Search results for: Model Dependent Factors(MDF)

Authors: T. Damak, O. Kriaa, A. Baccar, M. A. Ben Ayed, N. Masmoudi

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In the last few years, Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) systems have become widely used in the safety, the security, and the commercial aspects. Forethought, several methods and techniques are computing to achieve the better levels in terms of accuracy and real time execution. This paper proposed a computer vision algorithm of Number Plate Localization (NPL) and Characters Segmentation (CS). In addition, it proposed an improved method in Optical Character Recognition (OCR) based on Deep Learning (DL) techniques. In order to identify the number of detected plate after NPL and CS steps, the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) algorithm is proposed. A DL model is developed using four convolution layers, two layers of Maxpooling, and six layers of fully connected. The model was trained by number image database on the Jetson TX2 NVIDIA target. The accuracy result has achieved 95.84%.

Keywords: Automatic number plate recognition, character segmentation, convolutional neural network, CNN, deep learning, number plate localization.

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Authors: L. Basha, E. Gjika

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This study is focused on analyzing climate change in Albania and its potential effects on cereal yields. Initially, monthly temperature and rainfalls in Albania were studied for the period 1960-2021. Climacteric variables are important variables when trying to model cereal yield behavior, especially when significant changes in weather conditions are observed. For this purpose, in the second part of the study, linear and nonlinear models explaining cereal yield are constructed for the same period, 1960-2021. The multiple linear regression analysis and lasso regression method are applied to the data between cereal yield and each independent variable: average temperature, average rainfall, fertilizer consumption, arable land, land under cereal production, and nitrous oxide emissions. In our regression model, heteroscedasticity is not observed, data follow a normal distribution, and there is a low correlation between factors, so we do not have the problem of multicollinearity. Machine learning methods, such as Random Forest (RF), are used to predict cereal yield responses to climacteric and other variables. RF showed high accuracy compared to the other statistical models in the prediction of cereal yield. We found that changes in average temperature negatively affect cereal yield. The coefficients of fertilizer consumption, arable land, and land under cereal production are positively affecting production. Our results show that the RF method is an effective and versatile machine-learning method for cereal yield prediction compared to the other two methods: multiple linear regression and lasso regression method.

Keywords: Cereal yield, climate change, machine learning, multiple regression model, random forest.

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Authors: Y. Djouadi., F. Souam.

Abstract:

Most of the existing text mining approaches are proposed, keeping in mind, transaction databases model. Thus, the mined dataset is structured using just one concept: the “transaction", whereas the whole dataset is modeled using the “set" abstract type. In such cases, the structure of the whole dataset and the relationships among the transactions themselves are not modeled and consequently, not considered in the mining process. We believe that taking into account structure properties of hierarchically structured information (e.g. textual document, etc ...) in the mining process, can leads to best results. For this purpose, an hierarchical associations rule mining approach for textual documents is proposed in this paper and the classical set-oriented mining approach is reconsidered profits to a Direct Acyclic Graph (DAG) oriented approach. Natural languages processing techniques are used in order to obtain the DAG structure. Based on this graph model, an hierarchical bottom up algorithm is proposed. The main idea is that each node is mined with its parent node.

Keywords: Graph based association rules mining, Hierarchical document structure, Text mining.

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Authors: Kadry M. Sadek, Tarek K. Abouzed, Mousa A. Ayoub

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The presence of endocrine-disrupting compounds, such as bisphenol A (BPA), in the environment can cause serious health problems. However, there are controversial opinions. This study investigated the reproductive, metabolic, oxidative and immunologic-disrupting effects of bisphenol A in male rabbits. Rabbits were divided into five groups. The first four rabbit groups were administered oral BPA (1, 10, 50, or 100 mg/kg/day) for ten weeks. The fifth group was administered corn oil as the vehicle. BPA significantly decreased serum testosterone, estradiol and the free androgen index (FAI) and significantly increased sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) compared with the placebo group. The higher doses of BPA showed a significant decrease in follicular stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH). A significant increase in blood glucose levels was identified in the BPA groups. The non-significant difference in insulin levels is a novel finding. The cumulative testicular toxicity of BPA was clearly demonstrated by the dose-dependent decrease in absolute testes weight, primary measures of semen quality and a significant increase in testicular malonaldehyde (MDA). Moreover, BPA significantly decreased total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and significantly increased immunoglobulin G (IgG) at the highest concentration. Our results suggest that BPA, especially at higher doses, is associated with many adverse effects on metabolism, oxidative stress, immunity, sperm quality and markers of androgenic action.

Keywords: Bisphenol A, oxidative stress, rabbits, semen quality, steroidogenesis.

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Authors: Shuen-Tai Wang, Yu-Ching Lin, Hsi-Ya Chang

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Cloud computing is the innovative and leading information technology model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort. This paper presents our development on enabling an individual user's desktop in a virtualized environment, which is stored on a remote virtual machine rather than locally. We present the initial work on the integration of virtual desktop and application sharing with virtualization technology. Given the development of remote desktop virtualization, this proposed effort has the potential to positively provide an efficient, resilience and elastic environment for online cloud service. Users no longer need to burden the cost of software licenses and platform maintenances. Moreover, this development also helps boost user productivity by promoting a flexible model that lets users access their desktop environments from virtually anywhere.

Keywords: Cloud Computing, Virtualization, Virtual Desktop, Elastic Environment.

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Authors: Wei Yee Teoh, Chee Wei Tan

Abstract:

The issue of unintentional islanding in PV grid interconnection still remains as a challenge in grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) systems. This paper discusses the overview of popularly used anti-islanding detection methods, practically applied in PV grid-connected systems. Anti-islanding methods generally can be classified into four major groups, which include passive methods, active methods, hybrid methods and communication base methods. Active methods have been the preferred detection technique over the years due to very small non-detected zone (NDZ) in small scale distribution generation. Passive method is comparatively simpler than active method in terms of circuitry and operations. However, it suffers from large NDZ that significantly reduces its performance. Communication base methods inherit the advantages of active and passive methods with reduced drawbacks. Hybrid method which evolved from the combination of both active and passive methods has been proven to achieve accurate anti-islanding detection by many researchers. For each of the studied anti-islanding methods, the operation analysis is described while the advantages and disadvantages are compared and discussed. It is difficult to pinpoint a generic method for a specific application, because most of the methods discussed are governed by the nature of application and system dependent elements. This study concludes that the setup and operation cost is the vital factor for anti-islanding method selection in order to achieve minimal compromising between cost and system quality.

Keywords: Active method, hybrid method, islanding detection, passive method, photovoltaic (PV), utility method

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Authors: Kemalettin Erbatur, Özer Koca, Evrim Taşkıran, Metin Yılmaz, Utku Seven

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Recent fifteen years witnessed fast improvements in the field of humanoid robotics. The human-like robot structure is more suitable to human environment with its supreme obstacle avoidance properties when compared with wheeled service robots. However, the walking control for bipedal robots is a challenging task due to their complex dynamics. Stable reference generation plays a very important role in control. Linear Inverted Pendulum Model (LIPM) and the Zero Moment Point (ZMP) criterion are applied in a number of studies for stable walking reference generation of biped walking robots. This paper follows this main approach too. We propose a natural and continuous ZMP reference trajectory for a stable and human-like walk. The ZMP reference trajectories move forward under the sole of the support foot when the robot body is supported by a single leg. Robot center of mass trajectory is obtained from predefined ZMP reference trajectories by a Fourier series approximation method. The Gibbs phenomenon problem common with Fourier approximations of discontinuous functions is avoided by employing continuous ZMP references. Also, these ZMP reference trajectories possess pre-assigned single and double support phases, which are very useful in experimental tuning work. The ZMP based reference generation strategy is tested via threedimensional full-dynamics simulations of a 12-degrees-of-freedom biped robot model. Simulation results indicate that the proposed reference trajectory generation technique is successful.

Keywords: Biped robot, Linear Inverted Pendulum Model, Zero Moment Point, Fourier series approximation.

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Authors: J. Satonsaowapak, M. Krapeedang, R. Oonsivilai, A. Oonsivilai

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The utilize of renewable energy sources becomes more crucial and fascinatingly, wider application of renewable energy devices at domestic, commercial and industrial levels is not only affect to stronger awareness but also significantly installed capacities. Moreover, biomass principally is in form of woods and converts to be energy for using by humans for a long time. Gasification is a process of conversion of solid carbonaceous fuel into combustible gas by partial combustion. Many gasified models have various operating conditions because the parameters kept in each model are differentiated. This study applied the experimental data including three inputs variables including biomass consumption; temperature at combustion zone and ash discharge rate and gas flow rate as only one output variable. In this paper, response surface methods were applied for identification of the gasified system equation suitable for experimental data. The result showed that linear model gave superlative results.

Keywords: Gasified System, Identification, Response SurfaceMethod

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Authors: M. S. Gaafar, S. Y. Marzouk

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Sodium borosilicate glasses doped with different content of NdF3 mol % have been prepared by rapid quenching method. Ultrasonic velocities (both longitudinal and shear) measurements have been carried out at room temperature and at ultrasonic frequency of 4 MHz. Elastic moduli, Debye temperature, softening temperature and Poisson's ratio have been obtained as a function of NdF3 modifier content. Results showed that the elastic moduli, Debye temperature, softening temperature and Poisson's ratio have very slight change with the change of NdF3 mol % content. Based on FTIR spectroscopy and theoretical (Bond compression) model, quantitative analysis has been carried out in order to obtain more information about the structure of these glasses. The study indicated that the structure of these glasses is mainly composed of SiO4 units with four bridging oxygens (Q4), and with three bridging and one nonbridging oxygens (Q3).

Keywords: Borosilicate glasses, ultrasonic velocity, elastic moduli, FTIR spectroscopy, bond compression model.

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Authors: M. Cermak, T. Karasek, J. Rojicek

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The key role in phenomenological modelling of cyclic plasticity is good understanding of stress-strain behaviour of given material. There are many models describing behaviour of materials using numerous parameters and constants. Combination of individual parameters in those material models significantly determines whether observed and predicted results are in compliance. Parameter identification techniques such as random gradient, genetic algorithm and sensitivity analysis are used for identification of parameters using numerical modelling and simulation. In this paper genetic algorithm and sensitivity analysis are used to study effect of 4 parameters of modified AbdelKarim-Ohno cyclic plasticity model. Results predicted by Finite Element (FE) simulation are compared with experimental data from biaxial ratcheting test with semi-elliptical loading path.

Keywords: Genetic algorithm, sensitivity analysis, inverse approach, finite element method, cyclic plasticity, ratcheting.

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Authors: Nadeem Ehsan, Ebtisam Mirza, Muhammad Ahmad

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In a complex project environment, project teams face multi-dimensional communication problems that can ultimately lead to project breakdown. Team Performance varies in Face-to-Face (FTF) environment versus groups working remotely in a computermediated communication (CMC) environment. A brief review of the Input_Process_Output model suggested by James E. Driskell, Paul H. Radtke and Eduardo Salas in “Virtual Teams: Effects of Technological Mediation on Team Performance (2003)", has been done to develop the basis of this research. This model theoretically analyzes the effects of technological mediation on team processes, such as, cohesiveness, status and authority relations, counternormative behavior and communication. An empirical study described in this paper has been undertaken to test the “cohesiveness" of diverse project teams in a multi-national organization. This study uses both quantitative and qualitative techniques for data gathering and analysis. These techniques include interviews, questionnaires for data collection and graphical data representation for analyzing the collected data. Computer-mediated technology may impact team performance because of difference in cohesiveness among teams and this difference may be moderated by factors, such as, the type of communication environment, the type of task and the temporal context of the team. Based on the reviewed model, sets of hypotheses are devised and tested. This research, reports on a study that compared team cohesiveness among virtual teams using CMC and non-CMC communication mediums. The findings suggest that CMC can help virtual teams increase team cohesiveness among their members, making CMC an effective medium for increasing productivity and team performance.

Keywords: Computer-mediated Communication, Virtual Teams, Team Performance, Team Cohesiveness.

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Authors: Wang Qiaowei, Gao Yujiang

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With the economic growth and rapid urbanization after the reform and openness, some of China's fast-growing cities have demolished former dwellings and built modern residential quarters. The blind, incomplete reference to western modern cities and the one-off construction lacking feedback mechanism have intensified such phenomenon, causing the citizen gradually expanded their living scale with the popularization of car traffic, and the peer-to-peer lifestyle gradually settled. The construction of large-scale commercial centers has caused obstacles to small business around the residential areas, leading to space for residents' interaction has been compressed. At the same time, the advocated Central Business District (CBD) model even leads to the unsatisfactory reconstruction of many historical blocks such as the Hangzhou Southern Song Dynasty Imperial Street. However, the popularity of historical spaces such as Wuzhen and Hongcun also indicates the collective memory and needs of the street space for Chinese residents. The evolution of Shanghai TianZiFang also proves the importance of the motivation of space participants in space construction in the context of the “top-down” construction model in China. In fact, there are frequent occurrences of “reconstruction”, which may redefine the space, in various residential areas. If these activities can be selectively controlled and encouraged, it will be beneficial to activate the public space as well as the residents’ intercourse, so that the traditional Chinese street space can be reconstructed in the context of modern cities.

Keywords: Rapid urbanization, traditional street space, space re-construction, bottom-up design.

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Authors: Benjamin D. Leiby, Darryl K. Ahner

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This study demonstrates an alternative stochastic imputation approach for large datasets when preferred commercial packages struggle to iterate due to numerical problems. A large country conflict dataset motivates the search to impute missing values well over a common threshold of 20% missingness. The methodology capitalizes on correlation while using model residuals to provide the uncertainty in estimating unknown values. Examination of the methodology provides insight toward choosing linear or nonlinear modeling terms. Static tolerances common in most packages are replaced with tailorable tolerances that exploit residuals to fit each data element. The methodology evaluation includes observing computation time, model fit, and the comparison of known  values to replaced values created through imputation. Overall, the country conflict dataset illustrates promise with modeling first-order interactions, while presenting a need for further refinement that mimics predictive mean matching.

Keywords: Correlation, country conflict, imputation, stochastic regression.

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Authors: Ehigiamusoe, Uyi Kizito

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The paper examines the impact of money market on economic growth in Nigeria using data for the period 1980-2012. Econometrics techniques such as Ordinary Least Squares Method, Johanson’s Co-integration Test and Vector Error Correction Model were used to examine both the long-run and short-run relationship. Evidence from the study suggest that though a long-run relationship exists between money market and economic growth, but the present state of the Nigerian money market is significantly and negatively related to economic growth. The link between the money market and the real sector of the economy remains very weak. This implies that the market is not yet developed enough to produce the needed growth that will propel the Nigerian economy because of several challenges. It was therefore recommended that government should create the appropriate macroeconomic policies, legal framework and sustain the present reforms with a view to developing the market so as to promote productive activities, investments, and ultimately economic growth.

Keywords: Economic Growth, Investments, Money Market, Money Market Challenges, Money Market Instruments.

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Authors: M. M. M. Salem, Ayman A. Aly

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An active suspension system has been proposed to improve the ride comfort. A quarter-car 2 degree-of-freedom (DOF) system is designed and constructed on the basis of the concept of a four-wheel independent suspension to simulate the actions of an active vehicle suspension system. The purpose of a suspension system is to support the vehicle body and increase ride comfort. The aim of the work described in the paper was to illustrate the application of fuzzy logic technique to the control of a continuously damping automotive suspension system. The ride comfort is improved by means of the reduction of the body acceleration caused by the car body when road disturbances from smooth road and real road roughness. The paper describes also the model and controller used in the study and discusses the vehicle response results obtained from a range of road input simulations. In the conclusion, a comparison of active suspension fuzzy control and Proportional Integration derivative (PID) control is shown using MATLAB simulations.

Keywords: Fuzzy logic control, ride comfort, vehicle dynamics, active suspension system, quarter-car model.

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Authors: U. P. L. Wijayarathne, K. C. Wasalathilake

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This work presents the modelling and simulation of saponification of ethyl acetate in the presence of sodium hydroxide in a plug flow reactor using Aspen Plus simulation software. Plug flow reactors are widely used in the industry due to the non-mixing property. The use of plug flow reactors becomes significant when there is a need for continuous large scale reaction or fast reaction. Plug flow reactors have a high volumetric unit conversion as the occurrence for side reactions is minimum. In this research Aspen Plus V8.0 has been successfully used to simulate the plug flow reactor. In order to simulate the process as accurately as possible HYSYS Peng- Robinson EOS package was used as the property method. The results obtained from the simulation were verified by the experiment carried out in the EDIBON plug flow reactor module. The correlation coefficient (r2) was 0.98 and it proved that simulation results satisfactorily fit for the experimental model. The developed model can be used as a guide for understanding the reaction kinetics of a plug flow reactor.

Keywords: Aspen Plus, Modelling, Plug Flow Reactor, Simulation.

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Authors: Abdul Rashid Husain, Mohamad Noh Ahmad, Abdul Halim Mohd. Yatim

Abstract:

In this paper, application of Sliding Mode Control (SMC) technique for an Active Magnetic Bearing (AMB) system with varying rotor speed is considered. The gyroscopic effect and mass imbalance inherited in the system is proportional to rotor speed in which this nonlinearity effect causes high system instability as the rotor speed increases. Transformation of the AMB dynamic model into regular system shows that these gyroscopic effect and imbalance lie in the mismatched part of the system. A H2-based sliding surface is designed which bound the mismatched parts. The solution of the surface parameter is obtained using Linear Matrix Inequality (LMI). The performance of the controller applied to the AMB model is demonstrated through simulation works under various system conditions.

Keywords: Active magnetic bearing, sliding mode control, linear matrix inequality, mismatched uncertainty and imbalance.

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Authors: Y. Yılmaz, C. Ünal, A. Dursun

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Distribution channels play significant role for hotels. Direct and indirect selling options of hotel rooms have been increased especially with the help of new technologies, i.e. hotel’s own web sites and online booking sites. Although these options emerged as tools for diversifying the distribution channels, vast number of hotels -mostly resort hotels- is still heavily dependent upon international tour operators when selling their products. On the other hand, hotel sector is so vulnerable against crises. Economic, political or any other crisis can affect hotels very badly and so it is critical to have the right balance of distribution channel to avoid the adverse impacts of a crisis. In this study, it is aimed to search the impacts of a general crisis on the selling prices of hotels which have different weights of distribution channels. The study was done in Turkey where various crises occurred in 2015 and 2016 which had great negative impacts on Turkish tourism and led enormous occupancy rate and selling price reductions. 112 upscale resort hotel in Antalya, which is the most popular tourism destination of Turkey, joined to the research. According to the results, hotels with high dependency to international tour operators are more forced to reduce their room prices in crisis time compared to the ones which use their own web sites more. It was also found that the decline in room prices is limited for hotels which are working with national tour operators and travel agencies in crisis time.

Keywords: Marketing channels, crisis, hotel, international tour operators, online travel agencies.

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Authors: Alfred Kamate Siviri, Angelus Mafikiri Tsongo, Jean Robert Kala Kamdjoug

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Well organized digitalization and information systems have been selected as relevant measures to mitigate operational risks within organizations. Unfortunately, information system comes with new threats that can cause severe damage and quick organization lockout. This study aims to measure perceived information system risks and their effects on operational risks within the microfinance institution in D.R. Congo. Also, the factors influencing the operational risk are to be identified, and the link between operational risk with other risks and performance is to be assessed. The study proposes a research model drawn on the combination of Resources-Based-View, dynamic capabilities, the agency theory, the Information System Security Model, and social theories of risk. Therefore, we suggest adopting a mixed methods research with the sole aim of increasing the literature that already exists on perceived operational risk assessment and its link with other risk and performance, with a focus on information system risks.

Keywords: information system risk, operational risk, microfinance performance, DR Congo

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Authors: Vinko Lešić, Mario Vašak, Anita Martinčević, Marko Gulin, Antonio Starčić, Hrvoje Novak

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With 40% of total world energy consumption, building systems are developing into technically complex large energy consumers suitable for application of sophisticated power management approaches to largely increase the energy efficiency and even make them active energy market participants. Centralized control system of building heating and cooling managed by economically-optimal model predictive control shows promising results with estimated 30% of energy efficiency increase. The research is focused on implementation of such a method on a case study performed on two floors of our faculty building with corresponding sensors wireless data acquisition, remote heating/cooling units and central climate controller. Building walls are mathematically modeled with corresponding material types, surface shapes and sizes. Models are then exploited to predict thermal characteristics and changes in different building zones. Exterior influences such as environmental conditions and weather forecast, people behavior and comfort demands are all taken into account for deriving price-optimal climate control. Finally, a DC microgrid with photovoltaics, wind turbine, supercapacitor, batteries and fuel cell stacks is added to make the building a unit capable of active participation in a price-varying energy market. Computational burden of applying model predictive control on such a complex system is relaxed through a hierarchical decomposition of the microgrid and climate control, where the former is designed as higher hierarchical level with pre-calculated price-optimal power flows control, and latter is designed as lower level control responsible to ensure thermal comfort and exploit the optimal supply conditions enabled by microgrid energy flows management. Such an approach is expected to enable the inclusion of more complex building subsystems into consideration in order to further increase the energy efficiency.

Keywords: Energy-efficient buildings, Hierarchical model predictive control, Microgrid power flow optimization, Price-optimal building climate control.

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Authors: Zachariah Sinkala

Abstract:

A systems approach model for prostate cancer in prostate duct, as a sub-system of the organism is developed. It is accomplished in two steps. First this research work starts with a nonlinear system of coupled Fokker-Plank equations which models continuous process of the system like motion of cells. Then extended to PDEs that include discontinuous processes like cell mutations, proliferation and deaths. The discontinuous processes is modeled by using intensity poisson processes. The model incorporates the features of the prostate duct. The system of PDEs spatial coordinate is along the proximal distal axis. Its parameters depend on features of the prostate duct. The movement of cells is biased towards distal region and mutations of prostate cancer cells is localized in the proximal region. Numerical solutions of the full system of equations are provided, and are exhibit traveling wave fronts phenomena. This motivates the use of the standard transformation to derive a canonically related system of ODEs for traveling wave solutions. The results obtained show persistence of prostate cancer by showing that the non-negative cone for the traveling wave system is time invariant. The traveling waves have a unique global attractor is proved also. Biologically, the global attractor verifies that evolution of prostate cancer stem cells exhibit the avascular tumor growth. These numerical solutions show that altering prostate stem cell movement or mutation of prostate cancer cells lead to avascular tumor. Conclusion with comments on clinical implications of the model is discussed.

Keywords: Fokker-Plank equations, global attractor, stem cell.

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Authors: Hugo Rodríguez

Abstract:

The patenting of inventions is the result of an organized effort to achieve technological improvement and its consequent positive impact on the population's standard of living. Technology exports, either of high-tech goods or of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services, represent the level of acceptance that world markets have of that technology acquired or developed by a country, either in public or private settings. A quantitative measure of the above variables is expected to have a positive and relevant impact on the level of economic development of the countries, measured on this first occasion through their level of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). And in that sense, it not only explains the performance of an economy but the difference between nations. We present an econometric model where we seek to explain the difference between the GDP levels of 178 countries through their different performance in the outputs of the technological production process. We take the variables of Patenting, ICT Exports and High Technology Exports as results of the innovation process. This model achieves an explanatory power for four annual cuts (2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015) equivalent to an adjusted r2 of 0.91, 0.87, 0.91 and 0.96, respectively.

Keywords: Development, exports, patents, technology.

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Authors: Jehnming Lin

Abstract:

The effects of the contact ball-lens on the soda lime glass in laser thermal cleavage with a cw Nd-YAG laser were investigated in this study. A contact ball-lens was adopted to generate a bending force on the crack formation of the soda-lime glass in the laser cutting process. The Nd-YAG laser beam (wavelength of 1064 nm) was focused through the ball-lens and transmitted to the soda-lime glass, which was coated with a carbon film on the surface with a bending force from a ball-lens to generate a tensile stress state on the surface cracking. The fracture was controlled by the contact ball-lens and a straight cutting was tested to demonstrate the feasibility. Experimental observations on the crack propagation from the leading edge, main section and trailing edge of the glass sheet were compared with various mechanical and thermal loadings. Further analyses on the stress under various laser powers and contact ball loadings were made to characterize the innovative technology. The results show that the distributions of the side crack at the leading and trailing edges are mainly dependent on the boundary condition, contact force, cutting speed and laser power. With the increase of the mechanical and thermal loadings, the region of the side cracks might be dramatically reduced with proper selection of the geometrical constrains. Therefore the application of the contact ball-lens is a possible way to control the fracture in laser cleavage with improved cutting qualities.

Keywords: Laser cleavage, controlled fracture, contact ball lens.

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Authors: D. He, Y. Pang, G. Lodewijks

Abstract:

Belt conveyors play an important role in continuous dry bulk material transport, especially at the mining industry. Speed control is expected to reduce the energy consumption of belt conveyors. Transient operation is the operation of increasing or decreasing conveyor speed for speed control. According to literature review, current research rarely takes the conveyor dynamics in transient operation into account. However, in belt conveyor speed control, the conveyor dynamic behaviors are significantly important since the poor dynamics might result in risks. In this paper, the potential risks in transient operation will be analyzed. An existing finite element model will be applied to build a conveyor model, and simulations will be carried out to analyze the conveyor dynamics. In order to realize the soft speed regulation, Harrison’s sinusoid acceleration profile will be applied, and Lodewijks estimator will be built to approximate the required acceleration time. A long inclined belt conveyor will be studied with two major simulations. The conveyor dynamics will be given.

Keywords: Belt conveyor, speed control, transient operation, dynamics

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Authors: Guneet Saini, Shahrukh, Sunil Sharma

Abstract:

Traffic congestion is the most critical issue faced by those in the transportation profession today. Over the past few years, roundabouts have been recognized as a measure to promote efficiency at intersections globally. In developing countries like India, this type of intersection still faces a lot of issues, such as bottleneck situations, long queues and increased waiting times, due to increasing traffic which in turn affect the performance of the entire urban network. This research is a case study of a non-conventional roundabout, in terms of geometric design, in a small town in India. These types of roundabouts should be analyzed for their functionality in mixed traffic conditions, prevalent in many developing countries. Microscopic traffic simulation is an effective tool to analyze traffic conditions and estimate various measures of operational performance of intersections such as capacity, vehicle delay, queue length and Level of Service (LOS) of urban roadway network. This study involves analyzation of an unsymmetrical non-circular 6-legged roundabout known as “Kala Aam Chauraha” in a small town Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh, India using VISSIM simulation package which is the most widely used software for microscopic traffic simulation. For coding in VISSIM, data are collected from the site during morning and evening peak hours of a weekday and then analyzed for base model building. The model is calibrated on driving behavior and vehicle parameters and an optimal set of calibrated parameters is obtained followed by validation of the model to obtain the base model which can replicate the real field conditions. This calibrated and validated model is then used to analyze the prevailing operational traffic performance of the roundabout which is then compared with a proposed alternative to improve efficiency of roundabout network and to accommodate pedestrians in the geometry. The study results show that the alternative proposed is an advantage over the present roundabout as it considerably reduces congestion, vehicle delay and queue length and hence, successfully improves roundabout performance without compromising on pedestrian safety. The study proposes similar designs for modification of existing non-conventional roundabouts experiencing excessive delays and queues in order to improve their efficiency especially in the case of developing countries. From this study, it can be concluded that there is a need to improve the current geometry of such roundabouts to ensure better traffic performance and safety of drivers and pedestrians negotiating the intersection and hence this proposal may be considered as a best fit.

Keywords: Operational performance, roundabout, simulation, VISSIM, traffic.

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Authors: Naeem Ahmed

Abstract:

Social work is a professional activity based on the approach of “helping people to help themselves” (Stroup). Social work education and practice both are based on humanitarian philosophy in which social workers try to increase the happiness of the society and to reduce the problems of society. Labour welfare is a specialised field of social work which especially focuses on welfare of organised and unorganised labour. In India labour is facing numerous problems in both organised and unorganised sectors because of ignorance, illiteracy, high rate of unemployment etc. In most of the Indian social work institutions we have this specialization with different names like Human Resource Management or Industrial Relation and Personnel Management or Industrial Relations and Labour Welfare or Industrial Social Work etc. Field work practice is integrated part of social work education curriculum in all specialised field. In India we have different field work practice models being followed in different institutions. The main objective of this paper is to prepare a universal field work practicum model in the field of labour welfare. This paper is exploratory in nature, researcher used personal experience and secondary data (model of field work practice in different institutions like Aligarh Muslim University, Pondicherry University, Central University of Karnataka, University of Lucknow, MJP Rohilkhand University Bareilly etc.) Researcher found that there is an immediate need to upgrade the curriculum or field work practice in this particular field, as more than 40 percent of total population engaged in either unorganised or organised sector (NSSO 2011-12) and they are not aware about their rights. In this way a social worker can play an important role in existing labour welfare facilities by making them aware.

Keywords: Fieldwork, labour welfare, organised labour, social work practice, unorganised labour.

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Authors: Jin Xu, Albert Y.S. Lam, Victor O.K. Li

Abstract:

Stock portfolio selection is a classic problem in finance, and it involves deciding how to allocate an institution-s or an individual-s wealth to a number of stocks, with certain investment objectives (return and risk). In this paper, we adopt the classical Markowitz mean-variance model and consider an additional common realistic constraint, namely, the cardinality constraint. Thus, stock portfolio optimization becomes a mixed-integer quadratic programming problem and it is difficult to be solved by exact optimization algorithms. Chemical Reaction Optimization (CRO), which mimics the molecular interactions in a chemical reaction process, is a population-based metaheuristic method. Two different types of CRO, named canonical CRO and Super Molecule-based CRO (S-CRO), are proposed to solve the stock portfolio selection problem. We test both canonical CRO and S-CRO on a benchmark and compare their performance under two criteria: Markowitz efficient frontier (Pareto frontier) and Sharpe ratio. Computational experiments suggest that S-CRO is promising in handling the stock portfolio optimization problem.

Keywords: Stock portfolio selection, Markowitz model, Chemical Reaction Optimization, Sharpe ratio

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Authors: Totok R. Biyanto, Sonny Irawan, Hiskia J. Ginting, Matradji, Ya’umar, A. I. Fitri

Abstract:

Steam injection is the most suitable of Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) methods to recover high viscosity oil. This is due to the capabilities of steam to reduce oil viscosity and increase the sweep capability of oil from the injection well toward the production well. Oil operating conditions in production should be match well with the operating condition target at the bottom of the production well. It is influenced by oil properties and reservoir rock properties. Hence, the operating condition should be optimized. Optimization requires three components i.e., objective function, model, and optimization technique. In this paper, the objective function is to obtain the optimum operating condition at the production well. The model was built using Darcy equation and mass-energy balance. The optimization technique utilizes Duelist Algorithm due to the effectiveness of its algorithm to obtain the desirable optimization results at the optimum operating condition.

Keywords: Enhanced oil recovery, steam injection, operating conditions, modeling, optimization, Duelist algorithm.

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Authors: Nkongho Ayuketang Arreyndip, Ebobenow Joseph

Abstract:

In this paper, temperature extremes are forecast by employing the block maxima method of the Generalized extreme value(GEV) distribution to analyse temperature data from the Cameroon Development Corporation (C.D.C). By considering two sets of data (Raw data and simulated data) and two (stationary and non-stationary) models of the GEV distribution, return levels analysis is carried out and it was found that in the stationary model, the return values are constant over time with the raw data while in the simulated data, the return values show an increasing trend but with an upper bound. In the non-stationary model, the return levels of both the raw data and simulated data show an increasing trend but with an upper bound. This clearly shows that temperatures in the tropics even-though show a sign of increasing in the future, there is a maximum temperature at which there is no exceedence. The results of this paper are very vital in Agricultural and Environmental research.

Keywords: Return level, Generalized extreme value (GEV), Meteorology, Forecasting.

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Authors: Asar Khan, Peter D. Widdop, Andrew J. Day, Aliaster S. Wood, Steve, R. Mounce, John Machell

Abstract:

This paper describes an automated event detection and location system for water distribution pipelines which is based upon low-cost sensor technology and signature analysis by an Artificial Neural Network (ANN). The development of a low cost failure sensor which measures the opacity or cloudiness of the local water flow has been designed, developed and validated, and an ANN based system is then described which uses time series data produced by sensors to construct an empirical model for time series prediction and classification of events. These two components have been installed, tested and verified in an experimental site in a UK water distribution system. Verification of the system has been achieved from a series of simulated burst trials which have provided real data sets. It is concluded that the system has potential in water distribution network management.

Keywords: Detection, leakage, neural networks, sensors, water distribution networks

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