Search results for: industrial engineering AND systems

Authors: Gwang-Soon Lim, Jae-One Jung, Dae-HeeKim, Hong-SeokKim

Abstract:

The purpose of this study was to suggest some optimal waterfront scales around small rivers by reviewing domestic and foreign survey reports about concept and relevant systems of the ecological cities, analyzing the data collected from a survey about scales and facilities of waterfront green zones around small rivers. The questionnaire survey was conducted by sampling professional designers, developers, the citizens living in the GunpoSanbon district covered by no river system and the citizens living in such districts covered by a river system. The question items were about need, uses, scale and facilities of waterfront in common, and about satisfaction with waterfront in case of citizen groups. In short, most of the subjects in 5 groups preferred 10~20 wide waterfront green zone. And it is judged that the results of this study about uses and facilities of the waterfront green zone and its scales would provide for some basic data useful to future waterfront green zone and urban development plans.

Keywords: Ecological city, Small river, Waterfront zone, Urban development plan

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1342

Authors: Kyogun Chang, Yoon Bok Lee

Abstract:

Fault detection determines faultexistence and detecting time. This paper discusses two layered fault detection methods to enhance the reliability and safety. Two layered fault detection methods consist of fault detection methods of component level controllers and system level controllers. Component level controllers detect faults by using limit checking, model-based detection, and data-driven detection and system level controllers execute detection by stability analysis which can detect unknown changes. System level controllers compare detection results via stability with fault signals from lower level controllers. This paper addresses fault detection methods via stability and suggests fault detection criteria in nonlinear systems. The fault detection method applies tothe hybrid control unit of a military hybrid electric vehicleso that the hybrid control unit can detect faults of the traction motor.

Keywords: Two Layered Fault Detection, Stability Analysis, Fault-Tolerant Control

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1711

Authors: Moustapha Bande, Hakima Ould-Slimane, Hanifa Boucheneb

Abstract:

Software development for complex systems requires efficient and automatic tools that can be used to verify the satisfiability of some critical properties such as security ones. With the emergence of Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP), considerable work has been done in order to better modularize the separation of concerns in the software design and implementation. The goal is to prevent the cross-cutting concerns to be scattered across the multiple modules of the program and tangled with other modules. One of the key challenges in the aspect-oriented programs is to be sure that all the pieces put together at the weaving time ensure the satisfiability of the overall system requirements. Our paper focuses on this problem and proposes a formal property verification approach for a given property from the woven program. The approach is based on the control flow graph (CFG) of the woven program, and the use of a satisfiability modulo theories (SMT) solver to check whether each property (represented par one aspect) is satisfied or not once the weaving is done.

Keywords: Aspect-oriented programming, control flow graph, satisfiability modulo theories, property verification.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 751

Authors: A. Sherif, A. El Zafarany, R. Arafa

Abstract:

Hospitals, everywhere, are considered heavy energy consumers. Hospital Intensive Care Unit spaces pose a special challenge, where design guidelines requires the provision of external windows for daylighting and external view. Window protection strategies could be employed to reduce energy loads without detriment effect on comfort or health care. This paper addresses the effectiveness of using various window strategies on the annual cooling, heating and lighting energy use of a typical Hospital Intensive Unit space. Series of experiments were performed using the EnergyPlus simulation software for a typical Intensive Care Unit (ICU) space in Cairo, located in the Egyptian desert. This study concluded that the use of shading systems is more effective in conserving energy in comparison with glazing of different types, in the Cairo ICUs. The highest energy savings in the West and South orientations were accomplished by external perforated solar screens, followed by overhangs positioned at a protection angle of 45°.

Keywords: Energy, Hospital, Intensive Care Units, Shading.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2555

Authors: Antoine Karam, Lotfi Khiari, Bruno Breton, Alfred Jaouich

Abstract:

Anthropogenic sources of zinc (Zn), including industrial emissions and effluents, Zn–rich fertilizer materials and pesticides containing Zn, can contribute to increasing the concentration of soluble Zn at levels toxic to plants in acid sandy soils. The application of municipal sewage sludge or biosolids (MBS) which contain metal immobilizing agents on coarse-textured soils could improve the metal sorption capacity of the low-CEC soils. The purpose of this experiment was to evaluate the sorption of Zn in surface samples (0-15 cm) of six Quebec (Canada) soils amended with MBS (pH 6.9) from Val d’Or (Quebec, Canada). Soil samples amended with increasing amounts (0 to 20%) of MBS were equilibrated with various amounts of Zn as ZnCl₂ in 0.01 M CaCl₂ for 48 hours at room temperature. Sorbed Zn was calculated from the difference between the initial and final Zn concentration in solution. Zn sorption data conformed to the linear form of Freundlich equation. The amount of sorbed Zn increased considerably with increasing MBS rate. Analysis of variance revealed a highly significant effect (p ≤ 0.001) of soil texture and MBS rate on the amount of sorbed Zn. The average values of the Zn-sorption capacity of MBS-amended coarse-textured soils were lower than those of MBS-amended fine textured soils. The two sandy soils (86-99% sand) amended with MBS retained 2- to 5-fold Zn than those without MBS (control). Significant Pearson correlation coefficients between the Zn sorption isotherm parameter, i.e. the Freundlich sorption isotherm (K_F), and commonly measured physical and chemical entities were obtained. Among all the soil properties measured, soil pH gave the best significant correlation coefficients (p ≤ 0.001) for soils receiving 0, 5 and 10% MBS. Furthermore, K_F values were positively correlated with soil clay content, exchangeable basic cations (Ca, Mg or K), CEC and clay content to CEC ratio. From these results, it can be concluded that (i) municipal biosolids provide sorption sites that have a strong affinity for Zn, (ii) both soil texture, especially clay content, and soil pH are the main factors controlling anthropogenic Zn sorption in the municipal biosolids-amended soils, and (iii) the effect of municipal biosolids on Zn sorption will be more pronounced for a sandy soil than for a clay soil.

Keywords: Metal, recycling, sewage sludge, trace element.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1763

Authors: Michalis D. Galanis, Gregory Dimitroulakos, Costas E. Goutis

Abstract:

Speedups from mapping four real-life DSP applications on an embedded system-on-chip that couples coarsegrained reconfigurable logic with an instruction-set processor are presented. The reconfigurable logic is realized by a 2-Dimensional Array of Processing Elements. A design flow for improving application-s performance is proposed. Critical software parts, called kernels, are accelerated on the Coarse-Grained Reconfigurable Array. The kernels are detected by profiling the source code. For mapping the detected kernels on the reconfigurable logic a prioritybased mapping algorithm has been developed. Two 4x4 array architectures, which differ in their interconnection structure among the Processing Elements, are considered. The experiments for eight different instances of a generic system show that important overall application speedups have been reported for the four applications. The performance improvements range from 1.86 to 3.67, with an average value of 2.53, compared with an all-software execution. These speedups are quite close to the maximum theoretical speedups imposed by Amdahl-s law.

Keywords: Reconfigurable computing, Coarse-grained reconfigurable array, Embedded systems, DSP, Performance

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1489

Authors: Dominik Krimpmann

Abstract:

Information technology and information systems are currently at a tipping point. The digital age fundamentally transforms a large number of industries in the ways they work. Lines between business and technology blur. Researchers have acknowledged that this is the time in which the IT/IS organisation needs to re-strategize itself. In this paper, the author provides a structured review of the IS and organisation design literature addressing the question of how the digital age changes the design categories of an IT/IS organisation design. The findings show that most papers just analyse single aspects of either IT/IS relevant information or generic organisation design elements but miss a holistic ‘big-picture’ onto an IT/IS organisation design. This paper creates a holistic IT/IS organisation design framework bringing together the IS research strand, the digital strand and the generic organisation design strand. The research identified four IT/IS organisation design categories (strategy, structure, processes and people) and discusses the importance of two additional categories (sourcing and governance). The authors findings point to a first anchor point from which further research needs to be conducted to develop a holistic IT/IS organisation design framework.

Keywords: IT/IS strategy, IT/IS organisation design, digital age, organisational effectiveness, literature review.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3744

Authors: Tarek M. Alguhane, Ayman H. Khalil, M. N. Fayed, Ayman M. Ismail

Abstract:

Early pre-code reinforced concrete structures present undetermined resistance to earthquakes. This situation is particularly unacceptable in the case of essential structures, such as healthcare structures and pilgrims' houses. Amongst these, an existing old RC building in Madinah city (KSA) is seismically evaluated with and without infill wall and their dynamic characteristics are compared with measured values in the field using ambient vibration measurements (AVM). After updating the mathematical models for this building with the experimental results, three dimensional pushover analysis (Nonlinear static analysis) was carried out using commercial structural analysis software incorporating inelastic material properties for concrete, infill and steel. The purpose of this analysis is to evaluate the expected performance of structural systems by estimating, strength and deformation demands in design, and comparing these demands to available capacities at the performance levels of interest. The results summarized and discussed.

Keywords: Seismic Assessment, Pushover Analysis, Ambient vibration, Modal update.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2489

Authors: Nan-Chyuan Tsai, Jiun-Sheng Liou, Chih-Che Lin, Tuan Li

Abstract:

For micro-gyroscopes, the angular rate detection components have to oscillate forwards and backwards alternatively. An innovative design of micro-electromagnetic drive module is proposed to make a Π-type disc reciprocally and efficiently rotate within a certain of angular interval. Twelve Electromagnetic poles enclosing the thin disc are designed to provide the magnetic drive power. Isotropic etching technique is employed to fabricate the high-aspect-ratio trench, so that the contact angle of wire against trench can be increased and the potential defect of cavities and pores within the wire can be prevented. On the other hand, a Π-type thin disc is designed to conduct the pitch motion as an angular excitation, in addition to spinning, is exerted on the gyroscope. The efficacy of the micro-magnetic drive module is verified by the commercial software, Ansoft Maxewll. In comparison with the conventional planar windings in micro-scale systems, the magnetic drive force is increased by 150%.

Keywords: Micro-gyroscope, micro-electromagnetic, micro actuator.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1487

Authors: Suyoto, Tri Prasetyaningrum

Abstract:

At this paper, we will present the development of mobile application Social Guidance and Counseling (GC) that called “m-NingBK: Social GC”. The application is used for GC services that run on mobile devices. The application is designed specifically for Junior High School student. The methods are a combination of interactive multimedia approaches and educational psychology. Therefore, the design process is carried out three processes, which are digitizing of material social GC services, visualizing wisely and making interactive. This method is intended to make students not only hear and see but also "do" the virtual. There are five components used in multimedia applications "m-NingBK: Social GC" i.e. text, images / graphics, audio / sound, animation and video. Four menus provided by this application is the potential self, social, Expert System and about. The application is built using the Java programming language. This application was tested using a Smartphone with Android Operating System. Based on the test, people give rating: 16.7% excellent, 61.1% good, 19.4% adequate, and 2.8% poor.

Keywords: Expert Systems, Guidance and Counseling, mobile application, multimedia.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2919

Authors: Liang Hua, Yi Wen

Abstract:

This evaluation of land supply system performance in China shall examine the combination of government functions and national goals in order to perform a cost-benefit analysis of system results. From the author's point of view, it is most productive to evaluate land supply system performance at moments of system transformation for the following reasons. The behavior and input-output change of beneficial results at different times can be observed when the system or policy changes and system performance can be evaluated through a cost-benefit analysis during the process of system transformation. Moreover, this evaluation method can avoid the influence of land resource endowment. Different land resource endowment methods and different economy development periods result in different systems. This essay studies the contents, principles and methods of land supply system performance evaluation. Taking Beijing as an example, this essay optimizes and classifies the land supply index, makes a quantitative evaluation of land supply system performance through principal component analysis (PCA), and finally analyzes the factors that influence land supply system performance at times of system transformation.

Keywords: Land supply, System performance, System transformation

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1309

Authors: Dwi Puspita Sari, Gulnur Baltabayeva, Nadia Salman, Maxut Toleuov, Vijay Kanabar

Abstract:

Technology era drives people to use mobile phone to support their daily life activities. Technology development has a rapid phase which pushes the IT company to adjust any technology changes in order to fulfill customer’s satisfaction. As a result of that, many companies in the USA emerged from systematics software development approach to agile software development approach in developing systems and applications to develop many mobile phone applications in a short phase to fulfill user’s needs. As a systematic approach is considered as time consuming, costly, and too risky, agile software development has become a more popular approach to use for developing software including mobile applications. This paper reflects a short-term project to develop a diet tracker mobile application using agile software development that focused on applying scrum framework in the development process.

Keywords: Agile software development, scrum, diet tracker, mobile application.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 898

Authors: A. Sabzali, M. Nikaeen, B. Bina

Abstract:

The purpose of the experiments described in this article was the comparison of integrated fixed film activated sludge (IFAS) and activated sludge (AS) system. The IFAS applied system consists of the cigarette filter rods (wasted filter in tobacco factories) as a biofilm carrier. The comparison with activated sludge was performed by two parallel treatment lines. Organic substance, ammonia and TP removal was investigated over four month period. Synthetic wastewater was prepared with ordinary tap water and glucose as the main sources of carbon and energy, plus balanced macro and micro nutrients. COD removal percentages of 94.55%, and 81.62% were achieved for IFAS and activated sludge system, respectively. Also, ammonia concentration significantly decreased by increasing the HRT in both systems. The average ammonia removal of 97.40 % and 96.34% were achieved for IFAS and activated sludge system, respectively. The removal efficiency of total phosphorus (TP-P) was 60.64%, higher than AS process by 56.63% respectively.

Keywords: Wastewater, biofilm carrier, cigarette filters rods, Activated Sludge, IFAS, nitrification.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2064

Authors: Rachid Ahdid, Said Safi, Bouzid Manaut

Abstract:

In this paper, we present a comparative study of three methods of 2D face recognition system such as: Iso-Geodesic Curves (IGC), Geodesic Distance (GD) and Geodesic-Intensity Histogram (GIH). These approaches are based on computing of geodesic distance between points of facial surface and between facial curves. In this study we represented the image at gray level as a 2D surface in a 3D space, with the third coordinate proportional to the intensity values of pixels. In the classifying step, we use: Neural Networks (NN), K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) and Support Vector Machines (SVM). The images used in our experiments are from two wellknown databases of face images ORL and YaleB. ORL data base was used to evaluate the performance of methods under conditions where the pose and sample size are varied, and the database YaleB was used to examine the performance of the systems when the facial expressions and lighting are varied.

Keywords: 2D face recognition, Geodesic distance, Iso-Geodesic Curves, Geodesic-Intensity Histogram, facial surface, Neural Networks, K-Nearest Neighbor, Support Vector Machines.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1815

Authors: Florian Kleber, Martin Kampel

Abstract:

The increasing demand of gallium, indium and rare-earth elements for the production of electronics, e.g. solid state-lighting, photovoltaics, integrated circuits, and liquid crystal displays, will exceed the world-wide supply according to current forecasts. Recycling systems to reclaim these materials are not yet in place, which challenges the sustainability of these technologies. This paper proposes a multispectral imaging system as a basis for a vision based recognition system for valuable components of electronics waste. Multispectral images intend to enhance the contrast of images of printed circuit boards (single components, as well as labels) for further analysis, such as optical character recognition and entire printed circuit board recognition. The results show, that a higher contrast is achieved in the near infrared compared to ultraviolett and visible light.

Keywords: Electronic Waste, Recycling, Multispectral Imaging, Printed Circuit Boards, Rare-Earth Elements.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2685

Authors: L. Haddad, Z. Aouachria

Abstract:

The development of transport systems has negative impacts on the environment although it has beneficial effects on society. The car policy caused many problems such as: - the spectacular growth of fuel consumption hence the very vast increase in urban pollution, traffic congestion in certain places and at certain times, the increase in the number of accidents. The exhaust emissions from cars and weather conditions are the main factors that determine the level of pollution in urban atmosphere. These conditions lead to the phenomenon of heat transfer and radiation occurring between the air and the soil surface of any town. These exchanges give rise, in urban areas, to the effects of heat islands that correspond to the appearance of excess air temperature between the city and its surrounding space. In this object, we perform a numerical simulation of the plume generated by the cars exhaust gases and show that these gases form a screening effect above the urban city which cause the heat island in the presence of wind flow. This study allows us: 1. To understand the different mechanisms of interactions between these phenomena.2. To consider appropriate technical solutions to mitigate the effects of the heat island.

Keywords: Atmospheric pollution, impact on the health, urban transport, heat island.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3002

Authors: M. Ravindra, R. Srinivasa Rao

Abstract:

This paper presents a Generalized Binary Integer Linear Programming (GBILP) method for optimal allocation of Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) and to generate Dynamic State Estimation (DSE) solution with complete observability. The GBILP method is formulated with Zero Injection Bus (ZIB) constraints to reduce the number of locations for placement of PMUs in the case of normal and single line contingency. The integration of PMU and conventional measurements is modeled in DSE process to estimate accurate states of the system. To estimate the dynamic behavior of the power system with proposed method, load change up to 40% considered at a bus in the power system network. The proposed DSE method is compared with traditional Weighted Least Squares (WLS) state estimation method in presence of load changes to show the impact of PMU measurements. MATLAB simulations are carried out on IEEE 14, 30, 57, and 118 bus systems to prove the validity of the proposed approach.

Keywords: Observability, phasor measurement units, PMU, state estimation, dynamic state estimation, SCADA measurements, zero injection bus.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1265

Authors: Jean-Pierre Dubois, Rania Minkara, Rafic Ayoubi

Abstract:

Maximal Ratio Combining (MRC) is considered the most complex combining technique as it requires channel coefficients estimation. It results in the lowest bit error rate (BER) compared to all other combining techniques. However the BER starts to deteriorate as errors are introduced in the channel coefficients estimation. A novel combining technique, termed Generalized Maximal Ratio Combining (GMRC) with a polynomial kernel, yields an identical BER as MRC with perfect channel estimation and a lower BER in the presence of channel estimation errors. We show that GMRC outperforms the optimal MRC scheme in general and we hereinafter introduce it to the scientific community as a new “supraoptimal" algorithm. Since diversity combining is especially effective in small femto- and pico-cells, internet-associated wireless peripheral systems are to benefit most from GMRC. As a result, many spinoff applications can be made to IP-based 4th generation networks.

Keywords: Bit error rate, femto-internet cells, generalized maximal ratio combining, signal-to-scattering noise ratio.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2152

Authors: Ahmed N. Shmroukh, Ahmed Hamza H. Ali, Ali K. Abel-Rahman

Abstract:

Adsorption refrigeration working pair is a vital and is the main component in the adsorption refrigeration machine. Therefore the development key is laying on the adsorption pair that leads to the improvement of the adsorption refrigeration machine. In this study the state-of-the-art in the application of the adsorption refrigeration working pairs in both classical and modern adsorption pairs are presented, compared and summarized. It is found that the maximum adsorption capacity for the classical working pairs was 0.259kg/kg for activated carbon/methanol and that for the modern working pairs was 2kg/kg for maxsorb III/R-134a. The study concluded that, the performances of the adsorption working pairs of adsorption cooling systems are still need further investigations as well as developing adsorption pairs having higher sorption capacity with low or no impact on environmental, to build compact, efficient, reliable and long life performance adsorption chillier. Also, future researches need to be focused on designing the adsorption system that provide efficient heating and cooling for the adsorbent materials through distributing the adsorbent material over heat exchanger surface, to allow good heat and mass transfer between the adsorbent and the refrigerant.

Keywords: Adsorption, Adsorbent/Adsorbate Pairs, Refrigeration.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4777

Authors: Aniruddha Bhattacharya, Pranab Kumar Chattopadhyay

Abstract:

Optimal reactive power flow is an optimization problem with one or more objective of minimizing the active power losses for fixed generation schedule. The control variables are generator bus voltages, transformer tap settings and reactive power output of the compensating devices placed on different bus bars. Biogeography- Based Optimization (BBO) technique has been applied to solve different kinds of optimal reactive power flow problems subject to operational constraints like power balance constraint, line flow and bus voltages limits etc. BBO searches for the global optimum mainly through two steps: Migration and Mutation. In the present work, BBO has been applied to solve the optimal reactive power flow problems on IEEE 30-bus and standard IEEE 57-bus power systems for minimization of active power loss. The superiority of the proposed method has been demonstrated. Considering the quality of the solution obtained, the proposed method seems to be a promising one for solving these problems.

Keywords: Active Power Loss, Biogeography-Based Optimization, Migration, Mutation, Optimal Reactive Power Flow.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4277

Authors: Torsti Rantapuska, Sariseelia Sore

Abstract:

Acquiring commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software applications is becoming routine in organizations. However, eliciting user requirements, finding the candidate COTS products and making the decision is a complex task, especially for SMEs who do not have the time and knowledge needed to do the task properly. The existing models intended to help the decision makers are originally designed for professional use. SMEs are obligated to rely on the software vendor’s ability to solve the problem with the systems provided.  In this paper, we develop a model for SMEs for the acquisition of Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) software products. A leading idea of the model is that the ICT investment is basically a change initiative and therefore it should also be taken as a process of organizational learning. The model is designed bearing three objectives in mind: 1) business orientation, 2) agility, and 3) Learning and knowledge management orientation. The model can be applied to ICT investments in SMEs which have a professional team leader with basic business and IT knowledge. 

 

Keywords: COTS acquisition, ICT investment, organizational learning, ICT adoption.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1770

Authors: Wala A. Bagunaid, Maram Meccawy, Arwa Allinjawi, Zilal Meccawy

Abstract:

Continuous self-assessment becomes crucial in self-paced online learning environments. Students often depend on themselves to assess their progress; which is considered an essential requirement for any successful learning process. Today’s education institutions face major problems around student motivation and engagement. Thus, personalized e-learning systems aim to help and guide the students. Gamification provides an opportunity to help students for self-assessment and social comparison with other students through attempting to harness the motivational power of games and apply it to the learning environment. Furthermore, Open Social Student Modeling (OSSM) as considered as the latest user modeling technologies is believed to improve students’ self-assessment and to allow them to social comparison with other students. This research integrates OSSM approach and gamification concepts in order to provide self-assessment for English language learners at King Abdulaziz University (KAU). This is achieved through an interactive visual representation of their learning progress.

Keywords: E-learning system, gamification, motivation, social comparison, visualization.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1503

Authors: G. Balakrishnan, G. Sainarayanan, R. Nagarajan, Sazali Yaacob

Abstract:

This paper presents a review on vision aided systems and proposes an approach for visual rehabilitation using stereo vision technology. The proposed system utilizes stereo vision, image processing methodology and a sonification procedure to support blind navigation. The developed system includes a wearable computer, stereo cameras as vision sensor and stereo earphones, all moulded in a helmet. The image of the scene infront of visually handicapped is captured by the vision sensors. The captured images are processed to enhance the important features in the scene in front, for navigation assistance. The image processing is designed as model of human vision by identifying the obstacles and their depth information. The processed image is mapped on to musical stereo sound for the blind-s understanding of the scene infront. The developed method has been tested in the indoor and outdoor environments and the proposed image processing methodology is found to be effective for object identification.

Keywords: Blind navigation, stereo vision, image processing, object preference, music tones.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4115

Authors: K. Sakthivel, R. Nallusamy, C. Kavitha

Abstract:

The goal of image segmentation is to cluster pixels into salient image regions. Segmentation could be used for object recognition, occlusion boundary estimation within motion or stereo systems, image compression, image editing, or image database lookup. In this paper, we present a color image segmentation using support vector machine (SVM) pixel classification. Firstly, the pixel level color and texture features of the image are extracted and they are used as input to the SVM classifier. These features are extracted using the homogeneity model and Gabor Filter. With the extracted pixel level features, the SVM Classifier is trained by using FCM (Fuzzy C-Means).The image segmentation takes the advantage of both the pixel level information of the image and also the ability of the SVM Classifier. The Experiments show that the proposed method has a very good segmentation result and a better efficiency, increases the quality of the image segmentation compared with the other segmentation methods proposed in the literature.

Keywords: Image Segmentation, Support Vector Machine, Fuzzy C–Means, Pixel Feature, Texture Feature, Homogeneity model, Gabor Filter.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 6747

Authors: Adekanmi M. Adeyinka, Onyedika V. Mbelu, Yaqub B. Adediji, Daniel I. Yahya

Abstract:

Growing energy demand and the world's dependence on fossil fuel-based energy systems causing greenhouse gas emissions and climate change have intensified the need for utilizing renewable energy sources. Solar energy can be converted directly into electricity via photovoltaic solar cells. Thin-film solar cells are preferred due to their cost effectiveness, less material consumption, flexibility, and rising trend in efficiency. In this paper, Gallium arsenide (GaAs), Amorphous silicon (a-Si), Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS), and Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) thin film solar cells are reviewed. The evolution, structures, fabrication methods, stability and degradation methods, and trend in the efficiency of the thin-film solar cells over the years are discussed in detail. Also, a comparison of the thin-film solar cells reviewed with crystalline silicon in terms of physical properties and performance is made.

Keywords: Climate change, conversion efficiency, solar energy, thin-film solar cell.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1207

Authors: S. A. Mohamed, A. S. Zayed, O. A. Abolaeha

Abstract:

A new Feed-Forward/Feedback Generalized Minimum Variance Pole-placement Controller to incorporate the robustness of classical pole-placement into the flexibility of generalized minimum variance self-tuning controller for Single-Input Single-Output (SISO) has been proposed in this paper. The design, which provides the user with an adaptive mechanism, which ensures that the closed loop poles are, located at their pre-specified positions. In addition, the controller design which has a feed-forward/feedback structure overcomes the certain limitations existing in similar poleplacement control designs whilst retaining the simplicity of adaptation mechanisms used in other designs. It tracks set-point changes with the desired speed of response, penalizes excessive control action, and can be applied to non-minimum phase systems. Besides, at steady state, the controller has the ability to regulate the constant load disturbance to zero. Example simulation results using both simulated and real plant models demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller.

Keywords: Pole-placement, Minimum variance control, self-tuning control and feedforward control.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1747

Authors: Simões, Evelyne Rolim Braun, Marques, Lana Grasiela Alves, Soares, Bruno Marques Pinheiro, Daniel Pascoalino, Santos, Maria Rita Morais Chaves, Pessoa, Claudia

Abstract:

The prospective analysis is presented as an important tool to identify the most relevant opportunities and needs in research and development from planned interventions in innovation systems. This study chose Phyllanthus niruri, known as "stone break" to describe the knowledge about the specie, by using biotechnological forecasting through the software Vantage Point. It can be seen a considerable increase in studies on Phyllanthus niruri in recent years and that there are patents about this plant since twenty-five years ago. India was the country that most carried out research on the specie, showing interest, mainly in studies of hepatoprotection, antioxidant and anti-cancer activities. Brazil is in the second place, with special interest for anti-tumor studies. Given the identification of the Brazilian groups that exploit the species it is possible to mediate partnerships and cooperation aiming to help on the implementing of the Program of Herbal medicines (phytotherapics) in Brazil.

Keywords: Phyllanthus niruri, phytotherapics, technological forecasting.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2216

Authors: Javier Parra-Domínguez, Juan Manuel Corchado

Abstract:

At present, public efficiency is a concept that intends to maximize return on public investment focus on minimizing the use of resources and maximizing the outputs. The concept takes into account statistical criteria drawn up according to techniques such as DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis). The purpose of the current work is to consider, more precisely, the theoretical application of CBR (Case-Based Reasoning) from economics and computer science, as a preliminary step to improving the efficiency of law enforcement agencies (public sector). With the aim of increasing the efficiency of the public sector, we have entered into a phase whose main objective is the implementation of new technologies. Our main conclusion is that the application of computer techniques, such as CBR, has become key to the efficiency of the public sector, which continues to require economic valuation based on methodologies such as DEA. As a theoretical result and conclusion, the incorporation of CBR systems will reduce the number of inputs and increase, theoretically, the number of outputs generated based on previous computer knowledge.

Keywords: Case-based reasoning, knowledge, police, public efficiency.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 603

Authors: Renáta Iváncsy, Sándor Juhász

Abstract:

Web usage mining has become a popular research area, as a huge amount of data is available online. These data can be used for several purposes, such as web personalization, web structure enhancement, web navigation prediction etc. However, the raw log files are not directly usable; they have to be preprocessed in order to transform them into a suitable format for different data mining tasks. One of the key issues in the preprocessing phase is to identify web users. Identifying users based on web log files is not a straightforward problem, thus various methods have been developed. There are several difficulties that have to be overcome, such as client side caching, changing and shared IP addresses and so on. This paper presents three different methods for identifying web users. Two of them are the most commonly used methods in web log mining systems, whereas the third on is our novel approach that uses a complex cookie-based method to identify web users. Furthermore we also take steps towards identifying the individuals behind the impersonal web users. To demonstrate the efficiency of the new method we developed an implementation called Web Activity Tracking (WAT) system that aims at a more precise distinction of web users based on log data. We present some statistical analysis created by the WAT on real data about the behavior of the Hungarian web users and a comprehensive analysis and comparison of the three methods

Keywords: Data preparation, Tracking individuals, Web useridentification, Web usage mining

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4392

Authors: Maisam Rafiee, Chikashi Deguchi, Akio Odake, Minoru Matsui, Takanori Sata

Abstract:

Cities in Afghanistan have been rapidly urbanized; however, many parts of these cities have been developed with no detailed land use plan or infrastructure. In other words, they have been informally developed without any government leadership. The new government started the In-situ Upgrading Project in Kabul to upgrade roads, the water supply network system, and the surface water drainage system on the existing street layout in 2002, with the financial support of international agencies. This project is an appropriate emergency improvement for living life, but not an essential improvement of living conditions and infrastructure problems because the life expectancies of the improved facilities are as short as 10–15 years, and residents cannot obtain land tenure in the unplanned areas. The Land Readjustment System (LRS) conducted in Japan has good advantages that rearrange irregularly shaped land lots and develop the infrastructure effectively. This study investigates the effects of the In-situ Upgrading Project on private investment, land prices, and residents’ satisfaction with projects in Kart-e-Char, where properties are registered, and in Afshar-e-Silo Lot 1, where properties are unregistered. These projects are located 5 km and 7 km from the CBD area of Kabul, respectively. This study discusses whether LRS should be applied to the unplanned area based on the questionnaire and interview responses of experts experienced in the In-situ Upgrading Project who have knowledge of LRS. The analysis results reveal that, in Kart-e-Char, a lot of private investment has been made in the construction of medium-rise (five- to nine-story) buildings for commercial and residential purposes. Land values have also incrementally increased since the project, and residents are commonly satisfied with the road pavement, drainage systems, and water supplies, but dissatisfied with the poor delivery of electricity as well as the lack of public facilities (e.g., parks and sport facilities). In Afshar-e-Silo Lot 1, basic infrastructures like paved roads and surface water drainage systems have improved from the project. After the project, a few four- and five-story residential buildings were built with very low-level private investments, but significant increases in land prices were not evident. The residents are satisfied with the contribution ratio, drainage system, and small increase in land price, but there is still no drinking water supply system or tenure security; moreover, there are substandard paved roads and a lack of public facilities, such as parks, sport facilities, mosques, and schools. The results of the questionnaire and interviews with the four engineers highlight the problems that remain to be solved in the unplanned areas if LRS is applied—namely, land use differences, types and conditions of the infrastructure still to be installed by the project, and time spent for positive consensus building among the residents, given the project’s budget limitation.

Keywords: In-Situ Upgrading, Kabul, Land Readjustment, Land value, Planned areas, Private investment, Resident satisfaction, Unplanned areas.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1161