Search results for: performance measurement
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 6674

Search results for: performance measurement

6284 Optimizing and Evaluating Performance Quality Control of the Production Process of Disposable Essentials Using Approach Vague Goal Programming

Authors: Hadi Gholizadeh, Ali Tajdin

Abstract:

To have effective production planning, it is necessary to control the quality of processes. This paper aims at improving the performance of the disposable essentials process using statistical quality control and goal programming in a vague environment. That is expressed uncertainty because there is always a measurement error in the real world. Therefore, in this study, the conditions are examined in a vague environment that is a distance-based environment. The disposable essentials process in Kach Company was studied. Statistical control tools were used to characterize the existing process for four factor responses including the average of disposable glasses’ weights, heights, crater diameters, and volumes. Goal programming was then utilized to find the combination of optimal factors setting in a vague environment which is measured to apply uncertainty of the initial information when some of the parameters of the models are vague; also, the fuzzy regression model is used to predict the responses of the four described factors. Optimization results show that the process capability index values for disposable glasses’ average of weights, heights, crater diameters and volumes were improved. Such increasing the quality of the products and reducing the waste, which will reduce the cost of the finished product, and ultimately will bring customer satisfaction, and this satisfaction, will mean increased sales.

Keywords: Goal programming, quality control, vague environment, disposable glasses’ optimization, fuzzy regression.

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6283 Multivariate Analysis of Students’ Performance in Math Courses and Specific Engineering Courses

Authors: H. Naccache, R. Hleiss

Abstract:

The aim of this research is to study the relationship between the performance of engineering students in different math courses and their performance in specific engineering courses. The considered courses are taken mainly by engineering students during the first two years of their major. Several factors are being studied, such as gender and final grades in the math and specific engineering courses. Participants of this study comprised a sample of more than thousands of engineering students at Lebanese University during their tertiary academic years. A significant relationship tends to appear between these factors and the performance of students in engineering courses. Moreover, female students appear to outperform their male counterparts in both the math and engineering courses, and a high correlation was found between their grades in math courses and their grades in specific engineering courses. The results and implications of the study were being discussed.

Keywords: Education, engineering, math, performance.

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6282 An Integrated Cognitive Performance Evaluation Framework for Urban Search and Rescue Applications

Authors: Antonio D. Lee, Steven X. Jiang

Abstract:

A variety of techniques and methods are available to evaluate cognitive performance in Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) applications. However, traditional cognitive performance evaluation techniques typically incorporate either the conscious or systematic aspect, failing to take into consideration the subconscious or intuitive aspect. This leads to incomplete measures and produces ineffective designs. In order to fill the gaps in past research, this study developed a theoretical framework to facilitate the integration of situation awareness (SA) and intuitive pattern recognition (IPR) to enhance the cognitive performance representation in USAR applications. This framework provides guidance to integrate both SA and IPR in order to evaluate the cognitive performance of the USAR responders. The application of this framework will help improve the system design.

Keywords: Cognitive performance, intuitive pattern recognition, situation awareness, urban search and rescue.

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6281 Development of a Health Literacy Scale for Chinese-Speaking Adults in Taiwan

Authors: Frank C. Pan, Che-Long Su, Ching-Hsuen Chen

Abstract:

Background, measuring an individual-s Health Literacy is gaining attention, yet no appropriate instrument is available in Taiwan. Measurement tools that were developed and used in western countries may not be appropriate for use in Taiwan due to a different language system. Purpose of this research was to develop a Health Literacy measurement instrument specific for Taiwan adults. Methods, several experts of clinic physicians; healthcare administrators and scholars identified 125 common used health related Chinese phrases from major medical knowledge sources that easy accessible to the public. A five-point Likert scale is used to measure the understanding level of the target population. Such measurement is then used to compare with the correctness of their answers to a health knowledge test for validation. Samples, samples under study were purposefully taken from four groups of people in the northern Pingtung, OPD patients, university students, community residents, and casual visitors to the central park. A set of health knowledge index with 10 questions is used to screen those false responses. A sample size of 686 valid cases out of 776 was then included to construct this scale. An independent t-test was used to examine each individual phrase. The phrases with the highest significance are then identified and retained to compose this scale. Result, a Taiwan Health Literacy Scale (THLS) was finalized with 66 health-related phrases under nine divisions. Cronbach-s alpha of each division is at a satisfactory level of 89% and above. Conclusions, factors significantly differentiate the levels of health literacy are education, female gender, age, family members of stroke victims, experience with patient care, and healthcare professionals in the initial application in this study..

Keywords: Health literacy, health knowledge, REALM, THLS.

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6280 Computationally Efficient Signal Quality Improvement Method for VoIP System

Authors: H. P. Singh, S. Singh

Abstract:

The voice signal in Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) system is processed through the best effort policy based IP network, which leads to the network degradations including delay, packet loss jitter. The work in this paper presents the implementation of finite impulse response (FIR) filter for voice quality improvement in the VoIP system through distributed arithmetic (DA) algorithm. The VoIP simulations are conducted with AMR-NB 6.70 kbps and G.729a speech coders at different packet loss rates and the performance of the enhanced VoIP signal is evaluated using the perceptual evaluation of speech quality (PESQ) measurement for narrowband signal. The results show reduction in the computational complexity in the system and significant improvement in the quality of the VoIP voice signal.

Keywords: VoIP, Signal Quality, Distributed Arithmetic, Packet Loss, Speech Coder.

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6279 How Team Efficacy Beliefs Impact Project Performance: An Empirical Investigation of Team Potency in Capital Projects in the Process Industries

Authors: C. Scott-Young, D. Samson

Abstract:

Team efficacy beliefs show promise in enhancing team performance. Using a model-based quantitative research design, we investigated the antecedents and performance consequences of generalized team efficacy (potency) in a sample of 56 capital projects executed by 15 Fortune 500 companies in the process industries. Empirical analysis of our field survey identified that generalized team efficacy beliefs were positively associated with an objective measure of project cost performance. Regression analysis revealed that team competence, empowering leadership, and performance feedback all predicted generalized team efficacy beliefs. Tests of mediation revealed that generalized team efficacy fully mediated between these three inputs and project cost performance.

Keywords: Team efficacy, Potency, Leadership, Feedback, Project cost.

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6278 A High Accuracy Measurement Circuit for Soil Moisture Detection

Authors: Sheroz Khan, A. H. M. Zahirul Alam, Othman O. Khalifa, Mohd Rafiqul Islam, Zuraidah Zainudin, Muzna S. Khan, Nurul Iman Muhamad Pauzi

Abstract:

The study of soil for agriculture purposes has remained the main focus of research since the beginning of civilization as humans- food related requirements remained closely linked with the soil. The study of soil has generated an interest among the researchers for very similar other reasons including transmission, reflection and refraction of signals for deploying wireless underground sensor networks or for the monitoring of objects on (or in ) soil in the form of better understanding of soil electromagnetic characteristics properties. The moisture content has been very instrumental in such studies as it decides on the resistance of the soil, and hence the attenuation on signals traveling through soil or the attenuation the signals may suffer upon their impact on soil. This work is related testing and characterizing a measurement circuit meant for the detection of moisture level content in soil.

Keywords: Analog–digital Conversion, Bridge Circuits, Intelligent sensors, Pulse Time Modulation, Relaxation Oscillator

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6277 Evaluating Factors Affecting Audiologists’ Diagnostic Performance in Auditory Brainstem Response Reading: Training and Experience

Authors: M. Zaitoun, S. Cumming, A. Purcell

Abstract:

This study aims to determine if audiologists' experience characteristics in ABR (Auditory Brainstem Response) reading is associated with their performance in interpreting ABR results. Fifteen ABR traces with varying degrees of hearing level were presented twice, making a total of 30. Audiologists were asked to determine the hearing threshold for each of the cases after completing a brief survey regarding their experience and training in ABR administration. Sixty-one audiologists completed all tasks. Correlations between audiologists’ performance measures and experience variables suggested significant associations (p < 0.05) between training period in ABR testing and audiologists’ performance in terms of both sensitivity and accuracy. In addition, the number of years conducting ABR testing correlated with specificity. No other correlations approached significance. While there are relatively few significant correlations between ABR performance and experience, accuracy in ABR reading is associated with audiologists’ length of experience and period of training. To improve audiologists’ performance in reading ABR results, an emphasis on the importance of training should be raised and standardized levels and period for audiologists training in ABR testing should also be set.

Keywords: ABR, audiology, performance, training, experience.

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6276 An Empirical Investigation of Big Data Analytics: The Financial Performance of Users versus Vendors

Authors: Evisa Mitrou, Nicholas Tsitsianis, Supriya Shinde

Abstract:

In the age of digitisation and globalisation, businesses have shifted online and are investing in big data analytics (BDA) to respond to changing market conditions and sustain their performance. Our study shifts the focus from the adoption of BDA to the impact of BDA on financial performance. We explore the financial performance of both BDA-vendors (business-to-business) and BDA-clients (business-to-customer). We distinguish between the five BDA-technologies (big-data-as-a-service (BDaaS), descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, and prescriptive analytics) and discuss them individually. Further, we use four perspectives (internal business process, learning and growth, customer, and finance) and discuss the significance of how each of the five BDA-technologies affect the performance measures of these four perspectives. We also present the analysis of employee engagement, average turnover, average net income, and average net assets for BDA-clients and BDA-vendors. Our study also explores the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on business continuity for both BDA-vendors and BDA-clients.

Keywords: BDA-clients, BDA-vendors, big data analytics, financial performance.

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6275 A New Approach for Counting Passersby Utilizing Space-Time Images

Authors: A. Elmarhomy, S. Karungaru, K. Terada

Abstract:

Understanding the number of people and the flow of the persons is useful for efficient promotion of the institution managements and company-s sales improvements. This paper introduces an automated method for counting passerby using virtualvertical measurement lines. The process of recognizing a passerby is carried out using an image sequence obtained from the USB camera. Space-time image is representing the human regions which are treated using the segmentation process. To handle the problem of mismatching, different color space are used to perform the template matching which chose automatically the best matching to determine passerby direction and speed. A relation between passerby speed and the human-pixel area is used to distinguish one or two passersby. In the experiment, the camera is fixed at the entrance door of the hall in a side viewing position. Finally, experimental results verify the effectiveness of the presented method by correctly detecting and successfully counting them in order to direction with accuracy of 97%.

Keywords: counting passersby, virtual-vertical measurement line, passerby speed, space-time image

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6274 Verification of Sr-90 Determination in Water and Spruce Needles Samples Using IAEA-TEL-2016-04 ALMERA Proficiency Test Samples

Authors: S. Visetpotjanakit, N. Nakkaew

Abstract:

Determination of 90Sr in environmental samples has been widely developed with several radioanlytical methods and radiation measurement techniques since 90Sr is one of the most hazardous radionuclides produced from nuclear reactors. Liquid extraction technique using di-(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid (HDEHP) to separate and purify 90Y and Cherenkov counting using liquid scintillation counter to determine 90Y in secular equilibrium to 90Sr was developed and performed at our institute, the Office of Atoms for Peace. The approach is inexpensive, non-laborious, and fast to analyse 90Sr in environmental samples. To validate our analytical performance for the accurate and precise criteria, determination of 90Sr using the IAEA-TEL-2016-04 ALMERA proficiency test samples were performed for statistical evaluation. The experiment used two spiked tap water samples and one naturally contaminated spruce needles sample from Austria collected shortly after the Chernobyl accident. Results showed that all three analyses were successfully passed in terms of both accuracy and precision criteria, obtaining “Accepted” statuses. The two water samples obtained the measured results of 15.54 Bq/kg and 19.76 Bq/kg, which had relative bias 5.68% and -3.63% for the Maximum Acceptable Relative Bias (MARB) 15% and 20%, respectively. And the spruce needles sample obtained the measured results of 21.04 Bq/kg, which had relative bias 23.78% for the MARB 30%. These results confirm our analytical performance of 90Sr determination in water and spruce needles samples using the same developed method.

Keywords: ALMERA proficiency test, Cherenkov counting, determination of 90Sr, environmental samples.

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6273 Performance Evaluation of Routing Protocols For High Density Ad Hoc Networks based on Qos by GlomoSim Simulator

Authors: E. Ahvar, M. Fathy

Abstract:

Ad hoc networks are characterized by multihop wireless connectivity, frequently changing network topology and the need for efficient dynamic routing protocols. We compare the performance of three routing protocols for mobile ad hoc networks: Dynamic Source Routing (DSR) , Ad Hoc On-Demand Distance Vector Routing (AODV), location-aided routing(LAR1).The performance differentials are analyzed using varying network load, mobility, and network size. We simulate protocols with GLOMOSIM simulator. Based on the observations, we make recommendations about when the performance of either protocol can be best.

Keywords: Ad hoc Network , Glomosim , routing protocols.

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6272 Performance Analysis of QS-CDMA Systems

Authors: Cuiran Li, Jianli Xie, Chengshu Li

Abstract:

In the paper, the performance of quasi-synchronous CDMA (QS-CDMA) system, which can allow an increased timing error in synchronized access, is discussed. Average BER performance of the system is analyzed in the condition of different access timing error and different asynchronous users by simulation in AWGN channel. The results show that QS-CDMA system is shown to have great performance gain over the asynchronous system when access timing error is within a few chips and asynchronous users is tolerable. However, with access timing error increasing and asynchronous users increasing, the performance of QS-CDMA will degrade. Also, we can determine the number of tolerable asynchronous users for different access timing error by simulation figures.

Keywords: Code-division multiple access, Quasi-SynchronousCDMA, Access timing error

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6271 Scalable Deployment and Configuration of High-Performance Virtual Clusters

Authors: Kyrre M Begnum, Matthew Disney

Abstract:

Virtualization and high performance computing have been discussed from a performance perspective in recent publications. We present and discuss a flexible and efficient approach to the management of virtual clusters. A virtual machine management tool is extended to function as a fabric for cluster deployment and management. We show how features such as saving the state of a running cluster can be used to avoid disruption. We also compare our approach to the traditional methods of cluster deployment and present benchmarks which illustrate the efficiency of our approach.

Keywords: Cluster management, clusters, high-performance, virtual machines, Xen

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6270 Lean TQM Automotive Factory Model System

Authors: Noor Azlina Mohd Salleh, Salmiah Kasolang, Ahmed Jaffar

Abstract:

Integrated Total Quality Management (TQM) with Lean Manufacturing (LM) is a system comprises of TQM with LM principles and is associated with financial and nonfinancial performance measurement indicators. The ultimate goal of this system is to focus on achieving total customer satisfaction by removing eight wastes available in any process in an organization. A survey questionnaire was developed and distributed to 30 highly active automotive vendors in Malaysia and analyzed by PASW Statistics 18. It was found out that these vendors have been practicing and measuring the effectiveness TQM and LM implementation. More involvement of all Malaysian automotive vendors will represent the exact status of current Malaysian automotive industry in implementing TQM and LM and can determine whether the industry is ready for integrated TQM and LM system. This is the first study that combined 4 awards practices, ISO/TS16949, Toyota Production System and SAEJ4000.

Keywords: Automotive Industry, Lean Manufacturing, Operational Engineering Management, Total Quality Management

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6269 On-Time Performance and Service Regularity of Stage Buses in Mixed Traffic

Authors: Suwardo, Madzlan B. Napiah, Ibrahim B. Kamaruddin

Abstract:

Stage bus operated in the mixed traffic might always meet many problems about low quality and reliability of services. The low quality and reliability of bus service can make the system not attractive and directly reduce the interest of using bus service. This paper presents the result of field investigation and analysis of on-time performance and service regularity of stage bus in mixed traffic. Data for analysis was collected from the field by on-board observation along the Ipoh-Lumut corridor in Perak, Malaysia. From analysis and discussion, it can be concluded that on-time performance and service regularity varies depend on station, typical day, time period, operation characteristics of bus and characteristics of traffic. The on-time performance and service regularity of stage bus in mixed traffic can be derived by using data collected by onboard survey. It is clear that on-time performance and service regularity of the existing stage bus system was low.

Keywords: mixed traffic, on-time performance, service regularity, stage bus

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6268 Modeling and Performance Evaluation of LTE Networks with Different TCP Variants

Authors: Ghassan A. Abed, Mahamod Ismail, Kasmiran Jumari

Abstract:

Long Term Evolution (LTE) is a 4G wireless broadband technology developed by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) release 8, and it's represent the competitiveness of Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) for the next 10 years and beyond. The concepts for LTE systems have been introduced in 3GPP release 8, with objective of high-data-rate, low-latency and packet-optimized radio access technology. In this paper, performance of different TCP variants during LTE network investigated. The performance of TCP over LTE is affected mostly by the links of the wired network and total bandwidth available at the serving base station. This paper describes an NS-2 based simulation analysis of TCP-Vegas, TCP-Tahoe, TCPReno, TCP-Newreno, TCP-SACK, and TCP-FACK, with full modeling of all traffics of LTE system. The Evaluation of the network performance with all TCP variants is mainly based on throughput, average delay and lost packet. The analysis of TCP performance over LTE ensures that all TCP's have a similar throughput and the best performance return to TCP-Vegas than other variants.

Keywords: LTE; EUTRAN; 3GPPP, SAE; TCP Variants; NS-2

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6267 Experimental Investigation of Gas Bubble Behaviours in a Domestic Heat Pump Water Heating System

Authors: J. B. Qin, X. H. Jiang, Y. T. Ge

Abstract:

The growing awareness of global warming potential has internationally aroused interest and demand in reducing greenhouse gas emissions produced by human activity. Much national energy in the UK had been consumed in the residential sector mainly for space heating and domestic hot water production. Currently, gas boilers are mostly applied in the domestic water heating which contribute significantly to excessive CO2 emissions and consumption of primary energy resources. The issues can be solved by popularizing heat pump systems that are attributable to higher performance efficiency than those of traditional gas boilers. Even so, the heat pump system performance can be further enhanced if the dissolved gases in its hot water circuit can be efficiently discharged.  To achieve this target, the bubble behaviors in the heat pump water heating system need to be extensively investigated. In this paper, by varying different experimental conditions, the effects of various heat pump hot water side parameters on gas microbubble diameters were measured and analyzed. Correspondingly, the effect of each parameter has been investigated. These include varied system pressures, water flow rates, saturation ratios and heat outputs. The results measurement showed that the water flow rate is the most significant parameter to influence on gas microbubble productions. The research outcomes can significantly contribute to the understanding of gas bubble behaviors at domestic heat pump water heating systems and thus the efficient way for the discharging of the associated dissolved gases.  

Keywords: Dissolved gases in water, heat pump, domestic water heating system, microbubble formation.

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6266 WLAN Positioning Based on Joint TOA and RSS Characteristics

Authors: Peerapong Uthansakul, Monthippa Uthansakul

Abstract:

WLAN Positioning has been presented by many approaches in literatures using the characteristics of Received Signal Strength (RSS), Time of Arrival (TOA) or Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA), Angle of Arrival (AOA) and cell ID. Among these, RSS approach is the simplest method to implement because there is no need of modification on both access points and client devices whereas its accuracy is terrible due to physical environments. For TOA or TDOA approach, the accuracy is quite acceptable but most researches have to modify either software or hardware on existing WLAN infrastructure. The scales of modifications are made on only access card up to the changes in protocol of WLAN. Hence, it is an unattractive approach to use TOA or TDOA for positioning system. In this paper, the new concept of merging both RSS and TOA positioning techniques is proposed. In addition, the method to achieve TOA characteristic for positioning WLAN user without any extra modification necessarily appended in the existing system is presented. The measurement results confirm that the proposed technique using both RSS and TOA characteristics provides better accuracy than using only either RSS or TOA approach.

Keywords: Received signal strength, Time of arrival, Positioning system, WLAN, Measurement.

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6265 Surviving Abiotic Stress: The Relationship between High Light and High Salt Tolerance

Authors: Rutanachai Thaipratum

Abstract:

The mechanism of abiotic stress tolerance is crucial for plants to survive in harsh condition and the knowledge of this mechanism can be use to solve the problem of declining productivity of plants or crops around the world. However in-depth description is still unclear and it is argued, in particular that there is a relationship between high salinity tolerance and the ability to tolerate high light condition. In this study, Dunaliella salina, which can withstand high salt was used as a model. Chlorophyll fluorometer for nonphotochemical quenching (NPQ) measurement and high-performance liquid chromatography for pigment determination was used. The results show that NPQ value and the amount of pigment were increased along with the levels of salinity. However, it establish a clear relationship between high salt and high light but the further study to optimized the solutions mentioned above is still required.

Keywords: Abiotic stress tolerance, Dunaliella salina, Nonphotochemical quenching, Zeaxanthin.

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6264 Characterization of the Energy Band Diagram of Fabricated SnO2/CdS/CdTe Thin Film Solar Cells

Authors: Rasha A. Abdullah, Mohammed. A. Razooqi, Adwan N. H. Al-Ajili

Abstract:

A SnO2/CdS/CdTe heterojunction was fabricated by thermal evaporation technique. The fabricated cells were annealed at 573K for periods of 60, 120 and 180 minutes. The structural properties of the solar cells have been studied by using X-ray diffraction. Capacitance- voltage measurements were studied for the as-prepared and annealed cells at a frequency of 102 Hz. The capacitance- voltage measurements indicated that these cells are abrupt. The capacitance decreases with increasing annealing time. The zero bias depletion region width and the carrier concentration increased with increasing annealing time. The carrier transport mechanism for the CdS/CdTe heterojunction in dark is tunneling recombination. The ideality factor is 1.56 and the reverse bias saturation current is 9.6×10-10A. The energy band lineup for the n- CdS/p-CdTe heterojunction was investigated using current - voltage and capacitance - voltage characteristics.

Keywords: SnO2/CdS/CdTe heterojunction, XRD, C-V measurement, I-V measurement, energy band diagram.

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6263 Relationship between Gender and Performance with Respect to a Basic Math Skills Quiz in Statistics Courses in Lebanon

Authors: Hiba Naccache

Abstract:

The present research investigated whether gender differences affect performance in a simple math quiz in statistics course. Participants of this study comprised a sample of 567 statistics students in two different universities in Lebanon. Data were collected through a simple math quiz. Analysis of quantitative data indicated that there wasn’t a significant difference in math performance between males and females. The results suggest that improvements in student performance may depend on improved mastery of basic algebra especially for females. The implications of these findings and further recommendations were discussed.

Keywords: Gender, education, math, statistics.

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6262 Design and Performance Improvement of Three-Dimensional Optical Code Division Multiple Access Networks with NAND Detection Technique

Authors: Satyasen Panda, Urmila Bhanja

Abstract:

In this paper, we have presented and analyzed three-dimensional (3-D) matrices of wavelength/time/space code for optical code division multiple access (OCDMA) networks with NAND subtraction detection technique. The 3-D codes are constructed by integrating a two-dimensional modified quadratic congruence (MQC) code with one-dimensional modified prime (MP) code. The respective encoders and decoders were designed using fiber Bragg gratings and optical delay lines to minimize the bit error rate (BER). The performance analysis of the 3D-OCDMA system is based on measurement of signal to noise ratio (SNR), BER and eye diagram for a different number of simultaneous users. Also, in the analysis, various types of noises and multiple access interference (MAI) effects were considered. The results obtained with NAND detection technique were compared with those obtained with OR and AND subtraction techniques. The comparison results proved that the NAND detection technique with 3-D MQC\MP code can accommodate more number of simultaneous users for longer distances of fiber with minimum BER as compared to OR and AND subtraction techniques. The received optical power is also measured at various levels of BER to analyze the effect of attenuation.

Keywords: Cross correlation, three-dimensional optical code division multiple access, spectral amplitude coding optical code division multiple access, multiple access interference, phase induced intensity noise, three-dimensional modified quadratic congruence/modified prime code.

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6261 Factors Affecting Slot Machine Performance in an Electronic Gaming Machine Facility

Authors: Etienne Provencal, David L. St-Pierre

Abstract:

A facility exploiting only electronic gambling machines (EGMs) opened in 2007 in Quebec City, Canada under the name of Salons de Jeux du Québec (SdjQ). This facility is one of the first worldwide to rely on that business model. This paper models the performance of such EGMs. The interest from a managerial point of view is to identify the variables that can be controlled or influenced so that a comprehensive model can help improve the overall performance of the business. The EGM individual performance model contains eight different variables under study (Game Title, Progressive jackpot, Bonus Round, Minimum Coin-in, Maximum Coin-in, Denomination, Slant Top and Position). Using data from Quebec City’s SdjQ, a linear regression analysis explains 90.80% of the EGM performance. Moreover, results show a behavior slightly different than that of a casino. The addition of GameTitle as a factor to predict the EGM performance is one of the main contributions of this paper. The choice of the game (GameTitle) is very important. Games having better position do not have significantly better performance than games located elsewhere on the gaming floor. Progressive jackpots have a positive and significant effect on the individual performance of EGMs. The impact of BonusRound on the dependent variable is significant but negative. The effect of Denomination is significant but weakly negative. As expected, the Language of an EGMS does not impact its individual performance. This paper highlights some possible improvements by indicating which features are performing well. Recommendations are given to increase the performance of the EGMs performance.

Keywords: EGM, linear regression, model prediction, slot operations.

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6260 Programmable Logic Controller for Cassava Centrifugal Machine

Authors: R. Oonsivilai, M. Oonsivilai, J. Sanguemrum, N. Thumsirirat, A. Oonsivilai

Abstract:

Chaiyaphum Starch Co. Ltd. is one of many starch manufacturers that has introduced machinery to aid in manufacturing. Even though machinery has replaced many elements and is now a significant part in manufacturing processes, problems that must be solved with respect to current process flow to increase efficiency still exist. The paper-s aim is to increase productivity while maintaining desired quality of starch, by redesigning the flipping machine-s mechanical control system which has grossly low functional lifetime. Such problems stem from the mechanical control system-s bearings, as fluids and humidity can access into said bearing directly, in tandem with vibrations from the machine-s function itself. The wheel which is used to sense starch thickness occasionally falls from its shaft, due to high speed rotation during operation, while the shaft may bend from impact when processing dried bread. Redesigning its mechanical control system has increased its efficiency, allowing quality thickness measurement while increasing functional lifetime an additional 62 days.

Keywords: Control system, Machinery, Measurement, Potato starch

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6259 Development of a Non-invasive System to Measure the Thickness of the Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue Layer for Human

Authors: Hyuck Ki Hong, Young Chang Jo, Yeon Shik Choi, Beom Joon Kim, Hyo Derk Park

Abstract:

To measure the thickness of the subcutaneous adipose tissue layer, a non-invasive optical measurement system (λ=1300 nm) is introduced. Animal and human subjects are used for the experiments. The results of human subjects are compared with the data of ultrasound device measurements, and a high correlation (r=0.94 for n=11) is observed. There are two modes in the corresponding signals measured by the optical system, which can be explained by two-layered and three-layered tissue models. If the target tissue is thinner than the critical thickness, detected data using diffuse reflectance method follow the three-layered tissue model, so the data increase as the thickness increases. On the other hand, if the target tissue is thicker than the critical thickness, the data follow the two-layered tissue model, so they decrease as the thickness increases.

Keywords: Subcutaneous adipose tissue layer, non-invasive measurement system, two-layered and three-layered tissue models.

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6258 Size Control of Nanoparticles Using a Microfluidic Device

Authors: Shigenori Togashi, Erika Katayama, Mitsuhiro Matsuzawa

Abstract:

We have developed a microfluidic device system for the continuous producting of nanoparticles, and we have clarified the relationship between the mixing performance of reactors and the particle size. First, we evaluated the mixing performance of reactors by carring out the Villermaux–Dushman reaction and determined the experimental conditions for producing AgCl nanoparticles. Next, we produced AgCl nanoparticles and evaluated the mixing performance and the particle size. We found that as the mixing performance improves the size of produced particles decreases and the particle size distribution becomes sharper. We produced AgCl nanoparticles with a size of 86 nm using the microfluidic device that had the best mixing performance among the three reactors we tested in this study; the coefficient of variation (Cv) of the size distribution of the produced nanoparticles was 26.1%.

Keywords: Microfluidic, Mixing, Nanoparticle, Silver Chloride.

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6257 Quantitative Determination of Trace Elements in Some Oriental Herb Products

Authors: Nguyen Thi Kim Dzung, Pham Ngoc Khai, Rainer Ludwig

Abstract:

The quantitative determination of several trace elements (Cr, As, Se, Cd, Hg, Pb) existing as inorganic impurities in some oriental herb-products such as Lingzhi Mushroom capsules, Philamin powder, etc using ICP-MS has been studied. Various instrumental parameters such as power, gas flow rate, sample depth, as well as the concentration of nitric acid and thick background due to high concentration of possible interferences on the determination of these above-mentioned elements was investigated and the optimum working conditions of the sample measurement on ICP-MS (Agilent-7500a) were reported. Appropriate isotope internal standards were also used to improve the accuracy of mercury determination. Optimal parameters for sampling digestion were also investigated. The recovery of analytical procedure was examined by using a Certified Reference Material (IAEA-CRM 359). The recommended procedure was then applied for the quantitative determination of Cr, As, Se, Cd, Hg, Pb in Lingzhi Mushroom capsule, and Philamine powder samples. The reproducibility of sample measurement (average value between 94 and 102%) and the uncertainty of analytical data (less than 20%) are acceptable.

Keywords: Oriental herbal product, trace elements, ICP-MS, biochemistry, medical chemistry.

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6256 Chattering-free Sliding Mode Control for an Active Magnetic Bearing System

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

Abstract:

In this paper, a few chattering-free Sliding Mode Controllers (SMC) are proposed to stabilize an Active Magnetic Bearing (AMB) system with gyroscopic effect that is proportional to the rotor speed. The improved switching terms of the controller inherited from the saturation-type function and boundary layer control technique is shown to be able to achieve bounded and asymptotic stability, respectively, while the chattering effect in the input is attenuated. This is proven to be advantageous for AMB system since minimization of chattering results in optimized control effort. The performance of each controller is demonstrated via result of simulation in which the measurement of the total consumed energy and maximum control magnitude of each controller illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed controllers.

Keywords: Active Magnetic Bearing (AMB), Sliding Mode Control (SMC), chattering-free SMC.

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6255 Numerical Simulation of Effect of Various Rib Configurations on Enhancing Heat Transfer of Matrix Cooling Channel

Authors: Seok Min Choi, Minho Bang, Seuong Yun Kim, Hyungmin Lee, Won-Gu Joo, Hyung Hee Cho

Abstract:

The matrix cooling channel was used for gas turbine blade cooling passage. The matrix cooling structure is useful for the structure stability however the cooling performance of internal cooling channel was not enough for cooling. Therefore, we designed the rib configurations in the matrix cooling channel to enhance the cooling performance. The numerical simulation was conducted to analyze cooling performance of rib configured matrix cooling channel. Three different rib configurations were used which are vertical rib, angled rib and c-type rib. Three configurations were adopted in two positions of matrix cooling channel which is one fourth and three fourth of channel. The result shows that downstream rib has much higher cooling performance than upstream rib. Furthermore, the angled rib in the channel has much higher cooling performance than vertical rib. This is because; the angled rib improves the swirl effect of matrix cooling channel more effectively. The friction factor was increased with the installation of rib. However, the thermal performance was increased with the installation of rib in the matrix cooling channel.

Keywords: Matrix cooling, rib, heat transfer, gas turbine.

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