Search results for: critical path method
5525 Evaluation of Linear and Geometrically Nonlinear Static and Dynamic Analysis of Thin Shells by Flat Shell Finite Elements
Authors: Djamel Boutagouga, Kamel Djeghaba
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The choice of finite element to use in order to predict nonlinear static or dynamic response of complex structures becomes an important factor. Then, the main goal of this research work is to focus a study on the effect of the in-plane rotational degrees of freedom in linear and geometrically non linear static and dynamic analysis of thin shell structures by flat shell finite elements. In this purpose: First, simple triangular and quadrilateral flat shell finite elements are implemented in an incremental formulation based on the updated lagrangian corotational description for geometrically nonlinear analysis. The triangular element is a combination of DKT and CST elements, while the quadrilateral is a combination of DKQ and the bilinear quadrilateral membrane element. In both elements, the sixth degree of freedom is handled via introducing fictitious stiffness. Secondly, in the same code, the sixth degrees of freedom in these elements is handled differently where the in-plane rotational d.o.f is considered as an effective d.o.f in the in-plane filed interpolation. Our goal is to compare resulting shell elements. Third, the analysis is enlarged to dynamic linear analysis by direct integration using Newmark-s implicit method. Finally, the linear dynamic analysis is extended to geometrically nonlinear dynamic analysis where Newmark-s method is used to integrate equations of motion and the Newton-Raphson method is employed for iterating within each time step increment until equilibrium is achieved. The obtained results demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the interpolation of the in-plane rotational d.o.f. and present deficiencies of using fictitious stiffness in dynamic linear and nonlinear analysis.Keywords: Flat shell, dynamic analysis, nonlinear, Newmark, drilling rotation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 29235524 Bayesian Online Learning of Corresponding Points of Objects with Sequential Monte Carlo
Authors: Miika Toivanen, Jouko Lampinen
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This paper presents an online method that learns the corresponding points of an object from un-annotated grayscale images containing instances of the object. In the first image being processed, an ensemble of node points is automatically selected which is matched in the subsequent images. A Bayesian posterior distribution for the locations of the nodes in the images is formed. The likelihood is formed from Gabor responses and the prior assumes the mean shape of the node ensemble to be similar in a translation and scale free space. An association model is applied for separating the object nodes and background nodes. The posterior distribution is sampled with Sequential Monte Carlo method. The matched object nodes are inferred to be the corresponding points of the object instances. The results show that our system matches the object nodes as accurately as other methods that train the model with annotated training images.Keywords: Bayesian modeling, Gabor filters, Online learning, Sequential Monte Carlo.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15825523 Mechanical and Chemical Properties of Zn-Ni-Al2O3 Nanocomposite Coatings
Authors: Soroor Ghaziof, Wei Gao
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Zn alloy and composite coatings are widely used in buildings and structures, automobile and fasteners industries to protect steel component from corrosion. In this paper, Zn-Ni-Al2O3 nanocomposite coatings were electrodeposited on mild steel using a novel sol enhanced electroplating method. In this method, transparent Al2O3 sol was added into the acidic Zn-Ni bath to produced Zn-Ni- Al2O3 nanocomposite coatings. The effect of alumina sol on the electrodeposition process, and coating properties was investigated using cyclic voltammetry, XRD, ESEM and Tafel test. Results from XRD tests showed that the structure of all coatings was single γ- Ni5Zn21 phase. Cyclic voltammetry results showed that the electrodeposition overpotential was lower in the presence of alumina sol in the bath, and caused the reduction potential of Zn-Ni to shift to more positive values. Zn-Ni-Al2O3 nanocomposite coatings produced more uniform and compact deposits, with fine grained microstructure when compared to Zn-Ni coatings. The corrosion resistance of Zn-Ni coatings was improved significantly by incorporation of alumina nanoparticles into the coatings.Keywords: Zn-Ni-Al2O3 composite coatings, steel, sol-enhanced electroplating, corrosion resistance.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 25965522 Investigating the Effects of Thermal and Surface Energy on the Two-Dimensional Flow Characteristics of Oil in Water Mixture between Two Parallel Plates: A Lattice Boltzmann Method Study
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A hybrid quasi-steady thermal lattice Boltzmann model was used to study the combined effects of temperature and contact angle on the movement of slugs and droplets of oil in water (O/W) system flowing between two parallel plates. The model static contact angle due to the deposition of the O/W droplet on a flat surface with simulated hydrophilic characteristic at different fluid temperatures, matched very well the proposed theoretical calculation. Furthermore, the model was used to simulate the dynamic behavior of droplets and slugs deposited on the domain’s upper and lower surfaces, while subjected to parabolic flow conditions. The model accurately simulated the contact angle hysteresis for the dynamic droplets cases. It was also shown that at elevated temperatures the required power to transport the mixture diminished remarkably.Keywords: Lattice Boltzmann method, Gunstensen model, thermal, contact angle, high viscosity ratio.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 8845521 Unsupervised Clustering Methods for Identifying Rare Events in Anomaly Detection
Authors: Witcha Chimphlee, Abdul Hanan Abdullah, Mohd Noor Md Sap, Siriporn Chimphlee, Surat Srinoy
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It is important problems to increase the detection rates and reduce false positive rates in Intrusion Detection System (IDS). Although preventative techniques such as access control and authentication attempt to prevent intruders, these can fail, and as a second line of defence, intrusion detection has been introduced. Rare events are events that occur very infrequently, detection of rare events is a common problem in many domains. In this paper we propose an intrusion detection method that combines Rough set and Fuzzy Clustering. Rough set has to decrease the amount of data and get rid of redundancy. Fuzzy c-means clustering allow objects to belong to several clusters simultaneously, with different degrees of membership. Our approach allows us to recognize not only known attacks but also to detect suspicious activity that may be the result of a new, unknown attack. The experimental results on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining-(KDDCup 1999) Dataset show that the method is efficient and practical for intrusion detection systems.Keywords: Network and security, intrusion detection, fuzzy cmeans, rough set.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 28635520 A System Dynamic Based DSS for Ecological Urban Management in Alexandria, Egypt
Authors: Mona M. Salem, Khaled S. Al-Hagla, Hany M. Ayad
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The concept of urban metabolism has increasingly been employed in a diverse range of disciplines as a mean to analyze and theorize the city. Urban ecology has a particular focus on the implications of applying the metabolism concept to the urban realm. This approach has been developed by a few researchers, though it has rarely if ever been used in policy development for city planning. The aim of this research is to use ecologically informed urban planning interventions to increase the sustainability of urban metabolism; with special focus on land stock as a most important city resource by developing a system dynamic based DSS. This model identifies two critical management strategy variables for the Strategic Urban Plan Alexandria SUP 2032. As a result, this comprehensive and precise quantitative approach is needed to monitor, measure, evaluate and observe dynamic urban changes working as a decision support system (DSS) for policy making.
Keywords: Alexandria SUP 2032, DSS, ecology, land resource, LULCC, management, metabolism, model, scenarios, System dynamics, urban development.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 11965519 Development of an Organizational Knowledge Capabilities Assessment (OKCA) Method for Innovative Technology Enterprises
Authors: C.F. Cheung, Ricky Ma, W.Y. Wong, Y.L. Tse
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Knowledge capabilities are increasingly important for the innovative technology enterprises to enhance the business performance in terms of product competitiveness, innovation and sales. Recognition of the company capability by auditing allows them to further pursue advancement, strategic planning and hence gain competitive advantages. This paper attempts to develop an Organizations- Knowledge Capabilities Assessment (OKCA) method to assess the knowledge capabilities of technology companies. The OKCA is a questionnaire-based assessment tool which has been developed to uncover the impact of various knowledge capabilities on different organizational performance. The collected data is then analyzed to find out the crucial elements for different technological companies. Based on the results, innovative technology enterprises are able to recognize the direction for further improvement on business performance and future development plan. External environmental factors affecting organization performance can be found through the further analysis of some selected reference companies.Keywords: Audit and Assessment, Innovation, Intellectual Capital, Knowledge and Technology Management, Knowledge Capability
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18785518 Magnetic Properties and Cytotoxicity of Ga-Mn Magnetic Ferrites Synthesized by the Citrate Sol-Gel Method
Authors: Javier Sánchez, Laura Elena De León Prado, Dora Alicia Cortés Hernández
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Magnetic spinel ferrites are materials that possess size, magnetic properties and heating ability adequate for their potential use in biomedical applications. The Mn0.5Ga0.5Fe2O4 magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) were synthesized by sol-gel method using citric acid as chelating agent of metallic precursors. The synthesized samples were identified by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) as an inverse spinel structure with no secondary phases. Saturation magnetization (Ms) of crystalline powders was 45.9 emu/g, which was higher than those corresponding to GaFe2O4 (14.2 emu/g) and MnFe2O4 (40.2 emu/g) synthesized under similar conditions, while the coercivity field (Hc) was 27.9 Oe. The average particle size was 18 ± 7 nm. The heating ability of the MNPs was enough to increase the surrounding temperature up to 43.5 °C in 7 min when a quantity of 4.5 mg of MNPs per mL of liquid medium was tested. Cytotoxic effect (hemolysis assay) of MNPs was determined and the results showed hemolytic values below 1% in all tested cases. According to the results obtained, these synthesized nanoparticles can be potentially used as thermoseeds for hyperthermia therapy.
Keywords: Cytotoxicity, heating ability, manganese-gallium ferrite, magnetic hyperthermia.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13195517 Functionally Graded MEMS Piezoelectric Energy Harvester with Magnetic Tip Mass
Authors: M. Derayatifar, M. Packirisamy, R.B. Bhat
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Role of piezoelectric energy harvesters has gained interest in supplying power for micro devices such as health monitoring sensors. In this study, in order to enhance the piezoelectric energy harvesting in capturing energy from broader range of excitation and to improve the mechanical and electrical responses, bimorph piezoelectric energy harvester beam with magnetic mass attached at the end is presented. In view of overcoming the brittleness of piezo-ceramics, functionally graded piezoelectric layers comprising of both piezo-ceramic and piezo-polymer is employed. The nonlinear equations of motions are derived using energy method and then solved analytically using perturbation scheme. The frequency responses of the forced vibration case are obtained for the near resonance case. The nonlinear dynamic responses of the MEMS scaled functionally graded piezoelectric energy harvester in this paper may be utilized in different design scenarios to increase the efficiency of the harvester.
Keywords: Energy harvesting, functionally graded piezoelectric material, magnetic force, MEMS piezoelectric, perturbation method.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 9105516 Effect of Time-Periodic Boundary Temperature on the Onset of Nanofluid Convection in a Layer of a Saturated Porous Medium
Authors: J.C. Umavathi
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The linear stability of nanofluid convection in a horizontal porous layer is examined theoretically when the walls of the porous layer are subjected to time-periodic temperature modulation. The model used for the nanofluid incorporates the effects of Brownian motion and thermopherosis, while the Darcy model is used for the porous medium. The analysis revels that for a typical nanofluid (with large Lewis number) the prime effect of the nanofluids is via a buoyancy effect coupled with the conservation of nanoparticles. The contribution of nanoparticles to the thermal energy equation being a second-order effect. It is found that the critical thermal Rayleigh number can be found reduced or decreased by a substantial amount, depending on whether the basic nanoparticle distribution is top-heavy or bottom-heavy. Oscillatory instability is possible in the case of a bottom-heavy nanoparticle distribution, phase angle and frequency of modulation.
Keywords: Brownian motion and thermophoresis, Porous medium, Nanofluid, Natural convection, Thermal modulation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21705515 Image Spam Detection Using Color Features and K-Nearest Neighbor Classification
Authors: T. Kumaresan, S. Sanjushree, C. Palanisamy
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Image spam is a kind of email spam where the spam text is embedded with an image. It is a new spamming technique being used by spammers to send their messages to bulk of internet users. Spam email has become a big problem in the lives of internet users, causing time consumption and economic losses. The main objective of this paper is to detect the image spam by using histogram properties of an image. Though there are many techniques to automatically detect and avoid this problem, spammers employing new tricks to bypass those techniques, as a result those techniques are inefficient to detect the spam mails. In this paper we have proposed a new method to detect the image spam. Here the image features are extracted by using RGB histogram, HSV histogram and combination of both RGB and HSV histogram. Based on the optimized image feature set classification is done by using k- Nearest Neighbor(k-NN) algorithm. Experimental result shows that our method has achieved better accuracy. From the result it is known that combination of RGB and HSV histogram with k-NN algorithm gives the best accuracy in spam detection.
Keywords: File Type, HSV Histogram, k-NN, RGB Histogram, Spam Detection.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21425514 A Rigid Point Set Registration of Remote Sensing Images Based on Genetic Algorithms and Hausdorff Distance
Authors: F. Meskine, N. Taleb, M. Chikr El-Mezouar, K. Kpalma, A. Almhdie
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Image registration is the process of establishing point by point correspondence between images obtained from a same scene. This process is very useful in remote sensing, medicine, cartography, computer vision, etc. Then, the task of registration is to place the data into a common reference frame by estimating the transformations between the data sets. In this work, we develop a rigid point registration method based on the application of genetic algorithms and Hausdorff distance. First, we extract the feature points from both images based on the algorithm of global and local curvature corner. After refining the feature points, we use Hausdorff distance as similarity measure between the two data sets and for optimizing the search space we use genetic algorithms to achieve high computation speed for its inertial parallel. The results show the efficiency of this method for registration of satellite images.Keywords: Feature extraction, Genetic algorithms, Hausdorff distance, Image registration, Point registration.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19315513 Effect of Swirl on Gas-Fired Combustion Behavior in a 3-D Rectangular Combustion Chamber
Authors: Man Young Kim
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The objective of this work is to investigate the turbulent reacting flow in a three dimensional combustor with emphasis on the effect of inlet swirl flow through a numerical simulation. Flow field is analyzed using the SIMPLE method which is known as stable as well as accurate in the combustion modeling, and the finite volume method is adopted in solving the radiative transfer equation. In this work, the thermal and flow characteristics in a three dimensional combustor by changing parameters such as equivalence ratio and inlet swirl angle have investigated. As the equivalence ratio increases, which means that more fuel is supplied due to a larger inlet fuel velocity, the flame temperature increases and the location of maximum temperature has moved towards downstream. In the mean while, the existence of inlet swirl velocity makes the fuel and combustion air more completely mixed and burnt in short distance. Therefore, the locations of the maximum reaction rate and temperature were shifted to forward direction compared with the case of no swirl.Keywords: Gaseous Fuel, Inlet Swirl, Thermal Radiation, Turbulent Combustion
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16345512 A Formal Property Verification for Aspect-Oriented Programs in Software Development
Authors: Moustapha Bande, Hakima Ould-Slimane, Hanifa Boucheneb
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Software development for complex systems requires efficient and automatic tools that can be used to verify the satisfiability of some critical properties such as security ones. With the emergence of Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP), considerable work has been done in order to better modularize the separation of concerns in the software design and implementation. The goal is to prevent the cross-cutting concerns to be scattered across the multiple modules of the program and tangled with other modules. One of the key challenges in the aspect-oriented programs is to be sure that all the pieces put together at the weaving time ensure the satisfiability of the overall system requirements. Our paper focuses on this problem and proposes a formal property verification approach for a given property from the woven program. The approach is based on the control flow graph (CFG) of the woven program, and the use of a satisfiability modulo theories (SMT) solver to check whether each property (represented par one aspect) is satisfied or not once the weaving is done.Keywords: Aspect-oriented programming, control flow graph, satisfiability modulo theories, property verification.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7515511 A Transform Domain Function Controlled VSSLMS Algorithm for Sparse System Identification
Authors: Cemil Turan, Mohammad Shukri Salman
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The convergence rate of the least-mean-square (LMS) algorithm deteriorates if the input signal to the filter is correlated. In a system identification problem, this convergence rate can be improved if the signal is white and/or if the system is sparse. We recently proposed a sparse transform domain LMS-type algorithm that uses a variable step-size for a sparse system identification. The proposed algorithm provided high performance even if the input signal is highly correlated. In this work, we investigate the performance of the proposed TD-LMS algorithm for a large number of filter tap which is also a critical issue for standard LMS algorithm. Additionally, the optimum value of the most important parameter is calculated for all experiments. Moreover, the convergence analysis of the proposed algorithm is provided. The performance of the proposed algorithm has been compared to different algorithms in a sparse system identification setting of different sparsity levels and different number of filter taps. Simulations have shown that the proposed algorithm has prominent performance compared to the other algorithms.Keywords: Adaptive filtering, sparse system identification, VSSLMS algorithm, TD-LMS algorithm.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 10005510 On the Numerical Approach for Simulating Thermal Hydraulics under Seismic Condition
Authors: Tadashi Watanabe
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The two-phase flow field and the motion of the free surface in an oscillating channel are simulated numerically to assess the methodology for simulating nuclear reacotr thermal hydraulics under seismic conditions. Two numerical methods are compared: one is to model the oscillating channel directly using the moving grid of the Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian method, and the other is to simulate the effect of channel motion using the oscillating acceleration acting on the fluid in the stationary channel. The two-phase flow field in the oscillating channel is simulated using the level set method in both cases. The calculated results using the oscillating acceleration are found to coinside with those using the moving grid, and the theoretical back ground and the limitation of oscillating acceleration are discussed. It is shown that the change in the interfacial area between liquid and gas phases under seismic conditions is important for nuclear reactor thermal hydraulics.Keywords: Two-phase flow, simulation, seismic condition, moving grid, oscillating acceleration, interfacial area
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13785509 Teaching College Classes with Virtual Reality
Authors: Penn P. Wu
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Recent advances in virtual reality (VR) technologies have made it possible for students to experience a virtual on-the-scene or virtual in-person observation of an educational event. In an experimental class, the author uses VR, particularly 360° videos, to virtually engage students in an event, through a wide spectrum of educational resources, such s a virtual “bystander.” Students were able to observe the event as if they were physically on site, although they could not intervene with the scene. The author will describe the adopted equipment, specification, and cost of building them as well as the quality of VR. The author will discuss (a) feasibility, effectiveness, and efficiency of using VR as a supplemental technology to teach college students and criteria and methodologies used by the authors to evaluate them; (b) barriers and issues of technological implementation; and (c) pedagogical practices learned through this experiment. The author also attempts to explore (a) how VR could provide an interactive virtual in-person learning experience; (b) how VR can possibly change traditional college education and online education; (c) how educators and balance six critical factors: cost, time, technology, quality, result, and content.
Keywords: Learning with VR, virtual experience of learning, virtual in-person learning, virtual reality for education.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 11655508 Genetic Content-Based MP3 Audio Watermarking in MDCT Domain
Authors: N. Moghadam, H. Sadeghi
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In this paper a novel scheme for watermarking digital audio during its compression to MPEG-1 Layer III format is proposed. For this purpose we slightly modify some of the selected MDCT coefficients, which are used during MPEG audio compression procedure. Due to the possibility of modifying different MDCT coefficients, there will be different choices for embedding the watermark into audio data, considering robustness and transparency factors. Our proposed method uses a genetic algorithm to select the best coefficients to embed the watermark. This genetic selection is done according to the parameters that are extracted from the perceptual content of the audio to optimize the robustness and transparency of the watermark. On the other hand the watermark security is increased due to the random nature of the genetic selection. The information of the selected MDCT coefficients that carry the watermark bits, are saves in a database for future extraction of the watermark. The proposed method is suitable for online MP3 stores to pursue illegal copies of musical artworks. Experimental results show that the detection ratio of the watermarks at the bitrate of 128kbps remains above 90% while the inaudibility of the watermark is preserved.Keywords: Content-Based Audio Watermarking, Genetic AudioWatermarking.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15175507 Performance Improvements of DSP Applications on a Generic Reconfigurable Platform
Authors: Michalis D. Galanis, Gregory Dimitroulakos, Costas E. Goutis
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Speedups from mapping four real-life DSP applications on an embedded system-on-chip that couples coarsegrained reconfigurable logic with an instruction-set processor are presented. The reconfigurable logic is realized by a 2-Dimensional Array of Processing Elements. A design flow for improving application-s performance is proposed. Critical software parts, called kernels, are accelerated on the Coarse-Grained Reconfigurable Array. The kernels are detected by profiling the source code. For mapping the detected kernels on the reconfigurable logic a prioritybased mapping algorithm has been developed. Two 4x4 array architectures, which differ in their interconnection structure among the Processing Elements, are considered. The experiments for eight different instances of a generic system show that important overall application speedups have been reported for the four applications. The performance improvements range from 1.86 to 3.67, with an average value of 2.53, compared with an all-software execution. These speedups are quite close to the maximum theoretical speedups imposed by Amdahl-s law.Keywords: Reconfigurable computing, Coarse-grained reconfigurable array, Embedded systems, DSP, Performance
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14895506 Adaptive Gait Pattern Generation of Biped Robot based on Human's Gait Pattern Analysis
Authors: Seungsuk Ha, Youngjoon Han, Hernsoo Hahn
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This paper proposes a method of adaptively generating a gait pattern of biped robot. The gait synthesis is based on human's gait pattern analysis. The proposed method can easily be applied to generate the natural and stable gait pattern of any biped robot. To analyze the human's gait pattern, sequential images of the human's gait on the sagittal plane are acquired from which the gait control values are extracted. The gait pattern of biped robot on the sagittal plane is adaptively generated by a genetic algorithm using the human's gait control values. However, gait trajectories of the biped robot on the sagittal plane are not enough to construct the complete gait pattern because the biped robot moves on 3-dimension space. Therefore, the gait pattern on the frontal plane, generated from Zero Moment Point (ZMP), is added to the gait one acquired on the sagittal plane. Consequently, the natural and stable walking pattern for the biped robot is obtained.
Keywords: Biped robot, gait pattern, genetic algorithm.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22715505 Sparse-View CT Reconstruction Based on Nonconvex L1 − L2 Regularizations
Authors: Ali Pour Yazdanpanah, Farideh Foroozandeh Shahraki, Emma Regentova
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The reconstruction from sparse-view projections is one of important problems in computed tomography (CT) limited by the availability or feasibility of obtaining of a large number of projections. Traditionally, convex regularizers have been exploited to improve the reconstruction quality in sparse-view CT, and the convex constraint in those problems leads to an easy optimization process. However, convex regularizers often result in a biased approximation and inaccurate reconstruction in CT problems. Here, we present a nonconvex, Lipschitz continuous and non-smooth regularization model. The CT reconstruction is formulated as a nonconvex constrained L1 − L2 minimization problem and solved through a difference of convex algorithm and alternating direction of multiplier method which generates a better result than L0 or L1 regularizers in the CT reconstruction. We compare our method with previously reported high performance methods which use convex regularizers such as TV, wavelet, curvelet, and curvelet+TV (CTV) on the test phantom images. The results show that there are benefits in using the nonconvex regularizer in the sparse-view CT reconstruction.Keywords: Computed tomography, sparse-view reconstruction, L1 −L2 minimization, non-convex, difference of convex functions.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20345504 Transformation Building of Micro- Entrepreneurs: A Conceptual Model
Authors: Abu Bakar Sedek Abdul Jamak, Saridan Abu Bakar, Zulkipli Ghazali, Roselind Wan
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The majority of micro-entrepreneurs in Malaysia operate very small-scaled business activities such as food stalls, burger stalls, night market hawkers, grocery stores, constructions, rubber and oil palm small holders, and other agro-based services and activities. Why are they venturing into entrepreneurship - is it for survival, out of interest or due to encouragement and assistance from the local government? And why is it that some micro-entrepreneurs are lagging behind in entrepreneurship, and what do they need to rectify this situation so that they are able to progress further? Furthermore, what are the skills that the micro entrepreneurs should developed to transform them into successful micro-enterprises and become small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)? This paper proposes a 7-Step approach that can serve as a basis for identification of critical entrepreneurial success factors that enable policy makers, practitioners, consultants, training managers and other agencies in developing tools to assist micro business owners. This paper also highlights the experience of one of the successful companies in Malaysia that has transformed from micro-enterprise to become a large organization in less than 10 years.Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Micro-entrepreneurs, Transformation, Customers
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 23845503 Vibration, Lubrication and Machinery Consideration for a Mixer Gearbox Related to Iran Oil Industries
Authors: Omid A. Zargar
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In this paper, some common gearboxes vibration analysis methods and condition monitoring systems are explained. In addition, an experimental gearbox vibration analysis is discussed through a critical case history for a mixer gearbox related to Iran oil industry. The case history also consists of gear manufacturing (machining) recommendations, lubrication condition of gearbox and machinery maintenance activities that caused reduction in noise and vibration of the gearbox. Besides some of the recent patents and innovations in gearboxes, lubrication and vibration monitoring systems explained. Finally micro pitting and surface fatigue in pinion and bevel of mentioned horizontal to vertical gearbox discussed in details.
Keywords: Gear box, condition monitoring, time wave form (TWF), fast Fourier transform (FFT), gear mesh frequency (GMF), Shock Pulse measurement (SPM), bearing condition unit (BCU), pinion, bevel gear, micro pitting, surface fatigue.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 42895502 FITTER - A Framework for Integrating Activity Tracking Technologies into Electric Recreation for Children and Adolescents
Authors: R. Altamimi, G. Skinner, K. Nesbitt
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Encouraging physical activity amongst children and adolescents is becoming an increasingly relevant issue in modern society. Studies have shown that involving children and adolescents in physical activity is essential for their physical, mental and social development. However, with technology playing an increasingly important role in reducing physical work it is becoming more critical to incorporate adequate physical activities into our lives. One way to overcome this problem is to harness technology so that it promotes physical activities, for example, by motivating children and adolescents to exercise more. This paper describes a promising solution to the question of how to increase levels of physical activity in children and adolescents by combining gaming technologies with exercise tracking goals. This research describes a framework called FITTER (Framework for Integrating activity Tracking Technologies for Electronic Recreation) that combines video game play with more traditional, non-computer physical activities.
Keywords: Exergames, Home-based eHealth, Human-computer Interaction, Natural User Interfaces, Wearable Health Informatics.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 24475501 Diagnostics of Existing Steel Structures of Winter Sport Halls
Authors: Marcela Karmazínová, Jindrich Melcher, Lubomír Vítek, Petr Cikrle
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The paper deals with the diagnostics of steel roof structure of the winter sports halls built in 1970 year. The necessity of the diagnostics has been given by the requirement to the evaluation design of this structure, which has been caused by the new situation in the field of the loadings given by the validity of the European Standards in the Czech Republic from 2010 year. Due to these changes in the normative rules, in practice existing structures are gradually subjected to the evaluation design and depending on its results to the strengthening or reconstruction, respectively. Steel roof is composed of plane truss main girders, purlins and bracings and the roof structure is supported by two arch main girders with the span of L = 84 m. The in situ diagnostics of the roof structure was oriented to the following parts: (i) determination and evaluation of the actual material properties of used steel and (ii) verification of the actual dimensions of the structural members. For the solution the nondestructive methods have been used for in situ measurement. For the indicative determination of steel strengths the modified method based on the determination of Rockwell’s hardness has been used. For the verification of the member’s dimensions (thickness of hollow sections) the ultrasound method has been used. This paper presents the results obtained using these testing methods and their evaluation, from the viewpoint of the usage for the subsequent static assessment and design evaluation of the existing structure. For the comparison, the examples of the similar evaluations realized for steel structures of the stadiums in Olomouc and Jihlava cities are briefly illustrated, too.
Keywords: Diagnostics, existing steel structure, sport hall, steel strength, indirect non-destructive methods, Rockwel’s hardness, destructive methods, actual dimensions, ultrasound method.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19835500 Numerical Solutions of Boundary Layer Flow over an Exponentially Stretching/Shrinking Sheet with Generalized Slip Velocity
Authors: Ezad Hafidz Hafidzuddin, Roslinda Nazar, Norihan M. Arifin, Ioan Pop
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In this paper, the problem of steady laminar boundary layer flow and heat transfer over a permeable exponentially stretching/shrinking sheet with generalized slip velocity is considered. The similarity transformations are used to transform the governing nonlinear partial differential equations to a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations. The transformed equations are then solved numerically using the bvp4c function in MATLAB. Dual solutions are found for a certain range of the suction and stretching/shrinking parameters. The effects of the suction parameter, stretching/shrinking parameter, velocity slip parameter, critical shear rate and Prandtl number on the skin friction and heat transfer coefficients as well as the velocity and temperature profiles are presented and discussed.
Keywords: Boundary Layer, Exponentially Stretching/Shrinking Sheet, Generalized Slip, Heat Transfer, Numerical Solutions.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 26985499 Risk Factors in a Road Construction Site
Authors: V.R Gannapathy, S.K Subramaniam, A.B Mohamad Diah, M.K Suaidi, A.H Hamidon
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The picture of a perfect road construction site is the one that utilizes conventional vertical road signs and a flagman to optimize the traffic flow with minimum hazel to the public. Former research has been carried out by Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) and Ministry of Works to further enhance smoothness in traffic operations and particularly in safety issues within work zones. This paper highlights on hazardous zones in a certain road construction or road maintenance site. Most cases show that the flagman falls into high risk of fatal accidents within work zone. Various measures have been taken by both the authorities and contractors to overcome such miseries, yet it-s impossible to eliminate the usage of a flagman since it is considered the best practice. With the implementation of new technologies in automating the traffic flow in road construction site, it is possible to eliminate the usage of a flagman. The intelligent traffic light system is designed to solve problems which contribute hazardous at road construction site and to be inline with the road safety regulation which is taken into granted.
Keywords: Intelligent Traffic Light, Critical Zones, Safety Regulation, Flagman
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 63675498 A Hybrid Distributed Vision System for Robot Localization
Authors: Hsiang-Wen Hsieh, Chin-Chia Wu, Hung-Hsiu Yu, Shu-Fan Liu
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Localization is one of the critical issues in the field of robot navigation. With an accurate estimate of the robot pose, robots will be capable of navigating in the environment autonomously and efficiently. In this paper, a hybrid Distributed Vision System (DVS) for robot localization is presented. The presented approach integrates odometry data from robot and images captured from overhead cameras installed in the environment to help reduce possibilities of fail localization due to effects of illumination, encoder accumulated errors, and low quality range data. An odometry-based motion model is applied to predict robot poses, and robot images captured by overhead cameras are then used to update pose estimates with HSV histogram-based measurement model. Experiment results show the presented approach could localize robots in a global world coordinate system with localization errors within 100mm.Keywords: Distributed Vision System, Localization, Measurement model, Motion model
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13405497 Decoupled, Reduced Order Model for Double Output Induction Generator Using Integral Manifolds and Iterative Separation Theory
Authors: M. Sedighizadeh, A. Rezazadeh
Abstract:
In this paper presents a technique for developing the computational efficiency in simulating double output induction generators (DOIG) with two rotor circuits where stator transients are to be included. Iterative decomposition is used to separate the flux– Linkage equations into decoupled fast and slow subsystems, after which the model order of the fast subsystems is reduced by neglecting the heavily damped fast transients caused by the second rotor circuit using integral manifolds theory. The two decoupled subsystems along with the equation for the very slowly changing slip constitute a three time-scale model for the machine which resulted in increasing computational speed. Finally, the proposed method of reduced order in this paper is compared with the other conventional methods in linear and nonlinear modes and it is shown that this method is better than the other methods regarding simulation accuracy and speed.Keywords: DOIG, Iterative separation, Integral manifolds, Reduced order.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 12605496 Increasing Profitability Supported by Innovative Methods and Designing Monitoring Software in Condition-Based Maintenance: A Case Study
Authors: Nasrin Farajiparvar
Abstract:
In the present article, a new method has been developed to enhance the application of equipment monitoring, which in turn results in improving condition-based maintenance economic impact in an automobile parts manufacturing factory. This study also describes how an effective software with a simple database can be utilized to achieve cost-effective improvements in maintenance performance. The most important results of this project are indicated here: 1. 63% reduction in direct and indirect maintenance costs. 2. Creating a proper database to analyse failures. 3. Creating a method to control system performance and develop it to similar systems. 4. Designing a software to analyse database and consequently create technical knowledge to face unusual condition of the system. Moreover, the results of this study have shown that the concept and philosophy of maintenance has not been understood in most Iranian industries. Thus, more investment is strongly required to improve maintenance conditions.
Keywords: Condition-based maintenance, Economic savings, Iran industries, Machine life prediction software.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1576