Search results for "gradient"
showing 10 items of 725 documents
Integration of PCL and PLA in a monolithic porous scaffold for interface tissue engineering.
2016
A novel bi-layered multiphasic scaffold (BLS) have been fabricated for the first time by combining melt mixing, compression molding and particulate leaching. One layer has been composed by polylactic acid (PLA) presenting pore size in the range of 90-110µm while the other layer has been made of polycaprolactone (PCL) with pores ranging from 5 to 40µm. The different chemo-physical properties of the two biopolymers combined with the tunable pore architecture permitted to realize monolithic functionally graded scaffolds engineered to be potentially used for interface tissues regenerations. BLS have been characterized from a morphological and a mechanical point of view. In particular, mechanica…
A Mlp-Based Digit And Uppercase Characters Recognition System
1997
A simple software solution for digit and uppercase handwritten characters recognition is presented. The proposed solution is based on a two-layer Multi Layer Perceptron (MLP) trained by a conjugate gradient descent (CGD) optimization algorithm. This neural network is embedded in a software tool for automatic processing of forms achieved using a scanner. The chosen solutions allow us to obtain good results both in terms of recognition rate and speed. In the paper are fully described design details and experimental results.
Iterative moment method for electromagnetic transients in grounding systems on CRAY T3D
1996
In this paper the parallel aspects of an electromagnetic model for transients in grounding systems based on an iterative scheme are investigated in a multiprocessor environment. A coarse and fine grain parallel solutions have been developed on the CRAY T3D, housed at CINECA, equipped with 64 processors working in space sharing modality. The performances of the two parallel approaches implemented according to the work sharing parallel paradigm have been evaluated for different problem sizes employing variable number of processors.
A Novel Multidimensional Scaling Technique for Mapping Word-Of-Mouth Discussions
2009
The techniques which utilize Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) as a fundamental statistical tool have been well developed since the late 1970’s. In this paper we show how anMDS scheme can be enhanced by incorporating into it a Stochastic Point Location (SPL) strategy (one which optimizes the former’s gradient descent learning phase) and a new Stress function. The enhanced method, referred to as MDS SPL, has been used in conjunction with a combination of the TF-IDF and Cosine Similarities on a very noisy Word-Of-Mouth (WoM) discussion set consisting of postings concerning mobile phones, yielding extremely satisfying results.
Chemical, biochemical and microbial diversity through a Pachic Humudept profile in a temperate upland grassland
2013
There is great interest in understanding the factors that drive soil microbial activity and community composition in upland grassland ecosystems. We investigated the role of vertical gradients of chemical properties and various soluble C and N pools on soil microbial community structure by using a combination of chemical and biochemical methods coupled with PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) community fingerprinting and phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) profiling. Soil samples were collected at increasing depth from a temperate upland grassland. Soil organic matter-related pools (total organic C and total Kjeldahl N) and functionally related active pools (microbial biomass C an…
Intrinsic bioremediation potential of a chronically polluted marine coastal area.
2015
A microbiological survey of the Priolo Bay (eastern coast of Sicily, Ionian Sea), a chronically polluted marine coastal area, was carried out in order to discern its intrinsic bioremediation potential. Microbiological analysis, 16S rDNA-based DGGE fingerprinting and PLFAs analysis were performed on seawater and sediment samples from six stations on two transects. Higher diversity and variability among stations was detected by DGGE in sediment than in water samples although seawater revealed higher diversity of culturable hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria. The most polluted sediment hosted higher total bacterial diversity and higher abundance and diversity of culturable HC degraders. Alkane- an…
RED Heat-to-Power: conversione di calore di scarto in energia elettrica mediante elettrodialisi inversa a ciclo chiuso
2016
La produzione di energia da gradienti salini si sta affermando come una valida alternativa alle tradizionali fonti di energia rinnovabili. In particolare l’elettrodialisi inversa (RED) è di certo tra le tecnologie più promettenti per effettuare la conversione di gradienti salini in energia utile. Un recente sviluppo è l’utilizzo del processo RED a ciclo chiuso con soluzioni saline artificiali, nel quale le soluzioni in uscita dall’unità RED vengono rigenerate all’interno di un’unità di rigenerazione termica, che ripristina il gradiente salino iniziale. L’utilizzo del sistema a ciclo chiuso premette dunque di convertire calore a bassa temperatura (e.g. calore di scarto a T <70-100°C) in e…
Coupling CFD simulation with a simplified process model for reverse electrodialysis units
2017
Salinity gradient between two solutions is a renewable source of energy. Among the technologies able to exploit the salinity gradient, reverse electrodialysis (RED) is an electrochemical process for electrical power generation through direct conversion. Ion exchange membranes, piled alternately and separated by net spacers or membrane profiles, are the key elements of a RED stack. A multiplex phenomenology occurs in RED units; Ohmic and non-Ohmic (due to concentration changes) voltage losses and pressure drop are the main issues, and the membrane/channel configuration is crucial for the stack performance. In this framework, mathematical modelling can be a powerful tool for predictive purpos…
Reverse electrodialysis with saline waters and concentrated brines: A laboratory investigation towards technology scale-up
2015
Abstract The use of concentrated brines and brackish water as feed solutions in reverse electrodialysis represents a valuable alternative to the use of river/sea water, allowing the enhancement of power output through the increase of driving force and reduction of internal stack resistance. Apart from a number of theoretical works, very few experimental investigations have been performed so far to explore this possibility. In the present work, two RED units of different size were tested using artificial saline solutions. The effects of feed concentration, temperature and flowrate on process performance parameters were analysed, adopting two different sets of membranes. These experiments all…
CFD PREDICTION OF SCALAR TRANPORT IN THIN CHANNELS FOR REVERSE ELECTRODIALYSIS
2014
Reverse ElectroDialysis (RED) is a very promising technology allowing the electrochemical potential difference of a salinity gradient to be directly converted into electric energy. Fluid dynamics optimization of the thin channels to be devoted for the RED process is still an open problem. The present preliminary work focuses on the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation of the flow and concentration fields in these channels. In particular three different configurations were investigated: a channel unprovided with a spacer and two different spacer (made of either overlapped filaments or woven filaments) filled channels. Two passive scalars were transported along with the water in orde…