN-co-DHS3)-SrGO composites, resulting in a low heat release capacity (21 J/gK) and high limiting oxygen index (44.7%) (superior to Nomex®). The high-flame retarding properties could be attributed to the high char layer produced by efficient TOS of the copolymer with the catechol unit and radical scavenging effect of sulfur-functionalized SrGO. Therefore, the incorporation of SrGO into PAN copolymers with catechol units is a good alternative for developing environmentally friendly high-flame retardants.

SPORT TERMINOLOGIES BORROWED FROM DIFFERENT LANGUAGES INTO UZBEK LANGUAGE

This article analysis the composition and definition of the sport-related terminology,words, phraseological units that function in modern linguistics. In the research,analysis techniques, definition, generalization, systematization, and numericalapproach have been used. Terms are the foundation of sport terminology. The following forms of terminology are differentiated in the work: general sports units,simple units, highly specialized units. Another outcome of our analysis of sports terminology was the grouping of chosen units in keeping with the source language.

Evaluate the performance of horizontal flow wetlands as an option for tertiary treatment of secondary sedimentation basins

Constructed wetlands (CWs) are simple low-cost wastewater treatment units that use natural process to improve the effluent water quality and make it possible for its reuse.in this study used the horizontal flow system for the tertiary treatment of wastewater effluent from secondary basins at Al-Rustamiya wastewater treatment plant / old project / Baghdad / Iraq. the Phragmites Australis plant was used for wastewater treatment and the horizontal subsurface flow system was applied. the experimental study was carried out in February 2020 to October 2020. the parameters were monitored for a period of five weeks, Concentration-based average removal efficiencies for HSSF-CW were COD,53% [NO]_3,41.3% [PO]_4,52% and TSS, 54.2%. Thus, constructed wetland can be considered as a sustainable alternative to the tertiary conventional treatment of wastewater, thus making it possible for reuse..

Складності перекладу англомовних термінів птахівництва українською мовою

The purpose of this article is to single out some specific problems of English terms translation used in poultry farming into the Ukrainian language, special attention paid to polysemic and homonymous poultry terminological units. The research material is about 700 English zootechnical terms of the poultry farming field. The words were selected from the relevant English texts on the corresponding professional topics (scientific articles and didactic materials, manuals for specialists). The research is methodologically based on the systemic-structural approach, so it enables synchronous analysis of linguistic phenomena that are based on connections and relationships between these elements. The analysis of the paradigmatic terminological relations is based on the principles of semantic fields and the thematic organization of terminology. Descriptive and comparative methods are also applied. The review of the relevant scientific literature confirmed the ambiguity in interpretation of homonymy and polysemy in terminology. Problems in the translation of homonymous and polysemic poultry terms are identified and possible ways of solving the problems are proposed. The types of terminological homonymy and polysemy of simple units and abbreviations are described. It has been found out that the most difficulties arise in the translation of intra-industry simple terms. The analysis of the notion “term” has shown that terms can be scientific and technical words used only in certain field, as well as widely used words that have commonly known meanings; when translating polysemous and homonymous terms, intra-industry ones are the most difficult to interpret adequately, since their translation completely depends on the context. The translation of a homonymous or polysemic term requires good knowledge in the poultry farming field as well as clear understanding of the English term volume, awareness of the relevant Ukrainian terminology is necessary. Obviously, the most adequate way to translate a term is to convey it using the equivalent available in the language of translation. In general, the terms that are formed from Greek and Latin languages have clear equivalents. In the terminological apparatus of poultry farming, most of these words refer to the anatomy of industrial birds and the process of their breeding. The most frequent translation transformations used in translation of poultry terms are: transcription, transliteration, calque and descriptive translation. We believe that it is best to use transcription, transliteration ("Ayam Cemani" – Ayam Cemani (exotic breed of chickens)), calque translation (Broad Breasted White – broad-breasted white goose (breed of geese)) when translating names of breeds of industrial poultry. Descriptive translation method is most often used when working with verb terms: "to mate" – to cross breeds, "to sex" – to divide the brood by sex, "to go broody" – to hatch eggs, "to hatch" – to incubate eggs, hatch, "to breed" – to keep animals for the purpose of producing young animals in a controlled way.

Micelle Purification in Continuous Flow via Inline Dialysis

Micelle dispersions purification is made available via inline flow dialysis in which micelles are separated from the organic solvent used to dissolve the block copolymers in the micelle formation step. Purification was performed using simple and cost-effective dialysis units employing cellulose membranes. The proposed setup allows us to remove THF from a micelle dispersion within a few hours almost entirely in a looped flow system, without significantly changing the micelle size. Purification is found to be independent of the exact flow rates and only on the circulation time through the dialysis units. The system is not only able to reduce the concentration of the organic solvent, but also water-soluble monomers can be removed. Further, the integration of the method into a full synthesis line to produce encapsulated micelles directly from block copolymer solutions is demonstrated with a throughput of 1.2 g of micelles per hour.

MC-DeF

Executing complex scientific applications on Coarse-Grain Reconfigurable Arrays ( CGRAs ) promises improvements in execution time and/or energy consumption compared to optimized software implementations or even fully customized hardware solutions. Typical CGRA architectures contain of multiple instances of the same compute module that consist of simple and general hardware units such as ALUs, simple processors. However, generality in the cell contents, while convenient for serving a wide variety of applications, penalizes performance and energy efficiency. To that end, a few proposed CGRAs use custom logic tailored to a particular application’s specific characteristics in the compute module. This approach, while much more efficient, restricts the versatility of the array. To date, versatility at hardware speeds is only supported with Field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), that are reconfigurable at a very fine grain. This work proposes MC-DeF, a novel Mixed-CGRA Definition Framework targeting a Mixed-CGRA architecture that leverages the advantages of CGRAs by utilizing a customized cell array, and those of FPGAs by incorporating a separate LUT array used for adaptability. The framework presented aims to develop a complete CGRA architecture. First, a cell structure and functionality definition phase creates highly customized application/domain specific CGRA cells. Then, mapping and routing phases define the CGRA connectivity and cell-LUT array transactions. Finally, an energy and area estimation phase presents the user with area occupancy and energy consumption estimations of the final design. MC-DeF uses novel algorithms and cost functions driven by user defined metrics, threshold values, and area/energy restrictions. The benefits of our framework, besides creating fast and efficient CGRA designs, include design space exploration capabilities offered to the user. The validity of the presented framework is demonstrated by evaluating and creating CGRA designs of nine applications. Additionally, we provide comparisons of MC-DeF with state-of-the-art related works, and show that MC-DeF offers competitive performance (in terms of internal bandwidth and processing throughput) even compared against much larger designs, and requires fewer physical resources to achieve this level of performance. Finally, MC-DeF is able to better utilize the underlying FPGA fabric and achieves the best efficiency (measured in LUT/GOPs).

Cucurbit[n]uril/metal ion complex-based frameworks and their potential applications

Cucurbit[n]urils (Q[n]s) have the structural characteristic of two open portals rimmed with carbonyl groups, which make them coordinate with metal to form Q[n]-based MOFs. According to the type of Q[n]/metal ion-based complexes formed, Q[n]-based MOFs can be classified as those constructed using i) simple Q[n]/metal complexes, ii) 1D coordination polymers, iii) 2D coordination polymers, and iv) 3D coordination polymers, respectively. • Cucurbit[ n ]urils coordinate with metal using carbonyl groups to form Q[ n ]-based MOFs. • The structures of Q[ n ]-based MOFs are summarized. • TThe relationship between the structure of the Q[ n ]-based frameworks and their functional features are overviewed. Since the concepts of metal organic frameworks and coordination networks were proposed, the preparation of new structures and investigations on their properties has lead to the remarkable development of reticular chemistry and its applications with the basic principle of connecting simple building units to generate periodic frameworks. A rigid cavity with two opening portals make cucurbit[ n ]urils (Q[ n ]s) suitable as the building units for frameworks related to Q[ n ]/metal ion(M n+ ) complexes. According to the type of Q[ n ]/M n+ complexes used, the frameworks related to Q[ n ]/M n+ complexes can be classified as those constructed using i) simple Q[ n ]/M n+ complexes, ii) 1D coordination polymers, iii) 2D coordination polymers, and iv) 3D coordination polymers. The construction of frameworks related to Q[ n ]/M n+ complexes not only obtains elegant framework structures, but more importantly, can be used to explore the their adsorption characteristics and applications in separation, detection, catalysis, etc., to clarify the relationship between the structure and functional features of the Q[ n ]/M n+ -based frameworks, and to establish new research branches for Q[ n ] chemistry.

Multiplexed neurochemical transmission emulated using a dual-excitatory synaptic transistor

The ability to emulate multiplexed neurochemical transmission is an important step toward mimicking complex brain activities. Glutamate and dopamine are neurotransmitters that regulate thinking and impulse signals independently or synergistically. However, emulation of such simultaneous neurotransmission is still challenging. Here we report design and fabrication of synaptic transistor that emulates multiplexed neurochemical transmission of glutamate and dopamine. The device can perform glutamate-induced long-term potentiation, dopamine-induced short-term potentiation, or co-release-induced depression under particular stimulus patterns. More importantly, a balanced ternary system that uses our ambipolar synaptic device backtrack input ‘true’, ‘false’ and ‘unknown’ logic signals; this process is more similar to the information processing in human brains than a traditional binary neural network. This work provides new insight for neuromorphic systems to establish new principles to reproduce the complexity of a mammalian central nervous system from simple basic units.

Peat formation and accumulation mechanism in northern marginal basin of South China Sea

In the present study, the coal-rock organic facies of Oligocene Yacheng Formation of the marginal basin in the South China Sea were classified and divided. In addition, through the correlations of the large-scale coal-bearing basins between the epicontinental sea and the South China Sea, it was concluded that the coal forming activities in the South China Sea presented particularity and complexity. Furthermore, the coal forming mechanisms also presented distinctiveness. The marginal basins in the South China Sea consist of several large and complex rift or depression basins, which are distributed at different tectonic positions in the South China Sea. Therefore, the marginal basins in the South China Sea are not simple traditional units with onshore continental slopes extending toward the deep sea. The marginal basins are known to consist of multi-level structures and distinctive types of basins which differ from the continental regions to the sea. During the Oligocene, the existing luxuriant plants and beneficial conditions assisted in the development of peat. Therefore, the Oligocene was the significant period for the formation and aggregation of the peat. However, the peat did not form in unified sedimentary dynamic fields, but instead displayed multi-level geographical units, multiple provenance areas, instability, and nonevent characteristics. As a result, the marginal basins in the South China Sea are characterized by non-uniform peat aggregation stages. In another words, the majority of the peat had entered the marine system in a dispersive manner and acted as part of the marine deposits, rather than during one or several suitable coal-forming stages. These peat deposits then became the main material source for hydrocarbon generation in all of the marginal basins of the South China Sea. The study will be of much significance for the hydrocarbon exploration in the marginal basins of the South China Sea.

Biochar—just a black matter is not enough

What differs biochar from charcoal? The simple answer is that biochar is a carbon-rich product obtained from the thermal decomposition of organic material, at the presence of no or only a bit of oxygen. In principle, the production of biochar is comparable to the production of charcoal, one of the oldest and most established processes developed by mankind. While charcoal is made traditionally from wood, biochar can be based on a wide range of biomass and biomass residues. However, a variety of technologies for the production of biochar has been developed in recent years. The technologies are based on pyrolysis, gasification, or hydrothermal carbonization and are ranging from simple units, like heated steel drums to full automated and controlled processes. Therefore, the obtained products have tremendous differences in its properties and resulting qualities. The quality defines the field of application. To obtain the required quality for each application, the right process must be applied. Consequently, it is not enough only to enrich the carbon content by thermal decomposition of organic material. The production of tailor-made biochar for specific high added–value application is much more complex. In addition, side products like liquid biofuels make business cases stronger. If it is done in the right way, biochar production combined with advanced biofuels can be an economic solution to overcome the problems of climate change. “So for the future of mankind, this black matter might give the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Ontogeny of social hierarchy in two European house mouse subspecies and difference in the social rank of dispersing males

In social species such as house mouse, being dominant is vital. Determination of dominance may start early in life and vary during ontogeny. We asked whether pre-pubertal and adolescent behaviour predicts the rank a male mouse finally obtains. Moreover, we asked how dominant vs. subordinate adults differ in exploration and propensity to emigrate. We studied fraternal pairs as the simple social units, from weaning to full-grown adulthood. By utilizing two mouse subspecies known to differ in many behavioural traits, we take into account any potential subspecific idiosyncrasies.We did not find any significant effect of future social status on any behavioural type displayed before adulthood, but the subspecies themselves differ in behaviours prevailing in particular ontogeny phases. While musculus males start as more pro-social, they later became significantly more passive. Conversely, domesticus are slightly less passive at the beginning but significantly more proactive close to adulthood and rapidly establishing hierarchy through overt conflicts. We found no difference in exploration between ranks, however, domesticus males were significantly more active in an unknown area than musculus. Most importantly, while dominant domesticus males seem to be more prone to emigration, in musculus it was the subordinate males who left base significantly more often. This is consistent with extended contests of musculus males over dominance found in this study as well as with differences in endocrinological changes we have reported previously.

Effect of Turbine and Compressor Inlet Temperatures and Air Bleeding on the Comparative Performance of Simple and Combined Gas Turbine Unit

The proper utilization of all the available forms of energy resources has become imminent to meet the power requirement and energy demand in both the developed and developing countries of the world. Even though the emphasis is given to the renewable resources in most parts of the world, but fossil fuels will still remain the main resources of energy as these can meet both normal and peak demands. Saudi Arab has number of power plant based on natural gas and fuel that are spread in all its regions. These power plants have aeroderivative gas turbine units supplied by General Electric Company as main power producing units. These units work on dual fuel systems. These units work as simple gas turbine units to meat peak demands and as part of combined cycle otherwise. The subject matter of this study is the performance of one of the units of a power plant situated near Riyadh city of Saudi Arab. This unit also works both as simple gas turbine unit and as a part of combined cycle power plant unit. A parametric based performance evaluation of the unit has been carried out to study both energetic and exergetic performance of the unit for both simple and combined cycle operation. Effect of compressor inlet temperature, turbine inlet temperature, pressure ratio of the compressor, the stage from which bleed off air have been taken and percentage of bleed off air from the compressor on the energetic and exergetic performance of the unit have been studied. The study reveals that all these parameters effect the performance of the unit in both modes of operation.

Effect of Turbine and Compressor Inlet Temperatures and Air Bleeding on the Comparative Performance of Simple and Combined Gas Turbine Unit

The proper utilization of all the available forms of energy resources has become imminent to meet the power requirement and energy demand in both the developed and developing countries of the world. Even though the emphasis is given to the renewable resources in most parts of the world, but fossil fuels will still remain the main resources of energy as these can meet both normal and peak demands. Saudi Arab has number of power plant based on natural gas and fuel that are spread in all its regions. These power plants have aeroderivative gas turbine units supplied by General Electric Company as main power producing units. These units work on dual fuel systems. These units work as simple gas turbine units to meat peak demands and as part of combined cycle otherwise. The subject matter of this study is the performance of one of the units of a power plant situated near Riyadh city of Saudi Arab. This unit also works both as simple gas turbine unit and as a part of combined cycle power plant unit. A parametric based performance evaluation of the unit has been carried out to study both energetic and exergetic performance of the unit for both simple and combined cycle operation. Effect of compressor inlet temperature, turbine inlet temperature, pressure ratio of the compressor, the stage from which bleed off air have been taken and percentage of bleed off air from the compressor on the energetic and exergetic performance of the unit have been studied. The study reveals that all these parameters effect the performance of the unit in both modes of operation.

A grass-specific cellulose\u2013xylan interaction dominates in sorghum secondary cell walls

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) is a promising source of lignocellulosic biomass for the production of renewable fuels and chemicals, as well as for forage. Understanding secondary cell wall architecture is key to understanding recalcitrance i.e. identifying features which prevent the efficient conversion of complex biomass to simple carbon units. Here, we use multi-dimensional magic angle spinning solid-state NMR to characterize the sorghum secondary cell wall. We show that xylan is mainly in a three-fold screw conformation due to dense arabinosyl substitutions, with close proximity to cellulose. We also show that sorghum secondary cell walls present a high ratio of amorphous to crystalline cellulose as compared to dicots. We propose a model of sorghum cell wall architecture which is dominated by interactions between three-fold screw xylan and amorphous cellulose. This work will aid the design of low-recalcitrance biomass crops, a requirement for a sustainable bioeconomy.

Nonlinear model predictive control of ultra-high-purity air separation units using transient wave propagation model

Model reduction techniques can be used to reduce the computational burden associated with nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC). In our recent work, we introduced the transient nonlinear wave propagation model (TWPM) for reduced dynamic modeling of multi-component distillation columns with variable holdup, and demonstrated its suitability for optimization and control of single-section distillation columns and simple air separation units [Caspari et al., J. Process Control, 2020]. We show here that the TWPM is well-suited for reduced modeling of multi-sectional ultra-high-purity distillation columns and enables real-time capable NMPC of complex process flowsheets with tight operational constraints. To demonstrate its performance and accuracy, we apply the TWPM for NMPC of an ultra-high-purity nitrogen air separation unit. We perform an in-silico closed-loop case study comprising a series of load changes. Our approach reduces CPU time by 84%, enabling NMPC in real time.

Burnt Human Skin Segmentation and Depth Classification Using Deep Convolutional Neural Network (DCNN)

World Health Organization (WHO) manage health-related statistics all around the world by taking the necessary measures. What could be better for health and what may be the leading causes of deaths, all these statistics are well organized by WHO. Burn Injuries are mostly viewed in middle and low-income countries due to lack of resources, the result may come in the form of deaths by serious injuries caused by burning. Due to the non-accessibility of specialists and burn surgeons, simple and basic health care units situated at tribble areas as well as in small cities are facing the problem to diagnose the burn depths accurately. The primary goals and objectives of this research task are to segment the burnt region of skin from the normal skin and to diagnose the burn depths as per the level of burn. The dataset contains the 600 images of burnt patients and has been taken in a real-time environment from the Allied Burn and Reconstructive Surgery Unit (ABRSU) Faisalabad, Pakistan. Burnt human skin segmentation was carried by the use of Otsu's method and the image feature vector was obtained by using statistical calculations such as mean and median. A classifier Deep Convolutional Neural Network based on deep learning was used to classify the burnt human skin as per the level of burn into different depths. Almost 60 percent of images have been taken to train the classifier and the rest of the 40 percent burnt skin images were used to estimate the average accuracy of the classifier. The average accuracy of the DCNN classifier was noted as 83.4 percent and these are the best results yet. By the obtained results of this research task, young physicians and practitioners may be able to diagnose the burn depths and start the proper medication.

Accelerating Deep Convolutional Neural Network base on stochastic computing

Deep Convolutional Neural Networks (DCNNs) are highly computational, and low budget platforms face many restrictions due to their implementation. Recently, Stochastic Computing (SC) demonstrated satisfying solution with simple and low power arithmetic units. In this paper, we present a highly efficient SC-based inference framework of DCNNs. We first propose a new Approximate Parallel Counter (APC), which is the most computational part in SC-DCNN. Our design relies on multiplexers to reduce the total number of input data. Second, a new mechanism is proposed for SC-based Rectified Linear Unit (ReLU) to make it more accurate and more similar to the actual ReLU function. Eventually, a new way is proposed for implementing soft-max function in SC domain with utilizing minimum resources. The simulation result shows that our platform for implementing LeNeT-5 achieves better area overhead, critical path length and power consumption than state-of-the-art works by term of slightly sacrificing accuracy.