Search results for: power transfer capacity.
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 4972

Search results for: power transfer capacity.

652 Free Vibration Analysis of Smart FGM Plates

Authors: F.Ebrahimi, A.Rastgo

Abstract:

Analytical investigation of the free vibration behavior of circular functionally graded (FG) plates integrated with two uniformly distributed actuator layers made of piezoelectric (PZT4) material on the top and bottom surfaces of the circular FG plate based on the classical plate theory (CPT) is presented in this paper. The material properties of the functionally graded substrate plate are assumed to be graded in the thickness direction according to the power-law distribution in terms of the volume fractions of the constituents and the distribution of electric potential field along the thickness direction of piezoelectric layers is simulated by a quadratic function. The differential equations of motion are solved analytically for clamped edge boundary condition of the plate. The detailed mathematical derivations are presented and Numerical investigations are performed for FG plates with two surface-bonded piezoelectric layers. Emphasis is placed on investigating the effect of varying the gradient index of FG plate on the free vibration characteristics of the structure. The results are verified by those obtained from threedimensional finite element analyses.

Keywords: Circular plate, CPT, Functionally graded, Piezoelectric.

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651 Energy Efficient Clustering Algorithm with Global and Local Re-clustering for Wireless Sensor Networks

Authors: Ashanie Guanathillake, Kithsiri Samarasinghe

Abstract:

Wireless Sensor Networks consist of inexpensive, low power sensor nodes deployed to monitor the environment and collect data. Gathering information in an energy efficient manner is a critical aspect to prolong the network lifetime. Clustering  algorithms have an advantage of enhancing the network lifetime. Current clustering algorithms usually focus on global re-clustering and local re-clustering separately. This paper, proposed a combination of those two reclustering methods to reduce the energy consumption of the network. Furthermore, the proposed algorithm can apply to homogeneous as well as heterogeneous wireless sensor networks. In addition, the cluster head rotation happens, only when its energy drops below a dynamic threshold value computed by the algorithm. The simulation result shows that the proposed algorithm prolong the network lifetime compared to existing algorithms.

Keywords: Energy efficient, Global re-clustering, Local re-clustering, Wireless sensor networks.

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650 Signal and Thermodynamic Analysis for Evaluation of Thermal and Power of Gas Turbine-Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Hybrid System

Authors: R. Mahjoub, K. Maghsoudi Mehraban

Abstract:

In recent years, solid oxide fuel cells have been used as one of the main technologies for the production of electrical energy with high-efficiency ratio, which is used hydrogen and other hydrocarbons as fuels. The fuel cell technology can be used either alone or in hybrid gas turbines systems. In this study, thermodynamics analysis for GT-SOFC hybrid system is developed, and then mass balance and exergy equations have been applied not only on the process but also on the individual components of the hybrid system, which enable us to estimate the thermal efficiency of the hybrid systems. Furthermore, various sources of irreversibility in the solid oxide fuel cell system are discussed, and modeling and parametric analyses like heat and pressure are carried out. This study enables us to consider the irreversible effects of solid oxide fuel cells, and also it leads to the specification of efficiency of the system accurately. Next in the study, both methane and hydrogen as a fuel for SOFC are used and implemented, and finally, our results are compared with other references.

Keywords: hybrid system, gas turbine, entropy and exergy analysis, irreversibility analysis

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649 Risk Assessment of Trace Element Pollution in Gymea Bay, NSW, Australia

Authors: Yasir M. Alyazichi, Brian G. Jones, Errol McLean, Hamd N. Altalyan, Ali K. M. Al-Nasrawi

Abstract:

The main purpose of this study is to assess the sediment quality and potential ecological risk in marine sediments in Gymea Bay located in south Sydney, Australia. A total of 32 surface sediment samples were collected from the bay. Current track trajectories and velocities have also been measured in the bay. The resultant trace elements were compared with the adverse biological effect values Effect Range Low (ERL) and Effect Range Median (ERM) classifications. The results indicate that the average values of chromium, arsenic, copper, zinc, and lead in surface sediments all reveal low pollution levels and are below ERL and ERM values. The highest concentrations of trace elements were found close to discharge points and in the inner bay, and were linked with high percentages of clay minerals, pyrite and organic matter, which can play a significant role in trapping and accumulating these elements. The lowest concentrations of trace elements were found to be on the shoreline of the bay, which contained high percentages of sand fractions. It is postulated that the fine particles and trace elements are disturbed by currents and tides, then transported and deposited in deeper areas. The current track velocities recorded in Gymea Bay had the capability to transport fine particles and trace element pollution within the bay. As a result, hydrodynamic measurements were able to provide useful information and to help explain the distribution of sedimentary particles and geochemical properties. This may lead to knowledge transfer to other bay systems, including those in remote areas. These activities can be conducted at a low cost, and are therefore also transferrable to developing countries. The advent of portable instruments to measure trace elements in the field has also contributed to the development of these lower cost and easily applied methodologies available for use in remote locations and low-cost economies.

Keywords: Current track velocities, Gymea Bay, surface sediments, trace elements.

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648 Hardware-in-the-Loop Test for Automatic Voltage Regulator of Synchronous Condenser

Authors: Ha Thi Nguyen, Guangya Yang, Arne Hejde Nielsen, Peter Højgaard Jensen

Abstract:

Automatic voltage regulator (AVR) plays an important role in volt/var control of synchronous condenser (SC) in power systems. Test AVR performance in steady-state and dynamic conditions in real grid is expensive, low efficiency, and hard to achieve. To address this issue, we implement hardware-in-the-loop (HiL) test for the AVR of SC to test the steady-state and dynamic performances of AVR in different operating conditions. Startup procedure of the system and voltage set point changes are studied to evaluate the AVR hardware response. Overexcitation, underexcitation, and AVR set point loss are tested to compare the performance of SC with the AVR hardware and that of simulation. The comparative results demonstrate how AVR will work in a real system. The results show HiL test is an effective approach for testing devices before deployment and is able to parameterize the controller with lower cost, higher efficiency, and more flexibility.

Keywords: Automatic voltage regulator, hardware-in-the-loop, synchronous condenser, real time digital simulator.

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647 Large Vibration Amplitudes of Circular Functionally Graded Thin Plates Resting on Winkler Elastic Foundations

Authors: El Kaak, Rachid, El Bikri, Khalid, Benamar, Rhali

Abstract:

This paper describes a study of geometrically nonlinear free vibration of thin circular functionally graded (CFGP) plates resting on Winkler elastic foundations. The material properties of the functionally graded composites examined here are assumed to be graded smoothly and continuously through the direction of the plate thickness according to a power law and are estimated using the rule of mixture. The theoretical model is based on the classical Plate theory and the Von-Kármán geometrical nonlinearity assumptions. An homogenization procedure (HP) is developed to reduce the problem considered here to that of isotropic homogeneous circular plates resting on Winkler foundation. Hamilton-s principle is applied and a multimode approach is derived to calculate the fundamental nonlinear frequency parameters which are found to be in a good agreement with the published results. On the other hand, the influence of the foundation parameters on the nonlinear fundamental frequency has also been analysed.

Keywords: Functionally graded materials, nonlinear vibrations, Winkler foundation.

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646 Magnetoviscous Effects on Axi-Symmetric Ferrofluid Flow over a Porous Rotating Disk with Suction/Injection

Authors: Vikas Kumar

Abstract:

The present study is carried out to investigate the magneto-viscous effects on incompressible ferrofluid flow over a porous rotating disc with suction or injection on the surface of the disc subjected to a magnetic field. The flow under consideration is axi-symmetric steady ferrofluid flow of electrically non-conducting fluid. Karman’s transformation is used to convert the governing boundary layer equations involved in the problem to a system of non linear coupled differential equations. The solution of this system is obtained by using power series approximation. The flow characteristics i.e. radial, tangential, axial velocities and boundary layer displacement thickness are calculated for various values of MFD (magnetic field dependent) viscosity and for different values of suction injection parameter. Besides this, skin friction coefficients are also calculated on the surface of the disk. The results thus obtained are presented numerically and graphically in the paper.

Keywords: Axi-symmetric, ferrofluid, magnetic field, porous rotating disk.

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645 A Fast Sensor Relocation Algorithm in Wireless Sensor Networks

Authors: Yu-Chen Kuo, Shih-Chieh Lin

Abstract:

Sensor relocation is to repair coverage holes caused by node failures. One way to repair coverage holes is to find redundant nodes to replace faulty nodes. Most researches took a long time to find redundant nodes since they randomly scattered redundant nodes around the sensing field. To record the precise position of sensor nodes, most researches assumed that GPS was installed in sensor nodes. However, high costs and power-consumptions of GPS are heavy burdens for sensor nodes. Thus, we propose a fast sensor relocation algorithm to arrange redundant nodes to form redundant walls without GPS. Redundant walls are constructed in the position where the average distance to each sensor node is the shortest. Redundant walls can guide sensor nodes to find redundant nodes in the minimum time. Simulation results show that our algorithm can find the proper redundant node in the minimum time and reduce the relocation time with low message complexity.

Keywords: Coverage, distributed algorithm, sensor relocation, wireless sensor networks.

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644 Factors Affecting Access to Education: The Experiences of Parents of Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

Authors: Hanh Thi My Nguyen

Abstract:

The purpose of this research is to examine the experiences of parents of children who are deaf or hard of hearing in supporting their children to access education in Vietnam. Parents play a crucial role in supporting their children to gain full access to education. It was widely reported that parents of those children confronted a range of problems to support their children to access education. To author’s best knowledge, there has been a lack of research exploring the experiences of those parents in literature. This research examines factors affecting those parents in supporting their children to access education. To conduct the study, qualitative approach using a phenomenological research design was chosen to explore the central phenomena. Ten parents of children who were diagnosed as deaf or hard of hearing and aged 6-9 years were recruited through the support of the Association of Parents of Children with Hearing Impairment. Participants were interviewed via telephone with a mix of open and closed questions; interviews were audio recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed. The research results show that there are nine main factors that affected the parents in this study in making decisions relating to education for their children including: lack of information resources, perspectives of those parents on communication approaches, the families’ financial capacity, the psychological impact on the participants after their children’ diagnosis, the attitude of family members, attitude of school administrators, lack of local schools and qualified teachers, and current education system for the deaf in Vietnam. Apart from those factors, the lack of knowledge of the participants’ partners about deaf education and the partners’ employment are barriers to educational access and successful communication with their child.

Keywords: Access to education, deaf, hard of hearing, parents experience.

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643 Comparative Analysis of SVPWM and the Standard PWM Technique for Three Level Diode Clamped Inverter fed Induction Motor

Authors: L. Lakhdari, B. Bouchiba, M. Bechar

Abstract:

The multi-level inverters present an important novelty in the field of energy control with high voltage and power. The major advantage of all multi-level inverters is the improvement and spectral quality of its generated output signals. In recent years, various pulse width modulation techniques have been developed. From these technics we have: Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation (SPWM) and Space Vector Pulse Width Modulation (SVPWM). This work presents a detailed analysis of the comparative advantage of space vector pulse width modulation (SVPWM) and the standard SPWM technique for Three Level Diode Clamped Inverter fed Induction Motor. The comparison is based on the evaluation of harmonic distortion THD.

Keywords: Induction motor, multi-level inverters, NPC inverter, sinusoidal pulse width modulation, space vector pulse width modulation.

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642 A Delay-Tolerant Distributed Query Processing Architecture for Mobile Environment

Authors: T.P. Andamuthu, Dr. P. Balasubramanie

Abstract:

The intermittent connectivity modifies the “always on" network assumption made by all the distributed query processing systems. In modern- day systems, the absence of network connectivity is considered as a fault. Since the last upload, it might not be feasible to transmit all the data accumulated right away over the available connection. It is possible that vital information may be delayed excessively when the less important information takes place of the vital information. Owing to the restricted and uneven bandwidth, it is vital that the mobile nodes make the most advantageous use of the connectivity when it arrives. Hence, in order to select the data that needs to be transmitted first, some sort of data prioritization is essential. A continuous query processing system for intermittently connected mobile networks that comprises of a delaytolerant continuous query processor distributed across the mobile hosts has been proposed in this paper. In addition, a mechanism for prioritizing query results has been designed that guarantees enhanced accuracy and reduced delay. It is illustrated that our architecture reduces the client power consumption, increases query efficiency by the extensive simulation results.

Keywords: Broadcast, Location, Mobile host, Mobility, Query.

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641 A Lactose-Free Yogurt Using Membrane Systems and Modified Milk Protein Concentrate: Production and Characterization

Authors: Shahram Naghizadeh Raeisi, Ali Alghooneh

Abstract:

Using membrane technology and modification of milk protein structural properties, a lactose free yogurt was developed. The functional, textural and structural properties of the sample were evaluated and compared with the commercial ones. Results showed that the modification of protein in high fat set yogurt resulted in 11.55%, 18%, 20.21% and 7.08% higher hardness, consistency, water holding capacity, and shininess values compared with the control one. Furthermore, these indices of modified low fat set yogurt were 21.40%, 25.41%, 28.15% & 10.58% higher than the control one, which could be related to the gel network microstructural properties in yogurt formulated with modified protein. In this way, in comparison with the control one, the index of linkage strength (A), the number of linkages (z), and time scale of linkages (λrel) of the high fat modified yogurt were 22.10%, 50.68%, 21.82% higher than the control one; whereas, the average linear distance between two adjacent crosslinks (ξ), was 16.77% lower than the control one. For low fat modified yogurt, A, z, λrel, and ξ indices were 34.30%, 61.70% and 42.60% higher and 19.20% lower than the control one, respectively. The shelf life of modified yogurt was extended to 10 weeks in the refrigerator, while, the control set yogurt had a 3 weeks shelf life. The acidity of high fat and low fat modified yogurts increased from 76 to 84 and 72 to 80 Dornic degrees during 10 weeks of storage, respectively, whereas for control high fat and low fat yogurts they increased from 82 to 122 and 77 to 112 Dornic degrees, respectively. This behavior could be due to the elimination of microorganism’s source of energy in modified yogurt. Furthermore, the calories of high fat and low fat lactose free yogurts were 25% and 40% lower than their control samples, respectively. Generally, results showed that the lactose free yogurt with modified protein, despite of 1% lower protein content than the control one, showed better functional properties, nutritional properties, network parameters, and shelf stability, which could be promising in the set yogurt industry.

Keywords: Lactose free, low calorie, network properties, protein modification.

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640 Data Mining Determination of Sunlight Average Input for Solar Power Plant

Authors: Fl. Loury, P. Sablonière, C. Lamoureux, G. Magnier, Th. Gutierrez

Abstract:

A method is proposed to extract faithful representative patterns from data set of observations when they are suffering from non-negligible fluctuations. Supposing time interval between measurements to be extremely small compared to observation time, it consists in defining first a subset of intermediate time intervals characterizing coherent behavior. Data projection on these intervals gives a set of curves out of which an ideally “perfect” one is constructed by taking the sup limit of them. Then comparison with average real curve in corresponding interval gives an efficiency parameter expressing the degradation consecutive to fluctuation effect. The method is applied to sunlight data collected in a specific place, where ideal sunlight is the one resulting from direct exposure at location latitude over the year, and efficiency is resulting from action of meteorological parameters, mainly cloudiness, at different periods of the year. The extracted information already gives interesting element of decision, before being used for analysis of plant control.

Keywords: Base Input Reconstruction, Data Mining, Efficiency Factor, Information Pattern Operator.

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639 Mathematical Modeling of the AMCs Cross-Contamination Removal in the FOUPs: Finite Element Formulation and Application in FOUP’s Decontamination

Authors: N. Santatriniaina, J. Deseure, T.Q. Nguyen, H. Fontaine, C. Beitia, L. Rakotomanana

Abstract:

Nowadays, with the increasing of the wafer's size and the decreasing of critical size of integrated circuit manufacturing in modern high-tech, microelectronics industry needs a maximum attention to challenge the contamination control. The move to 300 [mm] is accompanied by the use of Front Opening Unified Pods for wafer and his storage. In these pods an airborne cross contamination may occur between wafers and the pods. A predictive approach using modeling and computational methods is very powerful method to understand and qualify the AMCs cross contamination processes. This work investigates the required numerical tools which are employed in order to study the AMCs cross-contamination transfer phenomena between wafers and FOUPs. Numerical optimization and finite element formulation in transient analysis were established. Analytical solution of one dimensional problem was developed and the calibration process of physical constants was performed. The least square distance between the model (analytical 1D solution) and the experimental data are minimized. The behavior of the AMCs intransient analysis was determined. The model framework preserves the classical forms of the diffusion and convection-diffusion equations and yields to consistent form of the Fick's law. The adsorption process and the surface roughness effect were also traduced as a boundary condition using the switch condition Dirichlet to Neumann and the interface condition. The methodology is applied, first using the optimization methods with analytical solution to define physical constants, and second using finite element method including adsorption kinetic and the switch of Dirichlet to Neumann condition.

Keywords: AMCs, FOUP, cross-contamination, adsorption, diffusion, numerical analysis, wafers, Dirichlet to Neumann, finite elements methods, Fick’s law, optimization.

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638 Mitigation of ISI for Next Generation Wireless Channels in Outdoor Vehicular Environments

Authors: Mohd. Israil, M. Salim Beg

Abstract:

In order to accommodate various multimedia services, next generation wireless networks are characterized by very high transmission bit rates. Thus, in such systems and networks, the received signal is not only limited by noise but - especially with increasing symbols rate often more significantly by the intersymbol interference (ISI) caused by the time dispersive radio channels such as those are used in this work. This paper deals with the study of the performance of detector for high bit rate transmission on some worst case models of frequency selective fading channels for outdoor mobile radio environments. This paper deals with a number of different wireless channels with different power profiles and different number of resolvable paths. All the radio channels generated in this paper are for outdoor vehicular environments with Doppler spread of 100 Hz. A carrier frequency of 1800 MHz is used and all the channels used in this work are such that they are useful for next generation wireless systems. Schemes for mitigation of ISI with adaptive equalizers of different types have been investigated and their performances have been investigated in terms of BER measured as a function of SNR.

Keywords: Mobile channels, Rayleigh Fading, Equalization, NMLD.

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637 Multihop Cooperative Transmissions for Asymmetric Traffic Accommodation in CDMA/FDD Cellular Networks

Authors: Kazuo Mori, Takeo Saga, Katsuhiro Naito, Hideo Kobayashi

Abstract:

The asymmetric trafc between uplink and downlink over recent mobile communication systems has been conspicuous because of providing new communication services. This paper proposes an asymmetric trafc accommodation scheme adopting a multihop cooperative transmission technique for CDMA/FDD cellular networks. The proposed scheme employs the cooperative transmission technique in the already proposed downlink multihop transmissions for the accommodation of the asymmetric trafc, which utilizes the vacant uplink band for the downlink relay transmissions. The proposed scheme reduces the transmission power at the downlink relay transmissions and then suppresses the interference to the uplink communications, and thus, improves the uplink performance. The proposed scheme is evaluated by computer simulation and the results show that it can achieve better throughput performance.

Keywords: asymmetric traffic, cooperative transmissions, multihop transmissions, CDMA, FDD, cellular systems

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636 Performance Comparison of AODV and Soft AODV Routing Protocol

Authors: Abhishek, Seema Devi, Jyoti Ohri

Abstract:

A mobile ad hoc network (MANET) represents a system of wireless mobile nodes that can self-organize freely and dynamically into arbitrary and temporary network topology. Unlike a wired network, wireless network interface has limited transmission range. Routing is the task of forwarding data packets from source to a given destination. Ad-hoc On Demand Distance Vector (AODV) routing protocol creates a path for a destination only when it required. This paper describes the implementation of AODV routing protocol using MATLAB-based Truetime simulator. In MANET's node movements are not fixed while they are random in nature. Hence intelligent techniques i.e. fuzzy and ANFIS are used to optimize the transmission range. In this paper, we compared the transmission range of AODV, fuzzy AODV and ANFIS AODV. For soft computing AODV, we have taken transmitted power and received threshold as input and transmission range as output. ANFIS gives better results as compared to fuzzy AODV.

Keywords: ANFIS, AODV, fuzzy, MANET, reactive routing protocol, routing protocol, Truetime.

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635 Prediction Modeling of Compression Properties of a Knitted Sportswear Fabric Using Response Surface Method

Authors: Jawairia Umar, Tanveer Hussain, Zulfiqar Ali, Muhammad Maqsood

Abstract:

Different knitted structures and knitted parameters play a vital role in the stretch and recovery management of compression sportswear in addition to the materials use to generate this stretch and recovery behavior of the fabric. The present work was planned to predict the different performance indicators of a compression sportswear fabric with some ground parameters i.e. base yarn stitch length (polyester as base yarn and spandex as plating yarn involve to make a compression fabric) and linear density of the spandex which is a key material of any sportswear fabric. The prediction models were generated by response surface method for performance indicators such as stretch & recovery percentage, compression generated by the garment on body, total elongation on application of high power force and load generated on certain percentage extension in fabric. Certain physical properties of the fabric were also modeled using these two parameters.

Keywords: Compression, sportswear, stretch and recovery, statistical model, kikuhime.

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634 Generalized d-q Model of n-Phase Induction Motor Drive

Authors: G. Renukadevi, K. Rajambal

Abstract:

This paper presents a generalized d-q model of n- phase induction motor drive. Multi -phase (n-phase) induction motor (more than three phases) drives possess several advantages over conventional three-phase drives, such as reduced current/phase without increasing voltage/phase, lower torque pulsation, higher torque density, fault tolerance, stability, high efficiency and lower current ripple. When the number of phases increases, it is also possible to increase the power in the same frame. In this paper, a generalized dq-axis model is developed in Matlab/Simulink for an n-phase induction motor. The simulation results are presented for 5, 6, 7, 9 and 12 phase induction motor under varying load conditions. Transient response of the multi-phase induction motors are given for different number of phases. Fault tolerant feature is also analyzed for 5-phase induction motor drive.

Keywords: d-q model, dynamic Response, fault tolerant feature, Matlab/Simulink, multi-phase induction motor, transient response.

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633 Elements of a Culture of Quality in the Implementation of Quality Assurance Systems of Countries in the European Higher Education Area

Authors: L. Mion

Abstract:

The implementation of quality management systems in higher education in different countries is determined by national regulatory choices and supranational indications (such as the European Standard Guidelines for Quality Assurance). The effective functioning and transformative capacity of these quality management systems largely depend on the organizational context in which they are applied and, more specifically, on the culture of quality developed in single universities or in single countries. The University's concept of quality culture integrates the structural dimension of Quality Assurance (QA) (quality management manuals, process definitions, tools) with the value dimension of an organization (principles, skills, and attitudes). Within the EHEA (European Higher Education Area), countries such as Portugal, the Netherlands, the UK, and Norway demonstrate a greater integration of QA principles in the various organizational levels and areas of competence of university institutions or have greater experience in implementation or scientific and political debate on the matter. Therefore, the study, through an integrative literature review, of the quality management systems of these countries is aimed at determining a framework of the culture of quality, helpful in defining the elements which, both in structural-organizational terms and in terms of values and skills and attitudes, have proved to be factors of success in the effective implementation of quality assurance systems in universities and in the countries considered in the research. In order for a QA system to effectively aim for continuous improvement in a complex and dynamic context such as the university one, it must embrace a holistic vision of quality from an integrative perspective, focusing on the objective of transforming the reality being evaluated.

Keywords: Higher education, quality assurance, quality culture, Portugal, Norway, Netherlands, United Kingdom.

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632 Elements of a Culture of Quality in the Implementation of Quality Assurance Systems of Countries in the European Higher Education Area

Authors: L. Mion

Abstract:

The implementation of quality management systems in higher education in different countries is determined by national regulatory choices and supranational indications (such as the European Standard Guidelines for Quality Assurance). The effective functioning and transformative capacity of these quality management systems largely depend on the organizational context in which they are applied and, more specifically, on the culture of quality developed in single universities or in single countries. The University's concept of quality culture integrates the structural dimension of Quality Assurance (QA) (quality management manuals, process definitions, tools) with the value dimension of an organization (principles, skills, and attitudes). Within the EHEA (European Higher Education Area), countries such as Portugal, the Netherlands, the UK, Norway demonstrate a greater integration of QA principles in the various organizational levels and areas of competence of university institutions or have greater experience in implementation or scientific and political debate on the matter. Therefore, the study, through an integrative literature review, of the quality management systems of these countries, aimed at determining a framework of the culture of quality, helpful in defining the elements which, both in structural-organizational terms and in terms of values and skills and attitudes, have proved to be factors of success in the effective implementation of quality assurance systems in universities and in the countries considered in the research. In order for a QA system to effectively aim for continuous improvement in a complex and dynamic context such as the university one, it must embrace a holistic vision of quality from an integrative perspective, focusing on the objective of transforming the reality being evaluated.

Keywords: Higher Education, quality assurance, quality culture, Portugal, Norway, Netherlands, United Kingdom.

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631 Creating Customer Value through SOA and Outsourcing: A NEBIC Approach

Authors: Benazeer Md. Shahzada, Verelst Jan, Van Grembergen Wim, Mannaert Herwig

Abstract:

This article is an extension and a practical application approach of Wheeler-s NEBIC theory (Net Enabled Business Innovation Cycle). NEBIC theory is a new approach in IS research and can be used for dynamic environment related to new technology. Firms can follow the market changes rapidly with support of the IT resources. Flexible firms adapt their market strategies, and respond more quickly to customers changing behaviors. When every leading firm in an industry has access to the same IT resources, the way that these IT resources are managed will determine the competitive advantages or disadvantages of firm. From Dynamic Capabilities Perspective and from newly introduced NEBIC theory by Wheeler, we know that only IT resources cannot deliver customer value but good configuration of those resources can guarantee customer value by choosing the right emerging technology, grasping the right economic opportunities through business innovation and growth. We found evidences in literature that SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) is a promising emerging technology which can deliver the desired economic opportunity through modularity, flexibility and loose-coupling. SOA can also help firms to connect in network which can open a new window of opportunity to collaborate in innovation and right kind of outsourcing. There are many articles and research reports indicates that failure rate in outsourcing is very high but at the same time research indicates that successful outsourcing projects adds tangible and intangible benefits to the service consumer. Business executives and policy makers in the west should not afraid of outsourcing but they should choose the right strategy through the use of emerging technology to significantly reduce the failure rate in outsourcing.

Keywords: Absorptive capacity, Dynamic Capability, Netenabled business innovation cycle, Service oriented architecture.

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630 LEED Empirical Evidence in Northern and Southern Europe

Authors: Svetlana Pushkar

Abstract:

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating system is recognized in Europe. LEED uses regional priority (RP) points that are adapted to different environmental conditions. However, the appropriateness of the RP points is still a controversial question. To clarify this issue, two different parts of Europe: northern Europe (Finland and Sweden) and southern Europe (Turkey and Spain) were considered. Similarities and differences in the performances of LEED 2009-new construction (LEED-NC 2009) in these four countries were analyzed. It was found that LEED-NC 2009 performances in northern and southern parts of Europe in terms of Sustainable Sites (SS), Water Efficiency (WE), Materials and Resources (MR), and Indoor Environmental Quality (EQ) were similar, whereas in Energy and Atmosphere (EA), their performances were different. WE and SS revealed high performances (70-100%); EA and EQ demonstrated intermediate performance (40-60%); and MR displayed low performance (20-40%). It should be recommended introducing the following new RP points: for Turkey - water-related points and for all four observed countries - green power-related points for improving the LEED adaptation in Europe.

Keywords: Green building, Europe, LEED, regional priority points.

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629 Effects of Heavy Pumping and Artificial Groundwater Recharge Pond on the Aquifer System of Langat Basin, Malaysia

Authors: R. May, K. Jinno, I. Yusoff

Abstract:

The paper aims at evaluating the effects of heavy groundwater withdrawal and artificial groundwater recharge of an ex-mining pond to the aquifer system of the Langat Basin through the three-dimensional (3D) numerical modeling. Many mining sites have been left behind from the massive mining exploitations in Malaysia during the England colonization era and from the last few decades. These sites are able to accommodate more than a million cubic meters of water from precipitation, runoff, groundwater, and river. Most of the time, the mining sites are turned into ponds for recreational activities. In the current study, an artificial groundwater recharge from an ex-mining pond in the Langat Basin was proposed due to its capacity to store >50 million m3 of water. The location of the pond is near the Langat River and opposite a steel company where >4 million gallons of groundwater is withdrawn on a daily basis. The 3D numerical simulation was developed using the Groundwater Modeling System (GMS). The calibrated model (error about 0.7 m) was utilized to simulate two scenarios (1) Case 1: artificial recharge pond with no pumping and (2) Case 2: artificial pond with pumping. The results showed that in Case 1, the pond played a very important role in supplying additional water to the aquifer and river. About 90,916 m3/d of water from the pond, 1,173 m3/d from the Langat River, and 67,424 m3/d from the direct recharge of precipitation infiltrated into the aquifer system. In Case 2, due to the abstraction of groundwater from a company, it caused a steep depression around the wells, river, and pond. The result of the water budget showed an increase rate of inflow in the pond and river with 92,493m3/d and 3,881m3/d respectively. The outcome of the current study provides useful information of the aquifer behavior of the Langat Basin.

Keywords: Groundwater and surface water interaction, groundwater modeling, GMS, artificial recharge pond, ex-mining site.

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628 Development of an Avionics System for Flight Data Collection of an UAV Helicopter

Authors: Nikhil Ramaswamy, S.N.Omkar, Kashyap.H.Nathwani, Anil.M.Vanjare

Abstract:

In this present work, the development of an avionics system for flight data collection of a Raptor 30 V2 is carried out. For the data acquisition both onground and onboard avionics systems are developed for testing of a small-scale Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) helicopter. The onboard avionics record the helicopter state outputs namely accelerations, angular rates and Euler angles, in real time, and the on ground avionics system record the inputs given to the radio controlled helicopter through a transmitter, in real time. The avionic systems are designed and developed taking into consideration low weight, small size, anti-vibration, low power consumption, and easy interfacing. To mitigate the medium frequency vibrations embedded on the UAV helicopter during flight, a damper is designed and its performance is evaluated. A number of flight tests are carried out and the data obtained is then analyzed for accuracy and repeatability and conclusions are inferred.

Keywords: Data collection, Flight Testing, Onground and Onboard Avionics, UAV helicopter

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627 Numerical Optimization of Pin-Fin Heat Sink with Forced Cooling

Authors: Y. T. Yang, H. S. Peng, H. T. Hsu

Abstract:

This study presents the numerical simulation of optimum pin-fin heat sink with air impinging cooling by using Taguchi method. 9 L ( 4 3 ) orthogonal array is selected as a plan for the four design-parameters with three levels. The governing equations are discretized by using the control-volume-based-finite-difference method with a power-law scheme on the non-uniform staggered grid. We solved the coupling of the velocity and the pressure terms of momentum equations using SIMPLEC algorithm. We employ the k −ε two-equations turbulence model to describe the turbulent behavior. The parameters studied include fin height H (35mm-45mm), inter-fin spacing a , b , and c (2 mm-6.4 mm), and Reynolds number ( Re = 10000- 25000). The objective of this study is to examine the effects of the fin spacings and fin height on the thermal resistance and to find the optimum group by using the Taguchi method. We found that the fin spacings from the center to the edge of the heat sink gradually extended, and the longer the fin’s height the better the results. The optimum group is 3 1 2 3 H a b c . In addition, the effects of parameters are ranked by importance as a , H , c , and b .

Keywords: Heat sink, Optimum, Electronics cooling, CFD.

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626 Predictions of Dynamic Behaviors for Gas Foil Bearings Operating at Steady-State Based on Multi-Physics Coupling Computer Aided Engineering Simulations

Authors: Tai Yuan Yu, Pei-Jen Wang

Abstract:

A simulation scheme of rotational motions for predictions of bump-type gas foil bearings operating at steady-state is proposed. The scheme is based on multi-physics coupling computer aided engineering packages modularized with computational fluid dynamic model and structure elasticity model to numerically solve the dynamic equation of motions of a hydrodynamic loaded shaft supported by an elastic bump foil. The bump foil is assumed to be modelled as infinite number of Hookean springs mounted on stiff wall. Hence, the top foil stiffness is constant on the periphery of the bearing housing. The hydrodynamic pressure generated by the air film lubrication transfers to the top foil and induces elastic deformation needed to be solved by a finite element method program, whereas the pressure profile applied on the top foil must be solved by a finite element method program based on Reynolds Equation in lubrication theory. As a result, the equation of motions for the bearing shaft are iteratively solved via coupling of the two finite element method programs simultaneously. In conclusion, the two-dimensional center trajectory of the shaft plus the deformation map on top foil at constant rotational speed are calculated for comparisons with the experimental results.

Keywords: Computational fluid dynamics, fluid structure interaction multi-physics simulations, gas foil bearing, load capacity.

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625 A Comparative Study of SVM Classifiers and Artificial Neural Networks Application for Rolling Element Bearing Fault Diagnosis using Wavelet Transform Preprocessing

Authors: Commander Sunil Tyagi

Abstract:

Effectiveness of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) and Support Vector Machines (SVM) classifiers for fault diagnosis of rolling element bearings are presented in this paper. The characteristic features of vibration signals of rotating driveline that was run in its normal condition and with faults introduced were used as input to ANN and SVM classifiers. Simple statistical features such as standard deviation, skewness, kurtosis etc. of the time-domain vibration signal segments along with peaks of the signal and peak of power spectral density (PSD) are used as features to input the ANN and SVM classifier. The effect of preprocessing of the vibration signal by Discreet Wavelet Transform (DWT) prior to feature extraction is also studied. It is shown from the experimental results that the performance of SVM classifier in identification of bearing condition is better then ANN and pre-processing of vibration signal by DWT enhances the effectiveness of both ANN and SVM classifier

Keywords: ANN, Artificial Intelligence, Fault Diagnosis, Pattern Recognition, Rolling Element Bearing, SVM. Wavelet Transform

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624 Currency Boards in Crisis: Experience of Baltic Countries

Authors: Gordana Kordić, Petra Palić

Abstract:

The European countries that during the past two decades based their exchange rate regimes on currency board arrangement (CBA) are usually analysed from the perspective of corner solution choice’s stabilisation effects. There is an open discussion on the positive and negative background of a strict exchange rate regime choice, although it should be seen as part of the transition process towards the monetary union membership. The focus of the paper is on the Baltic countries that after two decades of a rigid exchange rate arrangement and strongly influenced by global crisis are finishing their path towards the euro zone. Besides the stabilising capacity, the CBA is highly vulnerable regime, with limited developing potential. The rigidity of the exchange rate (and monetary) system, despite the ensured credibility, do not leave enough (or any) space for the adjustment and/or active crisis management. Still, the Baltics are in a process of recovery, with fiscal consolidation measures combined with (painful and politically unpopular) measures of internal devaluation. Today, two of them (Estonia and Latvia) are members of euro zone, fulfilling their ultimate transition targets, but de facto exchanging one fixed regime with another. The paper analyses the challenges for the CBA in unstable environment since the fixed regimes rely on imported stability and are sensitive to external shocks. With limited monetary instruments, these countries were oriented to the fiscal policies and used a combination of internal devaluation and tax policy measures. Despite their rather quick recovery, our second goal is to analyse the long term influence that the measures had on the national economy.

Keywords: Currency Board Arrangement, internal devaluation, exchange rate regime, Great recession.

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623 Analysis of Current Mirror in 32nm MOSFET and CNTFET Technologies

Authors: Mohini Polimetla, Rajat Mahapatra

Abstract:

There is need to explore emerging technologies based on carbon nanotube electronics as the MOS technology is approaching its limits. As MOS devices scale to the nano ranges, increased short channel effects and process variations considerably effect device and circuit designs. As a promising new transistor, the Carbon Nanotube Field Effect Transistor(CNTFET) avoids most of the fundamental limitations of the Traditional MOSFET devices. In this paper we present the analysis and comparision of a Carbon Nanotube FET(CNTFET) based 10(A current mirror with MOSFET for 32nm technology node. The comparision shows the superiority of the former in terms of 97% increase in output resistance,24% decrease in power dissipation and 40% decrease in minimum voltage required for constant saturation current. Furthermore the effect on performance of current mirror due to change in chirality vector of CNT has also been investigated. The circuit simulations are carried out using HSPICE model.

Keywords: Carbon Nanotube Field Effect Transistor, Chirality Vector, Current Mirror

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