Search results for: Active steering assistance.
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 1128

Search results for: Active steering assistance.

798 Voltage Stability Investigation of Grid Connected Wind Farm

Authors: Trinh Trong Chuong

Abstract:

At present, it is very common to find renewable energy resources, especially wind power, connected to distribution systems. The impact of this wind power on voltage distribution levels has been addressed in the literature. The majority of this works deals with the determination of the maximum active and reactive power that is possible to be connected on a system load bus, until the voltage at that bus reaches the voltage collapse point. It is done by the traditional methods of PV curves reported in many references. Theoretical expression of maximum power limited by voltage stability transfer through a grid is formulated using an exact representation of distribution line with ABCD parameters. The expression is used to plot PV curves at various power factors of a radial system. Limited values of reactive power can be obtained. This paper presents a method to study the relationship between the active power and voltage (PV) at the load bus to identify the voltage stability limit. It is a foundation to build a permitted working operation region in complying with the voltage stability limit at the point of common coupling (PCC) connected wind farm.

Keywords: Wind generator, Voltage stability, grid connected

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797 An Evaluation of Requirements Management and Traceability Tools

Authors: Muhammad Shahid, Suhaimi Ibrahim, Mohd Naz'ri Mahrin

Abstract:

Requirements management is critical to software delivery success and project lifecycle. Requirements management and their traceability provide assistance for many software engineering activities like impact analysis, coverage analysis, requirements validation and regression testing. In addition requirements traceability is the recognized component of many software process improvement initiatives. Requirements traceability also helps to control and manage evolution of a software system. This paper aims to provide an evaluation of current requirements management and traceability tools. Management and test managers require an appropriate tool for the software under test. We hope, evaluation identified here will help to select the efficient and effective tool.

Keywords: Requirements Traceability, Requirements TraceabilityTools; Requirements Management, Requirement Engineering

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796 Passenger Seat Vibration Control of Quarter Car System with MR Shock Absorber

Authors: Devdutt, M. L. Aggarwal

Abstract:

Semi-active Fuzzy control of quarter car system having three degrees of freedom and assembled with magneto-rheological (MR) shock absorber is studied in present paper. First, experimental work was performed on an MR shock absorber under different excitation conditions to obtain force-displacement and force-velocity curves. Then, for the application of experimental data in semi-active quarter car system, a polynomial model was selected. Finally, Fuzzy logic controller was designed having the combination of Forward fuzzy controller and Inverse fuzzy controller for integration in secondary suspension system of concerned model. The proposed controlled quarter car model was compared with uncontrolled system using simulation work under bump type of road excitation. Results obtained by simulation work shows the effectiveness of fuzzy controlled suspension system in improving the ride comfort and safety of travelling passengers compared to uncontrolled suspension system.

Keywords: MR shock absorber, three degrees of freedom, quarter car model, fuzzy controller.

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795 Quasi Multi-Pulse Back-to-Back Static Synchronous Compensator Employing Line Frequency Switching 2-Level GTO Inverters

Authors: A.M. Vural, K.C. Bayindir

Abstract:

Back-to-back static synchronous compensator (BtBSTATCOM) consists of two back-to-back voltage-source converters (VSC) with a common DC link in a substation. This configuration extends the capabilities of conventional STATCOM that bidirectional active power transfer from one bus to another is possible. In this paper, VSCs are designed in quasi multi-pulse form in which GTOs are triggered only once per cycle in PSCAD/EMTDC. The design details of VSCs as well as gate switching circuits and controllers are fully represented. Regulation modes of BtBSTATCOM are verified and tested on a multi-machine power system through different simulation cases. The results presented in the form of typical time responses show that practical PI controllers are almost robust and stable in case of start-up, set-point change, and line faults.

Keywords: Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS), Backto-Back Static Synchronous Compensator (BtB-STATCOM), quasi multi-pulse voltage source converter, active power transfer; voltage control.

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794 iPAD as a Communication Tool for Disabled Seniors: A Case Study

Authors: Vojtěch Gybas, Libor Klubal, Kateřina Kostolányová

Abstract:

This case study responds to the current trends in ICT. Mobile Touch iPads can provide very good assistance to disabled seniors. The intuitive tablet environment, the possibility of the formation environment and its portability, has a very positive effect on the use of particular communication. For comparison, using a conventional PC/notebook, word processor, keyboard and computer mouse compared to the iPad and selected applications. The results of this case study show that the use of mobile touch devices iPad for seniors with mental retardation is a great benefit. These devices do not require high demands on graphomotorics like a standard PC devices.

Keywords: ICT, iPad, handicapped seniors, communication, computer, notebook, applications, text editor.

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793 Numerical Studies on Thrust Vectoring Using Shock Induced Supersonic Secondary Jet

Authors: Jerin John, Subanesh Shyam R., Aravind Kumar T. R., Naveen N., Vignesh R., Krishna Ganesh B, Sanal Kumar V. R.

Abstract:

Numerical studies have been carried out using a validated two-dimensional RNG k-epsilon turbulence model for the design optimization of a thrust vector control system using shock induced supersonic secondary jet. Parametric analytical studies have been carried out with various secondary jets at different divergent locations, jet interaction angles, jet pressures. The results from the parametric studies of the case on hand reveal that the primary nozzle with a small divergence angle, downstream injections with a distance of 2.5 times the primary nozzle throat diameter from the primary nozzle throat location warrant higher efficiency over a certain range of jet pressures and jet angles. We observed that the supersonic secondary jet opposing the core flow with jets interaction angle of 40o to the axis far downstream of the nozzle throat facilitates better thrust vectoring than the secondary jet with same direction as that of core flow with various interaction angles. We concluded that fixing of the supersonic secondary jet nozzle pointing towards the throat direction with suitable angle at a distance 2 to 4 times of the primary nozzle throat diameter, as the case may be, from the primary nozzle throat location could facilitate better thrust vectoring for the supersonic aerospace vehicles.

Keywords: Fluidic thrust vectoring, rocket steering, supersonic secondary jet location, TVC in spacecraft.

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792 Islam in Kazakhstan: Modern Trends and Stages of Development

Authors: B. Moldakhmet, G. Nassimova, A. Balapanova, А. Asan

Abstract:

According to the majority and to stereotypes in a simple everyman religious processes in the world in general, and Kazakhstan in particular, have only negative trends. The main reason for the author's opinion is seen in the fact that the media in the pursuit of ratings and sensation, more inclined to highlight the negative aspects of events in the country and the world of processes forgetting or casually mentioning the positive initiatives and achievements. That is why the article is mainly revealed positive trends in mind that the problems of fanaticism, terrorism and the confrontation of society on various issues, a lot has been written and detailed. This article describes the stages in the development of relations between religion and state, as well as institutionalization, networking and assistance in the correct orientation of religious activities in the country.

Keywords: Islam, Kazakhstan, Organization of Islamic Cooperation, religious activities

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791 Detailed Mapping of Pyroclastic Flow Deposits by SAR Data Processing for an Active Volcano in the Torrid Zone

Authors: Asep Saepuloh, Katsuaki Koike

Abstract:

Field mapping activity for an active volcano mainly in the Torrid Zone is usually hampered by several problems such as steep terrain and bad atmosphere conditions. In this paper we present a simple solution for such problem by a combination Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and geostatistical methods. By this combination, we could reduce the speckle effect from the SAR data and then estimate roughness distribution of the pyroclastic flow deposits. The main purpose of this study is to detect spatial distribution of new pyroclastic flow deposits termed as P-zone accurately using the β°data from two RADARSAT-1 SAR level-0 data. Single scene of Hyperion data and field observation were used for cross-validation of the SAR results. Mt. Merapi in central Java, Indonesia, was chosen as a study site and the eruptions in May-June 2006 were examined. The P-zones were found in the western and southern flanks. The area size and the longest flow distance were calculated as 2.3 km2 and 6.8 km, respectively. The grain size variation of the P-zone was mapped in detail from fine to coarse deposits regarding the C-band wavelength of 5.6 cm.

Keywords: Geostatistical Method, Mt. Merapi, Pyroclastic, RADARSAT-1.

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790 Ride Control of Passenger Cars with Semi-active Suspension System Using a Linear Quadratic Regulator and Hybrid Optimization Algorithm

Authors: Ali Fellah Jahromi, Wen Fang Xie, Rama B. Bhat

Abstract:

A semi-active control strategy for suspension systems of passenger cars is presented employing Magnetorheological (MR) dampers. The vehicle is modeled with seven DOFs including the, roll pitch and bounce of car body, and the vertical motion of the four tires. In order to design an optimal controller based on the actuator constraints, a Linear-Quadratic Regulator (LQR) is designed. The design procedure of the LQR consists of selecting two weighting matrices to minimize the energy of the control system. This paper presents a hybrid optimization procedure which is a combination of gradient-based and evolutionary algorithms to choose the weighting matrices with regards to the actuator constraint. The optimization algorithm is defined based on maximum comfort and actuator constraints. It is noted that utilizing the present control algorithm may significantly reduce the vibration response of the passenger car, thus, providing a comfortable ride.

Keywords: Full car model, Linear Quadratic Regulator, Sequential Quadratic Programming, Genetic Algorithm

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789 Kaolin for Production of Souvenirs

Authors: Ruedee Niyomrath

Abstract:

Ranong province has the best kaolin, and it is the most useful of all the clay types used in ceramic making. Until recently, there has been only one community business making ceramics in Ranong province. And this business could not build the mix of body and glaze from their raw material without assistance. Considering these problems, this research is aimed to test the composition of ceramic body and glaze which suit. Kaolin from Ranong is the raw material which these search focuses on. All other raw materials use in the investigation will come from southern Thailand, kaolin and limestone from Ranong province, ball clay from Surat Thani province, white sand from Songkhla province, and feldspar from Nakhon Si Thammarat province. Results can be used to develop the efficiency of industrial production which in return will enhance the business process.

Keywords: Ceramic body and glaze, Ceramic material, Ceramic production from kaolin, Ceramic souvenirs.

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788 Hazards Assessment of Radon Exhalation Rate and Radium Content in the Soil Samples in Iraqi Kurdistan Using Passive and Active Detecting Methods

Authors: Asaad H. Ismail, Mohamad S. Jaafar

Abstract:

This study aims to assess the environmental hazards from radon exhalation rate in the soil samples in selected locations in Iraqi Kurdistan, using passive (CR-39NTDs) and active (RAD7) detecting method. Radon concentration, effective radium content and radon exhalation rate were estimated in soil samples that collected at the depth level of 30 cm inside 124 houses. The results show that the emanation rate for radon gas was variation from location to other, depending on the geological formation. Most health risks come from emanation of radon and its daughter due to its contribution for indoor radon, so the results showed that there is a linear relationship between the ratio of soil and indoor radon concentration (CSoil Rn222/ Cindoor Rn222) and the effective radium content in soil samples. The results show that radon concentration has high and low values in Hajyawa city and Er. Tyrawa Qr, respectively. A comparison between our results with that mentioned in international reports was done.

Keywords: Radon, CR-39NTDs, RAD7, Soil, Iraqi Kurdistan.

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787 A Novel Prostate Segmentation Algorithm in TRUS Images

Authors: Ali Rafiee, Ahad Salimi, Ali Reza Roosta

Abstract:

Prostate cancer is one of the most frequent cancers in men and is a major cause of mortality in the most of countries. In many diagnostic and treatment procedures for prostate disease accurate detection of prostate boundaries in transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) images is required. This is a challenging and difficult task due to weak prostate boundaries, speckle noise and the short range of gray levels. In this paper a novel method for automatic prostate segmentation in TRUS images is presented. This method involves preprocessing (edge preserving noise reduction and smoothing) and prostate segmentation. The speckle reduction has been achieved by using stick filter and top-hat transform has been implemented for smoothing. A feed forward neural network and local binary pattern together have been use to find a point inside prostate object. Finally the boundary of prostate is extracted by the inside point and an active contour algorithm. A numbers of experiments are conducted to validate this method and results showed that this new algorithm extracted the prostate boundary with MSE less than 4.6% relative to boundary provided manually by physicians.

Keywords: Prostate segmentation, stick filter, neural network, active contour.

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786 The Role of Chemokine Family, CXCL-10 Urine as a Marker Diagnosis of Active Lung Tuberculosis in HIV/AIDS Patients

Authors: Dwitya Elvira, Raveinal Masri, Rohayat Bilmahdi

Abstract:

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) pandemic increased significantly worldwide. The rise in cases of HIV/AIDS was also followed by an increase in the incidence of opportunistic infection, with tuberculosis being the most opportunistic infection found in HIV/AIDS and the main cause of mortality in HIV/AIDS patients. Diagnosis of tuberculosis in HIV/AIDS patients is often difficult because of the uncommon symptom in HIV/AIDS patients compared to those without the disease. Thus, diagnostic tools are required that are more effective and efficient to diagnose tuberculosis in HIV/AIDS. CXCL-10/IP-10 is a chemokine that binds to the CXCR3 receptor found in HIV/AIDS patients with a weakened immune system. Tuberculosis infection in HIV/AIDS activates chemokine IP-10 in urine, which is used as a marker for diagnosis of infection. The aim of this study was to prove whether IP-10 urine can be a biomarker diagnosis of active lung tuberculosis in HIV-AIDS patients. Design of this study is a cross sectional study involving HIV/AIDS patients with lung tuberculosis as the subject of this study. Forty-seven HIV/AIDS patients with tuberculosis based on clinical and biochemical laboratory were asked to collect urine samples and IP-10/CXCL-10 urine being measured using ELISA method with 18 healthy human urine samples as control. Forty-seven patients diagnosed as HIV/AIDS were included as a subject of this study. HIV/AIDS were more common in male than in women with the percentage in male 85.1% vs. 14.5% of women. In this study, most diagnosed patients were aged 31-40 years old, followed by those 21-30 years, and > 40 years old, with one case diagnosed at age less than 20 years of age. From the result of the urine IP-10 using ELISA method, there was significant increase of the mean value of IP-10 urine in patients with TB-HIV/AIDS co-infection compared to the healthy control with mean 61.05 pg/mL ± 78.01 pg/mL vs. mean 17.2 pg/mL. Based on this research, there was significant increase of urine IP-10/CXCL-10 in active lung tuberculosis with HIV/AIDS compared to the healthy control. From this finding, it is necessary to conduct further research into whether urine IP-10/CXCL-10 plays a significant role in TB-HIV/AIDS co-infection, which can also be used as a biomarker in the early diagnosis of TB-HIV.

Keywords: Chemokine, IP-10 urine, HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis.

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785 Modeling, Analysis and Control of a Smart Composite Structure

Authors: Nader H. Ghareeb, Mohamed S. Gaith, Sayed M. Soleimani

Abstract:

In modern engineering, weight optimization has a priority during the design of structures. However, optimizing the weight can result in lower stiffness and less internal damping, causing the structure to become excessively prone to vibration. To overcome this problem, active or smart materials are implemented. The coupled electromechanical properties of smart materials, used in the form of piezoelectric ceramics in this work, make these materials well-suited for being implemented as distributed sensors and actuators to control the structural response. The smart structure proposed in this paper is composed of a cantilevered steel beam, an adhesive or bonding layer, and a piezoelectric actuator. The static deflection of the structure is derived as function of the piezoelectric voltage, and the outcome is compared to theoretical and experimental results from literature. The relation between the voltage and the piezoelectric moment at both ends of the actuator is also investigated and a reduced finite element model of the smart structure is created and verified. Finally, a linear controller is implemented and its ability to attenuate the vibration due to the first natural frequency is demonstrated.

Keywords: Active linear control, Lyapunov stability theorem, piezoelectricity, smart structure, static deflection.

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784 Investigations of Free-to-Roll Motions and its Active Control under Pitch-up Maneuvers

Authors: Tanveer A. Khan, Xue Y. Deng, Yan K. Wang, Xu Si-Wen

Abstract:

Experiments have been carried out at sub-critical Reynolds number to investigate free-to-roll motions induced by forebody and/or wings complex flow on a 30° swept back nonslender wings-slender body-model for static and dynamic (pitch-up) cases. For the dynamic (pitch-up) case it has been observed that roll amplitude decreases and lag increases with increase in pitching speed. Decrease in roll amplitude with increase in pitch rate is attributed to low disturbing rolling moment due to weaker interaction between forebody and wing flow components. Asymmetric forebody vortices dominate and control the roll motion of the model in dynamic case when non-dimensional pitch rate ≥ 1x10-2. Effectiveness of the active control scheme utilizing rotating nose with artificial tip perturbation is observed to be low in the angle of attack region where the complex flow over the wings has contributions from both forebody and wings.

Keywords: Artificial Tip Perturbation, ExperimentalInvestigations, Forebody Asymmetric Vortices, Non-slender Wings-Body Model, Wing Rock

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783 Vehicle Position Estimation for Driver Assistance System

Authors: Hyun-Koo Kim, Sangmoon Lee, Ho-Youl Jung, Ju H. Park

Abstract:

We present a system that finds road boundaries and constructs the virtual lane based on fusion data from a laser and a monocular sensor, and detects forward vehicle position even in no lane markers or bad environmental conditions. When the road environment is dark or a lot of vehicles are parked on the both sides of the road, it is difficult to detect lane and road boundary. For this reason we use fusion of laser and vision sensor to extract road boundary to acquire three dimensional data. We use parabolic road model to calculate road boundaries which is based on vehicle and sensors state parameters and construct virtual lane. And then we distinguish vehicle position in each lane.

Keywords: Vehicle Detection, Adaboost, Haar-like Feature, Road Boundary Detection

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782 The Mentoring in Professional Development of University Teachers

Authors: Nagore Guerra Bilbao, Clemente Lobato Fraile

Abstract:

Mentoring is provided by professionals with a higher level of experience and competence as part of the professional development of a university faculty. This paper explores the characteristics of the mentoring provided by those teachers participating in the development of an active methodology program run at the University of the Basque Country: to examine and to analyze mentors’ performance with the aim of providing empirical evidence regarding its value as a lifelong learning strategy for teaching staff. A total of 183 teachers were trained during the first three programs. The analysis method uses a coding technique and is based on flexible, systematic guidelines for gathering and analyzing qualitative data. The results have confirmed the conception of mentoring as a methodological innovation in higher education. In short, university teachers in general assessed the mentoring they received positively, considering it to be a valid, useful strategy in their professional development. They highlighted the methodological expertise of their mentor and underscored how they monitored the learning process of the active method and provided guidance and advice when necessary. Finally, they also drew attention to traits such as availability, personal commitment and flexibility in. However, a minority critique is pointed to some aspects of the performance of some mentors.

Keywords: Higher education, Mentoring, Professional development, University teachers.

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781 A New Approach for Mobile Agent Security

Authors: R. Haghighat far, H. Yarahmadi

Abstract:

A mobile agent is a software which performs an action autonomously and independently as a person or an organizations assistance. Mobile agents are used for searching information, retrieval information, filtering, intruder recognition in networks, and so on. One of the important issues of mobile agent is their security. It must consider different security issues in effective and secured usage of mobile agent. One of those issues is the integrity-s protection of mobile agents. In this paper, the advantages and disadvantages of each method, after reviewing the existing methods, is examined. Regarding to this matter that each method has its own advantage or disadvantage, it seems that by combining these methods, one can reach to a better method for protecting the integrity of mobile agents. Therefore, this method is provided in this paper and then is evaluated in terms of existing method. Finally, this method is simulated and its results are the sign of improving the possibility of integrity-s protection of mobile agents.

Keywords: Integrity, Mobile Agent, Security.

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780 Cluster Based Energy Efficient and Fault Tolerant n-Coverage in Wireless Sensor Network

Authors: D. Satish Kumar, N. Nagarajan

Abstract:

Coverage conservation and extend the network lifetime are the primary issues in wireless sensor networks. Due to the large variety of applications, coverage is focus to a wide range of interpretations. The applications necessitate that each point in the area is observed by only one sensor while other applications may require that each point is enclosed by at least sensors (n>1) to achieve fault tolerance. Sensor scheduling activities in existing Transparent and non- Transparent relay modes (T-NT) Mobile Multi-Hop relay networks fails to guarantee area coverage with minimal energy consumption and fault tolerance. To overcome these issues, Cluster based Energy Competent n- coverage scheme called (CEC n-coverage scheme) to ensure the full coverage of a monitored area while saving energy. CEC n-coverage scheme uses a novel sensor scheduling scheme based on the n-density and the remaining energy of each sensor to determine the state of all the deployed sensors to be either active or sleep as well as the state durations. Hence, it is attractive to trigger a minimum number of sensors that are able to ensure coverage area and turn off some redundant sensors to save energy and therefore extend network lifetime. In addition, decisive a smallest amount of active sensors based on the degree coverage required and its level. A variety of numerical parameters are computed using ns2 simulator on existing (T-NT) Mobile Multi-Hop relay networks and CEC n-coverage scheme. Simulation results showed that CEC n-coverage scheme in wireless sensor network provides better performance in terms of the energy efficiency, 6.61% reduced fault tolerant in terms of seconds and the percentage of active sensors to guarantee the area coverage compared to exiting algorithm.

Keywords: Wireless Sensor network, Mobile Multi-Hop relay networks, n-coverage, Cluster based Energy Competent, Transparent and non- Transparent relay modes, Fault Tolerant, sensor scheduling.

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779 Environmental and Toxicological Impacts of Glyphosate with Its Formulating Adjuvant

Authors: I. Székács, Á. Fejes, S. Klátyik, E. Takács, D. Patkó, J. Pomóthy, M. Mörtl, R. Horváth, E. Madarász, B. Darvas, A. Székács

Abstract:

Environmental and toxicological characteristics of formulated pesticides may substantially differ from those of their active ingredients or other components alone. This phenomenon is demonstrated in the case of the herbicide active ingredient glyphosate. Due to its extensive application, this active ingredient was found in surface and ground water samples collected in Békés County, Hungary, in the concentration range of 0.54–0.98 ng/ml. The occurrence of glyphosate appeared to be somewhat higher at areas under intensive agriculture, industrial activities and public road services, but the compound was detected at areas under organic (ecological) farming or natural grasslands, indicating environmental mobility. Increased toxicity of the formulated herbicide product Roundup compared to that of glyphosate was observed on the indicator aquatic organism Daphnia magna Straus. Acute LC50 values of Roundup and its formulating adjuvant polyethoxylated tallowamine (POEA) exceeded 20 and 3.1 mg/ml, respectively, while that of glyphosate (as isopropyl salt) was found to be substantially lower (690-900 mg/ml) showing good agreement with literature data. Cytotoxicity of Roundup, POEA and glyphosate has been determined on the neuroectodermal cell line, NE-4C measured both by cell viability test and holographic microscopy. Acute toxicity (LC50) of Roundup, POEA and glyphosate on NE-4C cells was found to be 0.013±0.002%, 0.017±0.009% and 6.46±2.25%, respectively (in equivalents of diluted Roundup solution), corresponding to 0.022±0.003 and 53.1±18.5 mg/ml for POEA and glyphosate, respectively, indicating no statistical difference between Roundup and POEA and 2.5 orders of magnitude difference between these and glyphosate. The same order of cellular toxicity seen in average cell area has been indicated under quantitative cell visualization. The results indicate that toxicity of the formulated herbicide is caused by the formulating agent, but in some parameters toxicological synergy occurs between POEA and glyphosate.

Keywords: Glyphosate, polyethoxylated tallowamine, Roundup, combined aquatic and cellular toxicity, synergy.

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778 Analysis of the Key Indicators of Sustainable Tourism: A Case Study in Lagoa da Confusão, Brazil

Authors: Veruska C. Dutra, Lucio F. M. Adorno, Mary L. G. S. Senna

Abstract:

From the start, the importance of having a plan to sustain tourism was acknowledged. The correct methods to monitor that type of tourism have been researched. Thus, we propose in this work to analyze the applicability of a monitoring and assistance method on the understanding of the tourism sustainability in a small size destiny or getaway. In this study, the subject is Lagoa da Confusão, in the state of Tocantins and the analysis was carried out through the efficiency of the local indicators, according to the WOT approach. We concluded that the sustainable tourism key points that were analyzed demonstrated to be important evaluation and quantification tools for the proposed tasks to be developed in the mentioned destiny. This is a study of an interdisciplinary character and the deductive method was chosen as the guiding line.

Keywords: Indicators, Lagoa da Confusão, Tocantins, Brazil, monitoring, sustainability.

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777 An Innovative Approach to Improve Skills of Students in Qatar University Spending in Virtual Class through Learning Management System

Authors: Mohammad Shahid Jamil, Mohamed Chabi

Abstract:

In this study, students’ learning has been investigated and satisfaction in one of the course offered at Qatar University Foundation Program. Innovative teaching has been implied methodology that emphasizes on enhancing students’ thinking skills, decision making, and problem solving skills. Some interesting results were found which could be used to further improvement of the teaching methodology. In Fall 2012 in Foundation Program Math department at Qatar University has started implementing new ways of teaching Math by introducing MyMathLab (MML) as an innovative interactive tool in addition of the use Blackboard to support standard teaching such as Discussion board in Virtual class to engage students outside of classroom and to enhance independent, active learning that promote students’ critical thinking skills, decision making, and problem solving skills through the learning process.

Keywords: Blackboard, MyMathLab, study plan, discussion board, critical thinking, active and independent learning, problem solving.

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776 Design and Simulation of CCM Boost Converter for Power Factor Correction Using Variable Duty Cycle Control

Authors: M. Nirmala

Abstract:

Power quality in terms of power factor, THD and precisely regulated output voltage are the major key factors for efficient operation of power electronic converters. This paper presents an easy and effective active wave shaping control scheme for the pulsed input current drawn by the uncontrolled diode bridge rectifier thereby achieving power factor nearer to unity and also satisfying the THD specifications. It also regulates the output DC-bus voltage. CCM boost power factor correction with constant frequency operation features smaller inductor current ripple resulting in low RMS currents on inductor and switch thus leading to low electromagnetic interference. The objective of this work is to develop an active PFC control circuit using CCM boost converter implementing variable duty cycle control. The proposed scheme eliminates inductor current sensing requirements yet offering good performance and satisfactory results for maintaining the power quality. Simulation results have been presented which covers load changes also.

Keywords: CCM Boost converter, Power factor Correction, Total harmonic distortion, Variable Duty Cycle.

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775 A Water Reuse System in Wetland Paddy Supports the Growing Industrial Water Needs

Authors: Yu-Chuan Chang, Chen Shi-Kai

Abstract:

A water reuse system in wetland paddy was simulated to supply water for industrial in this paper. A two-tank model was employed to represent the return flow of the wetland paddy.Historical data were performed for parameter estimation and model verification. With parameters estimated from the data, the model was then used to simulate a reasonable return flow rate from the wetland paddy. The simulation results show that the return flow ratio was 11.56% in the first crop season and 35.66% in the second crop season individually; the difference may result from the heavy rainfall in the second crop season. Under the existent pond with surplus active capacity, the water reuse ratio was 17.14%, and the water supplementary ratio was 21.56%. However, the pattern of rainfall, the active capacity of the pond, and the rate of water treatment limit the volume of reuse water. Increasing the irrigation water, dredging the depth of pond before rainy season and enlarging the scale of module are help to develop water reuse system to support for the industrial water use around wetland paddy.

Keywords: Return flow, water reuse, wetland paddy, return flow ratio (RR), water reuse ratio (WRR), water supplementary ratio(WSR)

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774 Near Field Focusing Behaviour of Airborne Ultrasonic Phased Arrays Influenced by Airflows

Authors: D. Sun, T. F. Lu, A. Zander, M. Trinkle

Abstract:

This paper investigates the potential use of airborne ultrasonic phased arrays for imaging in outdoor environments as a means of overcoming the limitations experienced by kinect sensors, which may fail to work in the outdoor environments due to the oversaturation of the infrared photo diodes. Ultrasonic phased arrays have been well studied for static media, yet there appears to be no comparable examination in the literature of the impact of a flowing medium on the focusing behaviour of near field focused ultrasonic arrays. This paper presents a method for predicting the sound pressure fields produced by a single ultrasound element or an ultrasonic phased array influenced by airflows. The approach can be used to determine the actual focal point location of an array exposed in a known flow field. From the presented simulation results based upon this model, it can be concluded that uniform flows in the direction orthogonal to the acoustic propagation have a noticeable influence on the sound pressure field, which is reflected in the twisting of the steering angle of the array. Uniform flows in the same direction as the acoustic propagation have negligible influence on the array. For an array impacted by a turbulent flow, determining the location of the focused sound field becomes difficult due to the irregularity and continuously changing direction and the speed of the turbulent flow. In some circumstances, ultrasonic phased arrays impacted by turbulent flows may not be capable of producing a focused sound field.

Keywords: Airborne, airflow, focused sound field, ultrasonic phased array.

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773 Advertisement Effectiveness for Print Media: A Conceptual Model

Authors: Prateek Maheshwari, Nitin Seth, Anoop Kumar Gupta

Abstract:

The objective of present research paper is to highlight the importance of measuring advertisement effectiveness in print media and to develop a conceptual model for advertisement effectiveness. The developed model is based on dimensions on which advertisement effectiveness depends and on the dimensions which are used to measure the effectiveness. An in-depth and extensive literature review is carried out to understand the concept of advertisement effectiveness and its various determinants in context of print media. Based on the insights gained, a conceptual framework for advertisement effectiveness is presented. The model is an attempt to uncover the relatively less explored area of advertisement effectiveness in Indian advertising scenario. It is believed that present work will encourage scholars and academicians to further explore the area and will offer conceptual assistance and a fresh direction in the domain of advertisement effectiveness.

Keywords: Advertisement Effectiveness, Conceptual Model, Effectiveness Dimensions, Print Media.

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772 Modeling and Control of a 4DoF Robotic Assistive Device for Hand Rehabilitation

Authors: Christopher Spiewak, M. R. Islam, Mohammad Arifur Rahaman, Mohammad H. Rahman, Roger Smith, Maarouf Saad

Abstract:

For those who have lost the ability to move their hand, going through repetitious motions with the assistance of a therapist is the main method of recovery. We have been developed a robotic assistive device to rehabilitate the hand motions in place of the traditional therapy. The developed assistive device (RAD-HR) is comprised of four degrees of freedom enabling basic movements, hand function, and assists in supporting the hand during rehabilitation. We used a nonlinear computed torque control technique to control the RAD-HR. The accuracy of the controller was evaluated in simulations (MATLAB/Simulink environment). To see the robustness of the controller external disturbance as modelling uncertainty (±10% of joint torques) were added in each joints.

Keywords: Biorobotics, rehabilitation, nonlinear control, robotic assistive device, exoskeleton.

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771 Fuel Economy and Stability Enhancement of the Hybrid Vehicles by Using Electrical Machines on Non-Driven Wheels

Authors: P. Naderi, S.M.T. Bathaee, R. Hoseinnezhad, R. Chini

Abstract:

Using electrical machine in conventional vehicles, also called hybrid vehicles, has become a promising control scheme that enables some manners for fuel economy and driver assist for better stability. In this paper, vehicle stability control, fuel economy and Driving/Regeneration braking for a 4WD hybrid vehicle is investigated by using an electrical machine on each non-driven wheels. In front wheels driven vehicles, fuel economy and regenerative braking can be obtained by summing torques applied on rear wheels. On the other hand, unequal torques applied to rear wheels provides enhanced safety and path correction in steering. In this paper, a model with fourteen degrees of freedom is considered for vehicle body, tires and, suspension systems. Thereafter, powertrain subsystems are modeled. Considering an electrical machine on each rear wheel, a fuzzy controller is designed for each driving, braking, and stability conditions. Another fuzzy controller recognizes the vehicle requirements between the driving/regeneration and stability modes. Intelligent vehicle control to multi objective operation and forward simulation are the paper advantages. For reaching to these aims, power management control and yaw moment control will be done by three fuzzy controllers. Also, the above mentioned goals are weighted by another fuzzy sub-controller base on vehicle dynamic. Finally, Simulations performed in MATLAB/SIMULINK environment show that the proposed structure can enhance the vehicle performance in different modes effectively.

Keywords: Hybrid, pitch, roll, regeneration, yaw.

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770 Grid-based Supervised Clustering - GBSC

Authors: Pornpimol Bungkomkhun, Surapong Auwatanamongkol

Abstract:

This paper presents a supervised clustering algorithm, namely Grid-Based Supervised Clustering (GBSC), which is able to identify clusters of any shapes and sizes without presuming any canonical form for data distribution. The GBSC needs no prespecified number of clusters, is insensitive to the order of the input data objects, and is capable of handling outliers. Built on the combination of grid-based clustering and density-based clustering, under the assistance of the downward closure property of density used in bottom-up subspace clustering, the GBSC can notably reduce its search space to avoid the memory confinement situation during its execution. On two-dimension synthetic datasets, the GBSC can identify clusters with different shapes and sizes correctly. The GBSC also outperforms other five supervised clustering algorithms when the experiments are performed on some UCI datasets.

Keywords: supervised clustering, grid-based clustering, subspace clustering

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769 Surfactant-Free O/W-Emulsion as Drug Delivery System

Authors: M. Kumpugdee-Vollrath, J.-P. Krause, S. Bürk

Abstract:

Most of the drugs used for pharmaceutical purposes are poorly water-soluble drugs. About 40% of all newly discovered drugs are lipophilic and the numbers of lipophilic drugs seem to increase more and more. Drug delivery systems such as nanoparticles, micelles or liposomes are applied to improve their solubility and thus their bioavailability. Besides various techniques of solubilization, oil-in-water emulsions are often used to incorporate lipophilic drugs into the oil phase. To stabilize emulsions surface active substances (surfactants) are generally used. An alternative method to avoid the application of surfactants was of great interest. One possibility is to develop O/W-emulsion without any addition of surface active agents or the so called “surfactant-free emulsion or SFE”. The aim of this study was to develop and characterize SFE as a drug carrier by varying the production conditions. Lidocaine base was used as a model drug. The injection method was developed. Effects of ultrasound as well as of temperature on the properties of the emulsion were studied. Particle sizes and release were determined. The long-term stability up to 30 days was performed. The results showed that the surfactant-free O/W emulsions with pharmaceutical oil as drug carrier can be produced.

Keywords: Emulsion, lidocaine, Miglyol, size, surfactant, light scattering, release, injection, ultrasound, stability.

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