Search results for: Experimental Evaluation
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 5423

Search results for: Experimental Evaluation

2363 Power Optimization Techniques in FPGA Devices: A Combination of System- and Low-Levels

Authors: Pawel P. Czapski, Andrzej Sluzek

Abstract:

This paper presents preliminary results regarding system-level power awareness for FPGA implementations in wireless sensor networks. Re-configurability of field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) allows for significant flexibility in its applications to embedded systems. However, high power consumption in FPGA becomes a significant factor in design considerations. We present several ideas and their experimental verifications on how to optimize power consumption at high level of designing process while maintaining the same energy per operation (low-level methods can be used additionally). This paper demonstrates that it is possible to estimate feasible power consumption savings even at the high level of designing process. It is envisaged that our results can be also applied to other embedded systems applications, not limited to FPGA-based.

Keywords: Power optimization, FPGA, system-level designing, wireless sensor networks.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2213
2362 Function Approximation with Radial Basis Function Neural Networks via FIR Filter

Authors: Kyu Chul Lee, Sung Hyun Yoo, Choon Ki Ahn, Myo Taeg Lim

Abstract:

Recent experimental evidences have shown that because of a fast convergence and a nice accuracy, neural networks training via extended kalman filter (EKF) method is widely applied. However, as to an uncertainty of the system dynamics or modeling error, the performance of the method is unreliable. In order to overcome this problem in this paper, a new finite impulse response (FIR) filter based learning algorithm is proposed to train radial basis function neural networks (RBFN) for nonlinear function approximation. Compared to the EKF training method, the proposed FIR filter training method is more robust to those environmental conditions. Furthermore , the number of centers will be considered since it affects the performance of approximation.

Keywords: Extended kalmin filter (EKF), classification problem, radial basis function networks (RBFN), finite impulse response (FIR)filter.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2385
2361 Behaviour of Lightweight Expanded Clay Aggregate Concrete Exposed to High Temperatures

Authors: Lenka Bodnárová, Rudolf Hela, Michala Hubertová, Iveta Nováková

Abstract:

This paper is concerning the issues of behaviour of lightweight expanded clay aggregates concrete exposed to high temperature. Lightweight aggregates from expanded clay are produced by firing of row material up to temperature 1050°C. Lightweight aggregates have suitable properties in terms of volume stability, when exposed to temperatures up to 1050°C, which could indicate their suitability for construction applications with higher risk of fire. The test samples were exposed to heat by using the standard temperature-time curve ISO 834. Negative changes in resulting mechanical properties, such as compressive strength, tensile strength, and flexural strength were evaluated. Also visual evaluation of the specimen was performed. On specimen exposed to excessive heat, an explosive spalling could be observed, due to evaporation of considerable amount of unbounded water from the inner structure of the concrete.

Keywords: Expanded clay aggregate, explosive spalling, high temperature, lightweight concrete, temperature-time curve ISO 834.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3572
2360 Artificial Neural Network Models of the Ruminal pH in Holstein Steers

Authors: Alireza Vakili, Mohsen Danesh Mesgaran, Majid Abdollazade

Abstract:

In this study four Holstein steers with rumen fistula fed 7 kg of dry matter (DM) of diets differing in concentrate to alfalfa hay ratios as 60:40, 70:30, 80:20, and 90:10 in a 4 × 4 latin square design. The pH of the ruminal fluid was measured before the morning feeding (0.0 h) to 8 h post feeding. In this study, a two-layered feed-forward neural network trained by the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm was used for modelling of ruminal pH. The input variables of the network were time, concentrate to alfalfa hay ratios (C/F), non fiber carbohydrate (NFC) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF). The output variable was the ruminal pH. The modeling results showed that there was excellent agreement between the experimental data and predicted values, with a high determination coefficient (R2 >0.96). Therefore, we suggest using these model-derived biological values to summarize continuously recorded pH data.

Keywords: Ruminal pH, Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Non Fiber Carbohydrate, Neutral Detergent Fiber.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1505
2359 Short Term Tests on Performance Evaluation of Water-washed and Dry-washed Biodiesel from Used Cooking Oil

Authors: Shumani Ramuhaheli, Christopher C. Enweremadu, Hilary L. Rutto

Abstract:

In this study, biodiesel from used cooking oil was produced as purified by washing with water (water wash) and amberlite (dry wash). The work presents the results of short term tests on performance characteristics of diesel engine using both biodiesel-fuel samples. In this investigation, the water wash biodiesel and dry wash biodiesel and diesel were compared for performance using a four-cylinder diesel engine. The torque, brake power, specific fuel consumption and brake thermal efficiency were analyzed. The tests showed that in all cases, dry wash biodiesel performed marginally poorer compared to water wash biodiesel. Except for brake thermal efficiency, diesel fuel had better engine performance characteristics compared to the biodiesel-fuel samples. According to these results, dry washing of biodiesel has a marginal effect on engine performance.

Keywords: Biodiesel, engine performance, used cooking oil, water wash, dry wash.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2072
2358 Worker Behavior Interpretation for Flexible Production

Authors: Bastian Hartmann, Christoph Schauer, Norbert Link

Abstract:

This paper addresses the problem of recognizing and interpreting the behavior of human workers in industrial environments for the purpose of integrating humans in software controlled manufacturing environments. In this work we propose a generic concept in order to derive solutions for task-related manual production applications. Thus, we are able to use a versatile concept providing flexible components and being less restricted to a specific problem or application. We instantiate our concept in a spot welding scenario in which the behavior of a human worker is interpreted when performing a welding task with a hand welding gun. We acquire signals from inertial sensors, video cameras and triggers and recognize atomic actions by using pose data from a marker based video tracking system and movement data from inertial sensors. Recognized atomic actions are analyzed on a higher evaluation level by a finite state machine.

Keywords: activity recognition, task modeling, marker-based video-tracking, inertial sensors.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1720
2357 A New Biometric Human Identification Based On Fusion Fingerprints and Finger Veins Using monoLBP Descriptor

Authors: Alima Damak Masmoudi, Randa Boukhris Trabelsi, Dorra Sellami Masmoudi

Abstract:

Single biometric modality recognition is not able to meet the high performance supplies in most cases with its application become more and more broadly. Multimodal biometrics identification represents an emerging trend recently. This paper investigates a novel algorithm based on fusion of both fingerprint and fingervein biometrics. For both biometric recognition, we employ the Monogenic Local Binary Pattern (MonoLBP). This operator integrate the orginal LBP (Local Binary Pattern ) with both other rotation invariant measures: local phase and local surface type. Experimental results confirm that a weighted sum based proposed fusion achieves excellent identification performances opposite unimodal biometric systems. The AUC of proposed approach based on combining the two modalities has very close to unity (0.93).

Keywords: fingerprint, fingervein, LBP, MonoLBP, fusion, biometric trait.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2369
2356 Lateral Behavior of Concrete

Authors: Ali Khajeh Samani, Mario M. Attard

Abstract:

Lateral expansion is a factor defining the level of confinement in reinforced concrete columns. Therefore, predicting the lateral strain relationship with axial strain becomes an important issue. Measuring lateral strains in experiments is difficult and only few report experimental lateral strains. Among the existing analytical formulations, two recent models are compared with available test results in this paper with shortcomings highlighted. A new analytical model is proposed here for lateral strain axial strain relationship and is based on the supposition that the concrete behaves linear elastic in the early stages of loading and then nonlinear hardening up to the peak stress and then volumetric expansion. The proposal for the lateral strain axial strain relationship after the peak stress is mainly based on the hypothesis that the plastic lateral strain varies linearly with the plastic axial strain and it is shown that this is related to the lateral confinement level.

Keywords: Confined Concrete, Lateral Strain, Triaxial test, Postpeak behavior

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1981
2355 Suitability of Class F Flyash for Construction Industry: An Indian Scenario

Authors: M. N. Akhtar, J. N. Akhtar

Abstract:

The present study evaluates the properties of class F fly ash as a replacement of natural materials in civil engineering construction industry. The low-lime flash similar to class F is the prime variety generated in India, although it has significantly smaller volumes of high-lime fly ash as compared to class C. The chemical and physical characterization of the sample is carried out with the number of experimental approaches in order to investigate all relevant features present in the samples. For chemical analysis, elementary quantitative results from point analysis and scanning electron microscopy (SEM)/dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) techniques were used to identify the element images of different fractions. The physical properties found very close to the range of common soils. Furthermore, the fly ash-based bricks were prepared by the same sample of class F fly ash and the results of compressive strength similar to that of Standard Clay Brick Grade 1 available in the local market of India.

Keywords: Flyash, class F, class C, chemical, physical, SEM, EDS.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 827
2354 Viscosity of Vegetable Oils and Biodiesel and Energy Generation

Authors: Thiago de O. Macedo, Roberto G. Pereira, Juan M. Pardal, Alexandre S. Soares, Valdir deJ. Lameira

Abstract:

The present work describes an experimental investigation concerning the determination of viscosity behavior with shear rate and temperature of edible oils: canola; sunflower; corn; soybean and the no edible oil: Jatropha curcas. Besides these, it was tested a blend of canola, corn and sunflower oils as well as sunflower and soybean biodiesel. Based on experiments, it was obtained shear stress and viscosity at different shear rates of each sample at 40ºC, as well as viscosity of each sample at various temperatures in the range of 24 to 85ºC. Furthermore, it was compared the curves obtained for the viscosity versus temperature with the curves obtained by modeling the viscosity dependency on temperature using the Vogel equation. Also a test in a stationary engine was performed in order to study the energy generation using blends of soybean oil and soybean biodiesel with diesel.

Keywords: Biofuel, energy generation, vegetable oil, viscosity.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 9574
2353 An Adaptive Opportunistic Transmission for Unlicensed Spectrum Sharing in Heterogeneous Networks

Authors: Daehyoung Kim, Pervez Khan, Hoon Kim

Abstract:

Efficient utilization of spectrum resources is a fundamental issue of wireless communications due to its scarcity. To improve the efficiency of spectrum utilization, the spectrum sharing for unlicensed bands is being regarded as one of key technologies in the next generation wireless networks. A number of schemes such as Listen-Before-Talk(LBT) and carrier sensor adaptive transmission (CSAT) have been suggested from this aspect, but more efficient sharing schemes are required for improving spectrum utilization efficiency. This work considers an opportunistic transmission approach and a dynamic Contention Window (CW) adjustment scheme for LTE-U users sharing the unlicensed spectrum with Wi-Fi, in order to enhance the overall system throughput. The decision criteria for the dynamic adjustment of CW are based on the collision evaluation, derived from the collision probability of the system. The overall performance can be improved due to the adaptive adjustment of the CW. Simulation results show that our proposed scheme outperforms the Distributed Coordination Function (DCF) mechanism of IEEE 802.11 MAC.

Keywords: Spectrum sharing, adaptive opportunistic transmission, unlicensed bands, heterogeneous networks.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1358
2352 The Effect of the Thermal Temperature and Injected Current on Laser Diode 808 nm Output Power

Authors: Hassan H. Abuelhassan, M. Ali Badawi, Abdelrahman A. Elbadawi, Adam A. Elbashir

Abstract:

In this paper, the effect of the injected current and temperature into the output power of the laser diode module operating at 808nm were applied, studied and discussed. Low power diode laser was employed as a source. The experimental results were demonstrated and then the output power of laser diode module operating at 808nm was clearly changed by the thermal temperature and injected current. The output power increases by the increasing the injected current and temperature. We also showed that the increasing of the injected current results rising in heat, which also, results into decreasing of the laser diode output power during the highest temperature as well. The best ranges of characteristics made by diode module operating at 808nm were carefully handled and determined.

Keywords: Laser diode, light amplification, injected current, output power.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1803
2351 Effect of Conservation Agriculture on Maize Yield in the Transilvanian Plain, Romania

Authors: M.A.Grigoras, A.Popescu, D.Pamfil, I.Has, L.C.Cota

Abstract:

An experimental study is presented on the effect of Conservation Agriculture (CA) compared to Conventional Agriculture (ConvA) upon Maize Yield based on split-plot model. Two factors have been considered: A Factor-Fertilization with two variants: A1- N40P40 kg/ha and A2- N90P70 kg/ha; B Factor- Crop protection with 4 variants : B1- 4 treatments, B2-3 treatments, B3- 2 treatments and B4- 1 treatment. In comparison with conventional agriculture, CA determined lower maize yields. Fertilization is the key factor determining a yield gain of 973.58 kg/ha in ConvA and 1,123.33 kg/ha in CA. A reduced number of treatments determined a yield decline. The A-B interaction had a positive effect on maize yield when a larger amount of fertilizer and 4 or 3 treatments were applied in ConvA and a benefic in CA for highest fertilization level and 2 treatments. The B2A2 ConvA variant was the most efficient leading to 302.67 kg/ha gain while B3A2 CA variant brought 181.33 kg production gain.

Keywords: conservation agriculture, conventional agriculture, maize, yield

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2985
2350 Day/Night Detector for Vehicle Tracking in Traffic Monitoring Systems

Authors: M. Taha, Hala H. Zayed, T. Nazmy, M. Khalifa

Abstract:

Recently, traffic monitoring has attracted the attention of computer vision researchers. Many algorithms have been developed to detect and track moving vehicles. In fact, vehicle tracking in daytime and in nighttime cannot be approached with the same techniques, due to the extreme different illumination conditions. Consequently, traffic-monitoring systems are in need of having a component to differentiate between daytime and nighttime scenes. In this paper, a HSV-based day/night detector is proposed for traffic monitoring scenes. The detector employs the hue-histogram and the value-histogram on the top half of the image frame. Experimental results show that the extraction of the brightness features along with the color features within the top region of the image is effective for classifying traffic scenes. In addition, the detector achieves high precision and recall rates along with it is feasible for real time applications.

Keywords: Day/night detector, daytime/nighttime classification, image classification, vehicle tracking, traffic monitoring.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4475
2349 Sensing Characteristics to Acid Vapors of a TPPS Coated Fiber Optic: A Preliminary Analysis

Authors: A. Bahrampour, A. Iadicicco, G. De Luca, M. Giordano, A. Cutolo, L. Monsù Scolaro, A. Cusano

Abstract:

In this work we report on preliminary analysis of a novel optoelectronic gas sensor based on an optical fiber integrated with a tetrakis(4-sulfonatophenyl)porphyrin (TPPS) thin film. The sensitive materials are selectively deposited on the core region of a fiber tip by UV light induced deposition technique. A simple and cheap process which can be easily extended to different porphyrin derivatives. When the TPPS film on the fiber tip is exposed to acid and/or base vapors, dramatic changes occur in the aggregation structure of the dye molecules in the film, from J- to H-type, resulting in a profound modification of their corresponding reflectance spectra. From the achieved experimental results it is evident that the presence of intense and narrow band peaks in the reflected spectra could be monitored to detect hazardous vapors.

Keywords: Optical fiber sensor, Porphyrins, Thin films UV induced deposition, TPPS.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1513
2348 Power Transformer Risk-Based Maintenance by Optimization of Transformer Condition and Transformer Importance

Authors: Kitti Leangkrua

Abstract:

This paper presents a risk-based maintenance strategy of a power transformer in order to optimize operating and maintenance costs. The methodology involves the study and preparation of a database for the collection the technical data and test data of a power transformer. An evaluation of the overall condition of each transformer is performed by a program developed as a result of the measured results; in addition, the calculation of the main equipment separation to the overall condition of the transformer (% HI) and the criteria for evaluating the importance (% ImI) of each location where the transformer is installed. The condition assessment is performed by analysis test data such as electrical test, insulating oil test and visual inspection. The condition of the power transformer will be classified from very poor to very good condition. The importance is evaluated from load criticality, importance of load and failure consequence. The risk matrix is developed for evaluating the risk of each power transformer. The high risk power transformer will be focused firstly. The computerized program is developed for practical use, and the maintenance strategy of a power transformer can be effectively managed.

Keywords: Asset management, risk-based maintenance, power transformer, health index.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1338
2347 Evaluation of Bioactive Phenols in Blueberries from Different Cultivars

Authors: Christophe Gonçalves, Raquel P. F. Guiné, Daniela Teixeira, Fernando J. Gonçalves

Abstract:

Blueberries are widely valued for their high content in phenolic compounds with antioxidant activity, and hence beneficial for the human health. In this way, a study was done to determine the phenolic composition (total phenols, anthocyanins and tannins) and antioxidant activity of blueberries from three cultivars (Duke, Bluecrop, and Ozarkblue) grown in two different Portuguese farms. Initially two successive extractions were done with methanol followed by two extractions with aqueous acetone solutions. These extracts obtained were then used to evaluate the amount of phenolic compounds and the antioxidant activity. The total phenols were observed to vary from 4.9 to 8.2 mg GAE/g fresh weight, with anthocyanin’s contents in the range 1.5-2.8 mg EMv3G/g and tannins contents in the range 1.5- 3.8 mg/g. The results for antioxidant activity ranged from 9.3 to 23.2 molTE/g and from 24.7 to 53.4molTE/g, when measured, respectively, by DPPH and ABTS methods. In conclusion it was observed that, in general, the cultivar had a visible effect on the phenols present, and furthermore, the geographical origin showed relevance either in the phenols contents or the antioxidant activity.

Keywords: Anthocyanins, antioxidant activity, blueberry cultivar, geographical origin, phenolic compounds.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2523
2346 An Intelligent WSN-Based Parking Guidance System

Authors: Sheng-Shih Wang, Wei-Ting Wang

Abstract:

This paper designs an intelligent guidance system, based on wireless sensor networks, for efficient parking in parking lots. The proposed system consists of a parking space allocation subsystem, a parking space monitoring subsystem, a driving guidance subsystem, and a vehicle detection subsystem. In the system, we propose a novel and effective virtual coordinate system for sensing and displaying devices to determine the proper vacant parking space and provide the precise guidance to the driver. This study constructs a ZigBee-based wireless sensor network on Arduino platform and implements the prototype of the proposed system using Arduino-based complements. Experimental results confirm that the proposed prototype can not only work well, but also provide drivers the correct parking information.

Keywords: Arduino, Parking guidance, Wireless sensor network, ZigBee.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2169
2345 A Method to Predict Hemorrhage Disease of Grass Carp Tends

Authors: Zhongxu Chen, Jun Yang, Heyue Mao, Xiaoyu Zheng

Abstract:

Hemorrhage Disease of Grass Carp (HDGC) is a kind of commonly occurring illnesses in summer, and the extremely high death rate result in colossal losses to aquaculture. As the complex connections among each factor which influences aquiculture diseases, there-s no quit reasonable mathematical model to solve the problem at present.A BP neural network which with excellent nonlinear mapping coherence was adopted to establish mathematical model; Environmental factor, which can easily detected, such as breeding density, water temperature, pH and light intensity was set as the main analyzing object. 25 groups of experimental data were used for training and test, and the accuracy of using the model to predict the trend of HDGC was above 80%. It is demonstrated that BP neural network for predicating diseases in HDGC has a particularly objectivity and practicality, thus it can be spread to other aquiculture disease.

Keywords: Aquaculture, Hemorrhage Disease of Grass Carp, BP Neural Network

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1897
2344 Improvement of Monacolin K and Minimizing of Citrinin Content in Korkor 6 (RD 6) Red Yeast Rice

Authors: Em-on Chairote, Panatda Jannoey, Griangsak Chairote

Abstract:

A strain of Monascus purpureus CMU001 was used to prepare red yeast rice from Thai glutinous rice Korkor 6 (RD 6). Adding of different amounts of histidine (156, 312, 625 and 1250 mg in 100 g of rice grains)) under aerobic and air limitation (air-lock) condition were used in solid fermentation. Determination of the yield as well as monacolin K content was done. Citrinin content was also determined in order to confirm the safety use of prepared red yeast rice. It was found that under air-lock condition with 1250 mg of histidine addition gave the highest yield of 37.40 g of dried red yeast rice prepared from 100 g of rice. Highest 5.72 mg content of monacolin K was obtained under air-lock condition with 312 mg histidine addition. In the other hand, citrinin content was found to be less than 24462 ng/g of all dried red yeast rice samples under the experimental methods used in this work.

Keywords: Citrinin, Glutinous rice, Monacolin K, Red yeast rice.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2521
2343 Modeling and Simulating of Gas Turbine Cooled Blades

Authors: А. Pashayev, D. Askerov, R. Sadiqov, A. Samedov, C. Ardil

Abstract:

In contrast to existing methods which do not take into account multiconnectivity in a broad sense of this term, we develop mathematical models and highly effective combination (BIEM and FDM) numerical methods of calculation of stationary and quasistationary temperature field of a profile part of a blade with convective cooling (from the point of view of realization on PC). The theoretical substantiation of these methods is proved by appropriate theorems. For it, converging quadrature processes have been developed and the estimations of errors in the terms of A.Ziqmound continuity modules have been received. For visualization of profiles are used: the method of the least squares with automatic conjecture, device spline, smooth replenishment and neural nets. Boundary conditions of heat exchange are determined from the solution of the corresponding integral equations and empirical relationships. The reliability of designed methods is proved by calculation and experimental investigations heat and hydraulic characteristics of the gas turbine first stage nozzle blade.

Keywords: Modeling, Simulating, Gas Turbine, Cooled Blades.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1589
2342 Effect of Collector Aspect Ratio on the Thermal Performance of Wavy Finned Absorber Solar Air Heater

Authors: Abhishek Priyam, Prabha Chand

Abstract:

A theoretical investigation on the effect of collector aspect ratio on the thermal performance of wavy finned absorber solar air heaters has been performed. For the constant collector area, the various performance parameters have been calculated for plane and wavy finned solar air heaters. It has been found that the performance of wavy finned solar air heater improved with the increase in the collector aspect ratio. The performance of wavy finned solar air heater has been found 30 percent higher than those of plane solar air heater. The obtained results for wavy fin solar air heaters are compared with the available experimental data of most common type solar air heaters.

Keywords: Wavy fin, aspect ratio, solar air heater, thermal efficiency, collector efficiency factor, temperature rise.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1872
2341 Compressible Flow Modeling in Pipes and Porous Media during Blowdown Experiment

Authors: Thomas Paris, Vincent Bruyere, Patrick Namy

Abstract:

A numerical model is developed to simulate gas blowdowns through a thin tube and a filter (porous media), separating a high pressure gas filled reservoir to low pressure ones. Based on a previous work, a one-dimensional approach is developed by using the finite element method to solve the transient compressible flow and to predict the pressure and temperature evolution in space and time. Mass, momentum, and energy conservation equations are solved in a fully coupled way in the reservoirs, the pipes and the porous media. Numerical results, such as pressure and temperature evolutions, are firstly compared with experimental data to validate the model for different configurations. Couplings between porous media and pipe flow are then validated by checking mass balance. The influence of the porous media and the nature of the gas is then studied for different initial high pressure values.

Keywords: Fluid mechanics, compressible flow, heat transfer, porous media.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1118
2340 A Parameter-Tuning Framework for Metaheuristics Based on Design of Experiments and Artificial Neural Networks

Authors: Felix Dobslaw

Abstract:

In this paper, a framework for the simplification and standardization of metaheuristic related parameter-tuning by applying a four phase methodology, utilizing Design of Experiments and Artificial Neural Networks, is presented. Metaheuristics are multipurpose problem solvers that are utilized on computational optimization problems for which no efficient problem specific algorithm exist. Their successful application to concrete problems requires the finding of a good initial parameter setting, which is a tedious and time consuming task. Recent research reveals the lack of approach when it comes to this so called parameter-tuning process. In the majority of publications, researchers do have a weak motivation for their respective choices, if any. Because initial parameter settings have a significant impact on the solutions quality, this course of action could lead to suboptimal experimental results, and thereby a fraudulent basis for the drawing of conclusions.

Keywords: Parameter-Tuning, Metaheuristics, Design of Experiments, Artificial Neural Networks.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1747
2339 Objective Performance of Compressed Image Quality Assessments

Authors: Ratchakit Sakuldee, Somkait Udomhunsakul

Abstract:

Measurement of the quality of image compression is important for image processing application. In this paper, we propose an objective image quality assessment to measure the quality of gray scale compressed image, which is correlation well with subjective quality measurement (MOS) and least time taken. The new objective image quality measurement is developed from a few fundamental of objective measurements to evaluate the compressed image quality based on JPEG and JPEG2000. The reliability between each fundamental objective measurement and subjective measurement (MOS) is found. From the experimental results, we found that the Maximum Difference measurement (MD) and a new proposed measurement, Structural Content Laplacian Mean Square Error (SCLMSE), are the suitable measurements that can be used to evaluate the quality of JPEG200 and JPEG compressed image, respectively. In addition, MD and SCLMSE measurements are scaled to make them equivalent to MOS, given the rate of compressed image quality from 1 to 5 (unacceptable to excellent quality).

Keywords: JPEG, JPEG2000, objective image quality measurement, subjective image quality measurement, correlation coefficients.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2167
2338 Folksonomy-based Recommender Systems with User-s Recent Preferences

Authors: Cheng-Lung Huang, Han-Yu Chien, Michael Conyette

Abstract:

Social bookmarking is an environment in which the user gradually changes interests over time so that the tag data associated with the current temporal period is usually more important than tag data temporally far from the current period. This implies that in the social tagging system, the newly tagged items by the user are more relevant than older items. This study proposes a novel recommender system that considers the users- recent tag preferences. The proposed system includes the following stages: grouping similar users into clusters using an E-M clustering algorithm, finding similar resources based on the user-s bookmarks, and recommending the top-N items to the target user. The study examines the system-s information retrieval performance using a dataset from del.icio.us, which is a famous social bookmarking web site. Experimental results show that the proposed system is better and more effective than traditional approaches.

Keywords: Recommender systems, Social bookmarking, Tag

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1387
2337 Investigation on Some Ergonomics and Psychological Strains of Common Militarism Protective Clothing

Authors: A. Ashjaran, A. Rashidi, R. Ghazi-Saeidi

Abstract:

Protective clothing limits heat transfer and hampers task performance due to the increased weight. Militarism protective clothing enables humans to operate in adverse environments. In the selection and evaluation of militarism protective clothing attention should be given to heat strain, ergonomic and fit issues next to the actual protection it offers. Fifty Male healthy subjects participated in the study. The subjects were dressed in shorts, T-shirts, socks, sneakers and four deferent kinds of militarism protective clothing such as CS, CSB, CS with NBC protection and CS with NBC- protection added. Ergonomically and psychological strains of every four cloths were investigated on subjects by walking on a treadmill (7km/hour) with a 19.7 kg backpack. As a result of these tests were showed that, the highest heart rate was found wearing the NBC-protection added outfit, the highest temperatures were observed wearing NBCprotection added, followed by respectively CS with NBC protection, CSB and CS and the highest value for thermal comfort (implying worst thermal comfort) was observed wearing NBC-protection added.

Keywords: Militarist protective clothing, Ergonomic, Heat strain, Thermal comfort

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1629
2336 Voice Disorders Identification Using Hybrid Approach: Wavelet Analysis and Multilayer Neural Networks

Authors: L. Salhi, M. Talbi, A. Cherif

Abstract:

This paper presents a new strategy of identification and classification of pathological voices using the hybrid method based on wavelet transform and neural networks. After speech acquisition from a patient, the speech signal is analysed in order to extract the acoustic parameters such as the pitch, the formants, Jitter, and shimmer. Obtained results will be compared to those normal and standard values thanks to a programmable database. Sounds are collected from normal people and patients, and then classified into two different categories. Speech data base is consists of several pathological and normal voices collected from the national hospital “Rabta-Tunis". Speech processing algorithm is conducted in a supervised mode for discrimination of normal and pathology voices and then for classification between neural and vocal pathologies (Parkinson, Alzheimer, laryngeal, dyslexia...). Several simulation results will be presented in function of the disease and will be compared with the clinical diagnosis in order to have an objective evaluation of the developed tool.

Keywords: Formants, Neural Networks, Pathological Voices, Pitch, Wavelet Transform.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2823
2335 Artificial Accelerated Ageing Test of Silicone Rubber Housing Material for Lightning Arrester

Authors: W. Payakcho, J. Grasaesom, S. Thong-om, B. Marungsri

Abstract:

This paper presents the experimental results of silicone rubber housing material for 24kV lightning arrester under artificial accelerated ageing test based on IEC 61109 specifications. Specimens having inclined and alternated shed made of HTV silicone rubber with ATH content and having leakage distance 625 mm were tested continuously 1000 hrs in artificial salt fog chamber. After 1000 hrs of salt fog ageing test, obviously surface erosion was observed on trunk between the upper large shed and the lower small shed near the energized end. Decreasing in hydrophobicity and increasing in hardness were measured on tested specimen comparing with new specimen. Chemical analysis by ATR-FTIR confirmed the observation results.

Keywords: Accelerated ageing test, Silicone rubber housing material, salt fog test, Lightning Arrester, Ageing

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2933
2334 An Improved Approach for Hybrid Rocket Injection System Design

Authors: M. Invigorito, G. Elia, M. Panelli

Abstract:

Hybrid propulsion combines beneficial properties of both solid and liquid rockets, such as multiple restarts, throttability as well as simplicity and reduced costs. A nitrous oxide (N2O)/paraffin-based hybrid rocket engine demonstrator is currently under development at the Italian Aerospace Research Center (CIRA) within the national research program HYPROB, funded by the Italian Ministry of Research. Nitrous oxide belongs to the class of self-pressurizing propellants that exhibit a high vapor pressure at standard ambient temperature. This peculiar feature makes those fluids very attractive for space rocket applications because it avoids the use of complex pressurization systems, leading to great benefits in terms of weight savings and reliability. To avoid feed-system-coupled instabilities, the phase change is required to occur through the injectors. In this regard, the oxidizer is stored in liquid condition while target chamber pressures are designed to lie below vapor pressure. The consequent cavitation and flash vaporization constitute a remarkably complex phenomenology that arises great modelling challenges. Thus, it is clear that the design of the injection system is fundamental for the full exploitation of hybrid rocket engine throttability. The Analytical Hierarchy Process has been used to select the injection architecture as best compromise among different design criteria such as functionality, technology innovation and cost. The impossibility to use engineering simplified relations for the dimensioning of the injectors led to the needs of applying a numerical approach based on OpenFOAM®. The numerical tool has been validated with selected experimental data from literature. Quantitative, as well as qualitative comparisons are performed in terms of mass flow rate and pressure drop across the injector for several operating conditions. The results show satisfactory agreement with the experimental data. Modeling assumptions, together with their impact on numerical predictions are discussed in the paper. Once assessed the reliability of the numerical tool, the injection plate has been designed and sized to guarantee the required amount of oxidizer in the combustion chamber and therefore to assure high combustion efficiency. To this purpose, the plate has been designed with multiple injectors whose number and diameter have been selected in order to reach the requested mass flow rate for the two operating conditions of maximum and minimum thrust. The overall design has been finally verified through three-dimensional computations in cavitating non-reacting conditions and it has been verified that the proposed design solution is able to guarantee the requested values of mass flow rates.

Keywords: Hybrid rocket, injection system design, OpenFOAM®, cavitation

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2615