A number of glow discharge experiments has been carried out in a relatively large-volume metallic vacuum chamber containing argon at low pressure and immersed in an inhomogeneous magnetic field generated by a solenoidal coil capable of delivering 2100G. Two Paschen curves demonstrating the dependence of the discharge voltage on sparking parameter Pd and magnetic field strength B were deduced. A graphical correlation showing the behaviour of the voltage difference from the two curves on the ratio B/Pd was constructed. Investigations showed a reduction in the nominal impedance of the discharge device of nearly 20% when B reaches a value of 525G. Plasma confinement regions were found around the internal surface of the chamber at the entranc

Abstract

 This study investigated the optimization of wear behavior of AISI 4340 steel based on the Taguchi method under various testing conditions. In this paper, a neural network and the Taguchi design method have been implemented for minimizing the wear rate in 4340 steel. A back-propagation neural network (BPNN) was developed to predict the wear rate. In the development of a predictive model, wear parameters like sliding speed, applying load and sliding distance were considered as the input model variables of the AISI 4340 steel. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the significant parameter affecting the wear rate. Finally, the Taguchi approach was applied to determine

Groupwise non-rigid image alignment is a difficult non-linear optimization problem involving many parameters and often large datasets. Previous methods have explored various metrics and optimization strategies. Good results have been previously achieved with simple metrics, requiring complex optimization, often with many unintuitive parameters that require careful tuning for each dataset. In this chapter, the problem is restructured to use a simpler, iterative optimization algorithm, with very few free parameters. The warps are refined using an iterative Levenberg-Marquardt minimization to the mean, based on updating the locations of a small number of points and incorporating a stiffness constraint. This optimization approach is eff

Background: Pregnancy is considered a major risk factor for development and progression of periodontal disease. There are hormonal changes in both estrogen and progesterone hormones in addition to bacterial effect and poor oral hygiene that will enhance development of periodontal disease in pregnant women. Materials and methods: Seventy subjects were enrolled in the study, the subjects with an age range (20-35) years old without any history of systemic disease. The subjects were divided into 20 non-pregnant women they represent the control group (G I), 30 pregnant women with gingivitis (GII) and 20 pregnant women with periodontitis (GIII).All periodontal parameters (plaque index, gingival index, bleeding on probing, probing pocket depth an

        In this study multi objective optimization is utilized to optimize a turning operation to reveal the appropriate level of process features. The goal of this work is to evaluate the optimal combination of cutting parameters like feed, spindle speed, inclination angle and workpiece material to have a best surface quality Taguchi technique L9 mixed orthogonal array, has been adopted to optimize the roughness of surface. Three rods of length around (200 mm) for the three metals are used for this work. Each rod is divided into three parts with 50 mm length. For brass the optimum parametric mix for minimum Ra is A1, B1 and C3, i.e., at tool inclination angle (5), feedrate of 0.01, spindle speed of 120

SAGD is a thermal recovery process in which steam oil ratio, SOR, is a key parameter that can affect the economic outcome of the process. Reservoirs with underlying or overlying lean bitumen present challenges for SAGD as they can act as a heat sink. Water has higher heat capacity than the bitumen and thus requires more steam to heat up the reservoir leading to higher SOR. The potential outcome of operating SAGD in these conditions may be lower bitumen rate and higher steam injection rate, both of which affect plant throughput and thus the economic matrix of SAGD. This paper looks at the performance of SAGD process in the presence of top lean bitumen. It will examine the theoretical CSOR that is needed to produce the bitumen with different

The removal of direct blue 71 dye from a prepared wastewater was studied employing batch electrocoagulation (EC) cell. The electrodes of aluminum were used. The influence of process variables which include initial pH (2.0-12.0), wastewater conductivity (0.8 -12.57) mS/cm , initial dye concentration (30 -210) mg/L, electrolysis time  (3-12) min, current density (10-50) mA/cm2   were studied in order to maximize the color removal from wastewater. Experimental results showed that the color removal yield increases with increasing pH until pH 6.0 after that it decreased with increasing pH. The color removal increased with increasing current density, wastewater conductivity, electrolysis time, and decreased with increasing the concen

Background: Bone mineral density (BMD) has been assessed using Dual-Energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). This procedure is considered to be of vital importance in assessing the general condition of individuals concerning their skeletal mineralization. BMD is measured according to the results of the DEXA examination of the vertebral column and pelvis. Although diabetes mellitus (D.M.)is known to affect BMD, the information regarding this relationship is not currently particularly clear. Objective: This study concentrates on the point that the assessment of BMD for the vertebral column is insuffi-cient to give a realistic and correct picture of the mineralization of the remaining part of the skeleton. Besides, this study elicited a gen

Introduction The Hybrid Gamma Camera (HGC) is being developed to enhance the localisation of radiopharmaceutical uptake in targeted tissues during surgical procedures such as sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy. Purpose To assess the capability of the HGC, a lymph-node-contrast (LNC) phantom was constructed for an evaluative study simulating medical scenarios of varying radioactivity concentration and SLN size. Materials and methods The phantom was constructed using two methyl methacrylate PMMA plates (8 mm thick). The SLNs were simulated by drilling circular wells of diameters ranging between 10 mm and 2.5 mm (16 wells in total) in one plate. These simulated SLNs were placed underneath scattering material with thicknesses ranging between 5 mm