Search results for: virtual size and fit
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 2332

Search results for: virtual size and fit

1912 Effect of Si/Al Ratio on SSZ-13 Crystallization and Its Methanol-To-Olefins Catalytic Properties

Authors: Zhiqiang Xu, Hongfang Ma, Haitao Zhang, Weixin Qian, Weiyong Ying

Abstract:

SSZ-13 materials with different Si/Al ratio were prepared by varying the composition of aluminosilicate precursor solutions upon hydrothermal treatment at 150 °C. The Si/Al ratio of the initial system was systematically changed from 12.5 to infinity in order to study the limits of Al composition in precursor solutions for constructing CHA structure. The intermediates and final products were investigated by complementary techniques such as XRD, HRTEM, FESEM, and chemical analysis. NH3-TPD was used to study the Brønsted acidity of SSZ-13 samples with different Si/Al ratios. The effect of the Si/Al ratio on the precursor species, ultimate crystal size, morphology and yield was investigated. The results revealed that Al species determine the nucleation rate and the number of nuclei, which is tied to the morphology and yield of SSZ-13. The size of SSZ-13 increased and the yield decreased as the Si/Al ratio was improved. Varying Si/Al ratio of the initial system is a facile, commercially viable method of tailoring SSZ-13 crystal size and morphology. Furthermore, SSZ-13 materials with different Si/Al ratio were tested as catalysts for the methanol to olefins (MTO) reaction at 350 °C. SSZ-13 with the Si/Al ratio of 35 shows the best MTO catalytic performance.

Keywords: Crystallization, MTO, Si/Al ratio, SSZ-13.

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1911 Virtual Reality in COVID-19 Stroke Rehabilitation: Preliminary Outcomes

Authors: Kasra Afsahi, Maryam Soheilifar, S. Hossein Hosseini

Abstract:

Background: There is growing evidence that Cerebral Vascular Accident (CVA) can be a consequence of COVID-19 infection. Understanding novel treatment approaches is important in optimizing patient outcomes. Case: This case explores the use of Virtual Reality (VR) in the treatment of a 23-year-old COVID-positive female presenting with left hemiparesis in August 2020. Imaging showed right globus pallidus, thalamus, and internal capsule ischemic stroke. Conventional rehabilitation was started two weeks later, with VR included. This game-based VR technology developed for stroke patients was based on upper extremity exercises and functions for stroke. Physical examination showed left hemiparesis with muscle strength 3/5 in the upper extremity and 4/5 in the lower extremity. The range of motion of the shoulder was 90-100 degrees. The speech exam showed a mild decrease in fluency. Mild lower lip dynamic asymmetry was seen. Babinski was positive on the left. Gait speed was decreased (75 steps per minute). Intervention: Our game-based VR system was developed based on upper extremity physiotherapy exercises for post-stroke patients to increase the active, voluntary movement of the upper extremity joints and improve the function. The conventional program was initiated with active exercises, shoulder sanding for joint ROMs, walking shoulder, shoulder wheel, and combination movements of the shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints, alternative flexion-extension, pronation-supination movements, Pegboard and Purdo pegboard exercises. Also, fine movements included smart gloves, biofeedback, finger ladder, and writing. The difficulty of the game increased at each stage of the practice with progress in patient performances. Outcome: After 6 weeks of treatment, gait and speech were normal and upper extremity strength was improved to near normal status. No adverse effects were noted. Conclusion: This case suggests that VR is a useful tool in the treatment of a patient with COVID-19 related CVA. The safety of developed instruments for such cases provides approaches to improve the therapeutic outcomes and prognosis as well as increased satisfaction rate among patients.

Keywords: COVID-19, stroke, virtual reality, rehabilitation.

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1910 An Energy Aware Data Aggregation in Wireless Sensor Network Using Connected Dominant Set

Authors: M. Santhalakshmi, P Suganthi

Abstract:

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have many advantages. Their deployment is easier and faster than wired sensor networks or other wireless networks, as they do not need fixed infrastructure. Nodes are partitioned into many small groups named clusters to aggregate data through network organization. WSN clustering guarantees performance achievement of sensor nodes. Sensor nodes energy consumption is reduced by eliminating redundant energy use and balancing energy sensor nodes use over a network. The aim of such clustering protocols is to prolong network life. Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH) is a popular protocol in WSN. LEACH is a clustering protocol in which the random rotations of local cluster heads are utilized in order to distribute energy load among all sensor nodes in the network. This paper proposes Connected Dominant Set (CDS) based cluster formation. CDS aggregates data in a promising approach for reducing routing overhead since messages are transmitted only within virtual backbone by means of CDS and also data aggregating lowers the ratio of responding hosts to the hosts existing in virtual backbones. CDS tries to increase networks lifetime considering such parameters as sensors lifetime, remaining and consumption energies in order to have an almost optimal data aggregation within networks. Experimental results proved CDS outperformed LEACH regarding number of cluster formations, average packet loss rate, average end to end delay, life computation, and remaining energy computation.

Keywords: Wireless sensor network, connected dominant set, clustering, data aggregation.

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1909 The Factors Significant to Software Development Productivity

Authors: Zhizhong Jiang, Craig Comstock

Abstract:

The past decade has seen enormous growth in the amount of software produced. However, given the ever increasing complexity of the software being developed and the concomitant rise in the typical project size, managers are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of issues that influence the productivity levels of the project teams involved. By analyzing the latest release of ISBSG data repository, we report on the factors found to significantly influence the productivity among which average team size and language type are the two most essential ones. Building on this we present an original model for evaluating the potential productivity during the project planning stage.

Keywords: ISBSG, Linear Model, Productivity, SoftwareEngineering.

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1908 Optimal Duty-Cycle Modulation Scheme for Analog-To-Digital Conversion Systems

Authors: G. Sonfack, J. Mbihi, B. Lonla Moffo

Abstract:

This paper presents an optimal duty-cycle modulation (ODCM) scheme for analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) systems. The overall ODCM-Based ADC problem is decoupled into optimal DCM and digital filtering sub-problems, while taking into account constraints of mutual design parameters between the two. Using a set of three lemmas and four morphological theorems, the ODCM sub-problem is modelled as a nonlinear cost function with nonlinear constraints. Then, a weighted least pth norm of the error between ideal and predicted frequency responses is used as a cost function for the digital filtering sub-problem. In addition, MATLAB fmincon and MATLAB iirlnorm tools are used as optimal DCM and least pth norm solvers respectively. Furthermore, the virtual simulation scheme of an overall prototyping ODCM-based ADC system is implemented and well tested with the help of Simulink tool according to relevant set of design data, i.e., 3 KHz of modulating bandwidth, 172 KHz of maximum modulation frequency and 25 MHZ of sampling frequency. Finally, the results obtained and presented show that the ODCM-based ADC achieves under 3 KHz of modulating bandwidth: 57 dBc of SINAD (signal-to-noise and distorsion), 58 dB of SFDR (Surpious free dynamic range) -80 dBc of THD (total harmonic distorsion), and 10 bits of minimum resolution. These performance levels appear to be a great challenge within the class of oversampling ADC topologies, with 2nd order IIR (infinite impulse response) decimation filter.

Keywords: Digital IIR filter, morphological lemmas and theorems, optimal DCM-based DAC, virtual simulation, weighted least pth norm.

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1907 Effect of Fine-Ground Ceramic Admixture on Early Age Properties of Cement Paste

Authors: Z. Pavlík, M. Pavlíková, P. Volfová, M. Keppert, R. Černý

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Properties of cement pastes with fine-ground ceramics used as an alternative binder replacing Portland cement up to 20% of its mass are investigated. At first, the particle size distribution of cement and fine-ground ceramics is measured using laser analyser. Then, the material properties are studied in the early hardening period up to 28 days. The hydration process of studied materials is monitored by electrical conductivity measurement using TDR sensors. The changes of materials- structures within the hardening are observed using pore size distribution measurement. The compressive strength measurements are done as well. Experimental results show that the replacement of Portland cement by fine-ground ceramics in the amount of up to 20% by mass is acceptable solution from the mechanical point of view. One can also assume similar physical properties of designed materials to the reference material with only Portland cement as binder.

Keywords: Fine-ground ceramics, cement pastes, early age properties, mechanical properties, pore size distribution, electrical conductivity measurement.

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1906 Thermal Diffusivity Measurement of Cadmium Sulphide Nanoparticles Prepared by γ-Radiation Technique

Authors: Azmi Zakaria, Reza Zamiri, Parisa Vaziri, Elias Saion, M. Shahril Husin

Abstract:

In this study we applied thermal lens (TL) technique to study the effect of size on thermal diffusivity of cadmium sulphide (CdS) nanofluid prepared by using γ-radiation method containing particles with different sizes. In TL experimental set up a diode laser of wavelength 514 nm and intensity stabilized He-Ne laser were used as the excitation source and the probe beam respectively, respectively. The experimental results showed that the thermal diffusivity value of CdS nanofluid increases when the of particle size increased.

Keywords: Thermal diffusivity, nanofluids, thermal lens

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1905 A Review on Application of Waste Tire in Concrete

Authors: M. A. Yazdi, J. Yang, L. Yihui, H. Su

Abstract:

The application of recycle waste tires into civil engineering practices, namely asphalt paving mixtures and cementbased materials has been gaining ground across the world. This review summarizes and compares the recent achievements in the area of plain rubberized concrete (PRC), in details. Different treatment methods have been discussed to improve the performance of rubberized Portland cement concrete. The review also includes the effects of size and amount of tire rubbers on mechanical and durability properties of PRC. The microstructure behaviour of the rubberized concrete was detailed.

Keywords: Waste rubber aggregates, Microstructure, Treatment methods, Size and content effects.

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1904 An Experimental Investigation on the Droplet Behavior Impacting a Hot Surface above the Leidenfrost Temperature

Authors: Khaleel Sami Hamdan, Dong-Eok Kim, Sang-Ki Moon

Abstract:

An appropriate model to predict the size of the droplets resulting from the break-up with the structures will help in a better understanding and modeling of the two-phase flow calculations in the simulation of a reactor core loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA). A droplet behavior impacting on a hot surface above the Leidenfrost temperature was investigated. Droplets of known size and velocity were impacted to an inclined plate of hot temperature, and the behavior of the droplets was observed by a high-speed camera. It was found that for droplets of Weber number higher than a certain value, the higher the Weber number of the droplet the smaller the secondary droplets. The COBRA-TF model over-predicted the measured secondary droplet sizes obtained by the present experiment. A simple model for the secondary droplet size was proposed using the mass conservation equation. The maximum spreading diameter of the droplets was also compared to previous correlations and a fairly good agreement was found. A better prediction of the heat transfer in the case of LOCA can be obtained with the presented model.

Keywords: Break-up, droplet, impact, inclined hot plate, Leidenfrost temperature, LOCA.

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1903 Impact of Stack Caches: Locality Awareness and Cost Effectiveness

Authors: Abdulrahman K. Alshegaifi, Chun-Hsi Huang

Abstract:

Treating data based on its location in memory has received much attention in recent years due to its different properties, which offer important aspects for cache utilization. Stack data and non-stack data may interfere with each other’s locality in the data cache. One of the important aspects of stack data is that it has high spatial and temporal locality. In this work, we simulate non-unified cache design that split data cache into stack and non-stack caches in order to maintain stack data and non-stack data separate in different caches. We observe that the overall hit rate of non-unified cache design is sensitive to the size of non-stack cache. Then, we investigate the appropriate size and associativity for stack cache to achieve high hit ratio especially when over 99% of accesses are directed to stack cache. The result shows that on average more than 99% of stack cache accuracy is achieved by using 2KB of capacity and 1-way associativity. Further, we analyze the improvement in hit rate when adding small, fixed, size of stack cache at level1 to unified cache architecture. The result shows that the overall hit rate of unified cache design with adding 1KB of stack cache is improved by approximately, on average, 3.9% for Rijndael benchmark. The stack cache is simulated by using SimpleScalar toolset.

Keywords: Hit rate, Locality of program, Stack cache, and Stack data.

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1902 Wear and Friction Analysis of Sintered Metal Powder Self Lubricating Bush Bearing

Authors: J. K. Khare, Abhay Kumar Sharma, Ajay Tiwari, Amol A. Talankar

Abstract:

Powder metallurgy (P/M) is the only economic way to produce porous parts/products. P/M can produce near net shape parts hence reduces wastage of raw material and energy, avoids various machining operations. The most vital use of P/M is in production of metallic filters and self lubricating bush bearings and siding surfaces. The porosity of the part can be controlled by varying compaction pressure, sintering temperature and composition of metal powder mix. The present work is aimed for experimental analysis of friction and wear properties of self lubricating copper and tin bush bearing. Experimental results confirm that wear rate of sintered component is lesser for components having 10% tin by weight percentage. Wear rate increases for high tin percentage (experimented for 20% tin and 30% tin) at same sintering temperature. Experimental results also confirms that wear rate of sintered component is also dependent on sintering temperature, soaking period, composition of the preform, compacting pressure, powder particle shape and size. Interfacial friction between die and punch, between inter powder particles, between die face and powder particle depends on compaction pressure, powder particle size and shape, size and shape of component which decides size & shape of die & punch, material of die & punch and material of powder particles.

Keywords: Interfacial friction, porous bronze bearing, sintering temperature, wear rate.

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1901 Optimizing the Probabilistic Neural Network Training Algorithm for Multi-Class Identification

Authors: Abdelhadi Lotfi, Abdelkader Benyettou

Abstract:

In this work, a training algorithm for probabilistic neural networks (PNN) is presented. The algorithm addresses one of the major drawbacks of PNN, which is the size of the hidden layer in the network. By using a cross-validation training algorithm, the number of hidden neurons is shrunk to a smaller number consisting of the most representative samples of the training set. This is done without affecting the overall architecture of the network. Performance of the network is compared against performance of standard PNN for different databases from the UCI database repository. Results show an important gain in network size and performance.

Keywords: Classification, probabilistic neural networks, network optimization, pattern recognition.

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1900 Pyrolysis of Rice Husk in a Fixed Bed Reactor

Authors: Natarajan. E, Ganapathy Sundaram. E

Abstract:

Fixed-bed slow pyrolysis experiments of rice husk have been conducted to determine the effect of pyrolysis temperature, heating rate, particle size and reactor length on the pyrolysis product yields. Pyrolysis experiments were performed at pyrolysis temperature between 400 and 600°C with a constant heating rate of 60°C/min and particle sizes of 0.60-1.18 mm. The optimum process conditions for maximum liquid yield from the rice husk pyrolysis in a fixed bed reactor were also identified. The highest liquid yield was obtained at a pyrolysis temperature of 500°C, particle size of 1.18-1.80 mm, with a heating rate of 60°C/min in a 300 mm length reactor. The obtained yield of, liquid, gas and solid were found be in the range of 22.57-31.78 %, 27.75-42.26 % and 34.17-42.52 % (all weight basics) respectively at different pyrolysis conditions. The results indicate that the effects of pyrolysis temperature and particle size on the pyrolysis yield are more significant than that of heating rate and reactor length. The functional groups and chemical compositions present in the liquid obtained at optimum conditions were identified by Fourier Transform-Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and Gas Chromatography/ Mass Spectroscopy (GC/MS) analysis respectively.

Keywords: Slow pyrolysis, Rice husk, Recycling, Biomass.

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1899 The Role of Ionic Strength and Mineral Size to Zeta Potential for the Adhesion of P. putida to Mineral Surfaces

Authors: M. Z. Fathiah, R. G. Edyvean

Abstract:

Electrostatic interaction energy (ΔEEDL) is a part of the Extended Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (XDLVO) theory, which, together with van der Waals (ΔEVDW) and acid base (ΔEAB) interaction energies, has been extensively used to investigate the initial adhesion of bacteria to surfaces. Electrostatic or electrical double layer interaction energy is considerably affected by surface potential; however it cannot be determined experimentally and is usually replaced by zeta (ζ) potential via electrophoretic mobility. This paper focusses on the effect of ionic concentration as a function of pH and the effect of mineral grain size on ζ potential. It was found that both ionic strength and mineral grain size play a major role in determining the value of ζ potential for the adhesion of P. putida to hematite and quartz surfaces. Higher ζ potential values lead to higher electrostatic interaction energies and eventually to higher total XDLVO interaction energy resulting in bacterial repulsion.

Keywords: XDLVO, Electrostatic interaction energy, zeta potential, P. putida, mineral.

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1898 An Artificial Neural Network Model Based Study of Seismic Wave

Authors: Hemant Kumar, Nilendu Das

Abstract:

A study based on ANN structure gives us the information to predict the size of the future in realizing a past event. ANN, IMD (Indian meteorological department) data and remote sensing were used to enable a number of parameters for calculating the size that may occur in the future. A threshold selected specifically above the high-frequency harvest reached the area during the selected seismic activity. In the field of human and local biodiversity it remains to obtain the right parameter compared to the frequency of impact. But during the study the assumption is that predicting seismic activity is a difficult process, not because of the parameters involved here, which can be analyzed and funded in research activity.

Keywords: ANN, Bayesian class, earthquakes, IMD.

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1897 Synthesis of PVA/γ-Fe2O3 Used in Cancer Treatment by Hyperthermia

Authors: Sajjad Seifi Mofarah, S. K. Sadrnezhaad, Shokooh Moghadam, Javad Tavakoli

Abstract:

In recent years a new method of combination treatment for cancer has been developed and studied that has led to significant advancements in the field of cancer therapy. Hyperthermia is a traditional therapy that, along with a creation of a medically approved level of heat with the help of an alternating magnetic AC current, results in the destruction of cancer cells by heat. This paper gives details regarding the production of the spherical nanocomposite PVA/γ-Fe2O3 in order to be used for medical purposes such as tumor treatment by hyperthermia. To reach a suitable and evenly distributed temperature, the nanocomposite with core-shell morphology and spherical form within a 100 to 200 nanometer size was created using phase separation emulsion, in which the magnetic nano-particles γ- Fe2O3 with an average particle size of 20 nano-meters and with different percentages of 0.2, 0.4, 0.5 and 0.6 were covered by polyvinyl alcohol. The main concern in hyperthermia and heat treatment is achieving desirable specific absorption rate (SAR) and one of the most critical factors in SAR is particle size. In this project all attempts has been done to reach minimal size and consequently maximum SAR. The morphological analysis of the spherical structure of the nanocomposite PVA/γ-Fe2O3 was achieved by SEM analyses and the study of the chemical bonds created was made possible by FTIR analysis. To investigate the manner of magnetic nanocomposite particle size distribution a DLS experiment was conducted. Moreover, to determine the magnetic behavior of the γ- Fe2O3 particle and the nanocomposite PVA/γ-Fe2O3 in different concentrations a VSM test was conducted. To sum up, creating magnetic nanocomposites with a spherical morphology that would be employed for drug loading opens doors to new approaches in developing nanocomposites that provide efficient heat and a controlled release of drug simultaneously inside the magnetic field, which are among their positive characteristics that could significantly improve the recovery process in patients.

Keywords: Nanocomposite, hyperthermia, cancer therapy, drug release.

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1896 Connected Vertex Cover in 2-Connected Planar Graph with Maximum Degree 4 is NP-complete

Authors: Priyadarsini P. L. K, Hemalatha T.

Abstract:

This paper proves that the problem of finding connected vertex cover in a 2-connected planar graph ( CVC-2 ) with maximum degree 4 is NP-complete. The motivation for proving this result is to give a shorter and simpler proof of NP-Completeness of TRA-MLC (the Top Right Access point Minimum-Length Corridor) problem [1], by finding the reduction from CVC-2. TRA-MLC has many applications in laying optical fibre cables for data communication and electrical wiring in floor plans.The problem of finding connected vertex cover in any planar graph ( CVC ) with maximum degree 4 is NP-complete [2]. We first show that CVC-2 belongs to NP and then we find a polynomial reduction from CVC to CVC-2. Let a graph G0 and an integer K form an instance of CVC, where G0 is a planar graph and K is an upper bound on the size of the connected vertex cover in G0. We construct a 2-connected planar graph, say G, by identifying the blocks and cut vertices of G0, and then finding the planar representation of all the blocks of G0, leading to a plane graph G1. We replace the cut vertices with cycles in such a way that the resultant graph G is a 2-connected planar graph with maximum degree 4. We consider L = K -2t+3 t i=1 di where t is the number of cut vertices in G1 and di is the number of blocks for which ith cut vertex is common. We prove that G will have a connected vertex cover with size less than or equal to L if and only if G0 has a connected vertex cover of size less than or equal to K.

Keywords: NP-complete, 2-Connected planar graph, block, cut vertex

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1895 Fast Database Indexing for Large Protein Sequence Collections Using Parallel N-Gram Transformation Algorithm

Authors: Jehad A. H. Hammad, Nur'Aini binti Abdul Rashid

Abstract:

With the rapid development in the field of life sciences and the flooding of genomic information, the need for faster and scalable searching methods has become urgent. One of the approaches that were investigated is indexing. The indexing methods have been categorized into three categories which are the lengthbased index algorithms, transformation-based algorithms and mixed techniques-based algorithms. In this research, we focused on the transformation based methods. We embedded the N-gram method into the transformation-based method to build an inverted index table. We then applied the parallel methods to speed up the index building time and to reduce the overall retrieval time when querying the genomic database. Our experiments show that the use of N-Gram transformation algorithm is an economical solution; it saves time and space too. The result shows that the size of the index is smaller than the size of the dataset when the size of N-Gram is 5 and 6. The parallel N-Gram transformation algorithm-s results indicate that the uses of parallel programming with large dataset are promising which can be improved further.

Keywords: Biological sequence, Database index, N-gram indexing, Parallel computing, Sequence retrieval.

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1894 The Influence of Step and Fillet Shape on Nozzle Endwall Heat Transfer

Authors: JeongJu Kim, Heeyoon Chung, DongHo Rhee, HyungHee Cho

Abstract:

There is a gap at combustor-turbine interface where leakage flow comes out to prevent hot gas ingestion into the gas turbine nozzle platform. The leakage flow protects the nozzle endwall surface from the hot gas coming from combustor exit. For controlling flow’s stream, the gap’s geometry is transformed by changing fillet radius size. During the operation, step configuration is occurred that was unintended between combustor-turbine platform interface caused by thermal expansion or mismatched assembly. In this study, CFD simulations were performed to investigate the effect of the fillet and step on heat transfer and film cooling effectiveness on the nozzle platform. The Reynolds-averaged Navier-stokes equation was solved with turbulence model, SST k-omega. With the fillet configuration, predicted film cooling effectiveness results indicated that fillet radius size influences to enhance film cooling effectiveness. Predicted film cooling effectiveness results at forward facing step configuration indicated that step height influences to enhance film cooling effectiveness. We suggested that designer change a combustor-turbine interface configuration which was varied by fillet radius size near endwall gap when there was a step at combustor-turbine interface. Gap shape was modified by increasing fillet radius size near nozzle endwall. Also, fillet radius and step height were interacted with the film cooling effectiveness and heat transfer on endwall surface.

Keywords: Gas turbine, film cooling effectiveness, endwall, fillet.

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1893 Multi-Agent Systems Applied in the Modeling and Simulation of Biological Problems: A Case Study in Protein Folding

Authors: Pedro Pablo González Pérez, Hiram I. Beltrán, Arturo Rojo-Domínguez, Máximo EduardoSánchez Gutiérrez

Abstract:

Multi-agent system approach has proven to be an effective and appropriate abstraction level to construct whole models of a diversity of biological problems, integrating aspects which can be found both in "micro" and "macro" approaches when modeling this type of phenomena. Taking into account these considerations, this paper presents the important computational characteristics to be gathered into a novel bioinformatics framework built upon a multiagent architecture. The version of the tool presented herein allows studying and exploring complex problems belonging principally to structural biology, such as protein folding. The bioinformatics framework is used as a virtual laboratory to explore a minimalist model of protein folding as a test case. In order to show the laboratory concept of the platform as well as its flexibility and adaptability, we studied the folding of two particular sequences, one of 45-mer and another of 64-mer, both described by an HP model (only hydrophobic and polar residues) and coarse grained 2D-square lattice. According to the discussion section of this piece of work, these two sequences were chosen as breaking points towards the platform, in order to determine the tools to be created or improved in such a way to overcome the needs of a particular computation and analysis of a given tough sequence. The backwards philosophy herein is that the continuous studying of sequences provides itself important points to be added into the platform, to any time improve its efficiency, as is demonstrated herein.

Keywords: multi-agent systems, blackboard-based agent architecture, bioinformatics framework, virtual laboratory, protein folding.

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1892 Efficient Variants of Square Contour Algorithm for Blind Equalization of QAM Signals

Authors: Ahmad Tariq Sheikh, Shahzad Amin Sheikh

Abstract:

A new distance-adjusted approach is proposed in which static square contours are defined around an estimated symbol in a QAM constellation, which create regions that correspond to fixed step sizes and weighting factors. As a result, the equalizer tap adjustment consists of a linearly weighted sum of adaptation criteria that is scaled by a variable step size. This approach is the basis of two new algorithms: the Variable step size Square Contour Algorithm (VSCA) and the Variable step size Square Contour Decision-Directed Algorithm (VSDA). The proposed schemes are compared with existing blind equalization algorithms in the SCA family in terms of convergence speed, constellation eye opening and residual ISI suppression. Simulation results for 64-QAM signaling over empirically derived microwave radio channels confirm the efficacy of the proposed algorithms. An RTL implementation of the blind adaptive equalizer based on the proposed schemes is presented and the system is configured to operate in VSCA error signal mode, for square QAM signals up to 64-QAM.

Keywords: Adaptive filtering, Blind Equalization, Square Contour Algorithm.

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1891 A Novel In-Place Sorting Algorithm with O(n log z) Comparisons and O(n log z) Moves

Authors: Hanan Ahmed-Hosni Mahmoud, Nadia Al-Ghreimil

Abstract:

In-place sorting algorithms play an important role in many fields such as very large database systems, data warehouses, data mining, etc. Such algorithms maximize the size of data that can be processed in main memory without input/output operations. In this paper, a novel in-place sorting algorithm is presented. The algorithm comprises two phases; rearranging the input unsorted array in place, resulting segments that are ordered relative to each other but whose elements are yet to be sorted. The first phase requires linear time, while, in the second phase, elements of each segment are sorted inplace in the order of z log (z), where z is the size of the segment, and O(1) auxiliary storage. The algorithm performs, in the worst case, for an array of size n, an O(n log z) element comparisons and O(n log z) element moves. Further, no auxiliary arithmetic operations with indices are required. Besides these theoretical achievements of this algorithm, it is of practical interest, because of its simplicity. Experimental results also show that it outperforms other in-place sorting algorithms. Finally, the analysis of time and space complexity, and required number of moves are presented, along with the auxiliary storage requirements of the proposed algorithm.

Keywords: Auxiliary storage sorting, in-place sorting, sorting.

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1890 The Impact of Bank Consolidation on the Performance of SMES in Nigeria

Authors: Okolo Chimaobi Valentine

Abstract:

This paper seeks to assess the implications of bank consolidation on the performance of small and medium scale enterprises in the Nigerian economy. Multiple linear regression technique and correlation matrix test were employed to measure the extent to which small and medium scale enterprises asset size, survival and access to credit were influenced. The result showed that bank deposit (BD) and bank credit (L or BC) impacted on asset size and survival of small and medium scale enterprises. None of the variables had significant impact on SMEs access to credit. There is a shift of focus by commercial banks away from small and medium scale enterprises (small customers), which is evidenced by the significant negative influence of bank credit to both the survival and asset size of small and medium enterprises. While micro finance banks work hard at providing funds to small and medium scale entrepreneurs, their capacity to meet the needs of these entrepreneurs is constrained. CBN should make policies that will boost micro finance bank’s capital and also monitor closely the management of the banks to ensure prudent financing of small and medium scale investments.

Keywords: Bank consolidation, small and medium enterprises.

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1889 Preparation of Nanocrystalline Mesoporous ThO2 via Surfactant Assisted Sol-gel Procedure

Authors: N. Mohseni, S. Janitabar, S. J. Ahmadi, M. Roshanzamir, M. Thaghizadeh

Abstract:

In this research, thorium dioxide mesoporous nanocrystalline powder was synthesized through the sol-gel method using hydrated thorium nitrate and ammonium hydroxide as starting materials and Triton X100 as surfactant. ThO2 gel was characterized by thermogravimetric (TGA), and prepared ThO2 powder was subjected to scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Brunauer-Emett-Teller (BET) analyses studies. Detailed analyses show that prepared powder consisted of phase with the space group Fm3m of thoria and its crystalline size was 12.6 nm. The thoria possesses 16.7 m2/g surface area and the pore volume and size calculated to be 0.0423 cc/g and 1.947 nm, respectively.

Keywords: Thoria, sol-gel, mesoporous, nanocrystalline.

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1888 Synthesis and Characterization of Non-Aqueous Electrodeposited ZnSe Thin Film

Authors: S. R. Kumar, Shashikant Rajpal

Abstract:

A nanocrystalline thin film of ZnSe was successfully electrodeposited on copper substrate using a non-aqueous solution and subsequently annealed in air at 400°C. XRD analysis indicates the polycrystalline deposit of (111) plane in both the cases. The sharpness of the peak increases due to annealing of the film and average grain size increases to 20 nm to 27nm. SEM photograph indicate that grains are uniform and densely distributed over the surface. Annealing increases the average grain size by 20%. The EDS spectroscopy shows the ratio of Zn & Se is 1.1 in case of annealed film. AFM analysis indicates the average roughness of the film reduces from 181nm to 165nm due to annealing of the film. The bandgap also decreases from 2.71eV to 2.62eV.

Keywords: Electrodeposition, Non-aqueous medium, SEM, XRD.

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1887 Design Parameters Selection and Optimization of Weld Zone Development in Resistance Spot Welding

Authors: Norasiah Muhammad, Yupiter HP Manurung

Abstract:

This paper investigates the development of weld zone in Resistance Spot Welding (RSW) which focuses on weld nugget and Heat Affected Zone (HAZ). The effects of four factors namely weld current, weld time, electrode force and hold time were studied using a general 24 factorial design augmented by five centre points. The results of the analysis showed that all selected factors except hold time exhibit significant effect on weld nugget radius and HAZ size. Optimization of the welding parameters (weld current, weld time and electrode force) to normalize weld nugget and to minimize HAZ size was then conducted using Central Composite Design (CCD) in Response Surface Methodology (RSM) and the optimum parameters were determined. A regression model for radius of weld nugget and HAZ size was developed and its adequacy was evaluated. The experimental results obtained under optimum operating conditions were then compared with the predicted values and were found to agree satisfactorily with each other

Keywords: Factorial design, Optimization, Resistance Spot Welding (RSW), Response Surface Methodology (RSM).

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1886 Development of Basic Patternmaking Using Parametric Modelling and AutoLISP

Authors: Haziyah Hussin, Syazwan Abdul Samad, Rosnani Jusoh

Abstract:

This study is aimed towards the automisation of basic patternmaking for traditional clothes for the purpose of mass production using AutoCAD to apply AutoLISP feature under software Hazi Attire. A standard dress form (industrial form) with the size of small (S), medium (M) and large (L) size is measured using full body scanning machine. Later, the pattern for the clothes is designed parametrically based on the measured dress form. Hazi Attire program is used within the framework of AutoCAD to generate the basic pattern of front bodice, back bodice, front skirt, back skirt and sleeve block (sloper). The generation of pattern is based on the parameters inputted by user, whereby in this study, the parameters were determined based on the measured size of dress form. The finalized pattern parameter shows that the pattern fit perfectly on the dress form. Since the pattern is generated almost instantly, these proved that using the AutoLISP programming, the manufacturing lead time for the mass production of the traditional clothes can be decreased.

Keywords: Apparel, AutoLISP, Malay Traditional Clothes, Pattern Ganeration.

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1885 Dependence of Equilibrium, Kinetics and Thermodynamics of Zn (II) Ions Sorption from Water on Particle Size of Natural Hydroxyapatite Extracted from Bone Ash

Authors: Reza Bazargan-Lari, Mohammad Ebrahim Bahrololoom, Afshin Nemati

Abstract:

Heavy metals have bad effects on environment and soils and it can uptake by natural HAP .natural Hap is an inexpensive material that uptake large amounts of various heavy metals like Zn (II) .Natural HAP (N-HAP), extracted from bovine cortical bone ash, is a good choice for substitution of commercial HAP. Several experiments were done to investigate the sorption capacity of Zn (II) to N-HAP in various particles sizes, temperatures, initial concentrations, pH and reaction times. In this study, the sorption of Zinc ions from a Zn solution onto HAP particles with sizes of 1537.6 nm and 47.6 nm at three initial pH values of 4.50, 6.00 and 7.50 was studied. The results showed that better performance was obtained through a 47.6 nm particle size and higher pH values. The experimental data were analyzed using Langmuir, Freundlich, and Arrhenius equations for equilibrium, kinetic and thermodynamic studies. The analysis showed a maximum adsorption capacity of NHAP as being 1.562 mmol/g at a pH of 7.5 and small particle size. Kinetically, the prepared N-HAP is a feasible sorbent that retains Zn (II) ions through a favorable and spontaneous sorption process.

Keywords: Natural Hydroxyapatite, Heavy metal ions, Adsorption, Zn removal, kinetic model, bone ash

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1884 Cooperative Multi Agent Soccer Robot Team

Authors: Vahid Rostami, Saeed Ebrahimijam, P.khajehpoor, P.Mirzaei, Mahdi Yousefiazar

Abstract:

This paper introduces our first efforts of developing a new team for RoboCup Middle Size Competition. In our robots we have applied omni directional based mobile system with omnidirectional vision system and fuzzy control algorithm to navigate robots. The control architecture of MRL middle-size robots is a three layered architecture, Planning, Sequencing, and Executing. It also uses Blackboard system to achieve coordination among agents. Moreover, the architecture should have minimum dependency on low level structure and have a uniform protocol to interact with real robot.

Keywords: Robocup, Soccer robots, Fuzzy controller, Multi agent.

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1883 Analysis of Organizational Factors Effect on Performing Electronic Commerce Strategy: A Case Study of the Namakin Food Industry

Authors: Seyed Hamidreza Hejazi Dehghani, Neda Khounsari

Abstract:

Quick growth of electronic commerce in developed countries means that developing nations must change in their commerce strategies fundamentally. Most organizations are aware of the impact of the Internet and e-Commerce on the future of their firm, and thus, they have to focus on organizational factors that have an effect on the deployment of an e-Commerce strategy. In this situation, it is essential to identify organizational factors such as the organizational culture, human resources, size, structure and product/service that impact an e-commerce strategy. Accordingly, this research specifies the effects of organizational factors on applying an e-commerce strategy in the Namakin food industry. The statistical population of this research is 95 managers and employees. Cochran's formula is used for determination of the sample size that is 77 of the statistical population. Also, SPSS and Smart PLS software were utilized for analyzing the collected data. The results of hypothesis testing show that organizational factors have positive and significant effects of applying an e-Commerce strategy. On the other hand, sub-hypothesizes show that effectiveness of the organizational culture and size criteria were rejected and other sub-hypothesis were accepted.

Keywords: Electronic commerce, organizational factors, attitude of managers, organizational readiness.

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