Search results for: Delay unit
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 1280

Search results for: Delay unit

950 Gas Generator Pyrotechnics Using Gun Propellant Technology Methods

Authors: B. A. Parate

Abstract:

This research article describes the gas generator pyro-cartridge using gun propellant technology methods for fighter aircraft application. The emphasis of this work is to design and develop a gas generating device with pyro-cartridge using double base (DB) propellant to generate a high temperature and pressure gas. This device is utilised for dropping empty fuel tank in an emergency from military aircraft. A data acquisition system (DAS) is used to record time to maximum pressure, maximum pressure and time to half maximum pressure generated in a vented vessel (VV) for gas generator. Pyro-cartridge as a part of the gas generator creates a maximum pressure and time in the closed vessel (CV). This article also covers the qualification testing of gas generator. The performance parameters of pyro-cartridge devices such as ignition delay and maximum pressure are experimentally presented through the CV tests.

Keywords: Closed vessel, data acquisition, double base propellant, gas generator, ignition system, ignition delay, propellant, pyro-cartridge, pyrotechnics, vented vessel.

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949 RFU Based Computational Unit Design For Reconfigurable Processors

Authors: M. Aqeel Iqbal

Abstract:

Fully customized hardware based technology provides high performance and low power consumption by specializing the tasks in hardware but lacks design flexibility since any kind of changes require re-design and re-fabrication. Software based solutions operate with software instructions due to which a great flexibility is achieved from the easy development and maintenance of the software code. But this execution of instructions introduces a high overhead in performance and area consumption. In past few decades the reconfigurable computing domain has been introduced which overcomes the traditional trades-off between flexibility and performance and is able to achieve high performance while maintaining a good flexibility. The dramatic gains in terms of chip performance and design flexibility achieved through the reconfigurable computing systems are greatly dependent on the design of their computational units being integrated with reconfigurable logic resources. The computational unit of any reconfigurable system plays vital role in defining its strength. In this research paper an RFU based computational unit design has been presented using the tightly coupled, multi-threaded reconfigurable cores. The proposed design has been simulated for VLIW based architectures and a high gain in performance has been observed as compared to the conventional computing systems.

Keywords: Configuration Stream, Configuration overhead, Configuration Controller, Reconfigurable devices.

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948 DODR : Delay On-Demand Routing

Authors: Dong Wan-li, Gu Nai-jie, Tu Kun, Bi Kun, Liu Gang

Abstract:

As originally designed for wired networks, TCP (transmission control protocol) congestion control mechanism is triggered into action when packet loss is detected. This implicit assumption for packet loss mostly due to network congestion does not work well in Mobile Ad Hoc Network, where there is a comparatively high likelihood of packet loss due to channel errors and node mobility etc. Such non-congestion packet loss, when dealt with by congestion control mechanism, causes poor TCP performance in MANET. In this study, we continue to investigate the impact of the interaction between transport protocols and on-demand routing protocols on the performance and stability of 802.11 multihop networks. We evaluate the important wireless networking events caused routing change, and propose a cross layer method to delay the unnecessary routing changes, only need to add a sensitivity parameter α , which represents the on-demand routing-s reaction to link failure of MAC layer. Our proposal is applicable to the plain 802.11 networking environment, the simulation results that this method can remarkably improve the stability and performance of TCP without any modification on TCP and MAC protocol.

Keywords: Mobile ad hoc networks (MANET), on-demandrouting, performance, transmission control protocol (TCP).

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947 Activity-Based Costing in the Hospitality Industry: A Case Study in a Hotel

Authors: Bita Mashayekhi, Mohammad Ara

Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to provide some empirical evidence about implementing Activity-Based Costing (ABC) in the hospitality industry in Iran. For this purpose, we consider the Tabriz International Hotel as our sample hotel and then gather the relevant data from its cost accounting system in 2012. Then, we use ABC as our costing method and compare the cost of each service unit with that cost which had been extracted for the traditional costing method. The results show a different cost per unit for two methods. Also, because of its more precise and detailed provided information, an ABC system facilitates the decision-making process for managers on decisions related to profitability analysis, budgeting, pricing, and so on.

Keywords: Activity-based costing, activity, cost driver, hospitality industry.

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946 Automatic Thresholding for Data Gap Detection for a Set of Sensors in Instrumented Buildings

Authors: Houda Najeh, Stéphane Ploix, Mahendra Pratap Singh, Karim Chabir, Mohamed Naceur Abdelkrim

Abstract:

Building systems are highly vulnerable to different kinds of faults and failures. In fact, various faults, failures and human behaviors could affect the building performance. This paper tackles the detection of unreliable sensors in buildings. Different literature surveys on diagnosis techniques for sensor grids in buildings have been published but all of them treat only bias and outliers. Occurences of data gaps have also not been given an adequate span of attention in the academia. The proposed methodology comprises the automatic thresholding for data gap detection for a set of heterogeneous sensors in instrumented buildings. Sensor measurements are considered to be regular time series. However, in reality, sensor values are not uniformly sampled. So, the issue to solve is from which delay each sensor become faulty? The use of time series is required for detection of abnormalities on the delays. The efficiency of the method is evaluated on measurements obtained from a real power plant: an office at Grenoble Institute of technology equipped by 30 sensors.

Keywords: Building system, time series, diagnosis, outliers, delay, data gap.

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945 A Construction Management Tool: Determining a Project Schedule Typical Behaviors Using Cluster Analysis

Authors: Natalia Rudeli, Elisabeth Viles, Adrian Santilli

Abstract:

Delays in the construction industry are a global phenomenon. Many construction projects experience extensive delays exceeding the initially estimated completion time. The main purpose of this study is to identify construction projects typical behaviors in order to develop a prognosis and management tool. Being able to know a construction projects schedule tendency will enable evidence-based decision-making to allow resolutions to be made before delays occur. This study presents an innovative approach that uses Cluster Analysis Method to support predictions during Earned Value Analyses. A clustering analysis was used to predict future scheduling, Earned Value Management (EVM), and Earned Schedule (ES) principal Indexes behaviors in construction projects. The analysis was made using a database with 90 different construction projects. It was validated with additional data extracted from literature and with another 15 contrasting projects. For all projects, planned and executed schedules were collected and the EVM and ES principal indexes were calculated. A complete linkage classification method was used. In this way, the cluster analysis made considers that the distance (or similarity) between two clusters must be measured by its most disparate elements, i.e. that the distance is given by the maximum span among its components. Finally, through the use of EVM and ES Indexes and Tukey and Fisher Pairwise Comparisons, the statistical dissimilarity was verified and four clusters were obtained. It can be said that construction projects show an average delay of 35% of its planned completion time. Furthermore, four typical behaviors were found and for each of the obtained clusters, the interim milestones and the necessary rhythms of construction were identified. In general, detected typical behaviors are: (1) Projects that perform a 5% of work advance in the first two tenths and maintain a constant rhythm until completion (greater than 10% for each remaining tenth), being able to finish on the initially estimated time. (2) Projects that start with an adequate construction rate but suffer minor delays culminating with a total delay of almost 27% of the planned time. (3) Projects which start with a performance below the planned rate and end up with an average delay of 64%, and (4) projects that begin with a poor performance, suffer great delays and end up with an average delay of a 120% of the planned completion time. The obtained clusters compose a tool to identify the behavior of new construction projects by comparing their current work performance to the validated database, thus allowing the correction of initial estimations towards more accurate completion schedules.

Keywords: Cluster analysis, construction management, earned value, schedule.

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944 Urban Land Cover Change of Olomouc City Using LANDSAT Images

Authors: Miloš Marjanović, Jaroslav Burian, Ja kub Miřijovský, Jan Harbula

Abstract:

This paper regards the phenomena of intensive suburbanization and urbanization in Olomouc city and in Olomouc region in general for the period of 1986–2009. A Remote Sensing approach that involves tracking of changes in Land Cover units is proposed to quantify the urbanization state and trends in temporal and spatial aspects. It actually consisted of two approaches, Experiment 1 and Experiment 2 which implied two different image classification solutions in order to provide Land Cover maps for each 1986–2009 time split available in the Landsat image set. Experiment 1 dealt with the unsupervised classification, while Experiment 2 involved semi- supervised classification, using a combination of object-based and pixel-based classifiers. The resulting Land Cover maps were subsequently quantified for the proportion of urban area unit and its trend through time, and also for the urban area unit stability, yielding the relation of spatial and temporal development of the urban area unit. Some outcomes seem promising but there is indisputably room for improvements of source data and also processing and filtering.

Keywords: Change detection, image classification, land cover, Landsat images, Olomouc city, urbanization.

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943 X-ray Crystallographic Analysis of MinC N-Terminal Domain from Escherichia coli

Authors: Jun Yop An, Kyoung Ryoung Park, Jung-Gyu Lee, Hyung-Seop Youn, Jung-Yeon Kang, Gil Bu Kang, Soo Hyun Eom

Abstract:

MinC plays an important role in bacterial cell division system by inhibiting FtsZ assembly. However, the molecular mechanism of the action is poorly understood. E. coli MinC Nterminus domain was purified and crystallized using 1.4 M sodium citrate pH 6.5 as a precipitant. X-ray diffraction data was collected and processed to 2.3 Å from a native crystal. The crystal belonged to space group P212121, with the unit cell parameters a = 52.7, b = 54.0, c = 64.7 Å. Assuming the presence of two molecules in the asymmetric unit, the Matthews coefficient value is 1.94 Å3 Da-1, which corresponds to a solvent content of 36.5%. The overall structure of MinCN is observed as a dimer form through anti-parallel ß-strand interaction.

Keywords: MinC, Cell division, Crystallization.

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942 Mobile Robot Control by Von Neumann Computer

Authors: E. V. Larkin, T. A. Akimenko, A. V. Bogomolov, A. N. Privalov

Abstract:

The digital control system of mobile robots (MR) control is considered. It is shown that sequential interpretation of control algorithm operators, unfolding in physical time, suggests the occurrence of time delays between inputting data from sensors and outputting data to actuators. Another destabilizing control factor is presence of backlash in the joints of an actuator with an executive unit. Complex model of control system, which takes into account the dynamics of the MR, the dynamics of the digital controller and backlash in actuators, is worked out. The digital controller model is divided into two parts: the first part describes the control law embedded in the controller in the form of a control program that realizes a polling procedure when organizing transactions to sensors and actuators. The second part of the model describes the time delays that occur in the Von Neumann-type controller when processing data. To estimate time intervals, the algorithm is represented in the form of an ergodic semi-Markov process. For an ergodic semi-Markov process of common form, a method is proposed for estimation a wandering time from one arbitrary state to another arbitrary state. Example shows how the backlash and time delays affect the quality characteristics of the MR control system functioning.

Keywords: Mobile robot, backlash, control algorithm, Von Neumann controller, semi-Markov process, time delay.

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941 Risk of Late Payment in the Malaysian Construction Industry

Authors: Kho Mei Ye, Hamzah Abdul Rahman

Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to identify the underlying causes of late payment from the contractors- perspective in the Malaysian construction industry and to recommend effective solutions to mitigate late payment problems. The target groups of respondents in this study were Grades G3, G5, G6 and G7 contractors with specialization in building works and civil engineering works registered with the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) in Malaysia. Results from this study were analyzed with Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS 15.0). From this study, it was found that respondents have highest ranked five significant variables out of a total of forty-one variables which can caused late payment problems: a) cash flow problems due to deficiencies in client-s management capacity (mean = 3.96); b) client-s ineffective utilization of funds (mean = 3.88); c) scarcity of capital to finance the project (mean = 3.81); d) clients failure to generate income from bank when sales of houses do not hit the targeted amount (mean=3.72); and e) poor cash flow because of lack of proper process implementation, delay in releasing of the retention monies to contractor and delay in the evaluation and certification of interim and final payment (mean = 3.66).

Keywords: Underlying causes, late payment, constructionindustry, Malaysia.

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940 Reliability Analysis of Press Unit using Vague Set

Authors: S. P. Sharma, Monica Rani

Abstract:

In conventional reliability assessment, the reliability data of system components are treated as crisp values. The collected data have some uncertainties due to errors by human beings/machines or any other sources. These uncertainty factors will limit the understanding of system component failure due to the reason of incomplete data. In these situations, we need to generalize classical methods to fuzzy environment for studying and analyzing the systems of interest. Fuzzy set theory has been proposed to handle such vagueness by generalizing the notion of membership in a set. Essentially, in a Fuzzy Set (FS) each element is associated with a point-value selected from the unit interval [0, 1], which is termed as the grade of membership in the set. A Vague Set (VS), as well as an Intuitionistic Fuzzy Set (IFS), is a further generalization of an FS. Instead of using point-based membership as in FS, interval-based membership is used in VS. The interval-based membership in VS is more expressive in capturing vagueness of data. In the present paper, vague set theory coupled with conventional Lambda-Tau method is presented for reliability analysis of repairable systems. The methodology uses Petri nets (PN) to model the system instead of fault tree because it allows efficient simultaneous generation of minimal cuts and path sets. The presented method is illustrated with the press unit of the paper mill.

Keywords: Lambda -Tau methodology, Petri nets, repairable system, vague fuzzy set.

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939 Supply Chain Decarbonisation – A Cost-Based Decision Support Model in Slow Steaming Maritime Operations

Authors: Eugene Y. C. Wong, Henry Y. K. Lau, Mardjuki Raman

Abstract:

CO2 emissions from maritime transport operations represent a substantial part of the total greenhouse gas emission. Vessels are designed with better energy efficiency. Minimizing CO2 emission in maritime operations plays an important role in supply chain decarbonisation. This paper reviews the initiatives on slow steaming operations towards the reduction of carbon emission. It investigates the relationship and impact among slow steaming cost reduction, carbon emission reduction, and shipment delay. A scenario-based cost-driven decision support model is developed to facilitate the selection of the optimal slow steaming options, considering the cost on bunker fuel consumption, available speed, carbon emission, and shipment delay. The incorporation of the social cost of cargo is reviewed and suggested. Additional measures on the effect of vessels sizes, routing, and type of fuels towards decarbonisation are discussed.

Keywords: Slow steaming, carbon emission, maritime logistics, sustainability, green supply chain.

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938 Development of an Elastic Functionally Graded Interphase Model for the Micromechanics Response of Composites

Authors: Trevor Sabiston, Mohsen Mohammadi, Mohammed Cherkaoui, Kaan Inal

Abstract:

A new micromechanics framework is developed for long fibre reinforced composites using a single fibre surrounded by a functionally graded interphase and matrix as a representative unit cell. The unit cell is formulated to represent any number of aligned fibres by a single fibre. Using this model the elastic response of long fibre composites is predicted in all directions. The model is calibrated to experimental results and shows very good agreement in the elastic regime. The differences between the proposed model and existing models are discussed.

Keywords: Computational mechanics, functionally graded interphase, long fibre composites, micromechanics.

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937 Analysis of Delays during Initial Phase of Construction Projects and Mitigation Measures

Authors: Sunaitan Al Mutairi

Abstract:

A perfect start is a key factor for project completion on time. The study examined the effects of delayed mobilization of resources during the initial phases of the project. This paper mainly highlights the identification and categorization of all delays during the initial construction phase and their root cause analysis with corrective/control measures for the Kuwait Oil Company oil and gas projects. A relatively good percentage of the delays identified during the project execution (Contract award to end of defects liability period) attributed to mobilization/preliminary activity delays. Data analysis demonstrated significant increase in average project delay during the last five years compared to the previous period. Contractors had delays/issues during the initial phase, which resulted in slippages and progressively increased, resulting in time and cost overrun. Delays/issues not mitigated on time during the initial phase had very high impact on project completion. Data analysis of the delays for the past five years was carried out using trend chart, scatter plot, process map, box plot, relative importance index and Pareto chart. Construction of any project inside the Gathering Centers involves complex management skills related to work force, materials, plant, machineries, new technologies etc. Delay affects completion of projects and compromises quality, schedule and budget of project deliverables. Works executed as per plan during the initial phase and start-up duration of the project construction activities resulted in minor slippages/delays in project completion. In addition, there was a good working environment between client and contractor resulting in better project execution and management. Mainly, the contractor was on the front foot in the execution of projects, which had minimum/no delays during the initial and construction period. Hence, having a perfect start during the initial construction phase shall have a positive influence on the project success. Our research paper studies each type of delay with some real example supported by statistic results and suggests mitigation measures. Detailed analysis carried out with all stakeholders based on impact and occurrence of delays to have a practical and effective outcome to mitigate the delays. The key to improvement is to have proper control measures and periodic evaluation/audit to ensure implementation of the mitigation measures. The focus of this research is to reduce the delays encountered during the initial construction phase of the project life cycle.

Keywords: Construction activities delays, delay analysis for construction projects, mobilization delays, oil and gas projects delays.

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936 Secure and Efficient Transmission of Aggregated Data for Mobile Wireless Sensor Networks

Authors: A. Krishna Veni, R.Geetha

Abstract:

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are suitable for many scenarios in the real world. The retrieval of data is made efficient by the data aggregation techniques. Many techniques for the data aggregation are offered and most of the existing schemes are not energy efficient and secure. However, the existing techniques use the traditional clustering approach where there is a delay during the packet transmission since there is no proper scheduling. The presented system uses the Velocity Energy-efficient and Link-aware Cluster-Tree (VELCT) scheme in which there is a Data Collection Tree (DCT) which improves the lifetime of the network. The VELCT scheme and the construction of DCT reduce the delay and traffic. The network lifetime can be increased by avoiding the frequent change in cluster topology. Secure and Efficient Transmission of Aggregated data (SETA) improves the security of the data transmission via the trust value of the nodes prior the aggregation of data. Since SETA considers the data only from the trustworthy nodes for aggregation, it is more secure in transmitting the data thereby improving the accuracy of aggregated data.

Keywords: Aggregation, lifetime, network security, wireless sensor network.

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935 A Theoretical Analysis for Modeling and Prediction of the Jet Engine Emissions

Authors: Jamal S. Yassin

Abstract:

This paper is to formulate a mathematical model to predict the amounts of the emissions produced from the combustion process of the gas turbine unit of the jet engine. These emissions have bad impacts on the environment if they are out of standards, which cause real threats to all type of life on the earth. The amounts of the emissions from the gas turbine engine are functions to many operational and design factors. In landing-takeoff (LTO) these amounts are not the same as in taxi or cruise of the plane using jet engines, because of the difference in the activity period during these operating modes. These emissions can be affected by several physical and chemical variables, such as fuel type, fuel to air ratio or equivalence ratio, flame temperature, combustion pressure, in addition to some inlet conditions such as ambient temperature and air humidity. To study the influence of these variables on the amounts of these emissions during the combustion process in the gas turbine unit, a computer program has been developed by using the visual basic 6 software. Here, the analysis of the combustion process is carried out by considering it as a chemical reaction with shifting equilibrium to find the products of the combustion of the octane fuel, at different equivalence ratios, compressor pressure ratios (CPR) and combustion temperatures. The results obtained have shown that there is noticeable influence of the equivalence ratio, CPR, and the combustion temperature on the amounts of the main emissions which are considered pollutants, such as CO, CO2 and NO.

Keywords: Mathematical model, gas turbine unit, equivalence ratio, emissions, shifting equilibrium.

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934 Design and Analysis of Low-Power, High Speed and Area Efficient 2-Bit Digital Magnitude Comparator in 90nm CMOS Technology Using Gate Diffusion Input

Authors: Fasil Endalamaw

Abstract:

Digital magnitude comparators based on Gate Diffusion Input (GDI) implementation technique are high speed and area-efficient, and they consume less power as compared to other implementation techniques. However, they are less efficient for some logic gates and have no full voltage swing. In this paper, we made a performance comparison between the GDI implementation technique and other implementation methods, such as Static CMOS, Pass Transistor Logic (PTL), and Transmission Gate (TG) in 90 nm, 120 nm, and 180 nm CMOS technologies using BSIM4 MOS model. We proposed a methodology (hybrid implementation) of implementing digital magnitude comparators which significantly improved the power, speed, area, and voltage swing requirements. Simulation results revealed that the hybrid implementation of digital magnitude comparators show a 10.84% (power dissipation), 41.6% (propagation delay), 47.95% (power-delay product (PDP)) improvement compared to the usual GDI implementation method. We used Microwind & Dsch Version 3.5 as well as the Tanner EDA 16.0 tools for simulation purposes.

Keywords: Efficient, gate diffusion input, high speed, low power, CMOS.

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933 Application of Augmented Reality for Simulation of Robotized Workcell Activity

Authors: J. Novak-Marcincin, J. Barna, M. Janak

Abstract:

Augmented Reality (AR) shows great promises for its usage as a tool for simulation and verification of design proposal of new technological systems. Main advantage of augmented reality application usage is possibility of creation and simulation of new technological unit before its realization. This may contribute to increasing of safety and ergonomics and decreasing of economical aspects of new proposed unit. Virtual model of proposed workcell could reveal hidden errors which elimination in later stage of new workcell creation should cause great difficulties. Paper describes process of such virtual model creation and possibilities of its simulation and verification by augmented reality tools.

Keywords: Augmented reality, simulation, workcell design.

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932 Gas Sweetening Process Simulation: Investigation on Recovering Waste Hydraulic Energy

Authors: Meisam Moghadasi, Hassan Ali Ozgoli, Foad Farhani

Abstract:

In this research, firstly, a commercial gas sweetening unit with methyl-di-ethanol-amine (MDEA) solution is simulated and comprised in an integrated model in accordance with Aspen HYSYS software. For evaluation purposes, in the second step, the results of the simulation are compared with operating data gathered from South Pars Gas Complex (SPGC). According to the simulation results, the considerable energy potential contributed to the pressure difference between absorber and regenerator columns causes this energy driving force to be applied in power recovery turbine (PRT). In the last step, the amount of waste hydraulic energy is calculated, and its recovery methods are investigated.

Keywords: Gas sweetening unit, simulation, MDEA, power recovery turbine, waste-to-energy.

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931 Nonstationarity Modeling of Economic and Financial Time Series

Authors: C. Slim

Abstract:

Traditional techniques for analyzing time series are based on the notion of stationarity of phenomena under study, but in reality most economic and financial series do not verify this hypothesis, which implies the implementation of specific tools for the detection of such behavior. In this paper, we study nonstationary non-seasonal time series tests in a non-exhaustive manner. We formalize the problem of nonstationary processes with numerical simulations and take stock of their statistical characteristics. The theoretical aspects of some of the most common unit root tests will be discussed. We detail the specification of the tests, showing the advantages and disadvantages of each. The empirical study focuses on the application of these tests to the exchange rate (USD/TND) and the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in Tunisia, in order to compare the Power of these tests with the characteristics of the series.

Keywords: Stationarity, unit root tests, economic time series.

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930 Nonlinear and Asymmetric Adjustment to Purchasing Power Parity in East-Asian Countries

Authors: Wen-Chi Liu

Abstract:

This study applies a simple and powerful nonlinear unit root test to test the validity of long-run purchasing power parity (PPP)  in a sample of 10 East-Asian countries (i.e., China, Hong Kong,  Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan  and Thailand) over the period of March 1985 to September 2008. The empirical results indicate that PPP holds true for half of these 10  East-Asian countries under study, and the adjustment toward PPP is found to be nonlinear and in an asymmetric way. 

 

Keywords: Purchasing Power Parity, East-Asian Countries, Nonlinear Unit Root Test, Asymmetry.

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929 Traffic Behaviour of VoIP in a Simulated Access Network

Authors: Jishu Das Gupta, Srecko Howard, Angela Howard

Abstract:

Insufficient Quality of Service (QoS) of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a growing concern that has lead the need for research and study. In this paper we investigate the performance of VoIP and the impact of resource limitations on the performance of Access Networks. The impact of VoIP performance in Access Networks is particularly important in regions where Internet resources are limited and the cost of improving these resources is prohibitive. It is clear that perceived VoIP performance, as measured by mean opinion score [2] in experiments, where subjects are asked to rate communication quality, is determined by end-to-end delay on the communication path, delay variation, packet loss, echo, the coding algorithm in use and noise. These performance indicators can be measured and the affect in the Access Network can be estimated. This paper investigates the congestion in the Access Network to the overall performance of VoIP services with the presence of other substantial uses of internet and ways in which Access Networks can be designed to improve VoIP performance. Methods for analyzing the impact of the Access Network on VoIP performance will be surveyed and reviewed. This paper also considers some approaches for improving performance of VoIP by carrying out experiments using Network Simulator version 2 (NS2) software with a view to gaining a better understanding of the design of Access Networks.

Keywords: Codec, DiffServ, Droptail, RED, VOIP

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928 Simulation of an Active Controlled Vibration Isolation System for Astronaut’s Exercise Platform

Authors: Shield B. Lin, Sameer Abdali

Abstract:

Computer simulations were performed using MATLAB/Simulink for a vibration isolation system for astronaut’s exercise platform. Simulation parameters initially were based on an on-going experiment in a laboratory at NASA Johnson Space Center. The authors expanded later simulations to include other parameters. A discrete proportional-integral-derivative controller with a low-pass filter commanding a linear actuator served as the active control unit to push and pull a counterweight in balancing the disturbance forces. A spring-damper device is used as an optional passive control unit. Simulation results indicated such design could achieve near complete vibration isolation with small displacements of the exercise platform.

Keywords: Control, counterweight, isolation, vibration.

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927 A Novel Method for Blood Glucose Measurement by Noninvasive Technique Using Laser

Authors: V.Ashok, A.Nirmalkumar, N.Jeyashanthi

Abstract:

A method and apparatus for noninvasive measurement of blood glucose concentration based on transilluminated laser beam via the Index Finger has been reported in this paper. This method depends on atomic gas (He-Ne) laser operating at 632.8nm wavelength. During measurement, the index finger is inserted into the glucose sensing unit, the transilluminated optical signal is converted into an electrical signal, compared with the reference electrical signal, and the obtained difference signal is processed by signal processing unit which presents the results in the form of blood glucose concentration. This method would enable the monitoring blood glucose level of the diabetic patient continuously, safely and noninvasively.

Keywords: Anisotropy factor, Blood glucose, Diabetes Mellitus, Noninvasive method, Photo detectors.

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926 A Grey-Fuzzy Controller for Optimization Technique in Wireless Networks

Authors: Yao-Tien Wang, Hsiang-Fu Yu, Dung Chen Chiou

Abstract:

In wireless and mobile communications, this progress provides opportunities for introducing new standards and improving existing services. Supporting multimedia traffic with wireless networks quality of service (QoS). In this paper, a grey-fuzzy controller for radio resource management (GF-RRM) is presented to maximize the number of the served calls and QoS provision in wireless networks. In a wireless network, the call arrival rate, the call duration and the communication overhead between the base stations and the control center are vague and uncertain. In this paper, we develop a method to predict the cell load and to solve the RRM problem based on the GF-RRM, and support the present facility has been built on the application-level of the wireless networks. The GF-RRM exhibits the better adaptability, fault-tolerant capability and performance than other algorithms. Through simulations, we evaluate the blocking rate, update overhead, and channel acquisition delay time of the proposed method. The results demonstrate our algorithm has the lower blocking rate, less updated overhead, and shorter channel acquisition delay.

Keywords: radio resource management, grey prediction, fuzzylogic control, wireless networks, quality of service.

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925 Comparison of Number of Waves Surfed and Duration Using Global Positioning System and Inertial Sensors

Authors: J. Madureira, R. Lagido, I. Sousa

Abstract:

Surf is an increasingly popular sport and its performance evaluation is often qualitative. This work aims at using a smartphone to collect and analyze the GPS and inertial sensors data in order to obtain quantitative metrics of the surfing performance. Two approaches are compared for detection of wave rides, computing the number of waves rode in a surfing session, the starting time of each wave and its duration. The first approach is based on computing the velocity from the Global Positioning System (GPS) signal and finding the velocity thresholds that allow identifying the start and end of each wave ride. The second approach adds information from the Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) of the smartphone, to the velocity thresholds obtained from the GPS unit, to determine the start and end of each wave ride. The two methods were evaluated using GPS and IMU data from two surfing sessions and validated with similar metrics extracted from video data collected from the beach. The second method, combining GPS and IMU data, was found to be more accurate in determining the number of waves, start time and duration. This paper shows that it is feasible to use smartphones for quantification of performance metrics during surfing. In particular, detection of the waves rode and their duration can be accurately determined using the smartphone GPS and IMU. 

Keywords: Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), Global Positioning System (GPS), smartphone, surfing performance.

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924 Effect of Cooled EGR in Combustion Characteristics of a Direct Injection CI Engine Fuelled with Biodiesel Blend

Authors: Sankar Chandrasekar, Rana Niranchan V.S., Joseph Sidharth Leon

Abstract:

As the demand and prices of various petroleum products have been on the rise in recent years, there is a growing need for alternative fuels. Biodiesel, which consists of alkyl monoesters of fatty acids from vegetable oils and animal fats, is considered as an alternative to petroleum diesel. Biodiesel has comparable performance with that of diesel and has lower brake specific fuel consumption than diesel with significant reduction in emissions of CO, hydrocarbons (HC) and smoke with however, a slight increase in NOx emissions. This paper analyzes the effect of cooled exhaust gas recirculation in the combustion characteristics of a direct injection compression ignition engine using biodiesel blended fuel as opposed to the conventional system. The combustion parameters such as cylinder pressure, heat release rate, delay period and peak pressure were analyzed at various loads. The maximum cylinder pressure reduces as the fraction of biodiesel increases in the blend the maximum rate of pressure rise was found to be higher for diesel at higher engine loads.

Keywords: Cylinder pressure, delay period, EGR, heat release.

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923 Star-Hexagon Transformer Supported UPQC

Authors: Yash Pal, A.Swarup, Bhim Singh

Abstract:

A new topology of unified power quality conditioner (UPQC) is proposed for different power quality (PQ) improvement in a three-phase four-wire (3P-4W) distribution system. For neutral current mitigation, a star-hexagon transformer is connected in shunt near the load along with three-leg voltage source inverters (VSIs) based UPQC. For the mitigation of source neutral current, the uses of passive elements are advantageous over the active compensation due to ruggedness and less complexity of control. In addition to this, by connecting a star-hexagon transformer for neutral current mitigation the over all rating of the UPQC is reduced. The performance of the proposed topology of 3P-4W UPQC is evaluated for power-factor correction, load balancing, neutral current mitigation and mitigation of voltage and currents harmonics. A simple control algorithm based on Unit Vector Template (UVT) technique is used as a control strategy of UPQC for mitigation of different PQ problems. In this control scheme, the current/voltage control is applied over the fundamental supply currents/voltages instead of fast changing APFs currents/voltages, thereby reducing the computational delay. Moreover, no extra control is required for neutral source current compensation; hence the numbers of current sensors are reduced. The performance of the proposed topology of UPQC is analyzed through simulations results using MATLAB software with its Simulink and Power System Block set toolboxes.

Keywords: Power-factor correction, Load balancing, UPQC, Voltage and Current harmonics, Neutral current mitigation, Starhexagon transformer.

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922 Low Power Circuit Architecture of AES Crypto Module for Wireless Sensor Network

Authors: MooSeop Kim, Juhan Kim, Yongje Choi

Abstract:

Recently, much research has been conducted for security for wireless sensor networks and ubiquitous computing. Security issues such as authentication and data integrity are major requirements to construct sensor network systems. Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is considered as one of candidate algorithms for data encryption in wireless sensor networks. In this paper, we will present the hardware architecture to implement low power AES crypto module. Our low power AES crypto module has optimized architecture of data encryption unit and key schedule unit which could be applicable to wireless sensor networks. We also details low power design methods used to design our low power AES crypto module.

Keywords: Algorithm, Low Power Crypto Circuit, AES, Security.

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921 The Traits That Facilitate Successful Student Performance in Distance Education: The Case of the Distance Education Unit at European University Cyprus

Authors: D. Vlachopoulos, G. Tsokkas

Abstract:

Although it is not intended to identify distance education students as a homogeneous group, recent research has demonstrated that there are some demographic and personality common traits among most of them that provide the basis for the description of a typical distance learning student. The purpose of this paper is to describe these common traits and to facilitate their learning journey within a distance education program. The described research is an initiative of the Distance Education Unit at the European University Cyprus (Laureate International Universities) in the context of its action for the improvement of the students’ performance.

Keywords: Distance education students, successful student performance, European University Cyprus, common traits.

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