Heterogeneous azeotropic distillation is a widely used technique to separate binary azeotropic mixtures into their components. One of its most important applications is the dehydration of ethanol, which is blended with gasoline to obtain automobile fuel. Among all the compounds…

Design and optimization of distillation columns for ethanol dehydration, using a hydrocarbon as entrainer, implies a good knowledge of vapor-liquid (VLE), liquid-liquid (LLE) and vapor-liquid-liquid equilibrium (VLLE). Chemical process simulation programs always require the use of a thermodynamic model that…

We study the effects of proximity in the interconnections between Internet providers participating at the three main Italian Internet Exchange Points. We find that geographical proximity plays a role in driving Internet Providers’ interconnection, positively affecting the likelihood of an…

Purpose – Faced with increasing environmental problems, traditional methods for transmitting information regarding corporate environmental actions are insufficient. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to suggest the environmental capital report, the knowledge map and the balanced scorecard as alternative…

Purpose – This study has a twofold purpose: to identify the competitive strategies and advantages of hotels located in the province of Alicante (Spain); and to inform hotel managers about how some key strategic variables (size, type of hotel management,…

Une préoccupation essentielle traverse cette thèse: l'indifférence systémique de la Loi internationale sur la propriété intellectuelle a l'égard des savoirs traditionnels autochtones. De manière générale, un écart semble d'ailleurs croissant entre l'importance des accords internationaux sur les questions d'intérêt commercial…

In this work we present a reactive autonomous robot navigation system based only on omnidirectional vision. It does not rely on any prior knowledge about the environment apart from assuming a structured one, like indoor corridors or outdoor avenues. The…

This paper presents a proposal for an architecture that integrates knowledge discovery systems (automatic acquisition) and knowledge based systems (experts systems). This work formulates considerations over the viability of the implementation of this architecture according to the advance of the…

Background: Operating Theatre Assistants (OTAs) deliver assistance in anaesthesia, surgery and recovery of patients. They require an adequate knowledge and competent clinical skills. In Sri Lanka this category of assistants does not receive any special training. Method: Operating theatre assistants…

This paper addresses the problem of contour line extraction from scanned topographic maps in poor condition. A novel method is developed, using knowledge of cartography and graphics to extract contours by removing other layers which overlay the contours, and reconstructing…