Search results for: coastal engineering works.
1403 Refitting Equations for Peak Ground Acceleration in Light of the PF-L Database
Authors: M. Breška, I. Peruš, V. Stankovski
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The number of Ground Motion Prediction Equations (GMPEs) used for predicting peak ground acceleration (PGA) and the number of earthquake recordings that have been used for fitting these equations has increased in the past decades. The current PF-L database contains 3550 recordings. Since the GMPEs frequently model the peak ground acceleration the goal of the present study was to refit a selection of 44 of the existing equation models for PGA in light of the latest data. The algorithm Levenberg-Marquardt was used for fitting the coefficients of the equations and the results are evaluated both quantitatively by presenting the root mean squared error (RMSE) and qualitatively by drawing graphs of the five best fitted equations. The RMSE was found to be as low as 0.08 for the best equation models. The newly estimated coefficients vary from the values published in the original works.
Keywords: Ground Motion Prediction Equations, Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm, refitting PF-L database.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14951402 Towards Improved Public Information on Industrial Emissions in Italy: Concepts and Specific Issues Associated to the Italian Experience in IPPC Permit Licensing
Authors: Mazziotti Gomez de Teran C., Fiore D., Cola B., Fardelli A.
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The present paper summarizes the analysis of the request for consultation of information and data on industrial emissions made publicly available on the web site of the Ministry of Environment, Land and Sea on integrated pollution prevention and control from large industrial installations, the so called “AIA Portal”. As a matter of fact, a huge amount of information on national industrial plants is already available on internet, although it is usually proposed as textual documentation or images. Thus, it is not possible to access all the relevant information through interoperability systems and also to retrieval relevant information for decision making purposes as well as rising of awareness on environmental issue. Moreover, since in Italy the number of institutional and private subjects involved in the management of the public information on industrial emissions is substantial, the access to the information is provided on internet web sites according to different criteria; thus, at present it is not structurally homogeneous and comparable. To overcome the mentioned difficulties in the case of the Coordinating Committee for the implementation of the Agreement for the industrial area in Taranto and Statte, operating before the IPPC permit granting procedures of the relevant installation located in the area, a big effort was devoted to elaborate and to validate data and information on characterization of soil, ground water aquifer and coastal sea at disposal of different subjects to derive a global perspective for decision making purposes. Thus, the present paper also focuses on main outcomes matured during such experience.
Keywords: Public information, emissions into atmosphere, IPPC permits, territorial information systems.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20581401 Compressive Strength Evaluation of Underwater Concrete Structures Integrating the Combination of Rebound Hardness and Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity Methods with Artificial Neural Networks
Authors: Seunghee Park, Junkyeong Kim, Eun-Seok Shin, Sang-Hun Han
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In this study, two kinds of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques (rebound hardness and ultrasonic pulse velocity methods) are investigated for the effective maintenance of underwater concrete structures. A new methodology to estimate the underwater concrete strengths more effectively, named “artificial neural network (ANN) – based concrete strength estimation with the combination of rebound hardness and ultrasonic pulse velocity methods” is proposed and verified throughout a series of experimental works.
Keywords: Underwater Concrete, Rebound Hardness, Schmidt hammer, Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity, Ultrasonic Sensor, Artificial Neural Networks, ANN.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 36631400 Subarray Based Multiuser Massive MIMO Design Adopting Large Transmit and Receive Arrays
Authors: Tetsuki Taniguchi, Yoshio Karasawa
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This paper describes a subarray based low computational design method of multiuser massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO) system. In our previous works, use of large array is assumed only in transmitter, but this study considers the case both of transmitter and receiver sides are equipped with large array antennas. For this aim, receive arrays are also divided into several subarrays, and the former proposed method is modified for the synthesis of a large array from subarrays in both ends. Through computer simulations, it is verified that the performance of the proposed method is degraded compared with the original approach, but it can achieve the improvement in the aspect of complexity, namely, significant reduction of the computational load to the practical level.Keywords: Massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO), multiuser, large array, subarray, zero forcing, singular value decomposition.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19761399 Impact of Proposed Modal Shift from Private Users to Bus Rapid Transit System: An Indian City Case Study
Authors: Rakesh Kumar, Fatima Electricwala
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One of the major thrusts of the Bus Rapid Transit System is to reduce the commuter’s dependency on private vehicles and increase the shares of public transport to make urban transportation system environmentally sustainable. In this study, commuter mode choice analysis is performed that examines behavioral responses to the proposed Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) in Surat, with estimation of the probable shift from private mode to public mode. Further, evaluation of the BRTS scenarios, using Surat’s transportation ecological footprint was done. A multi-modal simulation model was developed in Biogeme environment to explicitly consider private users behaviors and non-linear environmental impact. The data of the different factors (variables) and its impact that might cause modal shift of private mode users to proposed BRTS were collected through home-interview survey using revealed and stated preference approach. A multi modal logit model of mode-choice was then calibrated using the collected data and validated using proposed sample. From this study, a set of perception factors, with reliable and predictable data base, to explain the variation in modal shift behaviour and their impact on Surat’s ecological environment has been identified. A case study of the proposed BRTS connecting the Surat Industrial Hub to the coastal area is provided to illustrate the approach.
Keywords: BRTS, Private Modes, Mode choice models, Ecological footprint.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 33651398 Acausal and Causal Model Construction with FEM Approach Using Modelica
Authors: Oke Oktavianty, Tadayuki Kyoutani, Shigeyuki Haruyama, Junji Kaneko, Ken Kaminishi
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Modelica has many advantages and it is very useful in modeling and simulation especially for the multi-domain with a complex technical system. However, the big obstacle for a beginner is to understand the basic concept and to build a new system model for a real system. In order to understand how to solve the simple circuit model by hand translation and to get a better understanding of how modelica works, we provide a detailed explanation about solver ordering system in horizontal and vertical sorting and make some proposals for improvement. In this study, some difficulties in using modelica software with the original concept and the comparison with Finite Element Method (FEM) approach is discussed. We also present our textual modeling approach using FEM concept for acausal and causal model construction. Furthermore, simulation results are provided that demonstrate the comparison between using textual modeling with original coding in modelica and FEM concept.
Keywords: FEM, acausal model, modelica, horizontal and vertical sorting.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13391397 BER Performance of NLOS Underwater Wireless Optical Communication with Multiple Scattering
Authors: V. K. Jagadeesh, K. V. Naveen, P. Muthuchidambaranathan
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Recently, there is a lot of interest in the field of under water optical wireless communication for short range because of its high bandwidth. But in most of the previous works line of sight propagation or single scattering of photons only considered. In practical case this is not applicable because of beam blockage in underwater and multiple scattering also occurred during the photons propagation through water. In this paper we consider a non-line of sight underwater wireless optical communication system with multiple scattering and examine the performance of the system using monte carlo simulation. The distribution scattering angle of photons are modeled by Henyey-Greenstein method. The average bit error rate is calculated using on-off keying modulation for different water types.
Keywords: Non line of sight under Water optical wireless communication, Henyey-Greenstein model, Multiple scattering, Monte-Carlo simulation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 28341396 Real Time Object Tracking in H.264/ AVC Using Polar Vector Median and Block Coding Modes
Authors: T. Kusuma, K. Ashwini
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This paper presents a real time video surveillance system which is capable of tracking multiple real time objects using Polar Vector Median (PVM) and Block Coding Modes (BCM) with Global Motion Compensation (GMC). This strategy works in the packed area and furthermore utilizes the movement vectors and BCM from the compressed bit stream to perform real time object tracking. We propose to do this in view of the neighboring Motion Vectors (MVs) using a method called PVM. Since GM adds to the object’s native motion, for accurate tracking, it is important to remove GM from the MV field prior to further processing. The proposed method is tested on a number of standard sequences and the results show its advantages over some of the current modern methods.
Keywords: Block coding mode, global motion compensation, object tracking, polar vector median, video surveillance.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7481395 FPGA based Relative Distance Measurement using Stereo Vision Technology
Authors: Manasi Pathade, Prachi Kadam, Renuka Kulkarni, Tejas Teredesai
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In this paper, we propose a novel concept of relative distance measurement using Stereo Vision Technology and discuss its implementation on a FPGA based real-time image processor. We capture two images using two CCD cameras and compare them. Disparity is calculated for each pixel using a real time dense disparity calculation algorithm. This algorithm is based on the concept of indexed histogram for matching. Disparity being inversely proportional to distance (Proved Later), we can thus get the relative distances of objects in front of the camera. The output is displayed on a TV screen in the form of a depth image (optionally using pseudo colors). This system works in real time on a full PAL frame rate (720 x 576 active pixels @ 25 fps).Keywords: Stereo Vision, Relative Distance Measurement, Indexed Histogram, Real time FPGA Image Processor
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 30021394 Solving the Teacher Assignment-Course Scheduling Problem by a Hybrid Algorithm
Authors: Aldy Gunawan, Kien Ming Ng, Kim Leng Poh
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This paper presents a hybrid algorithm for solving a timetabling problem, which is commonly encountered in many universities. The problem combines both teacher assignment and course scheduling problems simultaneously, and is presented as a mathematical programming model. However, this problem becomes intractable and it is unlikely that a proven optimal solution can be obtained by an integer programming approach, especially for large problem instances. A hybrid algorithm that combines an integer programming approach, a greedy heuristic and a modified simulated annealing algorithm collaboratively is proposed to solve the problem. Several randomly generated data sets of sizes comparable to that of an institution in Indonesia are solved using the proposed algorithm. Computational results indicate that the algorithm can overcome difficulties of large problem sizes encountered in previous related works.
Keywords: Timetabling problem, mathematical programming model, hybrid algorithm, simulated annealing.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 45731393 Queen-bee Algorithm for Energy Efficient Clusters in Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Z. Pooranian, A. Barati, A. Movaghar
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Wireless sensor networks include small nodes which have sensing ability; calculation and connection extend themselves everywhere soon. Such networks have source limitation on connection, calculation and energy consumption. So, since the nodes have limited energy in sensor networks, the optimized energy consumption in these networks is of more importance and has created many challenges. The previous works have shown that by organizing the network nodes in a number of clusters, the energy consumption could be reduced considerably. So the lifetime of the network would be increased. In this paper, we used the Queen-bee algorithm to create energy efficient clusters in wireless sensor networks. The Queen-bee (QB) is similar to nature in that the queen-bee plays a major role in reproduction process. The QB is simulated with J-sim simulator. The results of the simulation showed that the clustering by the QB algorithm decreases the energy consumption with regard to the other existing algorithms and increases the lifetime of the network.Keywords: Queen-bee, sensor network, energy efficient, clustering.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19741392 Utilizing Ontologies Using Ontology Editor for Creating Initial Unified Modeling Language (UML)Object Model
Authors: Waralak Vongdoiwang Siricharoen
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One of object oriented software developing problem is the difficulty of searching the appropriate and suitable objects for starting the system. In this work, ontologies appear in the part of supporting the object discovering in the initial of object oriented software developing. There are many researches try to demonstrate that there is a great potential between object model and ontologies. Constructing ontology from object model is called ontology engineering can be done; On the other hand, this research is aiming to support the idea of building object model from ontology is also promising and practical. Ontology classes are available online in any specific areas, which can be searched by semantic search engine. There are also many helping tools to do so; one of them which are used in this research is Protégé ontology editor and Visual Paradigm. To put them together give a great outcome. This research will be shown how it works efficiently with the real case study by using ontology classes in travel/tourism domain area. It needs to combine classes, properties, and relationships from more than two ontologies in order to generate the object model. In this paper presents a simple methodology framework which explains the process of discovering objects. The results show that this framework has great value while there is possible for expansion. Reusing of existing ontologies offers a much cheaper alternative than building new ones from scratch. More ontologies are becoming available on the web, and online ontologies libraries for storing and indexing ontologies are increasing in number and demand. Semantic and Ontologies search engines have also started to appear, to facilitate search and retrieval of online ontologies.Keywords: Software Developing, Ontology, Ontology Library, Artificial Intelligent, Protégé, Object Model.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18781391 Performance Evaluation of an Ontology-Based Arabic Sentiment Analysis
Authors: Salima Behdenna, Fatiha Barigou, Ghalem Belalem
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Due to the quick increase in the volume of Arabic opinions posted on various social media, Arabic sentiment analysis has become one of the most important areas of research. Compared to English, there is very little works on Arabic sentiment analysis, in particular aspect-based sentiment analysis (ABSA). In ABSA, aspect extraction is the most important task. In this paper, we propose a semantic ABSA approach for standard Arabic reviews to extract explicit aspect terms and identify the polarity of the extracted aspects. The proposed approach was evaluated using HAAD datasets. Experiments showed that the proposed approach achieved a good level of performance compared with baseline results. The F-measure was improved by 19% for the aspect term extraction tasks and 55% aspect term polarity task.
Keywords: Sentiment analysis, opinion mining, Arabic, aspect level, opinion, polarity.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4631390 WPRiMA Tool: Managing Risks in Web Projects
Authors: Thamer Al-Rousan, Shahida Sulaiman, Rosalina Abdul Salam
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Risk management is an essential fraction of project management, which plays a significant role in project success. Many failures associated with Web projects are the consequences of poor awareness of the risks involved and lack of process models that can serve as a guideline for the development of Web based applications. To circumvent this problem, contemporary process models have been devised for the development of conventional software. This paper introduces the WPRiMA (Web Project Risk Management Assessment) as the tool, which is used to implement RIAP, the risk identification architecture pattern model, which focuses upon the data from the proprietor-s and vendor-s perspectives. The paper also illustrates how WPRiMA tool works and how it can be used to calculate the risk level for a given Web project, to generate recommendations in order to facilitate risk avoidance in a project, and to improve the prospects of early risk management.
Keywords: Architecture pattern model, risk factors, risk identification, web project, web project risk management assessment.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15931389 New Security Approach of Confidential Resources in Hybrid Clouds
Authors: Haythem Yahyaoui, Samir Moalla, Mounir Bouden, Skander Ghorbel
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Nowadays, cloud environments are becoming a need for companies, this new technology gives the opportunities to access to the data anywhere and anytime. It also provides an optimized and secured access to the resources and gives more security for the data which is stored in the platform. However, some companies do not trust Cloud providers, they think that providers can access and modify some confidential data such as bank accounts. Many works have been done in this context, they conclude that encryption methods realized by providers ensure the confidentiality, but, they forgot that Cloud providers can decrypt the confidential resources. The best solution here is to apply some operations on the data before sending them to the provider Cloud in the objective to make them unreadable. The principal idea is to allow user how it can protect his data with his own methods. In this paper, we are going to demonstrate our approach and prove that is more efficient in term of execution time than some existing methods. This work aims at enhancing the quality of service of providers and ensuring the trust of the customers.
Keywords: Confidentiality, cryptography, security issues, trust issues.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14721388 Optimizing Hadoop Block Placement Policy and Cluster Blocks Distribution
Authors: Nchimbi Edward Pius, Liu Qin, Fion Yang, Zhu Hong Ming
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The current Hadoop block placement policy do not fairly and evenly distributes replicas of blocks written to datanodes in a Hadoop cluster.
This paper presents a new solution that helps to keep the cluster in a balanced state while an HDFS client is writing data to a file in Hadoop cluster. The solution had been implemented, and test had been conducted to evaluate its contribution to Hadoop distributed file system.
It has been found that, the solution has lowered global execution time taken by Hadoop balancer to 22 percent. It also has been found that, Hadoop balancer respectively over replicate 1.75 and 3.3 percent of all re-distributed blocks in the modified and original Hadoop clusters.
The feature that keeps the cluster in a balanced state works as a core part to Hadoop system and not just as a utility like traditional balancer. This is one of the significant achievements and uniqueness of the solution developed during the course of this research work.
Keywords: Balancer, Datanode, Distributed file system, Hadoop, Replicas.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 49591387 The Decentralized Nonlinear Controller of Robot Manipulator with External Load Compensation
Authors: Sun Lim, Il-Kyun Jung
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This paper describes a newly designed decentralized nonlinear control strategy to control a robot manipulator. Based on the concept of the nonlinear state feedback theory and decentralized concept is developed to improve the drawbacks in previous works concerned with complicate intelligent control and low cost effective sensor. The control methodology is derived in the sense of Lyapunov theorem so that the stability of the control system is guaranteed. The decentralized algorithm does not require other joint angle and velocity information. Individual Joint controller is implemented using a digital processor with nearly actuator to make it possible to achieve good dynamics and modular. Computer simulation result has been conducted to validate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme under the occurrence of possible uncertainties and different reference trajectories. The merit of the proposed control system is indicated in comparison with a classical control system.Keywords: Robot manipulator control, nonlinear controller, Lyapunov based stability, Interconnection compensation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16261386 Assessment of the Environmental Destructive Effects of Building Dams
Authors: Mohammad Reza Pirestani, Mehdi Shafaghati, Amir Ahmad Dehghani
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From the beginning of creation, human being has ever fought against the ecosystem by changes has made in environment. The most environmental changes on the nature have been done after starting the concentrated life in the same region. Dams are one of the most important buildings in water resources and transferring. These buildings have been made from old times without access to hydrological, hydraulically, hydro mechanical information. Dams have positive and negative effects on environment. Constructing a dam relatively causes equal ecological consequences. According to different criteria, environmental effects of dams can lead short term and long term damages. These effects may influence on the situation and treatment of meteorology, biology, culture, ancient works, etc and severely causes to change and complicate it. So considering importance of positive effects of dam construction, it is necessary to minimize negative environmental effects of dams to achieve a stable development. In this article the considered effects and their solutions in influencing on assessment of destructive environmental effects of dams construction have been surveyed and presented.Keywords: Dam, Environment, Water Resources, Assessment
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 36091385 Forecasting Stock Indexes Using Bayesian Additive Regression Tree
Authors: Darren Zou
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Forecasting the stock market is a very challenging task. Various economic indicators such as GDP, exchange rates, interest rates, and unemployment have a substantial impact on the stock market. Time series models are the traditional methods used to predict stock market changes. In this paper, a machine learning method, Bayesian Additive Regression Tree (BART) is used in predicting stock market indexes based on multiple economic indicators. BART can be used to model heterogeneous treatment effects, and thereby works well when models are misspecified. It also has the capability to handle non-linear main effects and multi-way interactions without much input from financial analysts. In this research, BART is proposed to provide a reliable prediction on day-to-day stock market activities. By comparing the analysis results from BART and with time series method, BART can perform well and has better prediction capability than the traditional methods.
Keywords: Bayesian, Forecast, Stock, BART.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 7341384 Opinion Mining and Sentiment Analysis on DEFT
Authors: Najiba Ouled Omar, Azza Harbaoui, Henda Ben Ghezala
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Current research practices sentiment analysis with a focus on social networks, DEfi Fouille de Texte (DEFT) (Text Mining Challenge) evaluation campaign focuses on opinion mining and sentiment analysis on social networks, especially social network Twitter. It aims to confront the systems produced by several teams from public and private research laboratories. DEFT offers participants the opportunity to work on regularly renewed themes and proposes to work on opinion mining in several editions. The purpose of this article is to scrutinize and analyze the works relating to opinions mining and sentiment analysis in the Twitter social network realized by DEFT. It examines the tasks proposed by the organizers of the challenge and the methods used by the participants.
Keywords: Opinion mining, sentiment analysis, emotion, polarity, annotation, OSEE, figurative language, DEFT, Twitter, Tweet.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 8221383 Modelling Medieval Vaults: Digital Simulation of the North Transept Vault of St Mary, Nantwich, England
Authors: N. Webb, A. Buchanan
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Digital and virtual heritage is often associated with the recreation of lost artefacts and architecture; however, we can also investigate works that were not completed, using digital tools and techniques. Here we explore physical evidence of a fourteenth-century Gothic vault located in the north transept of St Mary’s church in Nantwich, Cheshire, using existing springer stones that are built into the walls as a starting point. Digital surveying tools are used to document the architecture, followed by an analysis process to hypothesise and simulate possible design solutions, had the vault been completed. A number of options, both two-dimensionally and three-dimensionally, are discussed based on comparison with examples of other contemporary vaults, thus adding another specimen to the corpus of vault designs. Dissemination methods such as digital models and 3D prints are also explored as possible resources for demonstrating what the finished vault might have looked like for heritage interpretation and other purposes.Keywords: Digital simulation, heritage interpretation, medieval vaults, virtual heritage, 3D scanning.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 11781382 Inverse Problem Methodology for the Measurement of the Electromagnetic Parameters Using MLP Neural Network
Authors: T. Hacib, M. R. Mekideche, N. Ferkha
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This paper presents an approach which is based on the use of supervised feed forward neural network, namely multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural network and finite element method (FEM) to solve the inverse problem of parameters identification. The approach is used to identify unknown parameters of ferromagnetic materials. The methodology used in this study consists in the simulation of a large number of parameters in a material under test, using the finite element method (FEM). Both variations in relative magnetic permeability and electrical conductivity of the material under test are considered. Then, the obtained results are used to generate a set of vectors for the training of MLP neural network. Finally, the obtained neural network is used to evaluate a group of new materials, simulated by the FEM, but not belonging to the original dataset. Noisy data, added to the probe measurements is used to enhance the robustness of the method. The reached results demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed approach, and encourage future works on this subject.Keywords: Inverse problem, MLP neural network, parametersidentification, FEM.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17641381 Lean Implementation: An Investigation in Successfully Adopting a Lean Philosophy
Authors: P. Ahern, D. Collery
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The implementation of lean thinking in the manufacturing industry revolutionized the traditional approach to large-scale production through the process of identifying the waste in each task and putting in place mitigation measures to eliminate the waste in all its forms. The Irish construction industry, however, has been much slower to adopt the principles of lean, opting instead to stick with the traditional approach to construction project delivery which is inherently wasteful. Lean thinking holds the potential to revolutionize the construction industry in a similar manner to the adoption of lean manufacturing. Lean principles present opportunities for reduced project duration, reduced project cost, improved quality, and elimination of re-works and non-value-added activities. This research has been designed to accumulate research data through available literature, electronic surveys, and interviews. The results show an industry reluctant to accept change and an undefined path to successful lean construction implementation.
Keywords: Barriers, lean construction, lean implementation, lean manufacturing, lean philosophy.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3101380 Micro-Hydrokinetic for Remote Rural Electrification
Authors: S. P. Koko, K. Kusakana, H. J. Vermaak
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Standalone micro-hydrokinetic river (MHR) system is one of the promising technologies to be used for remote rural electrification. It simply requires the flow of water instead of elevation or head, leading to expensive civil works. This paper demonstrates an economic benefit offered by a standalone MHR system when compared to the commonly used standalone systems such as solar, wind and diesel generator (DG) at the selected study site in Kwazulu Natal. Wind speed and solar radiation data of the selected rural site have been taken from national aeronautics and space administration (NASA) surface meteorology database. The hybrid optimization model for electric renewable (HOMER) software was used to determine the most feasible solution when using MHR, solar, wind or DG system to supply 5 rural houses. MHR system proved to be the best cost-effective option to consider at the study site due to its low cost of energy (COE) and low net present cost (NPC).
Keywords: Economic analysis, Micro-hydrokinetic system, Rural-electrification, Stand-alone system.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 29811379 Product-Based Industrial Information Systems (Application to the Steel Industry)
Authors: Daniel F. Garcia, Diego Gonzalez
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This paper shows a simple and effective approach to the design and implementation of Industrial Information Systems (IIS) oriented to control the characteristics of each individual product manufactured in a production line and also their manufacturing conditions. The particular products considered in this work are large steel strips that are coiled just after their manufacturing. However, the approach is directly applicable to coiled strips in other industries, like paper, textile, aluminum, etc. These IIS provide very detailed information of each manufactured product, which complement the general information managed by the ERP system of the production line. In spite of the high importance of this type of IIS to guarantee and improve the quality of the products manufactured in many industries, there are very few works about them in the technical literature. For this reason, this paper represents an important contribution to the development of this type of IIS, providing guidelines for their design, implementation and exploitation.Keywords: Data storage, industrial information systems, measurement systems integration, signal acquisition.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14341378 Theoretical Investigations on Different Casing and Rotor Diameters Ratio to Optimize Shaft Output of a Vaned Type Air Turbine
Authors: Bharat Raj Singh, Onkar Singh
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This paper details a new concept of using compressed air as a potential zero pollution power source for motorbikes. In place of an internal combustion engine, the motorbike is equipped with an air turbine transforms the energy of the compressed air into shaft work. The mathematical modeling and performance evaluation of a small capacity compressed air driven vaned type novel air turbine is presented in this paper. The effect of isobaric admission and adiabatic expansion of high pressure air for different rotor diameters, casing diameters and ratio of rotor to casing diameters of the turbine have been considered and analyzed. It is concluded that the work output is found optimum for some typical values of rotor / casing diameter ratios. In this study, the maximum power works out to 3.825 kW (5.20 HP) for casing diameter of 200 mm and rotor to casing diameter ratio of 0.65 to 0.60 which is sufficient to run motorbike.
Keywords: zero pollution, compressed air, air turbine, injectionangle, rotor / casing diameter ratio.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16581377 Preservation of Artistic Heritage: Effect of Modernization on Antiquities and Traditional Murals in Nigeria
Authors: Uchenna Bella Onu
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Traditional art is one of Nigerian cultural heritage. It is an excellent instrument for documentation and identification. Antiquities are priceless and irreplaceable. They are basically preserved for future generations. Sadly, preserving these highly prized cultural heritage is becoming a serious challenge. This paper examines the extent modernization has affected the preservation of traditional art in Nigeria. Particularly hit is the antiquities and traditional murals of eastern part of Nigeria. Participatory visual methods were used for this study. Efforts were made to reach the few surviving and aged mural artists. Oral information was collected from them as well as first hand drawings and some photographs of their works. Findings indicate that modernization has seriously affected the preservation of Nigerian artistic heritage. Further findings show that traditional mural artists are gradually dwindling and dangerously going into extinct. Antiquities are indiscriminately destroyed due to sheer ignorance and the blind quest to fit into the so called modern world.
Keywords: Antiquities, artistic heritage, cultural preservation, drawings, modernization, murals.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14411376 A Reinforcement Learning Approach for Evaluation of Real-Time Disaster Relief Demand and Network Condition
Authors: Ali Nadi, Ali Edrissi
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Relief demand and transportation links availability is the essential information that is needed for every natural disaster operation. This information is not in hand once a disaster strikes. Relief demand and network condition has been evaluated based on prediction method in related works. Nevertheless, prediction seems to be over or under estimated due to uncertainties and may lead to a failure operation. Therefore, in this paper a stochastic programming model is proposed to evaluate real-time relief demand and network condition at the onset of a natural disaster. To address the time sensitivity of the emergency response, the proposed model uses reinforcement learning for optimization of the total relief assessment time. The proposed model is tested on a real size network problem. The simulation results indicate that the proposed model performs well in the case of collecting real-time information.
Keywords: Disaster management, real-time demand, reinforcement learning, relief demand.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19371375 Multiple-Level Sequential Pattern Discovery from Customer Transaction Databases
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Mining sequential patterns from large customer transaction databases has been recognized as a key research topic in database systems. However, the previous works more focused on mining sequential patterns at a single concept level. In this study, we introduced concept hierarchies into this problem and present several algorithms for discovering multiple-level sequential patterns based on the hierarchies. An experiment was conducted to assess the performance of the proposed algorithms. The performances of the algorithms were measured by the relative time spent on completing the mining tasks on two different datasets. The experimental results showed that the performance depends on the characteristics of the datasets and the pre-defined threshold of minimal support for each level of the concept hierarchy. Based on the experimental results, some suggestions were also given for how to select appropriate algorithm for a certain datasets.Keywords: Data Mining, Multiple-Level Sequential Pattern, Concept Hierarchy, Customer Transaction Database.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14541374 Optimum Design of Trusses by Cuckoo Search
Authors: M. Saravanan, J. Raja Murugadoss, V. Jayanthi
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Optimal design of structure has a main role in reduction of material usage which leads to deduction in the final cost of construction projects. Evolutionary approaches are found to be more successful techniques for solving size and shape structural optimization problem since it uses a stochastic random search instead of a gradient search. By reviewing the recent literature works the problem found was the optimization of weight. A new meta-heuristic algorithm called as Cuckoo Search (CS) Algorithm has used for the optimization of the total weight of the truss structures. This paper has used set of 10 bars and 25 bars trusses for the testing purpose. The main objective of this work is to reduce the number of iterations, weight and the total time consumption. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the present method, minimum weight design of truss structures is performed and the results of the CS are compared with other algorithms.
Keywords: Cuckoo search algorithm, levy’s flight, meta-heuristic, optimal weight.
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