Search results for: Root system size
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 10031

Search results for: Root system size

9641 Tuning of Power System Stabilizers in a Multi- Machine Power System using C-Catfish PSO

Authors: M. H. Moradi, S. M. Moosavi, A. R. Reisi

Abstract:

The main objective of this paper is to investigate the enhancement of power system stability via coordinated tuning of Power System Stabilizers (PSSs) in a multi-machine power system. The design problem of the proposed controllers is formulated as an optimization problem. Chaotic catfish particle swarm optimization (C-Catfish PSO) algorithm is used to minimize the ITAE objective function. The proposed algorithm is evaluated on a two-area, 4- machines system. The robustness of the proposed algorithm is verified on this system under different operating conditions and applying a three-phase fault. The nonlinear time-domain simulation results and some performance indices show the effectiveness of the proposed controller in damping power system oscillations and this novel optimization algorithm is compared with particle swarm optimization (PSO).

Keywords: Power system stabilizer, C-Catfish PSO, ITAE objective function, Power system control, Multi-machine power system

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9640 Diversity Analysis of a Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) Germplasm during Two Seasons

Authors: M. Mhada, E. N. Jellen, S. E. Jacobsen, O. Benlhabib

Abstract:

The present work has been carried out to evaluate the diversity of a collection of 78 quinoa accessions developed through recurrent selection from Andean germplasm introduced to Morocco in the winter of 2000. Twenty-three quantitative and qualitative characters were used for the evaluation of genetic diversity and the relationship between the accessions, and also for the establishment of a core collection in Morocco. Important variation was found among the accessions in terms of plant morphology and growth behavior. Data analysis showed positive correlation of the plant height, the plant fresh and the dry weight with the grain yield, while days to flowering was found to be negatively correlated with grain yield. The first four PCs contributed 74.76% of the variability; the first PC showed significant variation with 42.86% of the total variation, PC2 with 15.37%, PC3 with 9.05% and PC4 contributed 7.49% of the total variation. Plant size, days to grain filling and days to maturity are correlated to the PC1; and seed size, inflorescence density and mildew resistance are correlated to the PC2. Hierarchical cluster analysis rearranged the 78 quinoa accessions into four main groups and ten sub-clusters. Clustering was found in associations with days to maturity and also with plant size and seed-size traits.

Keywords: Character association, Chenopodium quinoa, Diversity analysis, Morphotypic cluster, Multivariate analysis.

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9639 Computational Tool for Techno-Economical Evaluation of Steam/Oxygen Fluidized Bed Biomass Gasification Technologies

Authors: Gabriela-Alina Dumitrel, Teodor Todinca, Carmen Holotescu, Cosmina-Mariana Militaru

Abstract:

The paper presents a computational tool developed for the evaluation of technical and economic advantages of an innovative cleaning and conditioning technology of fluidized bed steam/oxygen gasifiers outlet product gas. This technology integrates into a single unit the steam gasification of biomass and the hot gas cleaning and conditioning system. Both components of the computational tool, process flowsheet and economic evaluator, have been developed under IPSEpro software. The economic model provides information that can help potential users, especially small and medium size enterprises acting in the regenerable energy field, to decide the optimal scale of a plant and to better understand both potentiality and limits of the system when applied to a wide range of conditions.

Keywords: biomass, CHP units, economic evaluation, gasification.

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9638 Optimal Capacitor Allocation for loss reduction in Distribution System Using Fuzzy and Plant Growth Simulation Algorithm

Authors: R. Srinivasa Rao

Abstract:

This paper presents a new and efficient approach for capacitor placement in radial distribution systems that determine the optimal locations and size of capacitor with an objective of improving the voltage profile and reduction of power loss. The solution methodology has two parts: in part one the loss sensitivity factors are used to select the candidate locations for the capacitor placement and in part two a new algorithm that employs Plant growth Simulation Algorithm (PGSA) is used to estimate the optimal size of capacitors at the optimal buses determined in part one. The main advantage of the proposed method is that it does not require any external control parameters. The other advantage is that it handles the objective function and the constraints separately, avoiding the trouble to determine the barrier factors. The proposed method is applied to 9 and 34 bus radial distribution systems. The solutions obtained by the proposed method are compared with other methods. The proposed method has outperformed the other methods in terms of the quality of solution.

Keywords: Distribution systems, Capacitor allocation, Loss reduction, Fuzzy, PGSA.

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9637 UAV Position Estimation Using Remote Radio Head With Adaptive Power Control

Authors: Hyeon-Cheol Lee

Abstract:

The adaptive power control of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) communications using Remote Radio Head (RRH) between multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) with a link-budget based Signal-to-Interference Ratio (SIR) estimate is applied to four inner loop power control algorithms. It is concluded that Base Station (BS) can calculate not only UAV distance using linearity between speed and Consecutive Transmit-Power-Control Ratio (CTR) of Adaptive Step-size Closed Loop Power Control (ASCLPC), Consecutive TPC Ratio Step-size Closed Loop Power Control (CS-CLPC), Fixed Step-size Power Control (FSPC), but also UAV position with Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) ratio of RRHs.

Keywords: speed estimation, adaptive power control, link-budget, SIR, multi-bit quantizer, RRH

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9636 The Effect of Magnetite Particle Size on Methane Production by Fresh and Degassed Anaerobic Sludge

Authors: E. Al-Essa, R. Bello-Mendoza, D. G. Wareham

Abstract:

Anaerobic batch experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of magnetite-supplementation (7 mM) on methane production from digested sludge undergoing two different microbial growth phases, namely fresh sludge (exponential growth phase) and degassed sludge (endogenous decay phase). Three different particle sizes were assessed: small (50 - 150 nm), medium (168 – 490 nm) and large (800 nm - 4.5 µm) particles. Results show that, in the case of the fresh sludge, magnetite significantly enhanced the methane production rate (up to 32%) and reduced the lag phase (by 15% - 41%) as compared to the control, regardless of the particle size used. However, the cumulative methane produced at the end of the incubation was comparable in all treatment and control bottles. In the case of the degassed sludge, only the medium-sized magnetite particles increased significantly the methane production rate (12% higher) as compared to the control. Small and large particles had little effect on the methane production rate but did result in an extended lag phase which led to significantly lower cumulative methane production at the end of the incubation period. These results suggest that magnetite produces a clear and positive effect on methane production only when an active and balanced microbial community is present in the anaerobic digester. It is concluded that, (i) the effect of magnetite particle size on increasing the methane production rate and reducing lag phase duration is strongly influenced by the initial metabolic state of the microbial consortium, and (ii) the particle size would positively affect the methane production if it is provided within the nanometer size range.

Keywords: Anaerobic digestion, iron oxide (Fe3O4), methanogenesis, nanoparticle.

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9635 A Study of the Lighting Control System for a Daylit Office

Authors: Chih-Jian Hu, Chung-Chih Cheng, Hsiao-Yuan Wu., Nien-Tzu Chao

Abstract:

Increasing user comfort and reducing operation costs have always been primary objectives of lighting control strategies in a building. This paper proposes an architecture of the lighting control system for a daylit office. The system consists of the lighting controller, A/D & D/A converter, dimmable LED lights, and the lighting management software. Verification tests are conducted using the proposed system specialized for the interior lighting of a open-plan office. The results showed the proposed architecture of the lighting system would improve the overall system reliability, lower the system cost, and provide ease of installation and maintenance.

Keywords: control, dimming, LED, lighting.

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9634 An Examination of the Factors Influencing Software Development Effort

Authors: Zhizhong Jiang, Peter Naudé

Abstract:

Effective evaluation of software development effort is an important aspect of successful project management. Based on a large database with 4106 projects ever developed, this study statistically examines the factors that influence development effort. The factors found to be significant for effort are project size, average number of developers that worked on the project, type of development, development language, development platform, and the use of rapid application development. Among these factors, project size is the most critical cost driver. Unsurprisingly, this study found that the use of CASE tools does not necessarily reduce development effort, which adds support to the claim that the use of tools is subtle. As many of the current estimation models are rarely or unsuccessfully used, this study proposes a parsimonious parametric model for the prediction of effort which is both simple and more accurate than previous models.

Keywords: Development effort, function points, team size, development language, CASE tool, rapid application development.

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9633 Optimal Capacitor Placement in a Radial Distribution System using Plant Growth Simulation Algorithm

Authors: R. Srinivasa Rao, S. V. L. Narasimham

Abstract:

This paper presents a new and efficient approach for capacitor placement in radial distribution systems that determine the optimal locations and size of capacitor with an objective of improving the voltage profile and reduction of power loss. The solution methodology has two parts: in part one the loss sensitivity factors are used to select the candidate locations for the capacitor placement and in part two a new algorithm that employs Plant growth Simulation Algorithm (PGSA) is used to estimate the optimal size of capacitors at the optimal buses determined in part one. The main advantage of the proposed method is that it does not require any external control parameters. The other advantage is that it handles the objective function and the constraints separately, avoiding the trouble to determine the barrier factors. The proposed method is applied to 9, 34, and 85-bus radial distribution systems. The solutions obtained by the proposed method are compared with other methods. The proposed method has outperformed the other methods in terms of the quality of solution.

Keywords: Distribution systems, Capacitor placement, loss reduction, Loss sensitivity factors, PGSA.

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9632 A Numerical Study on the Seismic Performance of Built-Up Battened Columns

Authors: Sophia C. Alih, Mohammadreza Vafaei, Farnoud Rahimi Mansour, Nur Hajarul Falahi Abdul Halim

Abstract:

Built-up columns have been widely employed by practice engineers in the design and construction of buildings and bridges. However, failures have been observed in this type of columns in previous seismic events. This study analyses the performance of built-up columns with different configurations of battens when it is subjected to seismic loads. Four columns with different size of battens were simulated and subjected to three different intensities of axial load along with a lateral cyclic load. Results indicate that the size of battens influences significantly the seismic behavior of columns. Lower shear capacity of battens results in higher ultimate strength and ductility for built-up columns. It is observed that intensity of axial load has a significant effect on the ultimate strength of columns, but it is less influential on the yield strength. For a given drift value, the stress level in the centroid of smaller size battens is significantly more than that of larger size battens signifying damage concentration in battens rather than chords. It is concluded that design of battens for shear demand lower than code specified values only slightly reduces initial stiffness of columns; however, it improves seismic performance of battened columns.

Keywords: Battened column, built-up column, cyclic behavior, seismic design, steel column.

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9631 Structural Analysis of a Composite Wind Turbine Blade

Authors: C. Amer, M. Sahin

Abstract:

The design of an optimised horizontal axis 5-meter-long wind turbine rotor blade in according with IEC 61400-2 standard is a research and development project in order to fulfil the requirements of high efficiency of torque from wind production and to optimise the structural components to the lightest and strongest way possible. For this purpose, a research study is presented here by focusing on the structural characteristics of a composite wind turbine blade via finite element modelling and analysis tools. In this work, first, the required data regarding the general geometrical parts are gathered. Then, the airfoil geometries are created at various sections along the span of the blade by using CATIA software to obtain the two surfaces, namely; the suction and the pressure side of the blade in which there is a hat shaped fibre reinforced plastic spar beam, so-called chassis starting at 0.5m from the root of the blade and extends up to 4 m and filled with a foam core. The root part connecting the blade to the main rotor differential metallic hub having twelve hollow threaded studs is then modelled. The materials are assigned as two different types of glass fabrics, polymeric foam core material and the steel-balsa wood combination for the root connection parts. The glass fabrics are applied using hand wet lay-up lamination with epoxy resin as METYX L600E10C-0, is the unidirectional continuous fibres and METYX XL800E10F having a tri-axial architecture with fibres in the 0,+45,-45 degree orientations in a ratio of 2:1:1. Divinycell H45 is used as the polymeric foam. The finite element modelling of the blade is performed via MSC PATRAN software with various meshes created on each structural part considering shell type for all surface geometries, and lumped mass were added to simulate extra adhesive locations. For the static analysis, the boundary conditions are assigned as fixed at the root through aforementioned bolts, where for dynamic analysis both fixed-free and free-free boundary conditions are made. By also taking the mesh independency into account, MSC NASTRAN is used as a solver for both analyses. The static analysis aims the tip deflection of the blade under its own weight and the dynamic analysis comprises normal mode dynamic analysis performed in order to obtain the natural frequencies and corresponding mode shapes focusing the first five in and out-of-plane bending and the torsional modes of the blade. The analyses results of this study are then used as a benchmark prior to modal testing, where the experiments over the produced wind turbine rotor blade has approved the analytical calculations.

Keywords: Dynamic analysis, Fiber Reinforced Composites, Horizontal axis wind turbine blade, Hand-wet layup, Modal Testing.

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9630 Fuzzy Inference System Based Unhealthy Region Classification in Plant Leaf Image

Authors: K. Muthukannan, P. Latha

Abstract:

In addition to environmental parameters like rain, temperature diseases on crop is a major factor which affects production quality & quantity of crop yield. Hence disease management is a key issue in agriculture. For the management of disease, it needs to be detected at early stage. So, treat it properly & control spread of the disease. Now a day, it is possible to use the images of diseased leaf to detect the type of disease by using image processing techniques. This can be achieved by extracting features from the images which can be further used with classification algorithms or content based image retrieval systems. In this paper, color image is used to extract the features such as mean and standard deviation after the process of region cropping. The selected features are taken from the cropped image with different image size samples. Then, the extracted features are taken in to the account for classification using Fuzzy Inference System (FIS).

Keywords: Image Cropping, Classification, Color, Fuzzy Rule, Feature Extraction.

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9629 A Frame Work for the Development of a Suitable Method to Find Shoot Length at Maturity of Mustard Plant Using Soft Computing Model

Authors: Satyendra Nath Mandal, J. Pal Choudhury, Dilip De, S. R. Bhadra Chaudhuri

Abstract:

The production of a plant can be measured in terms of seeds. The generation of seeds plays a critical role in our social and daily life. The fruit production which generates seeds, depends on the various parameters of the plant, such as shoot length, leaf number, root length, root number, etc When the plant is growing, some leaves may be lost and some new leaves may appear. It is very difficult to use the number of leaves of the tree to calculate the growth of the plant.. It is also cumbersome to measure the number of roots and length of growth of root in several time instances continuously after certain initial period of time, because roots grow deeper and deeper under ground in course of time. On the contrary, the shoot length of the tree grows in course of time which can be measured in different time instances. So the growth of the plant can be measured using the data of shoot length which are measured at different time instances after plantation. The environmental parameters like temperature, rain fall, humidity and pollution are also play some role in production of yield. The soil, crop and distance management are taken care to produce maximum amount of yields of plant. The data of the growth of shoot length of some mustard plant at the initial stage (7,14,21 & 28 days after plantation) is available from the statistical survey by a group of scientists under the supervision of Prof. Dilip De. In this paper, initial shoot length of Ken( one type of mustard plant) has been used as an initial data. The statistical models, the methods of fuzzy logic and neural network have been tested on this mustard plant and based on error analysis (calculation of average error) that model with minimum error has been selected and can be used for the assessment of shoot length at maturity. Finally, all these methods have been tested with other type of mustard plants and the particular soft computing model with the minimum error of all types has been selected for calculating the predicted data of growth of shoot length. The shoot length at the stage of maturity of all types of mustard plants has been calculated using the statistical method on the predicted data of shoot length.

Keywords: Fuzzy time series, neural network, forecasting error, average error.

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9628 A Study on Roles of the Community Design in Crime Prevention: Focusing on Project called Root out Crime by Design in South Korea

Authors: Miyoun Won, Youngkyung Choi

Abstract:

In the meantime, there were lots of hardware solutions like products or urban facilities for crime prevention in the public design area. Meanwhile, people have growing interest in public design so by making a village; community design in public design is getting active by the society. The system for crime prevention is actively done by the citizens who created the community. Regarding the social situation, in this project, we saw it as a kind of community design practices and researched about 'how does community design influence Crime prevention?' The purpose of this study is to propose the community design as a way of preventing the crime in the city. First, we found out about the definition, elements and methods of community design by reviewing the theory. And then, this study analyzed the case that was enforced in Seoul and organize the elements and methods of community design. This study can be refer to Public Design based on civil participation and make the community design area contribute to expand the way of solving social problems.

Keywords: Public Design, Sustainable Community Design, Crime Prevention, Participatory Design.

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9627 Bioleaching of Spent Catalyst using Moderate Thermophiles with Different Pulp Densities and Varying Size Fractions without Fe Supplemented Growth Medium

Authors: Haragobinda Srichandan, Chandra Sekhar Gahan, Dong-Jin Kim, Seoung-Won Lee

Abstract:

Bioleaching of spent catalyst using moderate thermophilic chemolithotrophic acidophiles in growth medium without Fe source was investigated with two different pulp densities and three different size fractions. All the experiments were conducted on shake flasks at a temperature of 65 °C. The leaching yield of Ni and Al was found to be promising with very high leaching yield of 92-96% followed by Al as 41-76%, which means both Ni and Al leaching were favored by the moderate thermophilic bioleaching compared to the mesophilic bioleaching. The acid consumption was comparatively higher for the 10% pulp density experiments. Comparatively minimal difference in the leaching yield with different size fractions and different pulp densities show no requirement of grinding and using low pulp density less than 10%. This process would rather be economical as well as eco-friendly process for future optimization of the recovery of metal values from spent catalyst.

Keywords: Bioleaching, spent catalyst, leaching yield, thermophile.

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9626 Structural Characteristics of Three-Dimensional Random Packing of Aggregates with Wide Size Distribution

Authors: Kasthurirangan Gopalakrishnan, Naga Shashidhar

Abstract:

The mechanical properties of granular solids are dependent on the flow of stresses from one particle to another through inter-particle contact. Although some experimental methods have been used to study the inter-particle contacts in the past, preliminary work with these techniques indicated that they do not have the necessary resolution to distinguish between those contacts that transmit the load and those that do not, especially for systems with a wide distribution of particle sizes. In this research, computer simulations are used to study the nature and distribution of contacts in a compact with wide particle size distribution, representative of aggregate size distribution used in asphalt pavement construction. The packing fraction, the mean number of contacts and the distribution of contacts were studied for different scenarios. A methodology to distinguish and compute the fraction of load-bearing particles and the fraction of space-filling particles (particles that do not transmit any force) is needed for further investigation.

Keywords: Computer simulation, three-dimensional particlepacking, coordination number, asphalt concrete, aggregates.

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9625 Mathematical Model of the Respiratory System – Comparison of the Total Lung Impedance in the Adult and Neonatal Lung

Authors: M. Rozanek, K. Roubik

Abstract:

A mathematical model of the respiratory system is introduced in this study. Geometrical dimensions of the respiratory system were used to compute the acoustic properties of the respiratory system using the electro-acoustic analogy. The effect of the geometrical proportions of the respiratory system is observed in the paper.

Keywords: Electro-acoustic analogy, total lung impedance, mechanical parameters, respiratory system.

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9624 Determination of Sensitive Transmission Lines Due to the Effect of Protection System Hidden Failure in a Critical System Cascading Collapse

Authors: N. A. Salim, M. M. Othman, I. Musirin, M. S. Serwan

Abstract:

Protection system hidden failures have been identified as one of the main causes of system cascading collapse resulting to power system instability. In this paper, a systematic approach is presented in order to identify the probability of a system cascading collapse by taking into consideration the effect of protection system hidden failure. This includes the accurate calculation of the probability of hidden failure as it will provide significant impinge on the findings of the probability of system cascading collapse. The probability of a system cascading collapse is then used to identify the initial tripping of sensitive transmission lines which will contribute to a critical system cascading collapse. Based on the results obtained from this study, it is important to decide on the accurate value of the hidden failure probability as it will affect the probability of a system cascading collapse.

Keywords: Critical system cascading collapse, hidden failure, probability of cascading collapse, sensitive transmission lines.

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9623 Post-Compression Consideration in Video Watermarking for Wireless Communication

Authors: Chuen-Ching Wang, Yao-Tang Chang, Yu-Chang Hsu

Abstract:

A simple but effective digital watermarking scheme utilizing a context adaptive variable length coding (CAVLC) method is presented for wireless communication system. In the proposed approach, the watermark bits are embedded in the final non-zero quantized coefficient of each DCT block, thereby yielding a potential reduction in the length of the coded block. As a result, the watermarking scheme not only provides the means to check the authenticity and integrity of the video stream, but also improves the compression ratio and therefore reduces both the transmission time and the storage space requirements of the coded video sequence. The results confirm that the proposed scheme enables the detection of malicious tampering attacks and reduces the size of the coded H.264 file. Therefore, the current study is feasible to apply in the video applications of wireless communication such as 3G system

Keywords: 3G, wireless communication, CAVLC, digitalwatermarking, motion compensation

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9622 Mammogram Image Size Reduction Using 16-8 bit Conversion Technique

Authors: Ayman A. AbuBaker, Rami S.Qahwaji, Musbah J. Aqel, Mohmmad H. Saleh

Abstract:

Two algorithms are proposed to reduce the storage requirements for mammogram images. The input image goes through a shrinking process that converts the 16-bit images to 8-bits by using pixel-depth conversion algorithm followed by enhancement process. The performance of the algorithms is evaluated objectively and subjectively. A 50% reduction in size is obtained with no loss of significant data at the breast region.

Keywords: Breast cancer, Image processing, Image reduction, Mammograms, Image enhancement

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9621 Evaluation of Antifungal Potential of Cenchrus pennisetiformis for the Management of Macrophomina phaseolina

Authors: Arshad Javaid, Syeda F. Naqvi

Abstract:

Macrophomina phaseolina is a devastating soil-borne fungal plant pathogen that causes charcoal rot disease in many economically important crops worldwide. So far, no registered fungicide is available against this plant pathogen. This study was planned to examine the antifungal activity of an allelopathic grass Cenchrus pennisetiformis (Hochst. & Steud.) Wipff. for the management of M. phaseolina isolated from cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.] plants suffering from charcoal rot disease. Different parts of the plants viz. inflorescence, shoot and root were extracted in methanol. Laboratory bioassays were carried out using different concentrations (0, 0.5, 1.0, …, 3.0 g mL-1) of methanolic extracts of the test allelopathic grass species to assess the antifungal activity against the pathogen. In general, extracts of all parts of the grass exhibited antifungal activity. All the concentrations of methanolic extracts of shoot and root significantly reduced fungal biomass by 20–73% and 40–80%, respectively. Methanolic shoot extract was fractionated using n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and n-butanol. Different concentrations of these fractions (3.125, 6.25, …, 200 mg mL-1) were analyzed for their antifungal activity. All the concentrations of n-hexane fraction significantly reduced fungal biomass by 15–96% over corresponding control treatments. Higher concentrations (12.5–200 mg mL-1) of chloroform, ethyl acetate and n-butanol also reduced the fungal biomass significantly by 29–100%, 46–100% and 24–100%, respectively.

Keywords: Antifungal activity, Cenchrus pennisetiformis, Macrophomina phaseolina, natural fungicides

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9620 Analysis of Long-Term File System Activities on Cluster Systems

Authors: Hyeyoung Cho, Sungho Kim, Sik Lee

Abstract:

I/O workload is a critical and important factor to analyze I/O pattern and to maximize file system performance. However to measure I/O workload on running distributed parallel file system is non-trivial due to collection overhead and large volume of data. In this paper, we measured and analyzed file system activities on two large-scale cluster systems which had TFlops level high performance computation resources. By comparing file system activities of 2009 with those of 2006, we analyzed the change of I/O workloads by the development of system performance and high-speed network technology.

Keywords: I/O workload, Lustre, GPFS, Cluster File System

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9619 New Coordinate System for Countries with Big Territories

Authors: Mohammed Sabri Ali Akresh

Abstract:

The modern technologies and developments in computer and Global Positioning System (GPS) as well as Geographic Information System (GIS) and total station TS. This paper presents a new proposal for coordinates system by a harmonic equations “United projections”, which have five projections (Mercator, Lambert, Russell, Lagrange, and compound of projection) in one zone coordinate system width 14 degrees, also it has one degree for overlap between zones, as well as two standards parallels for zone from 10 S to 45 S. Also this paper presents two cases; first case is to compare distances between a new coordinate system and UTM, second case creating local coordinate system for the city of Sydney to measure the distances directly from rectangular coordinates using projection of Mercator, Lambert and UTM.

Keywords: Harmonic equations, coordinate system, projections, algorithms and parallels.

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9618 Control of A Cart-Ball System Using State-Feedback Controller

Authors: M. Shakir Saat, M. Noh Ahmad, Dr, Amat Amir

Abstract:

A cart-ball system is a challenging system from the control engineering point of view. This is due to the nonlinearities, multivariable, and non-minimum phase behavior present in this system. This paper is concerned with the problem of modeling and control of such system. The objective of control strategy is to place the cart at a desired position while balancing the ball on the top of the arc-shaped track fixed on the cart. A State-Feedback Controller (SFC) with a pole-placement method will be designed in order to control the system. At first, the mathematical model of a cart-ball system in the state-space form is developed. Then, the linearization of a model will be established in order to design a SFC. The integral control strategy will be performed as to control the cart position of a system. Simulation work is then performed using MATLAB/SIMULINK software in order to study the performance of SFC when applied to the system.

Keywords: Cart-Ball System, Integral Control, Pole-PlacementMethod, State-Feedback Controller.

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9617 A Compact Via-less Ultra-Wideband Microstrip Filter by Utilizing Open-Circuit Quarter Wavelength Stubs

Authors: Muhammad Yasir Wadood, Fatemeh Babaeian

Abstract:

By developing ultra-wideband (UWB) systems, there is a high demand for UWB filters with low insertion loss, wide bandwidth, and having a planar structure which is compatible with other components of the UWB system. A microstrip interdigital filter is a great option for designing UWB filters. However, the presence of via holes in this structure creates difficulties in the fabrication procedure of the filter. Especially in the higher frequency band, any misalignment of the drilled via hole with the Microstrip stubs causes large errors in the measurement results compared to the desired results. Moreover, in this case (high-frequency designs), the line width of the stubs are very narrow, so highly precise small via holes are required to be implemented, which increases the cost of fabrication significantly. Also, in this case, there is a risk of having fabrication errors. To combat this issue, in this paper, a via-less UWB microstrip filter is proposed which is designed based on a modification of a conventional inter-digital bandpass filter. The novel approaches in this filter design are 1) replacement of each via hole with a quarter-wavelength open circuit stub to avoid the complexity of manufacturing, 2) using a bend structure to reduce the unwanted coupling effects and 3) minimising the size. Using the proposed structure, a UWB filter operating in the frequency band of 3.9-6.6 GHz (1-dB bandwidth) is designed and fabricated. The promising results of the simulation and measurement are presented in this paper. The selected substrate for these designs was Rogers RO4003 with a thickness of 20 mils. This is a common substrate in most of the industrial projects. The compact size of the proposed filter is highly beneficial for applications which require a very miniature size of hardware.

Keywords: Band-pass filters, inter-digital filter, microstrip, via-less.

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9616 Anti-microbial Activity of Aristolochic Acid from Root of Aristolochia bracteata Retz

Authors: S. Angalaparameswari, T.S. Mohamed Saleem, M. Alagusundaram, S. Ramkanth, V.S. Thiruvengadarajan, K. Gnanaprakash, C. Madhusudhana Chetty, G. Pratheesh

Abstract:

The present research was designed to investigate the anti-microbial activity of aristolochic acid from the root of Aristolochia bracteata. From the methanolic & ethyl extract extracts of Aristolochia bracteata aristolochic acid I was isolated and conformed through IR, NMR & MS. The percentage purity of aristolochic acid I was determined by UV & HPLC method. Antibacterial activity of extracts of Aristolochia bracteata and the isolated compound was determined by disc diffusion method. The results reveled that the isolated aristolochic acid from methanolic extract was more pure than the compound from ethyl acetate extract. The various extracts (500μg/disc) of Aristolochia bracteata showed moderate antibacterial activity with the average zone of inhibition of 7-18 mm by disc diffusion method. Among the extracts, ethyl acetate & methanol extracts were shown good anti-microbial activity and the growth of E.coli (18 mm) was strongly inhibited. Microbial assay of isolated compound (Aristolochic acid I) from ethyl acetate & methanol extracts were shown good antimicrobial activity and the zone of inhibition of both at higher concentration 50 μg/ml was similar with the standard aristolochic acid. It may be concluded that the isolated compound of aristolochic acid I has good anti-bacterial activity.

Keywords: Aristolochic acid I, Anti-microbial activity, Aristolochia bracteata, Bacillus subtilis, E.coli

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9615 FPGA Based Longitudinal and Lateral Controller Implementation for a Small UAV

Authors: Hafiz ul Azad, Dragan V.Lazic, Waqar Shahid

Abstract:

This paper presents implementation of attitude controller for a small UAV using field programmable gate array (FPGA). Due to the small size constrain a miniature more compact and computationally extensive; autopilot platform is needed for such systems. More over UAV autopilot has to deal with extremely adverse situations in the shortest possible time, while accomplishing its mission. FPGAs in the recent past have rendered themselves as fast, parallel, real time, processing devices in a compact size. This work utilizes this fact and implements different attitude controllers for a small UAV in FPGA, using its parallel processing capabilities. Attitude controller is designed in MATLAB/Simulink environment. The discrete version of this controller is implemented using pipelining followed by retiming, to reduce the critical path and thereby clock period of the controller datapath. Pipelined, retimed, parallel PID controller implementation is done using rapidprototyping and testing efficient development tool of “system generator", which has been developed by Xilinx for FPGA implementation. The improved timing performance enables the controller to react abruptly to any changes made to the attitudes of UAV.

Keywords: Field Programmable gate array (FPGA), Hardwaredescriptive Language (HDL), PID, Pipelining, Retiming, XilinxSystem Generator.

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9614 Water Saving in Arid Regions: Comparison of Innovative Techniques for Irrigation of Young Date Palms

Authors: R. Bourziza, A. Hammani, M. Kuper, A. Bouaziz

Abstract:

In oases, the surface water resources are becoming increasingly scarce and groundwater resources, which generally have a poor quality due to the high levels of salinity, are often overexploited. Water saving have therefore become imperative for better oases sustainability. If drip irrigation is currently recommended in Morocco for saving water and valuing, its use in the sub-desert areas does not keep water safe from high evaporation rates. An alternative to this system would be the use of subsurface drip irrigation. This technique is defined as an application of water under the soil surface through drippers, which deliver water at rates generally similar to surface drip irrigation. As subsurface drip irrigation is a recently introduced in Morocco, a better understanding of the infiltration process around a buried source, in local conditions, and its impact on plant growth is necessarily required. This study aims to contribute to improving the water use efficiency by testing the performance of subsurface irrigation system, especially in areas where water is a limited source. The objectives of this research are performance evaluation in arid conditions of the subsurface drip irrigation system for young date palms compared to the surface drip. In this context, an experimental test is installed at a farmer’s field in the area of Erfoud (Errachidia Province, southeastern Morocco), using the subsurface drip irrigation system in comparison with the classic drip system for young date palms. Flow measurement to calculate the uniformity of the application of water was done through two methods: a flow measurement of drippers above the surface and another one underground. The latter method has also helped us to estimate losses through evaporation for both irrigation techniques. In order to compare the effect of two irrigation modes, plants were identified for each type of irrigation to monitor certain agronomic parameters (cumulative numbers of palms and roots development). Experimentation referred to a distribution uniformity of about 88%; considered acceptable for subsurface drip irrigation while it is around 80% for the surface drip irrigation. The results also show an increase in root development and in the number of palm, as well as a substantial water savings due to lower evaporation losses compared to the classic drip irrigation. The results of this study showed that subsurface drip irrigation is an efficient technique, which allows sustainable irrigation in arid areas.

Keywords: Subsurface drip irrigation, Water conservation, Arid areas, Young date palms.

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9613 Decision Support Framework in Managerial Learning Environment for Organization

Authors: M. Mazhar Manzoor, Nasar.A, A. Sattar

Abstract:

In the open space of decision support system the mental impression of a manager-s decision has been the subject of large importance than the ordinary famous one, when helped by decision support system. Much of this study is an attempt to realize the relation of decision support system usage and decision outcomes that governs the system. For example, several researchers have proposed so many different models to analyze the linkage between decision support system processes and results of decision making. This study draws the important relation of manager-s mental approach with the use of decision support system. The findings of this paper are theoretical attempts to provide Decision Support System (DSS) in a way to exhibit and promote the learning in semi structured area. The proposed model shows the points of one-s learning improvements and maintains a theoretical approach in order to explore the DSS contribution in enhancing the decision forming and governing the system.

Keywords: Decision Support System , Learning Organization,

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9612 Research on Rail Safety Security System

Authors: Cai Guoqiang, Jia Limin, Zhou Liming, Liang yu, Li xi

Abstract:

This paper analysis the integrated use of safety monitoring with the domestic and international latest research on rail safety protection system, and focus on the implementation of an organic whole system, with the monitoring and early warning, risk assessment, predictive control and emergency rescue system. The system framework, contents and system structure of Security system is proposed completely. It-s pointed out that the Security system is a negative feedback system composed of by safety monitoring and warning system, risk assessment and emergency rescue system. Safety monitoring and warning system focus on the monitoring target monitoring, early warning, tracking, integration of decision-making, for objective and subjective risks factors. Risk assessment system analysis the occurrence of a major Security risk mechanism, determines the standard of the future short, medium and long term safety conditions, and give prop for development of safety indicators, accident analysis and safety standards. Emergency rescue system is with the goal of rapid and effective rescue work for accident, to minimize casualties and property losses.

Keywords: rail safety protection, monitoring and early warning, risk assessment, emergency rescue.

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