List of Top 25 Articles of Engineering

July-Sep 2013

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Sr. No
1 A review on buildings energy consumption information

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Abstract The rapidly growing world energy use has already raised concerns over supply difficulties, exhaustion of energy resources and heavy environmental impacts (ozone layer depletion, global warming, climate change, etc.). The global contribution from buildings towards energy consumption, both residential and commercial, has steadily increased reaching figures between 20% and 40% in developed countries, and has exceeded the other major sectors: industrial and transportation. Growth in population, increasing demand for building services and comfort levels, together with the rise in time spent inside buildings, assure the upward trend in energy demand will continue in the future. For this reason, energy efficiency in buildings is today a prime objective for energy policy at regional, national and international levels. Among building services, the growth in HVAC systems energy use is particularly significant (50% of building consumption and 20% of total consumption in the USA). This paper analyses available information concerning energy consumption in buildings, and particularly related to HVAC systems. Many questions arise: Is the necessary information available? Which are the main building types? What end uses should be considered in the breakdown? Comparisons between different countries are presented specially for commercial buildings. The case of offices is analysed in deeper detail.

A review on polymer nanofibers by electrospinning and their applications in nanocomposites Abstract Electrospinning has been recognized as an efficient technique for the fabrication of polymer nanofibers. Various polymers have been successfully electrospun into ultrafine fibers in recent years mostly in solvent solution and some in melt form. Potential applications based on such fibers specifically their use as reinforcement in nanocomposite development have been realized. In this paper, a comprehensive review is presented on the researches and developments related to electrospun polymer nanofibers including processing, structure and property characterization, applications, and modeling and simulations. Information of those polymers together with their processing conditions for electrospinning of ultrafine fibers has been

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summarized in the paper. Other issues regarding the technology limitations, research challenges, and future trends are also discussed. 3 A survey on security issues in service delivery models of cloud computing Abstract Cloud computing is a way to increase the capacity or add capabilities dynamically without investing in new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software. It extends Information Technologys (IT) existing capabilities. In the last few years, cloud computing has grown from being a promising business concept to one of the fast growing segments of the IT industry. But as more and more information on individuals and companies are placed in the cloud, concerns are beginning to grow about just how safe an environment it is. Despite of all the hype surrounding the cloud, enterprise customers are still reluctant to deploy their business in the cloud. Security is one of the major issues which reduces the growth of cloud computing and complications with data privacy and data protection continue to plague the market.

Thermomechanical analysis of residual stresses in brazed diamond metal joints using Raman spectroscopy and finite element simulation Abstract Thermal residual stresses are one of the crucial parameters in engineered grinding tool (EGT) life and its consistency. Predicting failure of brazed diamond metal joints in EGTs is related to analyzing the thermal residual stresses during the cooling process. Thus thermal residual stresses have been simulated in a model with realistic materials properties, for instance isotropic hardening and a hyperbolic-sine creep law for SS316L and the silvercoppertitanium active filler alloy, named Cusil ABA. Also, special modeling techniques such as tie constraint and sub-modeling have been used to model an intermetallic layer titaniumcarbide (TiC) with dimensions in nanometers, where the rest of the model s dimensions are in millimeters. To verify the simulated stress state of the diamond, Raman-active optical phonon modes at three different paths in the diamond were measured. As the experiments with Raman spectroscopy (RS) do not deliver stress components, the solution is to directly compute the peak shift of Raman spectrum. The splitting in phonon frequencies and the mixing of phonon modes contain information about the thermal residual stresses in the diamond. Finally the shift in the phonon frequencies was calculated from the different numerical residual elastic strain components and compared to the experimental results.

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A case study on a hybrid wind speed forecasting method using BP neural network Abstract Wind energy, which is intermittent by nature, can have a significant impact on power grid security, power system operation, and market economics, especially in areas with a high level of wind power penetration. Wind speed forecasting has been a vital part of wind farm planning and the operational planning of power grids with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Improving the accuracy of wind speed forecasting algorithms has significant technological and economic impacts on these activities, and significant research efforts have addressed this aim recently. However, there is no single best forecasting algorithm that can be applied to any wind farm due to the fact that wind speed patterns can be very different between wind farms and are usually influenced by many factors that are location-specific and difficult to control. In this paper, we propose a new hybrid wind speed forecasting method based on a back-propagation (BP) neural network and the idea of eliminating seasonal effects from actual wind speed datasets using seasonal exponential adjustment. This method can forecast the daily average wind speed one year ahead with lower mean absolute errors compared to figures obtained without adjustment, as demonstrated by a case study conducted using a wind speed dataset collected from the Minqin area in China from 2001 to 2006. A framework for supply chain performance measurement Abstract Supply chain management (SCM) has been a major component of competitive strategy to enhance organizational productivity and profitability. The literature on SCM that deals with strategies and technologies for effectively managing a supply chain is quite vast. In recent years, organizational performance measurement and metrics have received much attention from researchers and practitioners. The role of these measures and metrics in the success of an organization cannot be overstated because they affect strategic, tactical and operational planning and control. Performance measurement and metrics have an important role to play in setting objectives, evaluating performance, and determining future courses of actions. Performance measurement and metrics pertaining to SCM have not received adequate attention from researchers or practitioners. We developed a framework to promote a better understanding of the importance of SCM performance measurement and metrics. Using the current literature and the results of an empirical study of selected British companies, we developed the framework presented herein, in hopes that it would stimulate more interest in this important area.

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High reliability optical interconnections for short range applications in high performance optical communication systems Abstract This paper has proposed a new progress of optical interconnections, taking into account the following items such as its ultimate device bandwidth, its available transmission bit rates based on soliton transmission technique, its ultimate transmission link bandwidth, and the product of the link bandwidth and its transmission length. Two items of special emphasis in the basic design of optical interconnection are polymethyl metha acrylate (PMMA) and barium fluoride (BaF2) waveguides, and the optical source cast as vertical cavity surface emitting laser diode (VCSELD), made of either AlGaAs at operating wavelength of 1.3 m or aluminum gallium indium phosphors (AlGaInP) at operating wavelength of 1.55 m; special emphasis is focused on both the above two items under different operating conditions including both thermal and electrical effects. The optical interconnect is built up on the bases of two VCSELD and one optical link where thermal effects of both diodes and links are included. The good performance of the optical interconnect is deeply and parametrically investigated under wide ranges of the affecting parameters. The high speed performance is processed through three different effects, namely the device 3-dB bandwidth, and the link dispersion characteristics. A review on novel processes of biodiesel production from waste cooking oil Abstract Fossil fuel depletion, environmental concerns, and steep hikes in the price of fossil fuels are driving scientists to search for alternative fuels. The characteristics of biodiesel have made the pursuit of high quality biodiesel production attractive. Utilization of waste cooking oil is a key component in reducing biodiesel production costs up to 60 90%. Researchers have used various types of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalyzed transesterification reaction for biodiesel production. Meanwhile, the effect of novel processes such as membrane reactor, reactive distillation column, reactive absorption, ultrasonic and microwave irradiation significantly influenced the final conversion, yield and in particular, the quality of product. This article attempts to cover all possible techniques in production of biodiesel from waste cooking oil. Hydrogels for tissue engineering: scaffold design variables and applications Abstract Polymer scaffolds have many different functions in the field of tissue engineering. They are applied as space filling agents, as delivery vehicles for bioactive molecules, and as three-dimensional structures that organize cells and present stimuli to direct the formation of a desired tissue. Much of the success of scaffolds in these roles hinges on finding an appropriate material to address the critical physical, mass transport, and biological design variables inherent to each application. Hydrogels are an

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appealing scaffold material because they are structurally similar to the extracellular matrix of many tissues, can often be processed under relatively mild conditions, and may be delivered in a minimally invasive manner. Consequently, hydrogels have been utilized as scaffold materials for drug and growth factor delivery, engineering tissue replacements, and a variety of other applications. 10 Enterprise information systems project implementation: Abstract Economic globalisation and internationalisation of operations are essential factors in integration of suppliers, partners and customers within and across national borders, the objective being to achieve integrated supply chains. In this effort, implementation of information technologies and systems such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) facilitate the desired level of integration. There are cases of successful and unsuccessful implementations. The principal reason for failure is often associated with poor management of the implementation process. This paper examines key dimensions of implementation of ERP system within a large manufacturing organisation and identifies core issues to confront in successful implementation of enterprise information system. A brief overview of the application of ERP system is also presented and in particular, ERP software package known as SAP R/3, which was the ERP software package selected by Rolls-Royce plc. The paper takes an indepth look at the issues behind the process of ERP implementation via a case study methodology. It focuses on business and technical as well as cultural issues at the heart of the Rolls-Royce implementation. The case study also looks at the implementation time scales and assesses the benefits from the project both tangible and intangible. Biodiesel from microalgae: A critical evaluation from laboratory to large scale production Abstract The economically significant production of carbon-neutral biodiesel from microalgae has been hailed as the ultimate alternative to depleting resources of petro-diesel due to its high cellular concentration of lipids, resources and economic sustainability and overall potential advantages over other sources of biofuels. Pertinent questions however need to be answered on the commercial viability of large scale production of biodiesel from microalgae. Vital steps need to be critically analysed at each stage. Isolation of microalgae should be based on the question of whether marine or freshwater microalgae, cultures from collections or indigenous wild types are best suited for large scale production. Furthermore, the determination of initial sampling points play a pivotal role in the determination of strain selection as well as strain viability. The screening process should identify, purify and select lipid producing strains. Are natural strains or stressed strains higher in lipid productivity? The synergistic interactions that occur naturally between algae and other microorganisms cannot be ignored. A lot of literature is

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available on the downstream processing of microalgae but a few reports are available on the upstream processing of microalgae for biomass and lipid production for biodiesel production. We present in this review an empirical and critical analysis on the potential of translating research findings from laboratory scale trials to full scale application. The move from laboratory to large scale microalgal cultivation requires careful planning. It is imperative to do extensive pre-pilot demonstration trials and formulate a suitable trajectory for possible data extrapolation for large scale experimental designs. The pros and cons of the two widely used methods for growing microalgae by photobioreactors or open raceway ponds are discussed in detail. In addition, current methods for biomass harvesting and lipid extraction are critically evaluated. This would be novel approach to economical biodiesel production from microalgae in the near future. Globally, microalgae are largest biomass producers having higher neutral lipid content outcompeting terrestrial plants for biofuel production. However, the viscosities of microalgal oils are usually higher than that of petroleum diesel. 12 Heat transfer-A review of 2005 literature Abstract: The present review is intended to encompass the heat transfer literature published in 2005. While of a wide-range in scope, some selection is inevitable. We restrict ourselves to papers published in English through a peer-review process, with selected translations from journals published in other languages. Papers from conference proceedings generally are not included, though the Proceeding itself may be cited in the introduction. A significant fraction of the papers reviewed herein relates to the science of heat transfer, including experimental, analytical and numerical studies. Other papers cover applications where heat transfer plays a major role, not only in man-made devices but in natural systems as well. The papers are grouped into major subject areas and then into subfields within these areas. In addition to reviewing the literature, we mention major conferences held in 2005, major awards related to heat transfer presented in 2005, and books on heat transfer published during the year. 13 Nanoparticles: a boon to drug delivery, therapeutics, diagnostics and imaging Abstract: Drug delivery is an interdisciplinary and independent field of research and is gaining the attention of pharmaceutical researchers, medical doctors and industry. A safe and targeted drug delivery could improve the performance of some classic medicines already on the market, and moreover, will have implications for the development and success of new therapeutic strategies such as anticancer drug delivery, peptide and protein delivery and gene therapy. In the last decade, several drug7|Page

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delivery technologies have emerged and a fascinating part of this field is the development of nanoscale drug delivery devices. Nanoparticles (NPs) have been developed as an important strategy to deliver conventional drugs, recombinant proteins, vaccines and more recently, nucleotides. NPs and other colloidal drug-delivery systems modify the kinetics, body distribution and drug release of an associated drug. This review article focuses on the potential of nanotechnology in medicine and discusses different nanoparticulate drug-delivery systems including polymeric NPs, ceramic NPs, magnetic NPs, polymeric micelles and dendrimers as well as their applications in therapeutics, diagnostics and imaging.

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Production of liquid biofuels from renewable resources Abstract: This article is an up-to-date review of the literature available on the subject of liquid biofuels. In search of a suitable fuel alternative to fast depleting fossil fuel and oil reserves and in serious consideration of the environmental issues associated with the extensive use of fuels based on petrochemicals, research work is in progress worldwide. Researchers have been re-directing their interests in biomass based fuels, which currently seem to be the only logical alternative for sustainable development in the context of economical and environmental considerations. Renewable bioresources are available globally in the form of residual agricultural biomass and wastes, which can be transformed into liquid biofuels. However, the process of conversion, or chemical transformation, could be very expensive and not worth-while to use for an economical large-scale commercial supply of biofuels. Hence, there is still need for much research to be done for an effective, economical and efficient conversion process. Therefore, this article is written as a broad overview of the subject, and includes information based on the research conducted globally by scientists according to their local socio-cultural and economic situations.

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A new efficient 3D non-hydrostatic free-surface flow model for simulating water wave motions Abstract A new three-dimensional, non-hydrostatic free surface flow model is presented. For simulating water wave motions over uneven bottoms, the model employs an explicit project method on a Cartesian the staggered gird system to solve the complete three-dimensional NavierStokes equations. A bi-conjugated gradient method with a pre-conditioning procedure is used to solve the resulting matrix system. The model is capable of resolving non-hydrostatic pressure by incorporating the integral method of the top-layer pressure treatment, and predicting wave propagation and interaction over irregular bottom by

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including a partial bottom-cell treatment. Four examples of surface wave propagation are used to demonstrate the capability of the model. Using a small of vertical layers (e.g. 2 3 layers), it is shown that the model could effectively and accurately resolve wave shoaling, non-linearity, dispersion, fission, refraction, and diffraction phenomena.

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Review on thermal energy storage with phase change: materials, heat transfer analysis and applications Abstract Thermal energy storage in general, and phase change materials (PCMs) in particular, have been a main topic in research for the last 20 years, but although the information is quantitatively enormous, it is also spread widely in the literature, and difficult to find. In this work, a review has been carried out of the history of thermal energy storage with solid liquid phase change. Three aspects have been the focus of this review: materials, heat transfer and applications. The paper contains listed over 150 materials used in research as PCMs, and about 45 commercially available PCMs. The paper lists over 230 references.

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Scaffolds in tissue engineering bone and cartilage Abstract Musculoskeletal tissue, bone and cartilage are under extensive investigation in tissue engineering research. A number of biodegradable and bioresorbable materials, as well as scaffold designs, have been experimentally and/or clinically studied. Ideally, a scaffold should have the following characteristics: (i) three-dimensional and highly porous with an interconnected pore network for cell growth and flow transport of nutrients and metabolic waste; (ii) biocompatible and bioresorbable with a controllable degradation and resorption rate to match cell/tissue growth in vitro and/or in vivo; (iii) suitable surface chemistry for cell attachment, proliferation, and differentation and (iv) mechanical properties to match those of the tissues at the site of implantation. This paper reviews research on the tissue engineering of bone and cartilage from the polymeric scaffold point of view.

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Surface plasmon resonance sensors: review Abstract Since the first application of the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) phenomenon for sensing almost two decades ago, this method has made great strides both in terms of instrumentation development and applications. SPR sensor technology has been commercialized and SPR biosensors have become a central tool for characterizing and quantifying biomolecular interactions. This paper attempts to review the major developments in SPR technology. Main application areas are outlined and examples of applications of SPR sensor technology are presented. Future prospects of SPR sensor technology are discussed.

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Synthesis and surface engineering of iron oxide nanoparticles for biomedical applications Abstract: Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) with appropriate surface chemistry have been widely used experimentally for numerous in vivo applications such as magnetic resonance imaging contrast enhancement, tissue repair, immunoassay, detoxification of biological fluids, hyperthermia, drug delivery and in cell separation, etc. All these biomedical and bioengineering applications require that these nanoparticles have high magnetization values and size smaller than 100 nm with overall narrow particle size distribution, so that the particles have uniform physical and chemical properties. In addition, these applications need special surface coating of the magnetic particles, which has to be not only non-toxic and biocompatible but also allow a targetable delivery with particle localization in a specific area. To this end, most work in this field has been done in improving the biocompatibility of the materials, but only a few scientific investigations and developments have been carried out in improving the quality of magnetic particles, their size distribution, their shape and surface in addition to characterizing them to get a protocol for the quality control of these particles. Nature of surface coatings and their subsequent geometric arrangement on the nanoparticles determine not only the overall size of the colloid but also play a significant role in biokinetics and biodistribution of nanoparticles in the body. The types of specific coating, or derivatization, for these nanoparticles depend on the end application and should be chosen by keeping a particular application in mind, whether it be aimed at inflammation response or anti-cancer agents. Magnetic nanoparticles can bind to drugs, proteins, enzymes, antibodies, or nucleotides and can be directed to an organ, tissue, or tumour using an external magnetic field or can be heated in alternating magnetic fields for use in hyperthermia. This review discusses the synthetic chemistry, fluid stabilization and surface modification of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles, as well as their use for above biomedical applications.

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The Internet of Things: A survey Abstract This paper addresses the Internet of Things. Main enabling factor of this promising paradigm is the integration of several technologies and communications solutions. Identification and tracking technologies, wired and wireless sensor and actuator networks, enhanced communication protocols (shared with the Next Generation Internet), and distributed intelligence for smart objects are just the most relevant. As one can easily imagine, any serious contribution to the advance of the Internet of Things must necessarily be the result of synergetic activities conducted in different fields of knowledge, such as telecommunications, informatics, electronics and social science. In such a complex scenario, this survey is directed to those who want to approach this complex discipline and contribute to its development. Different visions of this Internet of Things paradigm are reported and enabling technologies reviewed. What emerges is that still major issues shall be faced by the research community. The most relevant among them are addressed in details.

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Data mining techniques and applications - A decade review from 2000 to 2011 Abstract In order to determine how data mining techniques (DMT) and their applications have developed, during the past decade, this paper reviews data mining techniques and their applications and development, through a survey of literature and the classification of articles, from 2000 to 2011. Keyword indices and article abstracts were used to identify 216 articles concerning DMT applications, from 159 academic journals (retrieved from five online databases), this paper surveys and classifies DMT, with respect to the following three areas: knowledge types, analysis types, and architecture types, together with their applications in different research and practical domains. A discussion deals with the direction of any future developments in DMT methodologies and applications: (1) DMT is finding increasing applications in expertise orientation and the development of applications for DMT is a problem-oriented domain. (2) It is suggested that different social science methodologies, such as psychology, cognitive science and human behavior might implement DMT, as an alternative to the methodologies already on offer. (3) The ability to continually change and acquire new understanding is a driving force for the application of DMT and this will allow many new future applications. Lean manufacturing: context, practice bundles, and performance Abstract Management literature has suggested that contextual factors may present strong inertial forces within organizations that inhibit

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implementations that appear technically rational [R.R. Nelson, S.G. Winter, An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1982]. This paper examines the effects of three contextual factors, plant size, plant age and unionization status, on the likelihood of implementing 22 manufacturing practices that are key facets of lean production systems. Further, we postulate four bundles of inter-related and internally consistent practices; these are justin-time (JIT), total quality management (TQM), total preventive maintenance (TPM), and human resource management (HRM). We empirically validate our bundles and investigate their effects on operational performance. The study sample uses data from IndustryWeeks Census of Manufacturers. The evidence provides strong support for the influence of plant size on lean implementation, whereas the influence of unionization and plant age is less pervasive than conventional wisdom suggests. The results also indicate that lean bundles contribute substantially to the operating performance of plants, and explain about 23% of the variation in operational performance after accounting for the effects of industry and contextual factors. 23 A review of solar collectors and thermal energy storage in solar thermal applications Abstract Thermal applications are drawing increasing attention in the solar energy research field, due to their high performance in energy storage density and energy conversion efficiency. In these applications, solar collectors and thermal energy storage systems are the two core components. This paper focuses on the latest developments and advances in solar thermal applications, providing a review of solar collectors and thermal energy storage systems. Various types of solar collectors are reviewed and discussed, including both non-concentrating collectors (low temperature applications) and concentrating collectors (high temperature applications). These are studied in terms of optical optimisation, heat loss reduction, heat recuperation enhancement and different sun-tracking mechanisms. Various types of thermal energy storage systems are also reviewed and discussed, including sensible heat storage, latent heat storage, chemical storage and cascaded storage. They are studied in terms of design criteria, material selection and different heat transfer enhancement technologies. Last but not least, existing and future solar power stations are overviewed. Wireless sensor network survey Abstract A wireless sensor network (WSN) has important applications such as remote environmental monitoring and target tracking. This has been enabled by the availability, particularly in recent years, of sensors that are smaller, cheaper, and intelligent. These sensors are equipped with wireless interfaces with which they can communicate with one another to form a network. The
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design of a WSN depends significantly on the application, and it must consider factors such as the environment, the applications design objectives, cost, hardware, and system constraints. The goal of our survey is to present a comprehensive review of the recent literature since the publication of [I.F. Akyildiz, W. Su, Y. Sankarasubramaniam, E. Cayirci, A survey on sensor networks, IEEE Communications Magazine, 2002]. Following a top-down approach, we give an overview of several new applications and then review the literature on various aspects of WSNs. We classify the problems into three different categories: (1) internal platform and underlying operating system, (2) communication protocol stack, and (3) network services, provisioning, and deployment. We review the major development in these three categories and outline new challenges. 25 Wireless sensor networks: a survey Abstract: This paper describes the concept of sensor networks which has been made viable by the convergence of micro-electromechanical systems technology, wireless communications and digital electronics. First, the sensing tasks and the potential sensor networks applications are explored, and a review of factors influencing the design of sensor networks is provided. Then, the communication architecture for sensor networks is outlined, and the algorithms and protocols developed for each layer in the literature are explored. Open research issues for the realization of sensor networks are also discussed.

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