Comparative Analysis for Evaluating Wind Energy Resources Using Intelligent Optimization Algorithms and Numerical Methods

Statistical distributions are used to model wind speed,and the twoparameters Weibull distribution has proven its effectiveness at characterizing wind speed.Accurate estimation of Weibull parameters,the scale(c)and shape(k),is crucial in describing the actual wind speed data and evaluating the wind energy potential.Therefore,this study compares the most common conventional numerical(CN)estimation methods and the recent intelligent optimization algorithms(IOA)to show how precise estimation of c and k affects the wind energy resource assessments.In addition,this study conducts technical and economic feasibility studies for five sites in the northern part of Saudi Arabia,namely Aljouf,Rafha,Tabuk,Turaif,and Yanbo.Results exhibit that IOAs have better performance in attaining optimal Weibull parameters and provided an adequate description of the observed wind speed data.Also,with six wind turbine technologies rating between 1 and 3MW,the technical and economic assessment results reveal that the CN methods tend to overestimate the energy output and underestimate the cost of energy($/kWh)compared to the assessments by IOAs.The energy cost analyses show that Turaif is the windiest site,with an electricity cost of$0.016906/kWh.The highest wind energy output is obtained with the wind turbine having a rated power of 2.5 MW at all considered sites with electricity costs not exceeding$0.02739/kWh.Finally,the outcomes of this study exhibit the potential of wind energy in Saudi Arabia,and its environmental goals can be acquired by harvesting wind energy.

Conventional vs.modified pseudo-dynamic seismic analyses in the shallow strip footing bearing capacity problem

The conventional pseudo-dynamic(CPD)and modified pseudo-dynamic(MPD)methods are invoked to obtain the seismic bearing capacity of strip foundations using the limit equilibrium method,with a two-wedge failure mechanism.A spectral version of the conventional pseudo-dynamic method(SPD)is also invoked by considering the ground motion amplification factor,to be a function of the non-dimensional frequencyλ/B and soil damping.Numeric analyses show that bearing capacity results obtained by the MPD and SPD methods are generally consistent.Both experience the same general reduction in bearing capacity with the increase ofλ/B,with successive ups and downs corresponding to soil′s natural frequencies.For 5<λ/B<10,SPD and MPD results fluctuated between falling above and below CPD results.Forλ/B<2.5,SPD and MPD results were consistent with attenuation of the shear wave,while for 10<λ/B,amplification was exhibited.Results obtained by the CPD method monotonically decrease,due to the fact that CPD fails to inherently consider site effects and damping,and instead and relies on a single factor to consider the ground motion amplification.

CLINICAL OBSERVATION ON TREATMENT OF PERIPHERAL FACIAL PARALYSIS WITH DIFFERENT NEEDLING METHODS

Purpose: To observe the clinical therapeutic effect of different needling methods in the treatment of peripheral facial paralysis. Methods: A total of 158 cases of peripheral facial palsy patients are randomly divided into treatment group (n=116 cases, who are treated by penetration needling method) and control group (n=42 cases, who are treated with traditional acupuncture method). In treatment group, main acupoint pairs for penetration needling are Yangbai (GB 14) -Yuyao (EX-HN 4), Tongziliao (GB 1) -Taiyang (EX-HN 5), Jiache (ST 6) -Dicang (ST 4) and Chengjiang (CV 24) -Jiachengjiang (EX-HN) on the affected side, and in control group, the main acupoints used are Yifeng (TE 17), Yangbai (GB 14), Sibai (ST 2), Dicang (ST 4), Jiache (ST 6), Jingming (BL 1) and Chengjiang (CV 24). The treatment is given once daily with 10 sessions being a therapeutic course. Results: After 3 courses of treatment, the cure rates of treatment group and control group are 81.8% and 66.7% separately, showing a significant difference between two groups (P<0.05). The total effective rates of treatment and control groups are 96.5% and 88.1% separately, presenting a significant difference between two groups (P<0.01). Conclusion: The therapeutic effect of penetration needling method is better than that of traditional acupuncture method.

A pilot randomized control study to evaluate endoscopic resection using a ligation device for rectal carcinoid tumors

AIM： Rectal carcinoid tumors smaller than 10 mm can be resected with local excision using endoscopy. In order to remove rectal carcinoid tumors completely, we evaluated endoscopic mucosal resection with a ligation device in this pilot control randomized study. METHODS： Fifteen patients were diagnosed with rectal carcinoid tumor （less than 10 mm） in our hospital from 1993 to 2002. There were 9 males and 6 females, with a mean age 61.5 years （range, 34-77 years）. The patientshad no complaints of carcinoid syndrome symptoms. Fifteen patients were randomly divided into 2 groups： 7 carcinoid tumors were treated by conventional endoscopic resection, and 8 carcinoid tumors were treated by endoscopic resection using a ligation device. RESULTS： All rectal carcinoid tumors were located at the middle to distal rectum. The size of the tumors varied from 3 mm to 10 mm and background characteristics of the patients were not different in the two groups. The rate of complete removal of carcinoid tumors using a ligation device （100%, 8/8） was significantly higher than that of conventional endoscopic resection （57.1%, 4/7）. The three patients had tumor involvement of deep margin, for which additional treatment was performed. No complications occurred during or after endoscopic resection using a ligation device. All patients in the both groups were alive during the 3-year observation period. CONCLUSION： Endoscopic resection using a ligation device is a useful and safe method for resection of small rectal carcinoid tumors.

A new design of groundwater sampling device and its application

Compounds in the atmosphere contaminate samples of groundwater. An inexpensive and simple method for collecting groundwater samples is developed to prevent contamination when the background concentration of contaminants is high. This new design of groundwater sampling device involves a glass sampling bottle with a Teflon-lined valve at each end. A cleaned and dried sampling bottle was connected to a low flow-rate peristaltic pump with Teflon tubing and was filled with water. No headspace volume was remained in the sampling bottle. The sample bottle was then packed in a PVC bag to prevent the target component from infiltrating into the water sample through the valves. In this study, groundwater was sampled at six wells using both the conventional method and the improved method. The analysis of trichlorofluoromethane（ CFC-11 ） concentrations at these six wells indicates that all the groundwater samples obtained by the conventional sampling method were contaminated by CFC-11 from the atmosphere. The improved sampling method greatly eliminated the problems of contamination, preservation and quantitative analysis of natural water.

Microbial Limit Test of Zhideke Granules

[Objectives]To test the microbial limit of Zhideke granules.[Methods]According to the relevant regulations on the testing of granules in Chinese Pharmacopoeia in 2015,the applicability of the methods for counting the total number of aerobic bacteria,molds and yeasts and objectionable organisms in Zhideke granules was studied.[Results]The total number of aerobic bacteria in Zhideke granules was determined by dilution plate method(1∶20,1 mL per dish),the total number of molds and yeasts was determined by conventional plate method(1∶10,1 mL per dish),and E.coli was detected by conventional method of TTB(1∶10 test solution,10-100 mL TSB).[Conclusions]The method was suitable for the microbial limit test of Zhideke granules.

Advances in the detec

Human health is threatened by foodborne illness and Staphylococcus aureus is a common foodborne pathogenic bacteria.It can cause food poisoning when we are infected,therefore,it is necessary to detect pathogenic bacteria.The virulence genes and detection methods of S.aureus are summarized from literatures.Traditional detection methods are simple but need bacteria enrichment and to prolong detection time.Immunological technology has high specificity,but false positive results are easy to occur in its detection.In recent years,molecular biology methods have developed rapidly,and various PCR techniques have been applied to detect foodborne pathogens.Real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR is more effective than ordinary PCR,while price is expensive when use it,the scope of use is limited.LAMP is a flexible detection method,biosensor and flow cytometry are fast but the cost of detection is high and the price is relatively expensive.

Efficiency of locally available filter media on fluoride and phosphate removal for household water treatment system

Since conventional water treatment is not affordable in developing countries,looking for locally available and alternative treatment options is mandatory.Removal of fluoride and phosphate can be achieved by designing appropriate filtration media from different materials such as sand,calcined clay,pumice,scoria and bone char.This study was designed to determine the removal efficiency of these locally available filter media with respect to detention time and pH.The filtration apparatuses(tank) were filled separately with stone,gravel with grain size 0.6-4.75 mm and 40 cm deep,sand(ES = 0.15—0.35 mm and UC = 1.5-3),calcined clay,pumice,scoria and bone char with grain size 0.25-0.5 inch.Water samples were prepared using glass bottles with fluoride concentrations of 6 and 8 mg/1 and phosphate concentration of 4 mg/1.Laboratory analysis was carried out before and after filtration to determine the removal efficiency of each medium.It was found that the highest removal of fluoride was achieved by bone char(89.65%),followed by pumice(82.4%).However,bone char has rather increased the concentration of phosphate by 63.8%.Sand was the most efficient media to remove phosphate,managing to remove by 70%.Therefore,it is an attractive option to use these locally available,environmental friendly and appropriate technologies for efficient removal of both fluorine and phosphate at the household or community water treatment level.

Advances in Breeding of Festuca arundinacea Schreb.

In this paper, domestic and foreign advances in breeding situation and conventional breeding methods of Festuca arundinacea Schreb. and the applica- tion of modem biological techniques （ somaclonal variation, somatic cell hybridization, genetic map construction, genetic diversity, gene cloning and expression, ge- netic engineering） in breeding of new varieties of F. arundinacea were summarized, which proposed new ideas for the development of F. arundinacea breeding and provided reference for breeding of new varieties of F. arundinacea.

Extraction of distributed parameters for multi-conductor transmission lines by the difference iteration method

The distributed parameters of the transmission lines have the significant impact to the signal propagation. In the conventional method of the distributed parameter extraction,the discontinuity of inverse trigonometric or hyperbolic can arise the problem about phase ambiguity which causes significant errors for transmission models. A difference iteration method（ DIM） is proposed for extracting distributed parameters of high frequency transmission line structure in order to overcome the phase ambiguity in the conventional method（ CM）. The formulations of the proposed method are first derived for two-conductor and multi-conductor lines. Then the validation is performed for the models of micro-strip transmission line. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed DIM can solve the problem about the phase ambiguity and the extracted distributed parameters are accurate and efficient for a wide range of the frequencies of interest and line lengths.

Fabrication of scaffolds in tissue engineering： A review

Tissue engineering （TE） is an integrated discipline that involves engineering and natural science in the development of biological materials to replace, repair, and improve the function of diseased or missing tissues. Traditional medical and surgical treatments have been reported to have side effects on patients caused by organ necrosis and tissue loss. However, engineered tissues and organs provide a new way to cure specific diseases. Scaffold fabrication is an important step in the TE process. This paper summarizes and reviews the widely used scaffold fabrication methods, including conventional methods, electrospinning, three-dimensional printing, and a combination of molding techniques. Furthermore, the differences among the properties of tissues, such as pore size and distribution, porosity, structure, and mechanical properties, are elucidated and critically reviewed. Some studies that combine two or more methods are also reviewed. Finally, this paper provides some guidance and suggestions for the future of scaffold fabrication.

Using DGT to Assess Cadmium Bioavailability to Ryegrass as Influenced by Soil Properties

A generally accepted method for predicting the bioavailability and transfer of cadmium(Cd) from soil to plants has not yet been established. In this study, the diffusive gradients in thin films(DGT) and conventional extraction methods for metal fractions were used to investigate how effective these methods were at predicting Cd bioavailability to ryegrass(Lolium perenne) and to assess whether these holistic variables were independent of the soil property variables. The influences of soil properties on the predictive capabilities of the different methods were evaluated using multivariate statistics. The Cd concentrations in the shoots and roots of ryegrass correlated more closely with the effective Cd concentration measured by DGT(CE), compared with those with soil total Cd, pore water Cd, and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid disodium salt(Na2EDTA)- and acetic acid(HOAc)-extractable Cd. When soil properties were included in a stepwise multiple linear regression, Cd transfer to L. perenne was negatively influenced by p H and positively influenced by organic matter(OM). The multivariate statistics showed that the adjusted correlation coefficients for the plots involving soil total Cd, pore water Cd, and Na2EDTA- and HOAc-extractable Cd had been significantly improved after considering the influences of soil properties, which suggested that these methods were p H and OM dependent. For CE, the relationship was p H independent or only dependent in strongly acidic soils. These results suggested that the main soil factors affecting bioavailability had the lowest impact on the DGT technique. Therefore, the DGT technique provided significant advantages over conventional methods when assessing Cd bioavailability.