Search results for: Gas flow rate
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 4595

Search results for: Gas flow rate

665 Performance of Coded Multi-Line Copper Wire for G.fast Communications in the Presence of Impulsive Noise

Authors: Israa Al-Neami, Ali J. Al-Askery, Martin Johnston, Charalampos Tsimenidis

Abstract:

In this paper, we focus on the design of a multi-line copper wire (MLCW) communication system. First, we construct our proposed MLCW channel and verify its characteristics based on the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. In addition, we apply Middleton class A impulsive noise (IN) to the copper channel for further investigation. Second, the MIMO G.fast system is adopted utilizing the proposed MLCW channel model and is compared to a single line G-fast system. Second, the performance of the coded system is obtained utilizing concatenated interleaved Reed-Solomon (RS) code with four-dimensional trellis-coded modulation (4D TCM), and compared to the single line G-fast system. Simulations are obtained for high quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) constellations that are commonly used with G-fast communications, the results demonstrate that the bit error rate (BER) performance of the coded MLCW system shows an improvement compared to the single line G-fast systems.

Keywords: G.fast, Middleton Class A impulsive noise, mitigation techniques, copper channel Model.

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664 Designing an Editorialization Environment for Repeatable Self-Correcting Exercises

Authors: M. Kobylanski, D. Buskulic, P.-H. Duron, D. Revuz, F. Ruggieri, E. Sandier, C. Tijus

Abstract:

In order to design a cooperative e-learning platform, we observed teams of Teacher [T], Computer Scientist [CS] and exerciser's programmer-designer [ED] cooperating for the conception of a self-correcting exercise, but without the use of such a device in order to catch the kind of interactions a useful platform might provide. To do so, we first run a task analysis on how T, CS and ED should be cooperating in order to achieve, at best, the task of creating and implementing self-directed, self-paced, repeatable self-correcting exercises (RSE) in the context of open educational resources. The formalization of the whole process was based on the “objectives, activities and evaluations” theory of educational task analysis. Second, using the resulting frame as a “how-to-do it” guide, we run a series of three contrasted Hackathon of RSE-production to collect data about the cooperative process that could be later used to design the collaborative e-learning platform. Third, we used two complementary methods to collect, to code and to analyze the adequate survey data: the directional flow of interaction among T-CS-ED experts holding a functional role, and the Means-End Problem Solving analysis. Fourth, we listed the set of derived recommendations useful for the design of the exerciser as a cooperative e-learning platform. Final recommendations underline the necessity of building (i) an ecosystem that allows to sustain teams of T-CS-ED experts, (ii) a data safety platform although offering accessibility and open discussion about the production of exercises with their resources and (iii) a good architecture allowing the inheritance of parts of the coding of any exercise already in the data base as well as fast implementation of new kinds of exercises along with their associated learning activities.

Keywords: Distance open educational resources, pedagogical alignment, self-correcting exercises, teacher’s involvement, team roles.

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663 Evaluating the Perception of Roma in Europe through Social Network Analysis

Authors: Giulia I. Pintea

Abstract:

The Roma people are a nomadic ethnic group native to India, and they are one of the most prevalent minorities in Europe. In the past, Roma were enslaved and they were imprisoned in concentration camps during the Holocaust; today, Roma are subject to hate crimes and are denied access to healthcare, education, and proper housing. The aim of this project is to analyze how the public perception of the Roma people may be influenced by antiziganist and pro-Roma institutions in Europe. In order to carry out this project, we used social network analysis to build two large social networks: The antiziganist network, which is composed of institutions that oppress and racialize Roma, and the pro-Roma network, which is composed of institutions that advocate for and protect Roma rights. Measures of centrality, density, and modularity were obtained to determine which of the two social networks is exerting the greatest influence on the public’s perception of Roma in European societies. Furthermore, data on hate crimes on Roma were gathered from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). We analyzed the trends in hate crimes on Roma for several European countries for 2009-2015 in order to see whether or not there have been changes in the public’s perception of Roma, thus helping us evaluate which of the two social networks has been more influential. Overall, the results suggest that there is a greater and faster exchange of information in the pro-Roma network. However, when taking the hate crimes into account, the impact of the pro-Roma institutions is ambiguous, due to differing patterns among European countries, suggesting that the impact of the pro-Roma network is inconsistent. Despite antiziganist institutions having a slower flow of information, the hate crime patterns also suggest that the antiziganist network has a higher impact on certain countries, which may be due to institutions outside the political sphere boosting the spread of antiziganist ideas and information to the European public.

Keywords: Applied mathematics, oppression, Roma people, social network analysis.

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662 Transformer Life Enhancement Using Dynamic Switching of Second Harmonic Feature in IEDs

Authors: K. N. Dinesh Babu, P. K. Gargava

Abstract:

Energization of a transformer results in sudden flow of current which is an effect of core magnetization. This current will be dominated by the presence of second harmonic, which in turn is used to segregate fault and inrush current, thus guaranteeing proper operation of the relay. This additional security in the relay sometimes obstructs or delays differential protection in a specific scenario, when the 2nd harmonic content was present during a genuine fault. This kind of scenario can result in isolation of the transformer by Buchholz and pressure release valve (PRV) protection, which is acted when fault creates more damage in transformer. Such delays involve a huge impact on the insulation failure, and chances of repairing or rectifying fault of problem at site become very dismal. Sometimes this delay can cause fire in the transformer, and this situation becomes havoc for a sub-station. Such occurrences have been observed in field also when differential relay operation was delayed by 10-15 ms by second harmonic blocking in some specific conditions. These incidences have led to the need for an alternative solution to eradicate such unwarranted delay in operation in future. Modern numerical relay, called as intelligent electronic device (IED), is embedded with advanced protection features which permit higher flexibility and better provisions for tuning of protection logic and settings. Such flexibility in transformer protection IEDs, enables incorporation of alternative methods such as dynamic switching of second harmonic feature for blocking the differential protection with additional security. The analysis and precautionary measures carried out in this case, have been simulated and discussed in this paper to ensure that similar solutions can be adopted to inhibit analogous issues in future.

Keywords: Differential protection, intelligent electronic device (IED), 2nd harmonic, inrush inhibit.

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661 Analysis on Precipitation Variation Patterns of Chenzhou City

Authors: Li Wu

Abstract:

By using linear regression methodology to analyze the data of daily precipitation from 1961-2012, this paper studied the variation tendency of precipitation in Chenzhou. The outcome showed: (1) The annual precipitation was decreasing for 52 years and the difference of precipitation variation tendency among four seasons was remarkable. The precipitation of spring and autumn showed more remarkable decrease than of summer; but the precipitation of winter significantly increased. (2) The annual precipitation frequency tended to lower, which was consistent with the tendency of yearly variation. The seasonal precipitation frequency was greatly different, namely, precipitation frequency in spring and autumn decreased, co-occurring with the phenomenon of mutation; but the winter precipitation frequency increased notably. (3) The precipitation intensity displayed a tendency of increase, including spring, autumn and winter; among them, winter had the most obvious tendency to increase, and autumn had the most yearly variation. Summer was the only season with a tendency of decreasing in precipitation intensity. (4) Annual extreme precipitation tended to reduce, spring, summer and autumn are all included; whereas, winter extreme precipitation tended to increase at the rate of 0.1d/10a. (5) The daily maximum precipitation intensity increased slightly and it varied greatly.

Keywords: Chenzhou, precipitation variation, precipitation frequency, precipitation intensity.

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660 Optimal Channel Equalization for MIMO Time-Varying Channels

Authors: Ehab F. Badran, Guoxiang Gu

Abstract:

We consider optimal channel equalization for MIMO (multi-input/multi-output) time-varying channels in the sense of MMSE (minimum mean-squared-error), where the observation noise can be non-stationary. We show that all ZF (zero-forcing) receivers can be parameterized in an affine form which eliminates completely the ISI (inter-symbol-interference), and optimal channel equalizers can be designed through minimization of the MSE (mean-squarederror) between the detected signals and the transmitted signals, among all ZF receivers. We demonstrate that the optimal channel equalizer is a modified Kalman filter, and show that under the AWGN (additive white Gaussian noise) assumption, the proposed optimal channel equalizer minimizes the BER (bit error rate) among all possible ZF receivers. Our results are applicable to optimal channel equalization for DWMT (discrete wavelet multitone), multirate transmultiplexers, OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing), and DS (direct sequence) CDMA (code division multiple access) wireless data communication systems. A design algorithm for optimal channel equalization is developed, and several simulation examples are worked out to illustrate the proposed design algorithm.

Keywords: Channel equalization, Kalman filtering, Time-varying systems.

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659 Dry Matter, Moisture, Ash and Crude Fibre Content in Distinct Segments of ‘Durian Kampung’ Husk

Authors: Norhanim Nordin, Rosnah Shamsudin, Azrina Azlan, Mohammad Effendy Ya’acob

Abstract:

An environmental friendly approach for disposal of voluminous durian husk waste could be implemented by substituting them into various valuable commodities, such as healthcare and biofuel products. Thus, the study of composition value in each segment of durian husk was very crucial to determine the suitable proportions of nutrients that need to be added and mixed in the product. A total of 12 ‘Durian Kampung’ fruits from Sg Ruan, Pahang were selected and each fruit husk was divided into four segments and labelled as P-L (thin neck area of white inner husk), P-B (thick bottom area of white inner husk), H (green and thorny outer husk) and W (whole combination of P-B and H). Four experiments have been carried out to determine the dry matter, moisture, ash and crude fibre content. The results show that the H segment has the highest dry matter content (30.47%), while the P-B segment has the highest percentage in moisture (81.83%) and ash (6.95%) content. It was calculated that the ash content of the P-B segment has a higher rate of moisture level which causes the ash content to increase about 2.89% from the P-L segment. These data have proven that each segment of durian husk has a significant difference in terms of composition value, which might be useful information to fully utilize every part of the durian husk in the future.

Keywords: Durian husk, crude fibre content, dry matter content, moisture content.

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658 Technical Aspects of Closing the Loop in Depth-of-Anesthesia Control

Authors: Gorazd Karer

Abstract:

When performing a diagnostic procedure or surgery in general anesthesia (GA), a proper introduction and dosing of anesthetic agents is one of the main tasks of the anesthesiologist. That being said, depth of anesthesia (DoA) also seems to be a suitable process for closed-loop control implementation. To implement such a system, one must be able to acquire the relevant signals online and in real-time, as well as stream the calculated control signal to the infusion pump. However, during a procedure, patient monitors and infusion pumps are purposely unable to connect to an external (possibly medically unapproved) device for safety reasons, thus preventing closed-loop control. This paper proposes a conceptual solution to the aforementioned problem. First, it presents some important aspects of contemporary clinical practice. Next, it introduces the closed-loop-control-system structure and the relevant information flow. Focusing on transferring the data from the patient to the computer, it presents a non-invasive image-based system for signal acquisition from a patient monitor for online depth-of-anesthesia assessment. Furthermore, it introduces a User-Datagram-Protocol-based (UDP-based) communication method that can be used for transmitting the calculated anesthetic inflow to the infusion pump. The proposed system is independent of medical-device manufacturer and is implemented in MATLAB-Simulink, which can be conveniently used for DoA control implementation. The proposed scheme has been tested in a simulated GA setting and is ready to be evaluated in an operating theatre. However, the proposed system is only a step towards a proper closed-loop control system for DoA, which could routinely be used in clinical practice.

Keywords: Closed-loop control, Depth of Anesthesia, DoA, optical signal acquisition, Patient State index, PSi, UDP communication protocol.

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657 The Impact of Bayh-Dole Act on Knowledge Transfer in the States and a Study on Applicability in Turkey

Authors: Murat Sengoz, Mustafa Kemal Topcu

Abstract:

This study aims to contribute to efforts of Turkey to increase research and development to overcome mid-income level trap by discussing regulations on patenting and licensing. Knowledge and technology transfer from universities to business world is attached great significance to increase innovation. Through literature survey, it is observed that the States accomplished to boost the economy and increase welfare by the Bayh-Dole Act enacted in 1980. Thus, this good practice is imitated by other nations to make technological developments. The Act allows universities to acquire patent right in research programs funded by government to increase technology transfer from universities whilst motivating real sector to use research pools in the universities. An act similar with Bayh-Dole could be beneficial to Turkey since efforts in Turkey are to promote research, development and innovation. Towards this end, the impact of Bayh-Dole Act on the patent system for universities in the Sates is deliberately examined, applicability in Turkey is discussed. However, it is conceded that success rate of applying Bayh-Dole Act in Turkey would be low once Turkey mainly differs from the States regarding social, economic and cultural traits.

Keywords: Bayh-Dole act, knowledge transfer, license, patent, spin-off.

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656 A Real Time Ultra-Wideband Location System for Smart Healthcare

Authors: Mingyang Sun, Guozheng Yan, Dasheng Liu, Lei Yang

Abstract:

Driven by the demand of intelligent monitoring in rehabilitation centers or hospitals, a high accuracy real-time location system based on UWB (ultra-wideband) technology was proposed. The system measures precise location of a specific person, traces his movement and visualizes his trajectory on the screen for doctors or administrators. Therefore, doctors could view the position of the patient at any time and find them immediately and exactly when something emergent happens. In our design process, different algorithms were discussed, and their errors were analyzed. In addition, we discussed about a , simple but effective way of correcting the antenna delay error, which turned out to be effective. By choosing the best algorithm and correcting errors with corresponding methods, the system attained a good accuracy. Experiments indicated that the ranging error of the system is lower than 7 cm, the locating error is lower than 20 cm, and the refresh rate exceeds 5 times per second. In future works, by embedding the system in wearable IoT (Internet of Things) devices, it could provide not only physical parameters, but also the activity status of the patient, which would help doctors a lot in performing healthcare.

Keywords: Intelligent monitoring, IoT devices, real-time location, smart healthcare, ultra-wideband technology.

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655 Artificial Neural Network with Steepest Descent Backpropagation Training Algorithm for Modeling Inverse Kinematics of Manipulator

Authors: Thiang, Handry Khoswanto, Rendy Pangaldus

Abstract:

Inverse kinematics analysis plays an important role in developing a robot manipulator. But it is not too easy to derive the inverse kinematic equation of a robot manipulator especially robot manipulator which has numerous degree of freedom. This paper describes an application of Artificial Neural Network for modeling the inverse kinematics equation of a robot manipulator. In this case, the robot has three degree of freedoms and the robot was implemented for drilling a printed circuit board. The artificial neural network architecture used for modeling is a multilayer perceptron networks with steepest descent backpropagation training algorithm. The designed artificial neural network has 2 inputs, 2 outputs and varies in number of hidden layer. Experiments were done in variation of number of hidden layer and learning rate. Experimental results show that the best architecture of artificial neural network used for modeling inverse kinematics of is multilayer perceptron with 1 hidden layer and 38 neurons per hidden layer. This network resulted a RMSE value of 0.01474.

Keywords: Artificial neural network, back propagation, inverse kinematics, manipulator, robot.

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654 A Monte Carlo Method to Data Stream Analysis

Authors: Kittisak Kerdprasop, Nittaya Kerdprasop, Pairote Sattayatham

Abstract:

Data stream analysis is the process of computing various summaries and derived values from large amounts of data which are continuously generated at a rapid rate. The nature of a stream does not allow a revisit on each data element. Furthermore, data processing must be fast to produce timely analysis results. These requirements impose constraints on the design of the algorithms to balance correctness against timely responses. Several techniques have been proposed over the past few years to address these challenges. These techniques can be categorized as either dataoriented or task-oriented. The data-oriented approach analyzes a subset of data or a smaller transformed representation, whereas taskoriented scheme solves the problem directly via approximation techniques. We propose a hybrid approach to tackle the data stream analysis problem. The data stream has been both statistically transformed to a smaller size and computationally approximated its characteristics. We adopt a Monte Carlo method in the approximation step. The data reduction has been performed horizontally and vertically through our EMR sampling method. The proposed method is analyzed by a series of experiments. We apply our algorithm on clustering and classification tasks to evaluate the utility of our approach.

Keywords: Data Stream, Monte Carlo, Sampling, DensityEstimation.

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653 Light Emission Enhancement of Silicon Nanocrystals by Gold Layer

Authors: R. Karmouch

Abstract:

A thin gold metal layer was deposited on the top of silicon oxide films containing embedded Si nanocrystals (Si-nc). The sample was annealed in a gas containing nitrogen, and subsequently characterized by photoluminescence. We obtained 3-fold enhancement of photon emission from the Si-nc embedded in silicon dioxide covered with a Gold layer as compared with an uncovered sample. We attribute this enhancement to the increase of the spontaneous emission rate caused by the coupling of the Si-nc emitters with the surface plasmons (SP). The evolution of PL emission with laser irradiated time was also collected from covered samples, and compared to that from uncovered samples. In an uncovered sample, the PL intensity decreases with time, approximately with two decay constants. Although the decrease of the initial PL intensity associated with the increase of sample temperature under CW pumping is still observed in samples covered with a gold layer, this film significantly contributes to reduce the permanent deterioration of the PL intensity. The resistance to degradation of light-emitting silicon nanocrystals can be increased by SP coupling to suppress the permanent deterioration. Controlling the permanent photodeterioration can allow to perform a reliable optical gain measurement.

Keywords: Photodeterioration, Silicon Nanocrystals, Ion Implantation, Photoluminescence, Surface Plasmons.

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652 Fingerprint Identification using Discretization Technique

Authors: W. Y. Leng, S. M. Shamsuddin

Abstract:

Fingerprint based identification system; one of a well known biometric system in the area of pattern recognition and has always been under study through its important role in forensic science that could help government criminal justice community. In this paper, we proposed an identification framework of individuals by means of fingerprint. Different from the most conventional fingerprint identification frameworks the extracted Geometrical element features (GEFs) will go through a Discretization process. The intention of Discretization in this study is to attain individual unique features that could reflect the individual varianceness in order to discriminate one person from another. Previously, Discretization has been shown a particularly efficient identification on English handwriting with accuracy of 99.9% and on discrimination of twins- handwriting with accuracy of 98%. Due to its high discriminative power, this method is adopted into this framework as an independent based method to seek for the accuracy of fingerprint identification. Finally the experimental result shows that the accuracy rate of identification of the proposed system using Discretization is 100% for FVC2000, 93% for FVC2002 and 89.7% for FVC2004 which is much better than the conventional or the existing fingerprint identification system (72% for FVC2000, 26% for FVC2002 and 32.8% for FVC2004). The result indicates that Discretization approach manages to boost up the classification effectively, and therefore prove to be suitable for other biometric features besides handwriting and fingerprint.

Keywords: Discretization, fingerprint identification, geometrical features, pattern recognition

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651 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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650 The Link between Unemployment and Inflation Using Johansen’s Co-Integration Approach and Vector Error Correction Modelling

Authors: Sagaren Pillay

Abstract:

In this paper bi-annual time series data on unemployment rates (from the Labour Force Survey) are expanded to quarterly rates and linked to quarterly unemployment rates (from the Quarterly Labour Force Survey). The resultant linked series and the consumer price index (CPI) series are examined using Johansen’s cointegration approach and vector error correction modeling. The study finds that both the series are integrated of order one and are cointegrated. A statistically significant co-integrating relationship is found to exist between the time series of unemployment rates and the CPI. Given this significant relationship, the study models this relationship using Vector Error Correction Models (VECM), one with a restriction on the deterministic term and the other with no restriction.

A formal statistical confirmation of the existence of a unique linear and lagged relationship between inflation and unemployment for the period between September 2000 and June 2011 is presented. For the given period, the CPI was found to be an unbiased predictor of the unemployment rate. This relationship can be explored further for the development of appropriate forecasting models incorporating other study variables.

Keywords: Forecasting, lagged, linear, relationship.

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649 Studying the Effect of Ethanol and Operating Temperature on Purification of Lactulose Syrup Containing Lactose

Authors: N. Zanganeh, M. Zabet

Abstract:

Lactulose is a synthetic disaccharide which has remarkable applications in food and pharmaceutical fields. Lactulose is not found in nature and it is produced by isomerization reaction of lactose in an alkaline environment. It should be noted that this reaction has a very low yield since significant amount of lactose stays un-reacted in the system. Basically, purification of lactulose is difficult and costly. Previous studies have revealed that solubility of lactose and lactulose are significantly different in ethanol. Considering the fact that solubility is also affected by temperature itself, we investigated the effect of ethanol and temperature on separation process of lactose from the syrup containing lactose and lactulose. For this purpose, a saturated solution containing lactulose and lactose was made at three different temperatures; 25⁰C (room temperature), 31⁰C, and 37⁰C first.  Five samples containing 2g saturated solution was taken and then 2g, 3g, 4g, 5g, and 6g ethanol separately was added to the sampling tubes. Sampling tubes were kept at respective temperatures afterward. The concentration of lactose and lactulose after separation process measured and analyzed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). Results showed that ethanol has such a greater impact than operating temperature on purification process. Also, it was observed that the maximum rate of separation occurred at initial amount of added ethanol.

Keywords: Ethanol, lactose, lactulose syrup, purification.

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648 Hydrophobic Characteristics of EPDM Composite Insulators in Simulated Arid Desert Environment

Authors: Yasin Khan

Abstract:

Overhead electrical insulators form an important link in an electric power system. Along with the traditional insulators (i.e. glass and porcelain, etc) presently the polymeric insulators are also used world widely. These polymeric insulators are very sensitive to various environmental parameters such temperature, environmental pollution, UV-radiations, etc. which seriously effect their electrical, chemical and hydrophobic properties. The UV radiation level in the central region of Saudi Arabia is high as compared to the IEC standard for the accelerated aging of the composite insulators. Commonly used suspension type of composite EPDM (Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer) insulator was subjected to accelerated stress aging as per modified IEC standard simulating the inland arid deserts atmospheric condition and also as per IEC-61109 standard. The hydrophobic characteristics were studied by measuring the contact angle along the insulator surface before and after the accelerated aging of the samples. It was found that EPDM insulator loses it hydrophobic properties proportional to the intensity of UV irradiations and its rate of recovery is also very low as compared to Silicone Rubber insulator.KeywordsEPDM, composite insulators, accelerated aging, hydrophobicity, contact angle.

Keywords: EPDM, composite insulators, accelerated aging, hydrophobicity, contact angle.

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647 Geospatial Network Analysis Using Particle Swarm Optimization

Authors: Varun Singh, Mainak Bandyopadhyay, Maharana Pratap Singh

Abstract:

The shortest path (SP) problem concerns with finding the shortest path from a specific origin to a specified destination in a given network while minimizing the total cost associated with the path. This problem has widespread applications. Important applications of the SP problem include vehicle routing in transportation systems particularly in the field of in-vehicle Route Guidance System (RGS) and traffic assignment problem (in transportation planning). Well known applications of evolutionary methods like Genetic Algorithms (GA), Ant Colony Optimization, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) have come up to solve complex optimization problems to overcome the shortcomings of existing shortest path analysis methods. It has been reported by various researchers that PSO performs better than other evolutionary optimization algorithms in terms of success rate and solution quality. Further Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have emerged as key information systems for geospatial data analysis and visualization. This research paper is focused towards the application of PSO for solving the shortest path problem between multiple points of interest (POI) based on spatial data of Allahabad City and traffic speed data collected using GPS. Geovisualization of results of analysis is carried out in GIS.

Keywords: GIS, Outliers, PSO, Traffic Data.

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646 Consumer Online Shopping Behavior: The Effect of Internet Marketing Environment, Product Characteristics, Familiarity and Confidence, and Promotional Offer

Authors: Norazah Mohd Suki, Norbayah Mohd Suki

Abstract:

Online shopping enables consumers to search for information and purchase products or services through direct interaction with online store. This study aims to examine the effect of Internet marketing environment, product characteristics, familiarity and confidence, and promotional offers on consumer online shopping behavior. 200 questionnaires were distributed to the respondents, who are students and staff at a public university in the Federal Territory of Labuan, Malaysia, following simple random sampling as a means of data collection. Multiple regression analysis was used as a statistical measure to determine the strength of the relationship between one dependent variable and a series of other independent variables. Results revealed that familiarity and confidence was found to greatly influence consumer online shopping behavior followed by promotional offers. A clear understanding of consumer online shopping behavior can help marketing managers predict the online shopping rate and evaluate the future growth of online commerce.

Keywords: Internet Marketing Environment, Product Characteristics, Multiple Regression Analysis, Malaysia.

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645 Untargeted Small Metabolite Identification from Thermally Treated Tualang Honey

Authors: Lee Suan Chua

Abstract:

This study investigated the effects of thermal treatment on Tualang honey sample in terms of honey colour and heat-induced small metabolites. The heating process was carried out in a temperature controlled water batch at 90oC for 4 hours. The honey samples were put in cylinder tubes with the dimension of 1 cm diameter and 10 cm length for homogenous heat transfer. The results found that the thermal treatment produced not only hydroxylmethylfurfural, but also other harmful substances such as phthalic anhydride and radiolytic byproducts. The degradation of honey protein was due to the detection of free amino acids such as cysteine and phenylalanine in heat-treated honey samples. Sugar dehydration was also occurred because fragmented di-galactose was identified based on the presence of characteristic ions in the mass fragmentation pattern. The honey colour was found getting darker as the heating duration was increased up to 4 hours. Approximately, 60 mm PFund of increment was noticed for the honey colour with the colour change rate of 14.8 mm PFund per hour. Based on the principal component analysis, the score plot clearly shows that the chemical profile of Tualang honey was significantly altered after 2 hours of heating at 90oC.

Keywords: Honey colour, hydroxylmethylfurfural, thermal treatment, Tualang honey.

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644 Convective Heat Transfer of Internal Electronic Components in a Headlight Geometry

Authors: Jan Langebach, Peter Fischer, Christian Karcher

Abstract:

A numerical study is presented on convective heat transfer in enclosures. The results are addressed to automotive headlights containing new-age light sources like Light Emitting Diodes (LED). The heat transfer from the heat source (LED) to the enclosure walls is investigated for mixed convection as interaction of the forced convection flow from an inlet and an outlet port and the natural convection at the heat source. Unlike existing studies, inlet and outlet port are thermally coupled and do not serve to remove hot fluid. The input power of the heat source is expressed by the Rayleigh number. The internal position of the heat source, the aspect ratio of the enclosure, and the inclination angle of one wall are varied. The results are given in terms of the global Nusselt number and the enclosure Nusselt number that characterize the heat transfer from the source and from the interior fluid to the enclosure walls, respectively. It is found that the heat transfer from the source to the fluid can be maximized if the source is placed in the main stream from the inlet to the outlet port. In this case, the Reynolds number and heat source position have the major impact on the heat transfer. A disadvantageous position has been found where natural and forced convection compete each other. The overall heat transfer from the source to the wall increases with increasing Reynolds number as well as with increasing aspect ratio and decreasing inclination angle. The heat transfer from the interior fluid to the enclosure wall increases upon decreasing the aspect ratio and increasing the inclination angle. This counteracting behaviour is caused by the variation of the area of the enclosure wall. All mixed convection results are compared to the natural convection limit.

Keywords: Enclosure, heat source, heat transfer, mixed convection.

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643 A Character Detection Method for Ancient Yi Books Based on Connected Components and Regressive Character Segmentation

Authors: Xu Han, Shanxiong Chen, Shiyu Zhu, Xiaoyu Lin, Fujia Zhao, Dingwang Wang

Abstract:

Character detection is an important issue for character recognition of ancient Yi books. The accuracy of detection directly affects the recognition effect of ancient Yi books. Considering the complex layout, the lack of standard typesetting and the mixed arrangement between images and texts, we propose a character detection method for ancient Yi books based on connected components and regressive character segmentation. First, the scanned images of ancient Yi books are preprocessed with nonlocal mean filtering, and then a modified local adaptive threshold binarization algorithm is used to obtain the binary images to segment the foreground and background for the images. Second, the non-text areas are removed by the method based on connected components. Finally, the single character in the ancient Yi books is segmented by our method. The experimental results show that the method can effectively separate the text areas and non-text areas for ancient Yi books and achieve higher accuracy and recall rate in the experiment of character detection, and effectively solve the problem of character detection and segmentation in character recognition of ancient books.

Keywords: Computing methodologies, interest point, salient region detections, image segmentation.

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642 Investigation of Optimal Parameter Settings in Super Duplex Welding

Authors: R. M. Chandima Ratnayake, Daniel Dyakov

Abstract:

Super steel materials play a vital role in the construction and fabrication of structural, piping and pipeline components. In assuring the integrity of onshore and offshore operating systems, they enable life cycle costs to be minimized. In this context, Duplex stainless steel (DSS) material related welding on constructions and fabrications plays a significant role in maintaining and assuring integrity at an optimal expenditure over the life cycle of production and process systems as well as associated structures. In DSS welding, factors such as gap geometry, shielding gas supply rate, welding current, and type of the welding process are vital to the final joint performance. Hence, an experimental investigation has been performed using an engineering robust design approach (ERDA) to investigate the optimal settings that generate optimal super DSS (i.e. UNS S32750) joint performance. This manuscript illustrates the mathematical approach and experimental design, optimal parameter settings and results of the verification experiment.

Keywords: Duplex stainless steel welding, engineering robust design, mathematical framework, optimal parameter settings.

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641 Water Budget in High Drought-Borne Area in Jaffna District, Sri Lanka during Dry Season

Authors: R. Kandiah, K. Miyamoto

Abstract:

In Sri Lanka, the Jaffna area is a high drought affected area and depends mainly on groundwater aquifers for water needs. Water for daily activities is extracted from wells. As households manually extract water from the wells, it is not drawn from mid evening to early morning. The water inflow at night provides the maximum water level that decreases during the daytime due to extraction. The storage volume of water in wells is limited or at its lowest level during the dry season. This study analyzes the domestic water budget during the dry season in the Jaffna area. In order to evaluate the water inflow rate into wells, storage volume and extraction volume from wells over time, water pressure is measured at the bottom of three wells, which are located in coastal area denoted as well A, in nonspecific area denoted as well B, and agricultural area denoted as well C. The water quality at the wells A, B, and C, are mostly fresh, modest fresh, and saline respectively. From the monitoring, we can find that the daily inflow amount of water into the wells and daily water extraction depend on each other, that is, higher extraction yields higher inflow. And, in the dry season, the daily inflow volume and the daily extraction volume of each well are almost in balance.

Keywords: Domestic water, water balance, water budget, ground water, shallow well.

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640 Effect of Azespirilium Bacteria in Reducing Nitrogen Fertilizers (Urea) and the Interaction of it with Stereptomyces Sp due the Biological Control on the Wheat (Triticum Asstivum) Sustinibelation Culture

Authors: Omid Alizadeh, Ali Parsaeimehr, Barmak.jaefary Hagheghy

Abstract:

An experiment was conducted in October 2008 due the ability replacement plant associate biofertilizers by chemical fertilizers and the qualifying rate of chemical N fertilizers at the moment of using this biofertilizers and the interaction of this biofertilizer on each other. This field experiment has been done in Persepolis (Throne of Jamshid) and arrange by using factorial with the basis of randomized complete block design, in three replication Azespirilium SP bacteria has been admixed with consistence 108 cfu/g and inoculated with seeds of wheat, The streptomyces SP has been used in amount of 550 gr/ha and concatenated on clay and for the qualifying range of chemical fertilizer 4 level of N chemical fertilizer from the source of urea (N0=0, N1=60, N2=120, N3=180) has been used in this experiment. The results indicated there were Significant differences between levels of Nitrogen fertilizer in the entire characteristic which has been measured in this experiment. The admixed Azespirilium SP showed significant differences between their levels in the characteristics such as No. of fertile ear, No. of grain per ear, grain yield, grain protein percentage, leaf area index and the agronomic fertilizer use efficiency. Due the interaction streptomyses with Azespirilium SP bacteria this actinomycet didn-t show any statistically significant differences between it levels.

Keywords: AzetobacterSP, AzespiriliumSP, StreptomycesSP

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639 Effect of Uneven Surface on Magnetic Properties of Fe-Based Amorphous Transformer

Authors: Yeong-Hwa Chang, Chang-Hung Hsu, Huei-Lung Chu, Chia-Wen Chang, Wei-Shou Chan, Chun-Yao Lee; Chia-Shiang Yao, Yan-Lou He

Abstract:

This study reports the preparation of soft magnetic ribbons of Fe-based amorphous alloys using the single-roller melt-spinning technique. Ribbon width varied from 142 mm to 213 mm and, with a thickness of approximately 22 μm 2 μm. The microstructure and magnetic properties of the ribbons were characterized by differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), and electrical resistivity measurements (ERM). The amorphous material properties dependence of the cooling rate and nozzle pressure have uneven surface in ribbon thicknesses are investigated. Magnetic measurement results indicate that some region of the ribbon exhibits good magnetic properties, higher saturation induction and lower coercivity. However, due to the uneven surface of 213 mm wide ribbon, the magnetic responses are not uniformly distributed. To understand the transformer magnetic performances, this study analyzes the measurements of a three-phase 2 MVA amorphous-cored transformer. Experimental results confirm that the transformer with a ribbon width of 142 mm has better magnetic properties in terms of lower core loss, exciting power, and audible noise. 

Keywords: Amorphous ribbon, uneven surface, magnetic properties, and rapid solidification

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638 Application of Computer Aided Engineering Tools in Performance Prediction and Fault Detection of Mechanical Equipment of Mining Process Line

Authors: K. Jahani, J. Razavi

Abstract:

Nowadays, to decrease the number of downtimes in the industries such as metal mining, petroleum and chemical industries, predictive maintenance is crucial. In order to have efficient predictive maintenance, knowing the performance of critical equipment of production line such as pumps and hydro-cyclones under variable operating parameters, selecting best indicators of this equipment health situations, best locations for instrumentation, and also measuring of these indicators are very important. In this paper, computer aided engineering (CAE) tools are implemented to study some important elements of copper process line, namely slurry pumps and cyclone to predict the performance of these components under different working conditions. These modeling and simulations can be used in predicting, for example, the damage tolerance of the main shaft of the slurry pump or wear rate and location of cyclone wall or pump case and impeller. Also, the simulations can suggest best-measuring parameters, measuring intervals, and their locations.

Keywords: Computer aided engineering, predictive maintenance, fault detection, mining process line, slurry pump, hydrocyclone.

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637 Characteristics of E-waste Recycling Systems in Japan and China

Authors: Bi Bo, Kayoko Yamamoto

Abstract:

This study aims to identify processes, current situations, and issues of recycling systems for four home appliances, namely, air conditioners, television receivers, refrigerators, and washing machines, among e-wastes in China and Japan for understanding and comparison of their characteristics. In accordance with results of a literature search, review of information disclosed online, and questionnaire survey conducted, conclusions of the study boil down to: (1)The results show that in Japan most of the home appliances mentioned above have been collected through home appliance recycling tickets, resulting in an issue of “requiring some effort" in treatment and recycling stages, and most plants have contracted out their e-waste recycling. (2)It is found out that advantages of the recycling system in Japan include easiness to monitor concrete data and thorough environmental friendliness ensured while its disadvantages include illegal dumping and export. It becomes apparent that advantages of the recycling system in China include a high reuse rate, low treatment cost, and fewer illegal dumping while its disadvantages include less safe reused products, environmental pollution caused by e-waste treatment, illegal import, and difficulty in obtaining data.

Keywords: E-waste, Recycling Systems, Home Appliances, Japan and China.

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636 Generational PipeLined Genetic Algorithm (PLGA)using Stochastic Selection

Authors: Malay K. Pakhira, Rajat K. De

Abstract:

In this paper, a pipelined version of genetic algorithm, called PLGA, and a corresponding hardware platform are described. The basic operations of conventional GA (CGA) are made pipelined using an appropriate selection scheme. The selection operator, used here, is stochastic in nature and is called SA-selection. This helps maintaining the basic generational nature of the proposed pipelined GA (PLGA). A number of benchmark problems are used to compare the performances of conventional roulette-wheel selection and the SA-selection. These include unimodal and multimodal functions with dimensionality varying from very small to very large. It is seen that the SA-selection scheme is giving comparable performances with respect to the classical roulette-wheel selection scheme, for all the instances, when quality of solutions and rate of convergence are considered. The speedups obtained by PLGA for different benchmarks are found to be significant. It is shown that a complete hardware pipeline can be developed using the proposed scheme, if parallel evaluation of the fitness expression is possible. In this connection a low-cost but very fast hardware evaluation unit is described. Results of simulation experiments show that in a pipelined hardware environment, PLGA will be much faster than CGA. In terms of efficiency, PLGA is found to outperform parallel GA (PGA) also.

Keywords: Hardware evaluation, Hardware pipeline, Optimization, Pipelined genetic algorithm, SA-selection.

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