Search results for: Experimental and numerical modeling
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 6891

Search results for: Experimental and numerical modeling

2721 The Role of Brand Loyalty in Generating Positive Word of Mouth among Malaysian Hypermarket Customers

Authors: S. R. Nikhashemi, L. Haj Paim, Ali Khatibi

Abstract:

Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to test a hypothesized model explaining Malaysian hypermarket customers’ perceptions of brand trust (BT), customer perceived value (CPV) and perceived service quality (PSQ) on building their brand loyalty (CBL) and generating positive word-of-mouth communication (WOM). Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data from 374 Malaysian hypermarket customers from Mydin, Tesco, Aeon Big and Giant in Kuala Lumpur, a metropolitan city of Malaysia. The data strongly supported the model exhibiting that BT, CPV and PSQ are prerequisite factors in building customer brand loyalty, while PSQ has the strongest effect on prediction of customer brand loyalty compared to other factors. Besides, the present study suggests the effect of the aforementioned factors via customer brand loyalty strongly contributes to generate positive word of mouth communication.

Keywords: Brand trust, perceived value, perceived service quality, brand loyalty, positive word of mouth communication.

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2720 Graphical Environment for Modeling Control Systems in Full Scope Training Simulators

Authors: Guillermo Romero-Jiménez, Víctor Jiménez-Sánchez, Edgardo J. Roldán-Villasana

Abstract:

This paper describes the development of a control system model using a graphical software tool. This control system is part of an operator training simulator developed for the National Training Center for Operators of Ixtapantongo (CNCAOI, acronym according to its name in Spanish language) of the Mexico-s Federal Commission of Electricity, CFE). The Department of Simulation of the Electrical Research Institute (IIE) developed this simulator using as reference the Unit I of the Combined Cycle Power Plant El Sauz, located at the centre of Mexico. The first step in the project was the developing of the Gas Turbine System and its control system simulator. The Turbo Gas simulator was finished and delivered to CNCAOI in March 2007 for commercial operation. This simulator is a high-fidelity real time dynamic simulator built and tested for accurate operation over the entire load range. The simulator was used primarily for operator training although it has been used for procedure development and evaluation of plant transients.

Keywords: Operators training, Power plant simulator, simulation environment.

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2719 DACS3: Embedding Individual Ant Behavior in Ant Colony System

Authors: Zulaiha Ali Othman, Helmi Md Rais, Abdul Razak Hamdan

Abstract:

Ants are fascinating creatures that demonstrate the ability to find food and bring it back to their nest. Their ability as a colony, to find paths to food sources has inspired the development of algorithms known as Ant Colony Systems (ACS). The principle of cooperation forms the backbone of such algorithms, commonly used to find solutions to problems such as the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP). Ants communicate to each other through chemical substances called pheromones. Modeling individual ants- ability to manipulate this substance can help an ACS find the best solution. This paper introduces a Dynamic Ant Colony System with threelevel updates (DACS3) that enhance an existing ACS. Experiments were conducted to observe single ant behavior in a colony of Malaysian House Red Ants. Such behavior was incorporated into the DACS3 algorithm. We benchmark the performance of DACS3 versus DACS on TSP instances ranging from 14 to 100 cities. The result shows that the DACS3 algorithm can achieve shorter distance in most cases and also performs considerably faster than DACS.

Keywords: Dynamic Ant Colony System (DACS), TravelingSalesmen Problem (TSP), Optimization, Swarm Intelligent.

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2718 Harmonic Reduction In Three-Phase Parallel Connected Inverter

Authors: M.A.A. Younis, N. A. Rahim, S. Mekhilef

Abstract:

This paper presents the design and analysis of a parallel connected inverter configuration of. The configuration consists of parallel connected three-phase dc/ac inverter. Series resistors added to the inverter output to maintain same current in each inverter of the two parallel inverters, and to reduce the circulating current in the parallel inverters to the minimum. High frequency third harmonic injection PWM (THIPWM) employed to reduce the total harmonic distortion and to make maximum use of the voltage source. DSP was used to generate the THIPWM and the control algorithm for the converter. Selected experimental results have been shown to validate the proposed system.

Keywords: Three-phase inverter, Third harmonic injection PWM, inverters parallel connection.

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2717 Evaluation of Stiffness and Damping Coefficients of Multiple Axial Groove Water Lubricated Bearing Using Computational Fluid Dynamics

Authors: Neville Fernandes, Satish Shenoy B., Raghuvir Pai B., Rammohan S. Pai B, Shrikanth Rao.D

Abstract:

This research details a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) approach to model fluid flow in a journal bearing with 8 equispaced semi-circular axial grooves. Water is used as the lubricant and is fed from one end of the bearing to the other, under pressure. The geometry of the bearing is modeled using a commercially available modeling software GAMBIT and the flow analysis is performed using a dedicated CFD analysis software FLUENT. The pressure distribution in the bearing clearance is obtained from FLUENT for various whirl ratios and is used to calculate the hydrodynamic force components in the radial and tangential direction of the bearing. These values along with the various whirl speeds can be used to do a regression analysis to determine the stiffness and damping coefficients. The values obtained are then compared with the stiffness and damping coefficients of a 3 Axial groove water lubricated journal bearing and those obtained from a FORTRAN code for a similar bearing.

Keywords: CFD, multiple axial groove, Water lubricated, Stiffness and Damping Coefficients.

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2716 User-Based Cannibalization Mitigation in an Online Marketplace

Authors: Vivian Guo, Yan Qu

Abstract:

Online marketplaces are not only digital places where consumers buy and sell merchandise, and they are also destinations for brands to connect with real consumers at the moment when customers are in the shopping mindset. For many marketplaces, brands have been important partners through advertising. There can be, however, a risk of advertising impacting a consumer’s shopping journey if it hurts the use experience or takes the user away from the site. Both could lead to the loss of transaction revenue for the marketplace. In this paper, we present user-based methods for cannibalization control by selectively turning off ads to users who are likely to be cannibalized by ads subject to business objectives. We present ways of measuring cannibalization of advertising in the context of an online marketplace and propose novel ways of measuring cannibalization through purchase propensity and uplift modeling. A/B testing has shown that our methods can significantly improve user purchase and engagement metrics while operating within business objectives. To our knowledge, this is the first paper that addresses cannibalization mitigation at the user-level in the context of advertising.

Keywords: Cannibalization, machine learning, online marketplace, revenue optimization, yield optimization.

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2715 Supporting Densification through the Planning and Implementation of Road Infrastructure in the South African Context

Authors: K. Govender, M. Sinclair

Abstract:

This paper demonstrates a proof of concept whereby shorter trips and land use densification can be promoted through an alternative approach to planning and implementation of road infrastructure in the South African context. It briefly discusses how the development of the Compact City concept relies on a combination of promoting shorter trips and densification through a change in focus in road infrastructure provision. The methodology developed in this paper uses a traffic model to test the impact of synthesized deterrence functions on congestion locations in the road network through the assignment of traffic on the study network. The results from this study demonstrate that intelligent planning of road infrastructure can indeed promote reduced urban sprawl, increased residential density and mixed-use areas which are supported by an efficient public transport system; and reduced dependence on the freeway network with a fixed road infrastructure budget. The study has resonance for all cities where urban sprawl is seemingly unstoppable.

Keywords: Compact cities, densification, road infrastructure planning, transportation modeling.

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2714 Application of Legendre Transformation to Portfolio Optimization

Authors: Peter Benneth, Tsaroh N. Theophilus, Prince Benjamin

Abstract:

This research work aims at studying the application of Legendre Transformation Method (LTM) to Hamilton Jacobi Bellman (HJB) equation which is an example of optimal control problem. We discuss the steps involved in modelling the HJB equation as it relates to mathematical finance by applying the Ito’s lemma and maximum principle theorem. By applying the LTM and dual theory, the resultant HJB equation is transformed to a linear Partial Differential Equation (PDE). Also, the Optimal Investment Strategy (OIS) and the optimal value function were obtained under the exponential utility function. Furthermore, some numerical results were also presented with observations that the OIS under exponential utility is directly proportional to the appreciation rate of the risky asset and inversely proportional to the instantaneous volatility, predetermined interest rate, risk averse coefficient. Finally, it was observed that the optimal fund size is an increasing function of the risk free interest rate. This result is consistent with some existing results.

Keywords: Legendre transformation method, Optimal investment strategy, Ito’s lemma, Hamilton Jacobi Bellman equation, Geometric Brownian motion, financial market.

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2713 Influence of Mass Flow Rate on Forced Convective Heat Transfer through a Nanofluid Filled Direct Absorption Solar Collector

Authors: Salma Parvin, M. A. Alim

Abstract:

The convective and radiative heat transfer performance and entropy generation on forced convection through a direct absorption solar collector (DASC) is investigated numerically. Four different fluids, including Cu-water nanofluid, Al2O3-waternanofluid, TiO2-waternanofluid, and pure water are used as the working fluid. Entropy production has been taken into account in addition to the collector efficiency and heat transfer enhancement. Penalty finite element method with Galerkin’s weighted residual technique is used to solve the governing non-linear partial differential equations. Numerical simulations are performed for the variation of mass flow rate. The outcomes are presented in the form of isotherms, average output temperature, the average Nusselt number, collector efficiency, average entropy generation, and Bejan number. The results present that the rate of heat transfer and collector efficiency enhance significantly for raising the values of m up to a certain range.

Keywords: DASC, forced convection, mass flow rate, nanofluid.

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2712 Image Enhancement using α-Trimmed Mean ε-Filters

Authors: Mahdi Shaneh, Arash Golibagh Mahyari

Abstract:

Image enhancement is the most important challenging preprocessing for almost all applications of Image Processing. By now, various methods such as Median filter, α-trimmed mean filter, etc. have been suggested. It was proved that the α-trimmed mean filter is the modification of median and mean filters. On the other hand, ε-filters have shown excellent performance in suppressing noise. In spite of their simplicity, they achieve good results. However, conventional ε-filter is based on moving average. In this paper, we suggested a new ε-filter which utilizes α-trimmed mean. We argue that this new method gives better outcomes compared to previous ones and the experimental results confirmed this claim.

Keywords: Image enhancement, median filter, ε-filter – α-trimmed mean filter.

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2711 Clustering-Based Detection of Alzheimer's Disease Using Brain MR Images

Authors: Sofia Matoug, Amr Abdel-Dayem

Abstract:

This paper presents a comprehensive survey of recent research studies to segment and classify brain MR (magnetic resonance) images in order to detect significant changes to brain ventricles. The paper also presents a general framework for detecting regions that atrophy, which can help neurologists in detecting and staging Alzheimer. Furthermore, a prototype was implemented to segment brain MR images in order to extract the region of interest (ROI) and then, a classifier was employed to differentiate between normal and abnormal brain tissues. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme can provide a reliable second opinion that neurologists can benefit from.

Keywords: Alzheimer, brain images, classification techniques, Magnetic Resonance Images, MRI.

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2710 MHD Falkner-Skan Boundary Layer Flow with Internal Heat Generation or Absorption

Authors: G.Ashwini, A.T.Eswara

Abstract:

This paper examines the forced convection flow of incompressible, electrically conducting viscous fluid past a sharp wedge in the presence of heat generation or absorption with an applied magnetic field. The system of partial differential equations governing Falkner - Skan wedge flow and heat transfer is first transformed into a system of ordinary differential equations using similarity transformations which is later solved using an implicit finite - difference scheme, along with quasilinearization technique. Numerical computations are performed for air (Pr = 0.7) and displayed graphically to illustrate the influence of pertinent physical parameters on local skin friction and heat transfer coefficients and, also on, velocity and temperature fields. It is observed that the magnetic field increases both the coefficients of skin friction and heat transfer. The effect of heat generation or absorption is found to be very significant on heat transfer, but its effect on the skin friction is negligible. Indeed, the occurrence of overshoot is noticed in the temperature profiles during heat generation process, causing the reversal in the direction of heat transfer.

Keywords: Heat generation / absorption, MHD Falkner- Skan flow, skin friction and heat transfer

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2709 Comparison of Pore Space Features by Thin Sections and X-Ray Microtomography

Authors: H. Alves, J. T. Assis, M. Geraldes, I. Lima, R. T. Lopes

Abstract:

Microtomographic images and thin section (TS) images were analyzed and compared against some parameters of geological interest such as porosity and its distribution along the samples. The results show that microtomography (CT) analysis, although limited by its resolution, have some interesting information about the distribution of porosity (homogeneous or not) and can also quantify the connected and non-connected pores, i.e., total porosity. TS have no limitations concerning resolution, but are limited by the experimental data available in regards to a few glass sheets for analysis and also can give only information about the connected pores, i.e., effective porosity. Those two methods have their own virtues and flaws but when paired together they are able to complement one another, making for a more reliable and complete analysis.

Keywords: Microtomography, petrographical microscopy, sediments, thin sections.

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2708 An Examination of the Factors Affecting the Adoption of Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning Systems in Egyptian Companies

Authors: Mayar A. Omar, Ismail Gomaa, Heba Badawy, Hosam Moubarak

Abstract:

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is an integrated system that helps companies in managing their resources. There are two types of ERP systems, the traditional ERP systems, and the cloud ERP systems. Cloud ERP systems were introduced after the development of cloud computing technology. This research aims to identify the factors that affect the adoption of cloud ERP in Egyptian companies. Moreover, the aim of our study is to provide guidance to Egyptian companies in the cloud ERP adoption decision and to participate in increasing the number of the cloud ERP studies that are conducted in the Middle East and in developing countries. There are many factors influencing the adoption of cloud ERP in Egyptian organizations which are discussed and explained in the research. Those factors are examined through combining the Diffusion of Innovation theory (DOI) and technology-organization-environment framework (TOE). Data were collected through a survey that was developed using constructs from the existing studies of cloud computing and cloud ERP technologies and was then modified to fit our research. The analysis of the data was based on Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using Smart PLS software that was used for the empirical analysis of the research model.

Keywords: cloud computing, cloud ERP systems, DOI, Egypt, SEM, TOE

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2707 Experimental Investigation on Excess Pore Water Pressure in Soft Soil-Foundations under Minor Shocks

Authors: Zhiying Zhang, Chongdu Cho, Qiang Pan, Xilin Lu

Abstract:

In this study, shaking table tests are performed to investigate the behavior of excess pore water pressure in different soft soil-foundations of soil-structure interaction (SSI) system. The variation of the behaviors under cycled minor shock is observed. Moreover, The generation and variation mechanism of excess pore water pressure under earthquake excitation in different soft soilfoundations are analyzed and discussed.

Keywords: Excess pore water pressure, shaking table tests, soft soil foundation, SSI system.

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2706 Characterization of Extreme Low-Resolution Digital Encoder for Control System with Sinusoidal Reference Signal

Authors: Zhenyu Zhang, Qingbin Gao

Abstract:

Low-resolution digital encoder (LRDE) is commonly adopted as a position sensor in low-cost and resource-constraint applications. Traditionally, a digital encoder is modeled as a quantizer without considering the initial position of the LRDE. However, it cannot be applied to extreme LRDE for which stroke of angular motion is only a few times of resolution of the encoder. Besides, the actual angular motion is substantially distorted by this extreme LRDE so that the encoder reading does not faithfully represent the actual angular motion. This paper presents a modeling method for extreme LRDE by taking into account the initial position of the LRDE. For a control system with sinusoidal reference signal and extreme LRDE, this paper analyzes the characteristics of angular motion. Specifically, two descriptors of sinusoidal angular motion are studied, which essentially sheds light on the actual angular motion from extreme LRDE.

Keywords: Low resolution digital encoder, resource-constraint control system, sinusoidal reference signal, servo motion control.

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2705 Prediction of Natural Gas Viscosity using Artificial Neural Network Approach

Authors: E. Nemati Lay, M. Peymani, E. Sanjari

Abstract:

Prediction of viscosity of natural gas is an important parameter in the energy industries such as natural gas storage and transportation. In this study viscosity of different compositions of natural gas is modeled by using an artificial neural network (ANN) based on back-propagation method. A reliable database including more than 3841 experimental data of viscosity for testing and training of ANN is used. The designed neural network can predict the natural gas viscosity using pseudo-reduced pressure and pseudo-reduced temperature with AARD% of 0.221. The accuracy of designed ANN has been compared to other published empirical models. The comparison indicates that the proposed method can provide accurate results.

Keywords: Artificial neural network, Empirical correlation, Natural gas, Viscosity

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2704 Systematic Study of the p, d and 3He Elastic Scattering on 6Li

Authors: A. Amar, N. Burtebayev, Kerimkulov Zhambul, Sh. Hamada, N. Amangeldi

Abstract:

the elastic scattering of protons, deuterons and 3He on 6Li at different incident energies have been analyzed in the framework of the optical model using ECIS88 as well as SPI GENOA codes. The potential parameters were extracted in the phenomenological treatment of measured by us angular distributions and literature data. A good agreement between theoretical and experimental differential cross sections was obtained in whole angular range. Parameters for real part of potential have been also calculated microscopically with singleand double-folding model for the p and d, 3He scattering, respectively, using DFPOT code. For best agreement with experiment the normalization factor N for the potential depth is obtained in the range of 0.7-0.9.

Keywords: Elastic scattering, Esis88 Code single and doublefolding model, phenomenological, DWBA.

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2703 A Modified AES Based Algorithm for Image Encryption

Authors: M. Zeghid, M. Machhout, L. Khriji, A. Baganne, R. Tourki

Abstract:

With the fast evolution of digital data exchange, security information becomes much important in data storage and transmission. Due to the increasing use of images in industrial process, it is essential to protect the confidential image data from unauthorized access. In this paper, we analyze the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), and we add a key stream generator (A5/1, W7) to AES to ensure improving the encryption performance; mainly for images characterised by reduced entropy. The implementation of both techniques has been realized for experimental purposes. Detailed results in terms of security analysis and implementation are given. Comparative study with traditional encryption algorithms is shown the superiority of the modified algorithm.

Keywords: Cryptography, Encryption, Advanced EncryptionStandard (AES), ECB mode, statistical analysis, key streamgenerator.

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2702 Slugging Frequency Correlation for Inclined Gas-liquid Flow

Authors: V. Hernandez-Perez, M. Abdulkadir, B. J. Azzopardi

Abstract:

In this work, new experimental data for slugging frequency in inclined gas-liquid flow are reported, and a new correlation is proposed. Scale experiments were carried out using a mixture of air and water in a 6 m long pipe. Two different pipe diameters were used, namely, 38 and 67 mm. The data were taken with capacitance type sensors at a data acquisition frequency of 200 Hz over an interval of 60 seconds. For the range of flow conditions studied, the liquid superficial velocity is observed to influence the frequency strongly. A comparison of the present data with correlations available in the literature reveals a lack of agreement. A new correlation for slug frequency has been proposed for the inclined flow, which represents the main contribution of this work.

Keywords: slug frequency, inclined flow

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2701 Metaheuristics Methods (GA and ACO) for Minimizing the Length of Freeman Chain Code from Handwritten Isolated Characters

Authors: Dewi Nasien, Habibollah Haron, Siti SophiayatiYuhaniz

Abstract:

This paper presents a comparison of metaheuristic algorithms, Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Ant Colony Optimization (ACO), in producing freeman chain code (FCC). The main problem in representing characters using FCC is the length of the FCC depends on the starting points. Isolated characters, especially the upper-case characters, usually have branches that make the traversing process difficult. The study in FCC construction using one continuous route has not been widely explored. This is our motivation to use the population-based metaheuristics. The experimental result shows that the route length using GA is better than ACO, however, ACO is better in computation time than GA.

Keywords: Handwriting Recognition, Feature Extraction, Freeman Chain Code, Genetic Algorithm and Ant ColonyOptimization.

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2700 A Hybrid Multi Objective Algorithm for Flexible Job Shop Scheduling

Authors: Parviz Fattahi

Abstract:

Scheduling for the flexible job shop is very important in both fields of production management and combinatorial optimization. However, it quit difficult to achieve an optimal solution to this problem with traditional optimization approaches owing to the high computational complexity. The combining of several optimization criteria induces additional complexity and new problems. In this paper, a Pareto approach to solve the multi objective flexible job shop scheduling problems is proposed. The objectives considered are to minimize the overall completion time (makespan) and total weighted tardiness (TWT). An effective simulated annealing algorithm based on the proposed approach is presented to solve multi objective flexible job shop scheduling problem. An external memory of non-dominated solutions is considered to save and update the non-dominated solutions during the solution process. Numerical examples are used to evaluate and study the performance of the proposed algorithm. The proposed algorithm can be applied easily in real factory conditions and for large size problems. It should thus be useful to both practitioners and researchers.

Keywords: Flexible job shop, Scheduling, Hierarchical approach, simulated annealing, tabu search, multi objective.

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2699 Numerical Analysis of Flow through Abrasive Water Suspension Jet: The Effect of Garnet, Aluminum Oxide and Silicon Carbide Abrasive on Skin Friction Coefficient Due To Wall Shear and Jet Exit Kinetic Energy

Authors: Deepak D, Anjaiah D, Yagnesh Sharma N.

Abstract:

It is well known that the abrasive particles in the abrasive water suspension has significant effect on the erosion characteristics of the inside surface of the nozzle. Abrasive particles moving with the flow cause severe skin friction effect, there by altering the nozzle diameter due to wear which in turn reflects on the life of the nozzle for effective machining. Various commercial abrasives are available for abrasive water jet machining. The erosion characteristic of each abrasive is different. In consideration of this aspect, in the present work, the effect of abrasive materials namely garnet, aluminum oxide and silicon carbide on skin friction coefficient due to wall shear stress and jet kinetic energy has been analyzed. It is found that the abrasive material of lower density produces a relatively higher skin friction effect and higher jet exit kinetic energy.

Keywords: Abrasive water suspension jet, Skin friction coefficient, Jet kinetic energy, Particulate loading, Stokes number.

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2698 Numerical Investigation of Embankment Settlement Improved by Method of Preloading by Vertical Drains

Authors: Seyed Abolhasan Naeini, Saeideh Mohammadi

Abstract:

Time dependent settlement due to loading on soft saturated soils produces many problems such as high consolidation settlements and low consolidation rates. Also, long term consolidation settlement of soft soil underlying the embankment leads to unpredicted settlements and cracks on soil surface. Preloading method is an effective improvement method to solve this problem. Using vertical drains in preloading method is an effective method for improving soft soils. Applying deep soil mixing method on soft soils is another effective method for improving soft soils. There are little studies on using two methods of preloading and deep soil mixing simultaneously. In this paper, the concurrent effect of preloading with deep soil mixing by vertical drains is investigated through a finite element code, Plaxis2D. The influence of parameters such as deep soil mixing columns spacing, existence of vertical drains and distance between them, on settlement and stability factor of safety of embankment embedded on soft soil is investigated in this research.

Keywords: Preloading, soft soil, vertical drains, deep soil mixing, consolidation settlement.

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2697 Moving Vehicles Detection Using Automatic Background Extraction

Authors: Saad M. Al-Garni, Adel A. Abdennour

Abstract:

Vehicle detection is the critical step for highway monitoring. In this paper we propose background subtraction and edge detection technique for vehicle detection. This technique uses the advantages of both approaches. The practical applications approved the effectiveness of this method. This method consists of two procedures: First, automatic background extraction procedure, in which the background is extracted automatically from the successive frames; Second vehicles detection procedure, which depend on edge detection and background subtraction. Experimental results show the effective application of this algorithm. Vehicles detection rate was higher than 91%.

Keywords: Image processing, Automatic background extraction, Moving vehicle detection.

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2696 Slovenian Text-to-Speech Synthesis for Speech User Interfaces

Authors: Jerneja Žganec Gros, Aleš Mihelič, Nikola Pavešić, Mario Žganec, Stanislav Gruden

Abstract:

The paper presents the design concept of a unitselection text-to-speech synthesis system for the Slovenian language. Due to its modular and upgradable architecture, the system can be used in a variety of speech user interface applications, ranging from server carrier-grade voice portal applications, desktop user interfaces to specialized embedded devices. Since memory and processing power requirements are important factors for a possible implementation in embedded devices, lexica and speech corpora need to be reduced. We describe a simple and efficient implementation of a greedy subset selection algorithm that extracts a compact subset of high coverage text sentences. The experiment on a reference text corpus showed that the subset selection algorithm produced a compact sentence subset with a small redundancy. The adequacy of the spoken output was evaluated by several subjective tests as they are recommended by the International Telecommunication Union ITU.

Keywords: text-to-speech synthesis, prosody modeling, speech user interface.

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2695 Model Free Terminal Sliding Mode with Gravity Compensation: Application to an Exoskeleton-Upper Limb System

Authors: Sana Bembli, Nahla Khraief Haddad, Safya Belghith

Abstract:

This paper deals with a robust model free terminal sliding mode with gravity compensation approach used to control an exoskeleton-upper limb system. The considered system is a 2-DoF robot in interaction with an upper limb used for rehabilitation. The aim of this paper is to control the flexion/extension movement of the shoulder and the elbow joints in presence of matched disturbances. In the first part, we present the exoskeleton-upper limb system modeling. Then, we controlled the considered system by the model free terminal sliding mode with gravity compensation. A stability study is realized. To prove the controller performance, a robustness analysis was needed. Simulation results are provided to confirm the robustness of the gravity compensation combined with to the Model free terminal sliding mode in presence of uncertainties.

Keywords: Exoskeleton-upper limb system, gravity compensation, model free terminal sliding mode, robustness analysis, Monte Carlo, H∞ methods.

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2694 Genetic Algorithm based Optimization approach for MR Dampers Fuzzy Modeling

Authors: Behnam Mehrkian, Arash Bahar, Ali Chaibakhsh

Abstract:

Magneto-rheological (MR) fluid damper is a semiactive control device that has recently received more attention by the vibration control community. But inherent hysteretic and highly nonlinear dynamics of MR fluid damper is one of the challenging aspects to employ its unique characteristics. The combination of artificial neural network (ANN) and fuzzy logic system (FLS) have been used to imitate more precisely the behavior of this device. However, the derivative-based nature of adaptive networks causes some deficiencies. Therefore, in this paper, a novel approach that employ genetic algorithm, as a free-derivative algorithm, to enhance the capability of fuzzy systems, is proposed. The proposed method used to model MR damper. The results will be compared with adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) model, which is one of the well-known approaches in soft computing framework, and two best parametric models of MR damper. Data are generated based on benchmark program by applying a number of famous earthquake records.

Keywords: Benchmark program, earthquake record filtering, fuzzy logic, genetic algorithm, MR damper.

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2693 Buckling Analysis of Rectangular Plates under the Combined Action of Shear and Uniaxial Stresses

Authors: V. Piscopo

Abstract:

In the classical buckling analysis of rectangular plates subjected to the concurrent action of shear and uniaxial forces, the Euler shear buckling stress is generally evaluated separately, so that no influence on the shear buckling coefficient, due to the in-plane tensile or compressive forces, is taken into account. In this paper the buckling problem of simply supported rectangular plates, under the combined action of shear and uniaxial forces, is discussed from the beginning, in order to obtain new project formulas for the shear buckling coefficient that take into account the presence of uniaxial forces. Furthermore, as the classical expression of the shear buckling coefficient for simply supported rectangular plates is considered only a “rough" approximation, as the exact one is defined by a system of intersecting curves, the convergence and the goodness of the classical solution are analyzed, too. Finally, as the problem of the Euler shear buckling stress evaluation is a very important topic for a variety of structures, (e.g. ship ones), two numerical applications are carried out, in order to highlight the role of the uniaxial stresses on the plating scantling procedures and the goodness of the proposed formulas.

Keywords: Buckling analysis, Shear, Uniaxial Stresses.

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2692 High Capacity Data Hiding based on Predictor and Histogram Modification

Authors: Hui-Yu Huang, Shih-Hsu Chang

Abstract:

In this paper, we propose a high capacity image hiding technology based on pixel prediction and the difference of modified histogram. This approach is used the pixel prediction and the difference of modified histogram to calculate the best embedding point. This approach can improve the predictive accuracy and increase the pixel difference to advance the hiding capacity. We also use the histogram modification to prevent the overflow and underflow. Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed method within the same average hiding capacity can still keep high quality of image and low distortion

Keywords: data hiding, predictor

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