Search results for: performance test
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 7965

Search results for: performance test

3375 Operation Parameters of Vacuum Cleaned Filters

Authors: Wilhelm Hoeflinger, Thomas Laminger, Johannes Wolfslehner

Abstract:

For vacuum cleaned dust filters there exist no calculation methods to determine design parameters (e.g. traverse velocity of the nozzle, filter area…). In this work a method to calculate the optimum traverse velocity of the nozzle of an industrial-size flat dust filter at a given mean pressure drop and filter face velocity was elaborated. Well-known equations for the design of a cleanable multi-chamber bag-house-filter were modified in order to take into account a continuously regeneration of a dust filter by a nozzle. Thereby, the specific filter medium resistance and the specific cake resistance values are needed which can be derived from filter tests under constant operation conditions.

A lab-scale filter test rig was used to derive the specific filter media resistance value and the specific cake resistance value for vacuum cleaned filter operation. Three different filter media were tested and the determined parameters were compared to each other.

Keywords: Design of dust filter, Dust removing, Filter regeneration, Operation parameters.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1929
3374 Implicit Force Control of a Position Controlled Robot – A Comparison with Explicit Algorithms

Authors: Alexander Winkler, Jozef Suchý

Abstract:

This paper investigates simple implicit force control algorithms realizable with industrial robots. A lot of approaches already published are difficult to implement in commercial robot controllers, because the access to the robot joint torques is necessary or the complete dynamic model of the manipulator is used. In the past we already deal with explicit force control of a position controlled robot. Well known schemes of implicit force control are stiffness control, damping control and impedance control. Using such algorithms the contact force cannot be set directly. It is further the result of controller impedance, environment impedance and the commanded robot motion/position. The relationships of these properties are worked out in this paper in detail for the chosen implicit approaches. They have been adapted to be implementable on a position controlled robot. The behaviors of stiffness control and damping control are verified by practical experiments. For this purpose a suitable test bed was configured. Using the full mechanical impedance within the controller structure will not be practical in the case when the robot is in physical contact with the environment. This fact will be verified by simulation.

Keywords: Damping control, impedance control, robot force control, stability, stiffness control.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2863
3373 1/Sigma Term Weighting Scheme for Sentiment Analysis

Authors: Hanan Alshaher, Jinsheng Xu

Abstract:

Large amounts of data on the web can provide valuable information. For example, product reviews help business owners measure customer satisfaction. Sentiment analysis classifies texts into two polarities: positive and negative. This paper examines movie reviews and tweets using a new term weighting scheme, called one-over-sigma (1/sigma), on benchmark datasets for sentiment classification. The proposed method aims to improve the performance of sentiment classification. The results show that 1/sigma is more accurate than the popular term weighting schemes. In order to verify if the entropy reflects the discriminating power of terms, we report a comparison of entropy values for different term weighting schemes.

Keywords: Sentiment analysis, term weighting scheme, 1/sigma.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 521
3372 Practical Techniques of Improving State Estimator Solution

Authors: Kiamran Radjabli

Abstract:

State Estimator became an intrinsic part of Energy Management Systems (EMS). The SCADA measurements received from the field are processed by the State Estimator in order to accurately determine the actual operating state of the power systems and provide that information to other real-time network applications. All EMS vendors offer a State Estimator functionality in their baseline products. However, setting up and ensuring that State Estimator consistently produces a reliable solution often consumes a substantial engineering effort. This paper provides generic recommendations and describes a simple practical approach to efficient tuning of State Estimator, based on the working experience with major EMS software platforms and consulting projects in many electrical utilities of the USA.

Keywords: Convergence, monitoring, performance, state estimator, troubleshooting, tuning, power systems.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 860
3371 Fast Algorithm of Infrared Point Target Detection in Fluctuant Background

Authors: Yang Weiping, Zhang Zhilong, Li Jicheng, Chen Zengping, He Jun

Abstract:

The background estimation approach using a small window median filter is presented on the bases of analyzing IR point target, noise and clutter model. After simplifying the two-dimensional filter, a simple method of adopting one-dimensional median filter is illustrated to make estimations of background according to the characteristics of IR scanning system. The adaptive threshold is used to segment canceled image in the background. Experimental results show that the algorithm achieved good performance and satisfy the requirement of big size image-s real-time processing.

Keywords: Point target, background estimation, median filter, adaptive threshold, target detection.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1837
3370 Malaria Parasite Detection Using Deep Learning Methods

Authors: Kaustubh Chakradeo, Michael Delves, Sofya Titarenko

Abstract:

Malaria is a serious disease which affects hundreds of millions of people around the world, each year. If not treated in time, it can be fatal. Despite recent developments in malaria diagnostics, the microscopy method to detect malaria remains the most common. Unfortunately, the accuracy of microscopic diagnostics is dependent on the skill of the microscopist and limits the throughput of malaria diagnosis. With the development of Artificial Intelligence tools and Deep Learning techniques in particular, it is possible to lower the cost, while achieving an overall higher accuracy. In this paper, we present a VGG-based model and compare it with previously developed models for identifying infected cells. Our model surpasses most previously developed models in a range of the accuracy metrics. The model has an advantage of being constructed from a relatively small number of layers. This reduces the computer resources and computational time. Moreover, we test our model on two types of datasets and argue that the currently developed deep-learning-based methods cannot efficiently distinguish between infected and contaminated cells. A more precise study of suspicious regions is required.

Keywords: Malaria, deep learning, DL, convolution neural network, CNN, thin blood smears.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 642
3369 Fractal Patterns for Power Quality Detection Using Color Relational Analysis Based Classifier

Authors: Chia-Hung Lin, Mei-Sung Kang, Cong-Hui Huang, Chao-Lin Kuo

Abstract:

This paper proposes fractal patterns for power quality (PQ) detection using color relational analysis (CRA) based classifier. Iterated function system (IFS) uses the non-linear interpolation in the map and uses similarity maps to construct various fractal patterns of power quality disturbances, including harmonics, voltage sag, voltage swell, voltage sag involving harmonics, voltage swell involving harmonics, and voltage interruption. The non-linear interpolation functions (NIFs) with fractal dimension (FD) make fractal patterns more distinguishing between normal and abnormal voltage signals. The classifier based on CRA discriminates the disturbance events in a power system. Compared with the wavelet neural networks, the test results will show accurate discrimination, good robustness, and faster processing time for detecting disturbing events.

Keywords: Power Quality (PQ), Color Relational Analysis(CRA), Iterated Function System (IFS), Non-linear InterpolationFunction (NIF), Fractal Dimension (FD).

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1639
3368 Mutation Rate for Evolvable Hardware

Authors: Emanuele Stomeo, Tatiana Kalganova, Cyrille Lambert

Abstract:

Evolvable hardware (EHW) refers to a selfreconfiguration hardware design, where the configuration is under the control of an evolutionary algorithm (EA). A lot of research has been done in this area several different EA have been introduced. Every time a specific EA is chosen for solving a particular problem, all its components, such as population size, initialization, selection mechanism, mutation rate, and genetic operators, should be selected in order to achieve the best results. In the last three decade a lot of research has been carried out in order to identify the best parameters for the EA-s components for different “test-problems". However different researchers propose different solutions. In this paper the behaviour of mutation rate on (1+λ) evolution strategy (ES) for designing logic circuits, which has not been done before, has been deeply analyzed. The mutation rate for an EHW system modifies values of the logic cell inputs, the cell type (for example from AND to NOR) and the circuit output. The behaviour of the mutation has been analyzed based on the number of generations, genotype redundancy and number of logic gates used for the evolved circuits. The experimental results found provide the behaviour of the mutation rate to be used during evolution for the design and optimization of logic circuits. The researches on the best mutation rate during the last 40 years are also summarized.

Keywords: Evolvable hardware, mutation rate, evolutionarycomputation, design of logic circuit.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1492
3367 Information Retrieval in the Semantic LIFE Personal Digital Memory Framework

Authors: Hanh Huu Hoang, Tho Manh Nguyen

Abstract:

Ever increasing capacities of contemporary storage devices inspire the vision to accumulate (personal) information without the need of deleting old data over a long time-span. Hence the target of SemanticLIFE project is to create a Personal Information Management system for a human lifetime data. One of the most important characteristics of the system is its dedication to retrieve information in a very efficient way. By adopting user demands regarding the reduction of ambiguities, our approach aims at a user-oriented and yet powerful enough system with a satisfactory query performance. We introduce the query system of SemanticLIFE, the Virtual Query System, which uses emerging Semantic Web technologies to fulfill users- requirements.

Keywords: Ontology-based Information Retrieval, Digital Memories, SemanticLIFE.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1340
3366 A Two-Phase Mechanism for Agent's Action Selection in Soccer Simulation

Authors: Vahid Salmani, Mahmoud Naghibzadeh, Farid Seifi, Amirhossein Taherinia

Abstract:

Soccer simulation is an effort to motivate researchers and practitioners to do artificial and robotic intelligence research; and at the same time put into practice and test the results. Many researchers and practitioners throughout the world are continuously working to polish their ideas and improve their implemented systems. At the same time, new groups are forming and they bring bright new thoughts to the field. The research includes designing and executing robotic soccer simulation algorithms. In our research, a soccer simulation player is considered to be an intelligent agent that is capable of receiving information from the environment, analyze it and to choose the best action from a set of possible ones, for its next move. We concentrate on developing a two-phase method for the soccer player agent to choose its best next move. The method is then implemented into our software system called Nexus simulation team of Ferdowsi University. This system is based on TsinghuAeolus[1] team that was the champion of the world RoboCup soccer simulation contest in 2001 and 2002.

Keywords: RoboCup, Soccer simulation, multi-agent environment, intelligent soccer agent, ball controller agent.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1537
3365 Tension Stiffening Parameter in Composite Concrete Reinforced with Inoxydable Steel: Laboratory and Finite Element Analysis

Authors: S. Alih, A. Khelil

Abstract:

In the present work, behavior of inoxydable steel as reinforcement bar in composite concrete is being investigated. The bar-concrete adherence in reinforced concrete (RC) beam is studied and focus is made on the tension stiffening parameter. This study highlighted an approach to observe this interaction behavior in bending test instead of direct tension as per reported in many references. The approach resembles actual loading condition of the structural RC beam. The tension stiffening properties are then applied to numerical finite element analysis (FEA) to verify their correlation with laboratory results. Comparison with laboratory shows a good correlation between the two. The experimental settings is able to determine tension stiffening parameters in RC beam and the modeling strategies made in ABAQUS can closely represent the actual condition. Tension stiffening model used can represent the interaction properties between inoxydable steel and concrete.

Keywords: Inoxydable steel, Finite element modeling, Reinforced concrete beam, Tension-stiffening.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4291
3364 Port Governance in Santos, Brazil: A Qualitative Approach

Authors: Guilherme B. B. Vieira, Rafael M. da Silva, Eliana T. P. Senna, Luiz A. S. Senna, Francisco J. Kliemann Neto

Abstract:

Given the importance of ports as links in the global supply chains and because they are key elements to induce competitiveness in their hinterlands, the number of studies devoted to port governance, management and operations has increased in the last decades. Some of these studies address the port governance model as an element to improve coordination among the actors of the portlogistics chain and to generate a better port performance. In this context, the present study analyzes the governance of Port of Santos through individual interviews with port managers, based on a conceptual model that considers the key dimensions associated with port governance. The results reinforce the usefulness of the applied model and highlight some existing improvement opportunities in the port studied.

Keywords: Port Governance, Model, Port of Santos, Managers’ Perception.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2691
3363 Rubber Crumbs in Alkali Activated Clay Roof Tiles at Low Temperature

Authors: Aswin Kumar Krishnan, Yat Choy Wong, Reiza Mukhlis, Zipeng Zhang, Arul Arulrajah

Abstract:

The continuous increase in vehicle uptake escalates the number of rubber tyres waste which need to be managed to avoid landfilling and stockpiling. The present research focused on the sustainable use of crumb rubber in clay roof tiles. The properties of roof tiles composed of clay, crumb rubber, NaOH, and Na2SiO3 with 10 wt.% alkaline activator were studied. Tile samples were fabricated by heating the compacted mixtures at 50 °C for 72 hours, followed by a higher heating temperature of 200 °C for 24 hours. The effect of crumb rubber aggregates as a substitution for the raw clay materials were investigated by varying their concentration from 0 wt.% to 2.5 wt.%. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses have been conducted to study the phases and microstructures of the samples. It was found that the optimum rubber crumbs concentration was at 0.5 wt.% and 1 wt.%, while cracks and larger porosity were found at higher crumbs concentration. Water absorption, and compressive strength test results demonstrated that rubber crumbs and clay satisfied the standard requirement for the roof tiles.

Keywords: Crumb rubber, clay, roof tiles, alkaline activators.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 163
3362 Wind Tunnel for Aerodynamic Development Testing

Authors: E. T. L. Cöuras Ford, V. A. C. Vale, J. U. L. Mendes, F. A. Ribeiro

Abstract:

The study of the aerodynamics related to the improvement in the acting of airplanes and automobiles with the objective of being reduced the effect of the attrition of the air on structures, providing larger speeds and smaller consumption of fuel. The application of the knowledge of the aerodynamics not more limits to the aeronautical and automobile industries. Therefore, this research aims to design and construction of a wind tunnel to perform aerodynamic analysis in bodies of cars, seeking greater efficiency. Therefore, this research aims to design and construction of a wind tunnel to perform aerodynamic analysis in bodies of cars, seeking greater efficiency. For this, a methodology for wind tunnel type selection is designed to be built, taking into account the various existing configurations in which chose to build an open circuit tunnel, due to the lower complexity of construction and installation; operational simplicity and low cost. The guidelines for the project were teaching: the layer that limits study and analyze specimens with different geometries. For the variation of pressure in the test, section of a switched gauge used a pitot tube. Thus, it was possible to obtain quantitative and qualitative results, which proved to be satisfactory.

Keywords: Wind tunnel, Aerodynamics, Air.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1374
3361 Experimental and Analytical Study of Scrap Tire Rubber Pad for Seismic Isolation

Authors: Huma Kanta Mishra, Akira Igarashi

Abstract:

A seismic isolation pad produced by utilizing the scrap tire rubber which contains interleaved steel reinforcing cords has been proposed. The steel cords are expected to function similar to the steel plates used in conventional laminated rubber bearings. The scrap tire rubber pad (STRP) isolator is intended to be used in low rise residential buildings of highly seismic areas of the developing countries. Experimental investigation was conducted on unbonded STRP isolators, and test results provided useful information including stiffness, damping values and an eventual instability of the isolation unit. Finite element analysis (FE analysis) of STRP isolator was carried out on properly bonded samples. These types of isolators provide positive incremental force resisting capacity up to shear strain level of 155%. This paper briefly discusses the force deformation behavior of bonded STRP isolators including stability of the isolation unit.

Keywords: base isolation, buckling load, finite element analysis, STRP isolators.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2946
3360 The Catalytic Properties of PtSn/Al2O3 for Acetic Acid Hydrogenation

Authors: Mingchuan Zhou, Haitao Zhang, Hongfang Ma, Weiyong Ying

Abstract:

Alumina supported platinum and tin catalysts with different loadings of Pt and Sn were prepared and characterized by low temperature N2 adsorption/desorption, H2-temperature programed reduction and CO pulse chemisorption. Pt and Sn below 1% loading were suitable for acetic acid hydrogenation. The best performance over 0.75Pt1Sn/Al2O3 can reach 87.55% conversion of acetic acid and 47.39% selectivity of ethanol. The operating conditions of acetic acid hydrogenation over 1Pt1Sn/Al2O3 were investigated. High reaction temperature can enhance the conversion of acetic acid, but it decreased total selectivity of ethanol and acetyl acetate. High pressure and low weight hourly space velocity were beneficial to both conversion of acetic acid and selectivity to ethanol.

Keywords: Acetic acid, hydrogenation, PtSn, operating condition.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1239
3359 Design Optimization for Efficient Erbium-Doped Fiber Amplifiers

Authors: Parekhan M. Aljaff, Banaz O. Rasheed

Abstract:

The exact gain shape profile of erbium doped fiber amplifiers (EDFA`s) are depends on fiber length and Er3 ion densities. This paper optimized several of erbium doped fiber parameters to obtain high performance characteristic at pump wavelengths of λp= 980 nm and λs= 1550 nm for three different pump powers. The maximum gain obtained for pump powers (10, 30 and 50mw) is nearly (19, 30 and 33 dB) at optimizations. The required numerical aperture NA to obtain maximum gain becomes less when pump power increased. The amplifier gain is increase when Er+3doped near the center of the fiber core. The simulation has been done by using optisystem 5.0 software (CAD for Photonics, a license product of a Canadian based company) at 2.5 Gbps.

Keywords: EDFA, Erbium Doped Fiber, optimization OpticalAmplifiers.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3483
3358 Effect of Fiber Types and Elevated Temperatures on the Bond Characteristic of Fiber Reinforced Concretes

Authors: Erdoğan Özbay, Hakan T. Türker, Müzeyyen Balçıkanlı, Mohamed Lachemi

Abstract:

In this paper, the effects of fiber types and elevated temperatures on compressive strength, modulus of rapture and the bond characteristics of fiber reinforced concretes (FRC) are presented. By using the three different types of fibers (steel fiber-SF, polypropylene-PPF and polyvinyl alcohol-PVA), FRC specimens were produced and exposed to elevated temperatures up to 800 ºC for 1.5 hours. In addition, a plain concrete (without fiber) was produced and used as a control. Test results obtained showed that the steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) had the highest compressive strength, modulus of rapture and bond stress values at room temperatures, the residual bond, flexural and compressive strengths of both FRC and plain concrete dropped sharply after exposure to high temperatures. The results also indicated that the reduction of bond, flexural and compressive strengths with increasing the exposed temperature was relatively less for SFRC than for plain, and FRC with PPF and PVA.

Keywords: Bond stress, Compressive strength, Elevated temperatures, Fiber reinforced concrete, Modulus of rapture.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2350
3357 Effects of Computer–Based Instructional Designs among Pupils of Different Music Intelligence Levels

Authors: Aldalalah, M. Osamah, Soon Fook Fong

Abstract:

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of computer–based instructional designs, namely modality and redundancy principles on the attitude and learning of music theory among primary pupils of different Music Intelligence levels. The lesson of music theory was developed in three different modes, audio and image (AI), text with image (TI) and audio with image and text (AIT). The independent variables were the three modes of courseware. The moderator variable was music intelligence. The dependent variables were the post test score. ANOVA was used to determine the significant differences of the pretest scores among the three groups. Analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) and Post hoc were carried out to examine the main effects as well as the interaction effects of the independent variables on the dependent variables. High music intelligence pupils performed significantly better than low music intelligence pupils in all the three treatment modes. The AI mode was found to help pupils with low music intelligence significantly more than the TI and AIT modes.

Keywords: Modality, Redundancy, Music theory, Cognitivetheory of multimedia learning, Cognitive load theory, Musicintelligence.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1663
3356 Comparative Study of Line Voltage Stability Indices for Voltage Collapse Forecasting in Power Transmission System

Authors: H. H. Goh, Q. S. Chua, S. W. Lee, B. C. Kok, K. C. Goh, K. T. K. Teo

Abstract:

At present, the evaluation of voltage stability assessment experiences sizeable anxiety in the safe operation of power systems. This is due to the complications of a strain power system. With the snowballing of power demand by the consumers and also the restricted amount of power sources, therefore, the system has to perform at its maximum proficiency. Consequently, the noteworthy to discover the maximum ability boundary prior to voltage collapse should be undertaken. A preliminary warning can be perceived to evade the interruption of power system’s capacity. The effectiveness of line voltage stability indices (LVSI) is differentiated in this paper. The main purpose of the indices used is to predict the proximity of voltage instability of the electric power system. On the other hand, the indices are also able to decide the weakest load buses which are close to voltage collapse in the power system. The line stability indices are assessed using the IEEE 14 bus test system to validate its practicability. Results demonstrated that the implemented indices are practically relevant in predicting the manifestation of voltage collapse in the system. Therefore, essential actions can be taken to dodge the incident from arising.

Keywords: Critical line, line outage, line voltage stability indices (LVSI), maximum loadability, voltage collapse, voltage instability, voltage stability analysis.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4147
3355 Optimal Facility Layout Problem Solution Using Genetic Algorithm

Authors: Maricar G. Misola, Bryan B. Navarro

Abstract:

Facility Layout Problem (FLP) is one of the essential problems of several types of manufacturing and service sector. It is an optimization problem on which the main objective is to obtain the efficient locations, arrangement and order of the facilities. In the literature, there are numerous facility layout problem research presented and have used meta-heuristic approaches to achieve optimal facility layout design. This paper presented genetic algorithm to solve facility layout problem; to minimize total cost function. The performance of the proposed approach was verified and compared using problems in the literature.

Keywords: Facility Layout Problem, Genetic Algorithm, Material Handling Cost, Meta-heuristic Approach.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4731
3354 Inner and Outer School Contextual Factors Associated with Poor Performance of Grade 12 Students: A Case Study of an Underperforming High School in Mpumalanga, South Africa

Authors: Victoria L. Nkosi, Parvaneh Farhangpour

Abstract:

Often a Grade 12 certificate is perceived as a passport to tertiary education and the minimum requirement to enter the world of work. In spite of its importance, many students do not make this milestone in South Africa. It is important to find out why so many students still fail in spite of transformation in the education system in the post-apartheid era. Given the complexity of education and its context, this study adopted a case study design to examine one historically underperforming high school in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa in 2013. The aim was to gain a understanding of the inner and outer school contextual factors associated with the high failure rate among Grade 12 students.  Government documents and reports were consulted to identify factors in the district and the village surrounding the school and a student survey was conducted to identify school, home and student factors. The randomly-sampled half of the population of Grade 12 students (53) participated in the survey and quantitative data are analyzed using descriptive statistical methods. The findings showed that a host of factors is at play. The school is located in a village within a municipality which has been one of the poorest three municipalities in South Africa and the lowest Grade 12 pass rate in the Mpumalanga province.   Moreover, over half of the families of the students are single parents, 43% are unemployed and the majority has a low level of education. In addition, most families (83%) do not have basic study materials such as a dictionary, books, tables, and chairs. A significant number of students (70%) are over-aged (+19 years old); close to half of them (49%) are grade repeaters. The school itself lacks essential resources, namely computers, science laboratories, library, and enough furniture and textbooks. Moreover, teaching and learning are negatively affected by the teachers’ occasional absenteeism, inadequate lesson preparation, and poor communication skills. Overall, the continuous low performance of students in this school mirrors the vicious circle of multiple negative conditions present within and outside of the school. The complexity of factors associated with the underperformance of Grade 12 students in this school calls for a multi-dimensional intervention from government and stakeholders. One important intervention should be the placement of over-aged students and grade-repeaters in suitable educational institutions for the benefit of other students.

Keywords: Inner context, outer context, over-aged students, vicious circle.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1240
3353 Design and Implementation of Optimal Winner Determination Algorithm in Combinatorial e- Auctions

Authors: S. Khanpour, A. Movaghar

Abstract:

The one of best robust search technique on large scale search area is heuristic and meta heuristic approaches. Especially in issue that the exploitation of combinatorial status in the large scale search area prevents the solution of the problem via classical calculating methods, so such problems is NP-complete. in this research, the problem of winner determination in combinatorial auctions have been formulated and by assessing older heuristic functions, we solve the problem by using of genetic algorithm and would show that this new method would result in better performance in comparison to other heuristic function such as simulated annealing greedy approach.

Keywords: Bids, genetic algorithm, heuristic, metaheuristic, simulated annealing greedy.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1780
3352 Deterministic Random Number Generator Algorithm for Cryptosystem Keys

Authors: Adi A. Maaita, Hamza A. A. Al_Sewadi

Abstract:

One of the crucial parameters of digital cryptographic systems is the selection of the keys used and their distribution. The randomness of the keys has a strong impact on the system’s security strength being difficult to be predicted, guessed, reproduced, or discovered by a cryptanalyst. Therefore, adequate key randomness generation is still sought for the benefit of stronger cryptosystems. This paper suggests an algorithm designed to generate and test pseudo random number sequences intended for cryptographic applications. This algorithm is based on mathematically manipulating a publically agreed upon information between sender and receiver over a public channel. This information is used as a seed for performing some mathematical functions in order to generate a sequence of pseudorandom numbers that will be used for encryption/decryption purposes. This manipulation involves permutations and substitutions that fulfill Shannon’s principle of “confusion and diffusion”. ASCII code characters were utilized in the generation process instead of using bit strings initially, which adds more flexibility in testing different seed values. Finally, the obtained results would indicate sound difficulty of guessing keys by attackers.

Keywords: Cryptosystems, Information Security agreement, Key distribution, Random numbers.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3428
3351 Discrete Modified Internal Model Control for a nth-order Plant with an Integrator and Dead-time

Authors: Manato Ono, Hiromitsu Ogawa, Naohiro Ban, Yoshihisa Ishida

Abstract:

This paper deals with a design method of a discrete modified Internal Model Control (IMC) for a plant with an integrator and dead time. If there is a load disturbance in the input or output side of the plant, the proposed control system can eliminate the steady-state error caused by it. The disturbance compensator in this method is simple and its order is low regardless of that of a plant. The simulation studies show that the proposed method has superior performance for a load disturbance rejection and robustness.

Keywords: Internal Model Control, Smith Predictor, Dead time, Integrator.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1655
3350 Innovative Methods of Improving Train Formation in Freight Transport

Authors: Jaroslav Masek, Juraj Camaj, Eva Nedeliakova

Abstract:

The paper is focused on the operational model for transport the single wagon consignments on railway network by using two different models of train formation. The paper gives an overview of possibilities of improving the quality of transport services. Paper deals with two models used in problematic of train formatting - time continuously and time discrete. By applying these models in practice, the transport company can guarantee a higher quality of service and expect increasing of transport performance. The models are also applicable into others transport networks. The models supplement a theoretical problem of train formation by new ways of looking to affecting the organization of wagon flows.

Keywords: Train formation, wagon flows, marshalling yard, railway technology.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2009
3349 A New Failure Analysis for Maintenance Management in Complex Hospitals

Authors: R. Miniati, F. Dori, E. Iadanza, M. Fregonara Medici

Abstract:

management of medical devices in hospitals includes the planning of medical equipment acquisition and maintenance. The presence of critical and non-critical areas together with technological proliferation render the management of medical devices very complex. This study creates an easy and objective methodology for the analysis of medical equipment maintenance, that makes the management of medical devices more feasible. The study has been carried out at Florence Hospital Careggi and it aims to help the clinical engineering department to manage medical equipment by clarifying the hospital situation through a characterization of the different areas, technologies and fault typologies.

Keywords: Clinical Engineering, Maintenance, Medical DevicesManagement, Key Performance Indicators.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1791
3348 Efficient Broadcasting in Wireless Sensor Networks

Authors: Min Kyung An, Hyuk Cho

Abstract:

In this paper, we study the Minimum Latency Broadcast Scheduling (MLBS) problem in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). The main issue of the MLBS problem is to compute schedules with the minimum number of timeslots such that a base station can broadcast data to all other sensor nodes with no collisions. Unlike existing works that utilize the traditional omni-directional WSNs, we target the directional WSNs where nodes can collaboratively determine and orientate their antenna directions. We first develop a 7-approximation algorithm, adopting directional WSNs. Our ratio is currently the best, to the best of our knowledge. We then validate the performance of the proposed algorithm through simulation.

Keywords: Broadcast, collision-free, directional antenna, approximation, wireless sensor networks.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1146
3347 Optimization of Methods for Development of Fermented-Distillate of Passion Fruit Beverage

Authors: Luciana C. Azevedo, Reinaldo S. Dantas, Antonio G. B. De Sá, Adalberto M. Filho, Patrícia M. Azoubel

Abstract:

Fermented beverages have high expression in the market for beverages in general, is increasingly valued in situations where the characteristic aroma and flavor of the material that gave rise to them are kept after processing. This study aimed to develop a distilled beverage from passion fruit, and assess, by sensory tests and chromatographic profile, the influence of different treatments (FM1- spirit with pulp addiction and FM2 – spirit with bigger ratio of pulp in must) in the setting of volatiles in the fruit drink, and performing chemical characterization taking into account the main parameters of quality established by the legislation. The chromatograms and the first sensorial tests had indicated that sample FM1 possess better characteristics of aroma, as much of how much quantitative the qualitative point of view. However, it analyzes it sensorial end (preference test) disclosed the biggest preference of the cloth provers for sample FM2-2 (note 7.93), being the attributes of decisive color and flavor in this reply, confirmed for the observed values lowest of fixed and total acidity in the samples of treatment FM2.

Keywords: Fermented-distilled drink, fruit spirits, passion fruit.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1811
3346 Unknown Environment Representation for Mobile Robot Using Spiking Neural Networks

Authors: Amir Reza Saffari Azar Alamdari

Abstract:

In this paper, a model of self-organizing spiking neural networks is introduced and applied to mobile robot environment representation and path planning problem. A network of spike-response-model neurons with a recurrent architecture is used to create robot-s internal representation from surrounding environment. The overall activity of network simulates a self-organizing system with unsupervised learning. A modified A* algorithm is used to find the best path using this internal representation between starting and goal points. This method can be used with good performance for both known and unknown environments.

Keywords: Mobile Robot, Path Planning, Self-organization, Spiking Neural Networks.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1485