Search results for: Response Method Sequence

Authors: Marlene Weber, Joseph Giacomin, Alessio Malizia, Lee Skrypchuk, Voula Gkatzidou

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Technological and sociological developments in the automotive sector are shifting the focus of design towards developing a better understanding of driver needs, desires and emotions. Human centred design methods are being more frequently applied to automotive research, including the use of systems to detect human emotions in real-time. One method for a non-contact measurement of emotion with low intrusiveness is Facial-Expression Analysis (FEA). This paper describes a research study investigating emotional responses of 22 participants in a naturalistic driving environment by applying a multi-method approach. The research explored the possibility to investigate emotional responses and their frequencies during naturalistic driving through real-time FEA. Observational analysis was conducted to assign causes to the collected emotional responses. In total, 730 emotional responses were measured in the collective study time of 440 minutes. Causes were assigned to 92% of the measured emotional responses. This research establishes and validates a methodology for the study of emotions and their causes in the driving environment through which systems and factors causing positive and negative emotional effects can be identified.

Keywords: Affective computing, case study, emotion recognition, human computer interaction.

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Authors: Hadi Rezghi Maleki, Babak Abazadeh

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In this paper, the effect of bolt clamping force on the fatigue behavior of bolted single lap joints of aluminum alloy 2024- T3 have been studied using numerical finite element method. To do so, a three dimensional model according to the bolted single lap joint has been created and numerical analysis has been carried out using finite element based package. Then the stress distribution and also the slip amplitudes have been calculated in the critical regions and the outcome have been compared with the available experimental fatigue tests results. The numerical results show that in low applied clamping force, the fatigue failure of the specimens occur around the stress concentration location (the bolted hole edge) due to the tensile stresses and thus fatigue crack propagation, but with increase of the clamping force, the fatigue life increases and the cracks nucleate and propagate far from the hole edge because of fretting fatigue. In other words, with the further increase of clamping force value of the joint, the fatigue life reduces due to occurrence of the fretting fatigue in the critical location where the slip amplitude is within its critical occurs earlier.

Keywords: Fretting fatigue, bolted single lap joint, torque tightening, finite element method.

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Authors: B. A. Mir, A. Juneja

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In this paper, shear behavior of reconstituted clay reinforced with varying diameter of sand compaction piles with area replacement-ratio (a_s) of 6.25, 10.24, 16, 20.25 and 64% in 100mm diameter and 200mm long clay specimens is modeled using consolidated drained and undrained triaxial tests under different confining pressures ranging from 50kPa to 575kPa. The test results show that the stress-strain behavior of the clay was highly influenced by the presence of SCP. The insertion of SCPs into soft clay has shown to have a positive effect on the load carrying capacity of the clay, resulting in a composite soil mass that has greater shear strength and improved stiffness compared to the unreinforced clay due to increased reinforcement area ratio. In addition, SCP also acts as vertical drain in the clay thus accelerating the dissipation of excess pore water pressures that are generated during loading by shortening the drainage path and activating radial drainage, thereby reducing post-construction settlement. Thus, sand compaction piles currently stand as one of the most viable and practical techniques for improving the mechanical properties of soft clays.

Keywords: Reconstituted clay, SCP, shear strength, stress-strain response, triaxial tests.

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Authors: Somtop Keawchuer

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This research aims to study (1) the relationship between competency-based learning and learning efficiency of new media communication students at Suan Sunandha University (2) the demographic factor effect on learning efficiency of students at Suan Sunandha University. This research method will use quantitative research; data was collected by questionnaires distributed to students from new media communication in management science faculty of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University for 1340 sample by purposive sampling method. Data was analyzed by descriptive statistic including percentage, mean, standard deviation and inferential statistic including T-test, ANOVA and Pearson correlation for hypothesis testing. The results showed that the competency-based learning in term of ability to communicate, ability to think and solve the problem, life skills and ability to use technology has a significant relationship with learning efficiency in term of the cognitive domain, psychomotor domain and affective domain at the 0.05 level and which is in harmony with the research hypotheses.

Keywords: Competency-based learning, learning efficiency, new media communication students, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University.

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Authors: Randy Gomez, Keisuke Nakamura, Kazuhiro Nakadai

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Distant-talking voice-based HCI system suffers from performance degradation due to mismatch between the acoustic speech (runtime) and the acoustic model (training). Mismatch is caused by the change in the power of the speech signal as observed at the microphones. This change is greatly influenced by the change in distance, affecting speech dynamics inside the room before reaching the microphones. Moreover, as the speech signal is reflected, its acoustical characteristic is also altered by the room properties. In general, power mismatch due to distance is a complex problem. This paper presents a novel approach in dealing with distance-induced mismatch by intelligently sensing instantaneous voice power variation and compensating model parameters. First, the distant-talking speech signal is processed through microphone array processing, and the corresponding distance information is extracted. Distance-sensitive Gaussian Mixture Models (GMMs), pre-trained to capture both speech power and room property are used to predict the optimal distance of the speech source. Consequently, pre-computed statistic priors corresponding to the optimal distance is selected to correct the statistics of the generic model which was frozen during training. Thus, model combinatorics are post-conditioned to match the power of instantaneous speech acoustics at runtime. This results to an improved likelihood in predicting the correct speech command at farther distances. We experiment using real data recorded inside two rooms. Experimental evaluation shows voice recognition performance using our method is more robust to the change in distance compared to the conventional approach. In our experiment, under the most acoustically challenging environment (i.e., Room 2: 2.5 meters), our method achieved 24.2% improvement in recognition performance against the best-performing conventional method.

Keywords: Human Machine Interaction, Human Computer Interaction, Voice Recognition, Acoustic Model Compensation, Acoustic Speech Enhancement.

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Authors: Saeid Nahi, Seyed Mohammad Hossein Nabavi

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Nowadays, power systems, energy generation by wind has been very important. Noting that the production of electrical energy by wind turbines on site to several factors (such as wind speed and profile site for the turbines, especially off the wind input speed, wind rated speed and wind output speed disconnect) is dependent. On the other hand, several different types of turbines in the market there. Therefore, selecting a turbine that its capacity could also answer the need for electric consumers the efficiency is high something is important and necessary. In this context, calculating the amount of wind power to help optimize overall network, system operation, in determining the parameters of wind power is very important. In this article, to help calculate the amount of wind power plant, connected to the national network in the region Manjil wind, selecting the best type of turbine and power delivery profile appropriate to the network using Monte Carlo method has been. In this paper, wind speed data from the wind site in Manjil, as minute and during the year has been. Necessary simulations based on Random Numbers Simulation method and repeat, using the software MATLAB and Excel has been done.

Keywords: wind turbine, efficiency, wind turbine work points, Random Numbers, reliability

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Authors: Sina Fadaie, Seyed Abolhassan Naeini

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Coastal embankments play an important role in coastal structures by reducing the effect of the wave forces and controlling the movement of sediments. Many coastal areas are underlain by weak and compressible soils. Estimation of during construction settlement of coastal embankments is highly important in design and safety control of embankments and appurtenant structures. Accordingly, selecting and establishing of an appropriate model with a reasonable level of complication is one of the challenges for engineers. Although there are advanced models in the literature regarding design of embankments, there is not enough information on the prediction of their associated settlement, particularly in coastal areas having considerable soft soils. Marine engineering study in Iran is important due to the existence of two important coastal areas located in the northern and southern parts of the country. In the present study, the validity of Terzaghi’s consolidation theory has been investigated. In addition, the settlement of these coastal embankments during construction is predicted by using special methods in PLAXIS software by the help of appropriate boundary conditions and soil layers. The results indicate that, for the existing soil condition at the site, some parameters are important to be considered in analysis. Consequently, a model is introduced to estimate the settlement of the embankments in such geotechnical conditions.

Keywords: Consolidation, coastal embankments, settlement, numerical methods, finite elements method.

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Authors: L. K. Singh, Riktesh Srivastava

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How to effectively allocate system resource to process the Client request by Gateway servers is a challenging problem. In this paper, we propose an improved scheme for autonomous performance of Gateway servers under highly dynamic traffic loads. We devise a methodology to calculate Queue Length and Waiting Time utilizing Gateway Server information to reduce response time variance in presence of bursty traffic. The most widespread contemplation is performance, because Gateway Servers must offer cost-effective and high-availability services in the elongated period, thus they have to be scaled to meet the expected load. Performance measurements can be the base for performance modeling and prediction. With the help of performance models, the performance metrics (like buffer estimation, waiting time) can be determined at the development process. This paper describes the possible queue models those can be applied in the estimation of queue length to estimate the final value of the memory size. Both simulation and experimental studies using synthesized workloads and analysis of real-world Gateway Servers demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed system.

Keywords: M/M/1, M/G/1, G/M/1, G/G/1, Gateway Servers, Buffer Estimation, Waiting Time, Queuing Process.

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Authors: Rahma Al Maawali, Hameed Sulaiman

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Air pollution both from point and non-point sources is difficult to control once released in to the atmosphere. There is no engineering method known available to ameliorate the dispersed pollutants. The only suitable approach is the ecological method of constructing green belts in and around the pollution sources. Air pollution in Muscat, Oman is a serious concern due to ever increasing vehicles on roads. Identifying the air pollution tolerance levels of species is important for implementing pollution control strategies in the urban areas of Muscat. Hence, in the present study, Air Pollution Tolerance Index (APTI) for ten avenue tree species was evaluated by analyzing four bio-chemical parameters, plus their Anticipated Performance Index (API) in field conditions. Based on the two indices, Ficus benghalensis was the most suitable one with the highest performance score. Conocarpus erectuse, Phoenix dactylifera, and Pithcellobium dulce were found to be good performers and are recommended for extensive planting. Azadirachta indica which is preferred for its dense canopy is qualified in the moderate category. The rest of the tree species expressed lower API score of less than 51, hence cannot be considered as suitable species for pollution mitigation plantation projects.

Keywords: Air pollution tolerance index, avenue tree species, bio-chemical parameters, Muscat.

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Authors: S. Ramia, N. Melhem, K. Kreidieh

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The world is facing an unprecedented displacement crisis. Recently, over 1.1 million asylum seekers have been granted protection status in the European Union (EU). The majority of these asylum seekers were from countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.This influx carries with it a potential introduction of infectious diseases that have been eliminated in the EU, which poses a challenge for EU health authorities. Compared to MENA region countries where Hepatitis A Virus (HAV) endemicity is high to intermediate, member states of the EU show very low (Western Europe) to low (Eastern Europe) levels of HAV endemicity. Because of this situation, there is an ongoing public health concern in high-income countries, like members of the EU, that many adults remain susceptible to HAV outbreaks. The overwhelming majority of the EU members’ states do not include HAV vaccine in their immunization calendars. Hence, this paper urgently calls for the implementation of new policies regarding HAV in EU members’ states.

Keywords: European Union, Hepatitis A, MENA Region Refugees, Vaccine preventable diseases.

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Authors: A. P. Kulkarni, P. Randive, A. R. Mache

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In today-s era of plasma and laser cutting, machines using oxy-acetylene flame are also meritorious due to their simplicity and cost effectiveness. The objective to devise a Computer controlled Oxy-Fuel profile cutting machine arose from the increasing demand for metal cutting with respect to edge quality, circularity and lesser formation of redeposit material. The System has an 8 bit micro controller based embedded system, which assures stipulated time response. A new window based Application software was devised which takes a standard CAD file .DXF as input and converts it into numerical data required for the controller. It uses VB6 as a front end whereas MS-ACCESS and AutoCAD as back end. The system is designed around AT89C51RD2, powerful 8 bit, ISP micro controller from Atmel and is optimized to achieve cost effectiveness and also maintains the required accuracy and reliability for complex shapes. The backbone of the system is a cleverly designed mechanical assembly along with the embedded system resulting in an accuracy of about 10 microns while maintaining perfect linearity in the cut. This results in substantial increase in productivity. The observed results also indicate reduced inter laminar spacing of pearlite with an increase in the hardness of the edge region.

Keywords: Computer-Control, Profile, Oxy-Fuel.

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Authors: Khatesiree Sripoothon, Usanee Sengpanich, Rattana Sittioum

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The objective of this study is to examine the factors influencing consumer purchasing decisions about healthy food. This model consists of two latent variables: Consumer Perception relating to NCDs and Consumer Perceived Product Value. The study was conducted in the northern provinces of Thailand, which are popular with tourists and have received support from the government for health and wellness tourism. A survey was used as the data collection method, and the questionnaire was applied to 385 consumers. An accidental sampling method was used to identify the sample. The statistics of frequency, percentage, mean, and structural equation model were used to analyze the data obtained. Additionally, all factors had a significant positive influence on healthy food purchasing decisions (p<0.001) and were predictive of healthy food purchasing decisions at 46.20% (R2=0.462). Also, these findings seem to underline the supposition that consumer perceptions of NCDs and perceived product value are key variables that strengthen the competitive effects of healthy-friendly business entrepreneurs. Moreover, it reduces the countries' public health costs for treating patients with the disease of NCDs in Thailand.

Keywords: healthy food, perceived product value, perception of noncommunicable diseases, purchasing decisions

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Authors: M. Elhaj, M. Almrabet, M. Rgeai, I. Ehtiwesh

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A Comparison and evaluation of the different condition monitoring (CM) techniques was applied experimentally on RC e.g. Dynamic cylinder pressure and crankshaft Instantaneous Angular Speed (IAS), for the detection and diagnosis of valve faults in a two - stage reciprocating compressor for a programme of condition monitoring which can successfully detect and diagnose a fault in machine. Leakage in the valve plate was introduced experimentally into a two-stage reciprocating compressor. The effect of the faults on compressor performance was monitored and the differences with the normal, healthy performance noted as a fault signature been used for the detection and diagnosis of faults. The paper concludes with what is considered to be a unique approach to condition monitoring. First, each of the two most useful techniques is used to produce a Truth Table which details the circumstances in which each method can be used to detect and diagnose a fault. The two Truth Tables are then combined into a single Decision Table to provide a unique and reliable method of detection and diagnosis of each of the individual faults introduced into the compressor. This gives accurate diagnosis of compressor faults.

Keywords: Condition Monitoring, Dynamic Pressure, Instantaneous Angular Speed, Reciprocating Compressor.

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Authors: Srinivas Bathini, Duraichelvan Raju, Simona Badilescu, Muthukumaran Packirisamy

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A bio-sensing method, based on the plasmonic property of gold nano-islands, has been developed for detection of exosomes in a clinical setting. The position of the gold plasmon band in the UV-Visible spectrum depends on the size and shape of gold nanoparticles as well as on the surrounding environment. By adsorbing various chemical entities, or binding them, the gold plasmon band will shift toward longer wavelengths and the shift is proportional to the concentration. Exosomes transport cargoes of molecules and genetic materials to proximal and distal cells. Presently, the standard method for their isolation and quantification from body fluids is by ultracentrifugation, not a practical method to be implemented in a clinical setting. Thus, a versatile and cutting-edge platform is required to selectively detect and isolate exosomes for further analysis at clinical level. The new sensing protocol, instead of antibodies, makes use of a specially synthesized polypeptide (Vn96), to capture and quantify the exosomes from different media, by binding the heat shock proteins from exosomes. The protocol has been established and optimized by using a glass substrate, in order to facilitate the next stage, namely the transfer of the protocol to a microfluidic environment. After each step of the protocol, the UV-Vis spectrum was recorded and the position of gold Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) band was measured. The sensing process was modelled, taking into account the characteristics of the nano-island structure, prepared by thermal convection and annealing. The optimal molar ratios of the most important chemical entities, involved in the detection of exosomes were calculated as well. Indeed, it was found that the results of the sensing process depend on the two major steps: the molar ratios of streptavidin to biotin-PEG-Vn96 and, the final step, the capture of exosomes by the biotin-PEG-Vn96 complex. The microfluidic device designed for sensing of exosomes consists of a glass substrate, sealed by a PDMS layer that contains the channel and a collecting chamber. In the device, the solutions of linker, cross-linker, etc., are pumped over the gold nano-islands and an Ocean Optics spectrometer is used to measure the position of the Au plasmon band at each step of the sensing. The experiments have shown that the shift of the Au LSPR band is proportional to the concentration of exosomes and, thereby, exosomes can be accurately quantified. An important advantage of the method is the ability to discriminate between exosomes having different origins.

Keywords: Exosomes, gold nano-islands, microfluidics, plasmonic biosensing.

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Authors: Zamri Noranai, Mohammad Zainal Md Yusof

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Sustainable energy usage has been recognized as one of the important measure to increase the competitiveness of the nation globally. Many strong emphases were given in the Ninth Malaysia Plan (RMK9) to improve energy efficient especially to government buildings. With this in view, a project to investigate the potential of energy saving in selected building in Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) was carried out. In this project, a case study involving electric energy consumption of the academic staff office building was conducted. The scope of the study include to identify energy consumption in a selected building, to study energy saving opportunities, to analyse cost investment in term of economic and to identify users attitude with respect to energy usage. The MS1525:2001, Malaysian Standard -Code of practice on energy efficiency and use of renewable energy for non-residential buildings was used as reference. Several energy efficient measures were considered and their merits and priority were compared. Improving human behavior can reduce energy consumption by 6% while technical measure can reduce energy consumption by 44%. Two economic analysis evaluation methods were applied; they are the payback period method and net present value method.

Keywords: office building, energy, efficiency, economic analyses

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Authors: Consalva J. Msigwa, Beda J. Kundy, Bakari M. M. Mwinyiwiwa,

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This paper presents a method for obtaining the desired reference current for Voltage Source Converter (VSC) of the Shunt Active Power Filter (SAPF) using Synchronous Reference Frame Theory. The method relies on the performance of the Proportional-Integral (PI) controller for obtaining the best control performance of the SAPF. To improve the performance of the PI controller, the feedback path to the integral term is introduced to compensate the winding up phenomenon due to integrator. Using Reference Frame Transformation, reference signals are transformed from a - b - c stationery frame to 0 - d - q rotating frame. Using the PI controller, the reference signals in the 0 - d - q rotating frame are controlled to get the desired reference signals for the Pulse Width Modulation. The synchronizer, the Phase Locked Loop (PLL) with PI filter is used for synchronization, with much emphasis on minimizing delays. The system performance is examined with Shunt Active Power Filter simulation model.

Keywords: Phase Locked Loop (PLL), Voltage Source Converter (VSC), Shunt Active Power Filter (SAPF), PI, Pulse Width Modulation (PWM)

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Authors: Leandro Marcos Alves Vaz

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The teaching of physics in Brazilian public schools emphasizes strongly the theoretical aspects of this science, showing its philosophical and mathematical basis, but neglecting its experimental character. Perhaps the lack of science laboratories explains this practice. In this work, we present a method of teaching physics using the computer. As alternatives to real experiments, we have the trials through simulators, many of which are free software available on the internet. In order to develop a study on the use of simulators in teaching, knowing the impossibility of simulations on all topics in a given subject, we combined these programs with phenomenological and/or experimental texts in order to mitigate this limitation. This study proposes the use of simulators and the debate using phenomenological/experimental texts on electrostatic theme in groups of the 3rd year of EJA (Adult and Youth Education) in order to verify the advantages of this methodology. Some benefits of the hybridization of the traditional method with the tools used were: Greater motivation of the students in learning, development of experimental notions, proactive socialization to learning, greater easiness to understand some concepts and the creation of collaborative activities that can reduce timidity of part of the students.

Keywords: Physics teaching, simulators, youth and adult education, experimentation, electrostatic.

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Authors: Suresh Shirgave, Prakash Kulkarni, José Borges

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The continuous growth in the size of the World Wide Web has resulted in intricate Web sites, demanding enhanced user skills and more sophisticated tools to help the Web user to find the desired information. In order to make Web more user friendly, it is necessary to provide personalized services and recommendations to the Web user. For discovering interesting and frequent navigation patterns from Web server logs many Web usage mining techniques have been applied. The recommendation accuracy of usage based techniques can be improved by integrating Web site content and site structure in the personalization process.

Herein, we propose semantically enriched Web Usage Mining method for Personalization (SWUMP), an extension to solely usage based technique. This approach is a combination of the fields of Web Usage Mining and Semantic Web. In the proposed method, we envisage enriching the undirected graph derived from usage data with rich semantic information extracted from the Web pages and the Web site structure. The experimental results show that the SWUMP generates accurate recommendations and is able to achieve 10-20% better accuracy than the solely usage based model. The SWUMP addresses the new item problem inherent to solely usage based techniques.

Keywords: Prediction, Recommendation, Semantic Web Usage Mining, Web Usage Mining.

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Authors: Rajib Ul Alam Uzzal, Ion Stiharu, Waiz Ahmed

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This paper presents the modeling of a MEMS based accelerometer in order to detect the presence of a wheel flat in the railway vehicle. A haversine wheel flat is assigned to one wheel of a 5 DOF pitch plane vehicle model, which is coupled to a 3 layer track model. Based on the simulated acceleration response obtained from the vehicle-track model, an accelerometer is designed that meets all the requirements to detect the presence of a wheel flat. The proposed accelerometer can survive in a dynamic shocking environment with acceleration up to ±150g. The parameters of the accelerometer are calculated in order to achieve the required specifications using lumped element approximation and the results are used for initial design layout. A finite element analysis code (COMSOL) is used to perform simulations of the accelerometer under various operating conditions and to determine the optimum configuration. The simulated results are found within about 2% of the calculated values, which indicates the validity of lumped element approach. The stability of the accelerometer is also determined in the desired range of operation including the condition under shock.

Keywords: MEMS accelerometer, Pitch plane vehicle, wheel flat.

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Authors: Mostafa Jafarian Abyaneh, Khashayar Jafari, Vahab Toufigh

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The cost of experiments on different types of concrete has raised the demand for prediction of their behavior with numerical analysis. In this research, an advanced numerical model has been presented to predict the complete elastic-plastic behavior of polymer concrete (PC), high-strength concrete (HSC), high performance concrete (HPC) along with different steel fiber contents under uniaxial compression. The accuracy of the numerical response was satisfactory as compared to other conventional simple models such as Mohr-Coulomb and Drucker-Prager. In order to predict the complete elastic-plastic behavior of specimens including softening behavior, disturbed state concept (DSC) was implemented by nonlinear finite element analysis (NFEA) and hierarchical single surface (HISS) failure criterion, which is a failure surface without any singularity.

Keywords: Disturbed state concept, hierarchical single surface, failure criterion, high performance concrete, high-strength concrete, nonlinear finite element analysis, polymer concrete, steel fibers, uniaxial compression test.

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Authors: Abolfazl Hosseinkhani, Sepehr Sanaye

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Different approaches have been used to predict the performance of the vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT), such as experimental, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and analytical methods. Analytical methods, such as momentum models that use streamtubes, have low computational cost and sufficient accuracy. The double multiple streamtube (DMST) is one of the most commonly used of momentum models, which divide the rotor plane of VAWT into upwind and downwind. In fact, results from the DMST method have shown some discrepancy compared with experiment results; that is because the Darrieus turbine is a complex and aerodynamically unsteady configuration. In this study, analytical-experimental-based corrections, including dynamic stall, streamtube expansion, and finite blade length correction are used to improve the DMST method. Results indicated that using these corrections for a SANDIA 17-m VAWT will lead to improving the results of DMST.

Keywords: Vertical axis wind turbine, analytical, double multiple streamtube, streamtube expansion model, dynamic stall model, finite blade length correction.

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Authors: Stefano Sorace, Gloria Terenzi

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The seismic rehabilitation designs of two reinforced concrete school buildings, representative of a wide stock of similar edifices designed under earlier editions of the Italian Technical Standards, are presented in this paper. The mutual retrofit solution elaborated for the two buildings consists in the incorporation of a dissipative bracing system including pressurized fluid viscous springdampers as passive protective devices. The mechanical parameters, layouts and locations selected for the constituting elements of the system; the architectural renovation projects developed to properly incorporate the structural interventions and improve the appearance of the buildings; highlights of the installation works already completed in one of the two structures; and a synthesis of the performance assessment analyses carried out in original and rehabilitated conditions, are illustrated. The results of the analyses show a remarkable enhancement of the seismic response capacities of both structures. This allows reaching the high performance objectives postulated in the retrofit designs with much lower costs and architectural intrusion as compared to traditional rehabilitation interventions designed for the same objectives.

Keywords: Seismic rehabilitation, R/C structures, performance analysis, dissipative braces, fluid viscous dampers.

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Authors: Shaoyan Sun, Liwei Zhang, Chonghui Guo

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As the use of registration packages spreads, the number of the aligned image pairs in image databases (either by manual or automatic methods) increases dramatically. These image pairs can serve as a set of training data. Correspondingly, the images that are to be registered serve as testing data. In this paper, a novel medical image registration method is proposed which is based on the a priori knowledge of the expected joint intensity distribution estimated from pre-aligned training images. The goal of the registration is to find the optimal transformation such that the distance between the observed joint intensity distribution obtained from the testing image pair and the expected joint intensity distribution obtained from the corresponding training image pair is minimized. The distance is measured using the divergence measure based on Tsallis entropy. Experimental results show that, compared with the widely-used Shannon mutual information as well as Tsallis mutual information, the proposed method is computationally more efficient without sacrificing registration accuracy.

Keywords: Multimodality images, image registration, Shannonentropy, Tsallis entropy, mutual information, Powell optimization.

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Authors: M. Kumpugdee-Vollrath, J.-P. Krause, S. Bürk

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Most of the drugs used for pharmaceutical purposes are poorly water-soluble drugs. About 40% of all newly discovered drugs are lipophilic and the numbers of lipophilic drugs seem to increase more and more. Drug delivery systems such as nanoparticles, micelles or liposomes are applied to improve their solubility and thus their bioavailability. Besides various techniques of solubilization, oil-in-water emulsions are often used to incorporate lipophilic drugs into the oil phase. To stabilize emulsions surface active substances (surfactants) are generally used. An alternative method to avoid the application of surfactants was of great interest. One possibility is to develop O/W-emulsion without any addition of surface active agents or the so called “surfactant-free emulsion or SFE”. The aim of this study was to develop and characterize SFE as a drug carrier by varying the production conditions. Lidocaine base was used as a model drug. The injection method was developed. Effects of ultrasound as well as of temperature on the properties of the emulsion were studied. Particle sizes and release were determined. The long-term stability up to 30 days was performed. The results showed that the surfactant-free O/W emulsions with pharmaceutical oil as drug carrier can be produced.

Keywords: Emulsion, lidocaine, Miglyol, size, surfactant, light scattering, release, injection, ultrasound, stability.

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Authors: Ryuya Uda

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Nowadays, computer worms, viruses and Trojan horse become popular, and they are collectively called malware. Those malware just spoiled computers by deleting or rewriting important files a decade ago. However, recent malware seems to be born to earn money. Some of malware work for collecting personal information so that malicious people can find secret information such as password for online banking, evidence for a scandal or contact address which relates with the target. Moreover, relation between money and malware becomes more complex. Many kinds of malware bear bots to get springboards. Meanwhile, for ordinary internet users, countermeasures against malware come up against a blank wall. Pattern matching becomes too much waste of computer resources, since matching tools have to deal with a lot of patterns derived from subspecies. Virus making tools can automatically bear subspecies of malware. Moreover, metamorphic and polymorphic malware are no longer special. Recently there appears malware checking sites that check contents in place of users' PC. However, there appears a new type of malicious sites that avoids check by malware checking sites. In this paper, existing protocols and methods related with the web are reconsidered in terms of protection from current attacks, and new protocol and method are indicated for the purpose of security of the web.

Keywords: Information Security, Malware, Network Security, World Wide Web

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Authors: Javad Akbari, Hassan Borzoie, Mohammad Hossein Mamduhi

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Nowadays, engineering ceramics have significant applications in different industries such as; automotive, aerospace, electrical, electronics and even martial industries due to their attractive physical and mechanical properties like very high hardness and strength at elevated temperatures, chemical stability, low friction and high wear resistance. However, these interesting properties plus low heat conductivity make their machining processes too hard, costly and time consuming. Many attempts have been made in order to make the grinding process of engineering ceramics easier and many scientists have tried to find proper techniques to economize ceramics' machining processes. This paper proposes a new diamond plunge grinding technique using ultrasonic vibration for grinding Alumina ceramic (Al2O3). For this purpose, a set of laboratory equipments have been designed and simulated using Finite Element Method (FEM) and constructed in order to be used in various measurements. The results obtained have been compared with the conventional plunge grinding process without ultrasonic vibration and indicated that the surface roughness and fracture strength improved and the grinding forces decreased.

Keywords: Engineering ceramic, Finite Element Method, Plunge grinding, Ultrasonic vibration.

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Authors: Hao-Hsi Tseng, Hsin-Yun Lee, Yu-Cheng Kuo

Abstract:

In order to understand whether there is a better than the learning function of learning methods and improve the CAD Courses for enterprise’s design human resource development, this research is applied in learning practical learning computer graphics software. In this study, Revit building information model for learning content, design of two different modes of learning curriculum to learning, learning functions, respectively, and project learning. Via a post-test, questionnaires and student interviews, etc., to study the effectiveness of a comparative analysis of two different modes of learning. Students participate in a period of three weeks after a total of nine-hour course, and finally written and hands-on test. In addition, fill in the questionnaire response by the student learning, a total of fifteen questionnaire title, problem type into the base operating software, application software and software-based concept features three directions. In addition to the questionnaire, and participants were invited to two different learning methods to conduct interviews to learn more about learning students the idea of two different modes. The study found that the ad hoc short-term courses in learning, better learning outcomes. On the other hand, functional style for the whole course students are more satisfied, and the ad hoc style student is difficult to accept the ad hoc style of learning.

Keywords: Development, education, human resource, learning.

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Authors: Guarry Montrose, Ted Soubdhan

Abstract:

In the context of sustainable development and climate change, the adaptation of buildings to the climatic context in hot climates is a necessity if we want to improve living conditions in housing and reduce the risks to the health and productivity of occupants due to thermal discomfort in buildings. One can find a wide variety of efficient solutions but with high costs. In developing countries, especially tropical countries, we need to appreciate a technology with a very limited cost that is affordable for everyone, energy efficient and protects the environment. Biosourced insulation is a product based on plant fibers, animal products or products from recyclable paper or clothing. Their development meets the objectives of maintaining biodiversity, reducing waste and protecting the environment. In tropical or hot countries, the aim is to protect the building from solar thermal radiation, a source of discomfort. The aim of this work is in line with the logic of energy control and environmental protection, the approach is to make the occupants of buildings comfortable, reduce their carbon dioxide emissions (CO₂) and decrease their energy consumption (energy efficiency). We have chosen to study the thermo-physical properties of banana leaves and sawdust, especially their thermal conductivities, direct measurements were made using the flash method and the hot plate method. We also measured the heat flow on both sides of each sample by the hot box method. The results from these different experiences show that these materials are very efficient used as insulation. We have also conducted a building thermal simulation using banana leaves as one of the materials under Design Builder software. Air-conditioning load as well as CO₂ release was used as performance indicator. When the air-conditioned building cell is protected on the roof by banana leaves and integrated into the walls with solar protection of the glazing, it saves up to 64.3% of energy and avoids 57% of CO₂ emissions.

Keywords: Plant fibers, tropical climates, sustainable development, waste reduction.

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Authors: Mehani M., Segni L.

Abstract:

The plant world is the source of many medicines. Recently, researchers have estimated that there are approximately 400,000 plant species worldwide, of which about a quarter or a third have been used by societies for medicinal purposes. The human uses of plants for thousands of years to treat various ailments, in many developing countries, much of the population trust in traditional doctors and their collections of medicinal plants to treat them. Essential oils have many therapeutic properties. In herbal medicine, they are used for their antiseptic properties against infectious diseases of fungal origin, against dermatophytes, those of bacterial origin. The aim of our study is to determine the antimicrobial effect of essential oils of the plant Trigonella focnum greacum on some pathogenic bacteria, it is a medicinal plant used in traditional therapy. The test adopted is based on the diffusion method on solid medium (Antibiogram), this method determines the sensitivity or resistance of a microorganism vis-à-vis the extract studied. Our study reveals that the essential oil of the plant Trigonella focnum greacum has a different effect on the resistance of germs. For staphiloccocus Pseudomonnas aeroginosa and Krebsilla, are moderately sensitive strains, also Escherichia coli and Candida albicans represents a high sensitivity. By against Proteus is a strain that represents a weak sensitivity.

Keywords: essential oil, microorganisme, antibiogram

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Authors: D. Subedi, S. Pradhan

Abstract:

Current transformers are an integral part of power system because it provides a proportional safe amount of current for protection and measurement applications. However, when the power system experiences an abnormal situation leading to huge current flow, then this huge current is proportionally injected to the protection and metering circuit. Since the protection and metering equipment’s are designed to withstand only certain amount of current with respect to time, these high currents pose a risk to man and equipment. Therefore, during such instances, the CT saturation characteristics have a huge influence on the safety of both man and equipment and on the reliability of the protection and metering system. This paper shows the effect of burden on the Accuracy Limiting factor/ Instrument security factor of current transformers and the change in saturation characteristics of the CT’s. The response of the CT to varying levels of overcurrent at different connected burden will be captured using the data acquisition software LabVIEW. Analysis is done on the real time data gathered using LabVIEW. Variation of current transformer saturation characteristics with changes in burden will be discussed.

Keywords: Accuracy limiting factor, burden, current transformer, instrument security factor, saturation characteristics.

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