Search results for: users comfort.

Authors: Barenten Suciu

Abstract:

In this work, by replacing the traditional solid spokes with colloidal spokes, a vehicle wheel with a built-in suspension structure is proposed. Following the background and description of the wheel system, firstly, a vibration model of the wheel equipped with colloidal spokes is proposed, and based on such model the equivalent damping coefficients and spring constants are identified. Then, a modified model of a quarter-vehicle moving on a rough pavement is proposed in order to estimate the transmissibility of vibration from the road roughness to vehicle body. In the end, the optimal design of the colloidal spokes and the optimum number of colloidal spokes are decided in order to minimize the transmissibility of vibration, i.e., to maximize the ride comfort of the vehicle.

Keywords: Built-in suspension, colloidal spoke, intrinsic spring, vibration analysis, wheel.

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Authors: Chan Eang Teng, Tang Mui Joo

Abstract:

In the beginning of the prevalence of social media, it would be an obvious trend that the young adult age group has the highest population among the users on social media. However, apart from the age group of the users are becoming younger and younger, the elderly group has become a new force on social media, and this age group has increased rapidly. On top of that, the influence of social media towards the elderly is becoming more significant and it is even trending among them. This is because basic computer knowledge is not instilled into their life when they were young. This age group tends to be engrossed more than the young as this is something new for them, and they have the mindset that it is a new platform to approach things, and they tend to be more engrossed when they start getting in touch with the social media. Generally, most of the social media has been accepted and accessed by teenagers and young adult, but it is reasonable to believe that the social media is not really accepted among the elderly. Surprisingly, the elderlies are more addicted to the social media than the teenagers. Therefore, this study is to determine and understand the relationship between the elderly and social media, and how they employ social media in their lives. An online survey on 200 elderly aged 45-80 and an interview with a media expert are conducted to answer the main questions in the research paper. Uses and Gratification Approach is employed in theoretical framework. Finding revealed that majority of the respondents use social media to connect with family, friends, and for leisure purposes. The finding concluded that the elderly use social media differently according to their needs and wants which is in par with the highlight of Uses and Gratification theory. Considering the significantly large role social media plays in our culture and daily life today, the finding will shed some light on the effect of social media on the elderly or senior citizens who are usually relegated into a minority group in today’s age where the internet and social media are of great importance to our society and humanity in general. This may also serve to be useful in understanding behavioral patterns and preference in terms of social media usage among the elderly.

Keywords: Elderly, Facebook, Malaysia, social media.

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Authors: Ahmed Hossam_ ElDin, Ahmed Farag, Ibrahim Madi., Hanaa Karawia

Abstract:

In our modern society electricity is vital to our health, safety, comfort and well-being. While our daily use of electricity is often taken for granted, public concern has arisen about potential adverse health effects from electric and magnetic – electromagnetic – fields (EMFs) produced by our use of electricity. This paper aims to compare between the measured magnetic field values and the simulated models for the indoor medium to low voltage (MV/LV) distribution substations. To calculate the magnetic flux density in the substations, interactive software SUBCALC is used which is based on closed form solution of the Biot-Savart law with 3D conductor model. The comparison between the measured values and the simulated models was acceptable. However there were some discrepancies, as expected, may be due to the current variation during measurements.

Keywords: Distribution substation, magnetic field, measurement, simulation.

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Authors: Ali Al-Zughaibi, Huw Davies

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The purpose of this paper is to present a modeling and control of a quarter-car active suspension system with unknown mass, unknown time-delay and road disturbance. The objective of designing the controller is to derive a control law to achieve stability of the system and convergence that can considerably improve ride comfort and road disturbance handling. This is accomplished by using Routh-Hurwitz criterion based on defined parameters. Mathematical proof is given to show the ability of the designed controller to ensure the target of design, implementation with the active suspension system and enhancement dispersion oscillation of the system despite these problems. Simulations were also performed to control quarter car suspension, where the results obtained from these simulations verify the validity of the proposed design.

Keywords: Active suspension system, disturbance rejection, dynamic uncertainty, time-delay.

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Authors: Bahram Khan, Anderson Rocha Ramos, Rui R. Paulo, Fernando J. Velez

Abstract:

With the growing demand for a new blend of applications, the users dependency on the internet is increasing day by day. Mobile internet users are giving more attention to their own experiences, especially in terms of communication reliability, high data rates and service stability on move. This increase in the demand is causing saturation of existing radio frequency bands. To address these challenges, researchers are investigating the best approaches, Carrier Aggregation (CA) is one of the newest innovations, which seems to fulfill the demands of the future spectrum, also CA is one the most important feature for Long Term Evolution - Advanced (LTE-Advanced). For this purpose to get the upcoming International Mobile Telecommunication Advanced (IMT-Advanced) mobile requirements (1 Gb/s peak data rate), the CA scheme is presented by 3GPP, which would sustain a high data rate using widespread frequency bandwidth up to 100 MHz. Technical issues such as aggregation structure, its implementations, deployment scenarios, control signal techniques, and challenges for CA technique in LTE-Advanced, with consideration of backward compatibility, are highlighted in this paper. Also, performance evaluation in macro-cellular scenarios through a simulation approach is presented, which shows the benefits of applying CA, low-complexity multi-band schedulers in service quality, system capacity enhancement and concluded that enhanced multi-band scheduler is less complex than the general multi-band scheduler, which performs better for a cell radius longer than 1800 m (and a PLR threshold of 2%).

Keywords: Component carrier, carrier aggregation, LTE-Advanced, scheduling, spectrum management.

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Authors: Abdelouahab Bouttout, Mohamed Amara

Abstract:

The present paper examines the impact noise transmission through some floor building assemblies. The Acoubat software numerical simulation has been used to simulate the impact noise transmission through different floor configurations used in Algerian construction mode. The results are compared with the available measurements. We have developed two experimental methods, i) field method, and ii) laboratory method using Brüel and Kjær equipments. The results show that the different cases of floor configurations need some improvement to ensure the acoustic comfort in the receiving apartment. The recommended value of the impact sound level in the receiving room should not exceed 58 dB. The important results obtained in this paper can be used as platform to improve the Algerian building acoustic regulation aimed at the construction of the multi-storey residential building.

Keywords: Impact noise, building acoustic, floor insulation, resilient material.

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Authors: Himanshu Dehra

Abstract:

This paper presents a paradigm for characterization and checking of human noise behavior. The definitions of ‘Noise’ and ‘Noise Behavior’ are devised. The concept of characterization and examining of Noise Behavior is obtained from the proposed paradigm of Psychoacoustics. The measurement of human noise behavior is discussed through definitions of noise sources and noise measurements. The noise sources, noise measurement equations and noise filters are further illustrated through examples. The theory and significance of solar energy acoustics is presented for life and its activities. Human comfort and health are correlated with human brain through physiological responses and noise protection. Examples of heat stress, intense heat, sweating and evaporation are also enumerated.

Keywords: Human brain, noise behavior, noise characterization, noise filters, physiological responses, psychoacoustics.

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Authors: Tallal Abdel Karim Bouzir, Nourdinne Zemmouri, Djihed Berkouk

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In this research, a quantitative assessment of the urban sound environment of the city of Biskra, Algeria, was conducted. To determine the quality of the soundscape based on in-situ measurement, using a Landtek SL5868P sound level meter in 47 points, which have been identified to represent the whole city. The result shows that the urban noise level varies from 55.3 dB to 75.8 dB during the weekdays and from 51.7 dB to 74.3 dB during the weekend. On the other hand, we can also note that 70.20% of the results of the weekday measurements and 55.30% of the results of the weekend measurements have levels of sound intensity that exceed the levels allowed by Algerian law and the recommendations of the World Health Organization. These very high urban noise levels affect the quality of life, the acoustic comfort and may even pose multiple risks to people's health.

Keywords: Noise pollution, road traffic, sound intensity, public health, noise monitoring.

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Authors: Bin Su

Abstract:

Auckland has a temperate climate with comfortable warm, dry summers and mild, wet winters. Auckland house design not only focus on winter thermal performance and indoor thermal condition, but also indoor moisture control, which is closely related to indirect health effects such as dust mites, fungi, etc. Most Auckland houses are designed to use temporary heating for winter indoor thermal comfort. Based on field study data of indoor microclimate conditions of two Auckland townhouses with a whole home mechanical ventilation system or a passive wind directional skylight vent, this study is to evaluate and compare indoor moisture conditions of two insulated townhouses only using temporary heating with different ventilation systems.

Keywords: House ventilation, house thermal design, indoor health condition, indoor moisture control.

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Authors: Francesca Radice

Abstract:

It has been observed that violent or coercive behaviour has been apparent from initial conversations on dating apps like Tinder. Child pornography, stalking, and coercive control are some criminal offences from dating apps, including women murdered after finding partners through Tinder. Police databases and predictive policing are novel approaches taken to prevent crime before harm is done. This research will investigate how police databases can be used in a privacy-preserving way to characterise users in terms of their potential for violent crime. Using the COPS database of NSW Police, we will explore how the past criminal record can be interpreted to yield a category of potential danger for each dating app user. It is up to the judgement of each subscriber on what degree of the potential danger they are prepared to enter into. Sentiment analysis is an area where research into natural language processing has made great progress over the last decade. This research will investigate how sentiment analysis can be used to interpret interchanges between dating app users to detect manipulative or coercive sentiments. These can be used to alert law enforcement if continued for a defined number of communications. One of the potential problems of this approach is the potential prejudice a categorisation can cause. Another drawback is the possibility of misinterpreting communications and involving law enforcement without reason. The approach will be thoroughly tested with cross-checks by human readers who verify both the level of danger predicted by the interpretation of the criminal record and the sentiment detected from personal messages. Even if only a few violent crimes can be prevented, the approach will have a tangible value for real people.

Keywords: Sentiment Analysis, data mining, predictive policing, virtual manipulation.

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Authors: Sher Shermin Azmiri Khan, Syeda Jannatul Ferdous, Sushmita Chakraborty

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Over the last decades, biomedical engineering prosthetics become one of the most essential grounds. Prosthetic hands are rapidly evolving. Therefore, for designing prosthetic components, it is essential to improve quality such as make it affordable and improve patient comfort and mobility by making them lightweight and easy to wear. In this paper, we proposed a myoelectric controlled prosthesis hand. We can fabricate and manufacture customized cost-effective, small volumes of 3D printed hand which is interesting. The total weight of an adult hand is about 1000 gm including a battery. The prosthetic hand is built up with low-cost materials and techniques, the cost of manufacturing will be approximately US$145. The hand can grip objects of different shapes and sizes. The 3D printed hand can rotate its wrist like a human hand. The prosthetic hand is capable of showing some types of human gestures.

Keywords: Prosthetic Hand, sEMG, 3D printing, Arduino.

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Authors: P. Saravanan, T. Arunkumar

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Vehicular Adhoc Network (VANET) is a new technology which aims to ensure intelligent inter-vehicle communications, seamless internet connectivity leading to improved road safety, essential alerts, and access to comfort and entertainment. VANET operations are hindered by mobile node’s (vehicles) uncertain mobility. Routing algorithms use metrics to evaluate which path is best for packets to travel. Metrics like path length (hop count), delay, reliability, bandwidth, and load determine optimal route. The proposed scheme exploits link quality, traffic density, and intersections as routing metrics to determine next hop. This study enhances Geographical Routing Protocol (GRP) using fuzzy controllers while rules are optimized with Bee Swarm Optimization (BSO). Simulations results are compared to conventional GRP.

Keywords: Bee Swarm Optimization (BSO), Geographical Routing Protocol (GRP), Vehicular Adhoc Network (VANET).

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Authors: Hae-Won Seo, Yong-Gu Lee

Abstract:

Recent progress in the next generation of automobile technology is geared towards incorporating information technology into cars. Collectively called smart cars are bringing intelligence to cars that provides comfort, convenience and safety. A branch of smart cars is connected-car system. The key concept in connected-cars is the sharing of driving information among cars through decentralized manner enabling collective intelligence. This paper proposes a foundation of the information model that is necessary to define the driving information for smart-cars. Road conditions are modeled through a unique data structure that unambiguously represent the time variant traffics in the streets. Additionally, the modeled data structure is exemplified in a navigational scenario and usage using UML. Optimal driving route searching is also discussed using the proposed data structure in a dynamically changing road conditions.

Keywords: Connected-car, data modeling, route planning, navigation system.

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Authors: P. Suntornchot, T. Satapanajaru, S.D. Comfort

Abstract:

Water, soil and sediment contaminated with metolachlor poses a threat to the environment and human health. We determined the effectiveness of nano-zerovalent iron (NZVI) to dechlorinate metolachlor [2-chloro-n-(2-ethyl-6-methyl-phenyl)-n- (1-methoxypropan-2-yl)acetamide] in pH solution and the presence of aluminium salt. The optimum dosage of degradation of 100 mlL-1 metolachlor was 1% (w/v) NZVI. The degradation kinetic rate (kobs) was 0.218×10-3 min-1 and specific first-order rates (kSA) was 8.72×10-7 L m-2min-1. By treating aqueous solutions of metolachlor with NZVI, metolachlor destruction rate were increased as the pH decrease from 10 to 4. Lowering solution pH removes Fe (III) passivating layers from the NZVI and makes it free for reductive transformations. Destruction kinetic rates were 20.8×10-3 min-1 for pH4, 18.9×10-3 min-1 for pH7, 13.8×10-3 min-1 for pH10. In addition, destruction kinetic of metolachlor by NZVI was enhanced when aluminium sulfate was added. The destruction kinetic rate were 20.4×10-3 min-1 for 0.05% Al(SO4)3 and 60×10-3 min-1 for 0.1% Al(SO4)3.

Keywords: destruction, kinetic rate, metolachlor, nano-zerovalent iron

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Authors: Mahmood Doroodchi, Babak K. Farahani, Mahmoud Moravej

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A fast and efficient model of application development called user interface oriented application development (UIOAD) is proposed. This approach introduces a convenient way for users to develop a platform independent client-server application.

Keywords: Software Development, XML, XForms, XUL, eForm, User Interface.

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Authors: Shunya Wakayama, Kazuya Okubo, Toru Fujii, Daisuke Sakata, Noriyuki Kado, Hiroshi Furutachi

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The purpose of this study is to propose an effective method to improve frictional coefficient between shoe rubber soles with added glass fibers and the surfaces of icy and snowy road in order to prevent slip-and-fall accidents by the users. The additional fibers into the rubber were uniformly tilted to the perpendicular direction of the frictional surface, where tilting angles were -60, -30, +30, +60, 90 degrees and 0 (as normal specimen), respectively. It was found that parallel arraignment was effective to improve the frictional coefficient when glass fibers were embedded in the shoe rubber, while perpendicular to normal direction of the embedded glass fibers on the shoe surface was also effective to do that once after they were exposed from the shoe rubber with its abrasion. These improvements were explained by the increase of stiffness against the shear deformation of the rubber at critical frictional state and adequate scratching of fibers when fibers were protruded in perpendicular to frictional direction, respectively. Most effective angle of tilting of frictional coefficient between rubber specimens and a stone was perpendicular (= 0 degree) to frictional direction. Combinative modified rubber specimen having 2 layers was fabricated where tilting angle of protruded fibers was 0 degree near the contact surface and tilting angle of embedded fibers was 90 degrees near back surface in thickness direction to further improve the frictional coefficient. Current study suggested that effective arraignments in tilting angle of the added fibers should be applied in designing rubber shoe soles to keep the safeties for users in regions of cold climates.

Keywords: Frictional coefficient, icy and snowy road, shoe rubber soles, tilting angle.

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Authors: Shafiq ur Rehman, Jane-Lisa Coughlan

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Mobiles are considered to be the most frequently used electronic items in world after electricity. It is probably the only device that can be used by any gender with no age limits depending on its functionality. This paper present the interactive interface of Mobile and particularly aiming the use of advanced phones which are also called smart phones. With the changes in the trend where users are now moving from ordinary mobiles to the one with touch screens and facilities such as WiFi and internet browsing.

Keywords: interface design, functionality, intelligent system

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Authors: Stephen Akuma, Racheal Aluma, Abraham Undu

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Academic websites play an important role in promoting education for all. They allow universities to provide users with digital academic services to save time and resources. A university website is not only a cost-effective and timely way to communicate with a variety of stakeholders, such as students, faculty, and visitors, but it is also a vehicle for the university to shape its image. The quality of a website is a major factor that universities consider in cyberspace. Potential students can easily apply to universities where the website provides useful and clear information. This has made the usability of websites an important area in meeting the needs and expectations of website users. In this paper, a comparative usability study of the University of Cape Town, Oxford University, and Harvard University academic websites (http://www.uct.ac.za/, https://www.ox.ac.uk/, and https://www.harvard.edu/) was carried out. The proactive user feedback technique was adopted for the comparative usability assessment of the aforementioned universities. The method was used by the researchers to collect and log records from the participants in real time. The result shows that the average dwell time on the websites of Harvard University, Oxford University, and Cape Town University in seconds for the three tasks are 51.58, 33.28, and 54.82 respectively. The System Usability Scale (SUS) scores for Harvard, Oxford, and the University of Cape Town are 49.81, 69.43, and 54.14 respectively. The result of the Analysis of Variance on the dwell time data shows a significant difference (p = .009) on the three websites. Our findings show that Oxford University has the most suitable website in terms of usability factors and other metrics than the other websites investigated. Practical implications are highlighted, and recommendations for improved website usability are suggested.

Keywords: Usability factors, user feedback, university websites, University of Cape Town, Harvard University, Oxford University.

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Authors: Saeed Vahidifar, Mohammad Nakhaee Sharif, Mohammad Ghaffari

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Few people would dispute the fact that one of the most common applications of energy is creating comfort in buildings, so it is probably true to say that management of energy consumption is required due to the environmental issues and increasing the efficiency of mechanical systems. From the geographical point of view, Iran is located in a warm and semi-arid region; therefore, air-cooled chillers are usually used for cooling residential buildings, commercial buildings, medical buildings, etc. In this study, a heat exchanger was designed for providing laundry hot water by utilizing condenser heat lost base on analytical results of a 540-bed hospital in the city of Mashhad in Iran. In this paper, by using the analytical method, energy consumption reduces about 13%, and coefficient of performance increases a bit. Results show that this method can help in the management of energy consumption a lot.

Keywords: Energy management, air-cooled chiller, heat exchanger, hospital laundry system.

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Authors: Mohammad Saraj Sharifzai, Keisuke Kitagawa, Mohammad Kamil Halimee, Javid Habib, Daishi Sakaguchi

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The purpose of this research is to upgrade a pleasing, sustainable and safe shelter in the Afghan urban community. It also aims to maintain traditional housing, which is fitted to its environment, while attempting to upgrade it with new, traditional standards. The three main objectives of this study are to upgrade the traditional courtyard house to become safe and sustainable today and tomorrow; to fit the contemporary house environmentally and culturally, and to suppress or reduce the broad gap between traditional and contemporary housing. The paper tries to exhibit and analyze the sustainably best practices available in both traditional and contemporary courtyard housing in Afghanistan. For instance, the use of thick walls and Tawa-Khana (floor heating system) shows the best sustainable practice in that context.

Keywords: Afghan Traditional Courtyard Housing (ATCH), Afghan Contemporary Courtyard Housing (ACCH), suitability planning, affordable and thermal comfort.

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Authors: Vahid Khalajzadeh, Ghassem Heidarinejad

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In this paper, the feasibility study of using a hybrid system of ground heat exchangers (GHE) and direct evaporative cooling system in arid weather condition has been performed. The model is applied for Yazd and Kerman, two cities with arid weather condition in Iran. The system composed of three sections: Ground- Coupled-Circuit (GCC), Direct Evaporative Cooler (DEC) and Cooling Coil Unite (CCU). The GCC provides the necessary precooling for DEC. The GCC includes four vertical GHE which are designed in series configuration. Simulation results show that hybridization of GCC and DEC could provide comfort condition whereas DEC alone did not. Based on the results the cooling effectiveness of a hybrid system is more than unity. Thus, this novel hybrid system could decrease the air temperature below the ambient wet-bulb temperature. This environmentally clean and energy efficient system can be considered as an alternative to the mechanical vapor compression systems.

Keywords: Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Cooling CoilUnit (CCU), Direct Evaporative Cooling (DEC), Ground CoupledCircuit (GCC)

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Authors: Ali Reza Manashty, Mohammad Reza Ahmadzadeh Raji, Zahra Forootan Jahromi, Amir Rajabzadeh

Abstract:

The ARMrayan Multimedia Mobile CMS (Content Management System) is the first mobile CMS that gives the opportunity to users for creating multimedia J2ME mobile applications with their desired content, design and logo; simply, without any need for writing even a line of code. The low-level programming and compatibility problems of the J2ME, along with UI designing difficulties, makes it hard for most people –even programmers- to broadcast their content to the widespread mobile phones used by nearly all people. This system provides user-friendly, PC-based tools for creating a tree index of pages and inserting multiple multimedia contents (e.g. sound, video and picture) in each page for creating a J2ME mobile application. The output is a standalone Java mobile application that has a user interface, shows texts and pictures and plays music and videos regardless of the type of devices used as long as the devices support the J2ME platform. Bitmap fonts have also been used thus Middle Eastern languages can be easily supported on all mobile phone devices. We omitted programming concepts for users in order to simplify multimedia content-oriented mobile applictaion designing for use in educational, cultural or marketing centers. Ordinary operators can now create a variety of multimedia mobile applications such as tutorials, catalogues, books, and guides in minutes rather than months. Simplicity and power has been the goal of this CMS. In this paper, we present the software engineered-designed concepts of the ARMrayan MCMS along with the implementation challenges faces and solutions adapted.

Keywords: Mobile CMS, MCMS, Mobile Content Builder, J2ME Application, Multimedia Mobile Application, MultimediaCMS, Multimedia Mobile CMS, Content Management System.

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Authors: Deng Shiwei

Abstract:

The users are now expecting higher level of DSP(Digital Signal Processing) software quality than ever before. Prevention and detection of defect are critical elements of software quality assurance. In this paper, principles and rules for prevention and detection of defect are suggested, which are not universal guidelines, but are useful for both novice and experienced DSP software developers.

Keywords: defect detection, defect prevention, DSP-software, software development, software testing.

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Authors: Kei-Lin Kuo

Abstract:

The automatic transmission (AT) is one of the most important components of many automobile transmission systems. The shift quality has a significant influence on the ride comfort of the vehicle. During the AT shift process, the joint elements such as the clutch and bands engage or disengage, linking sets of gears to create a fixed gear ratio. Since these ratios differ between gears in a fixed gear ratio transmission, the motion of the vehicle could change suddenly during the shift process if the joint elements are engaged or disengaged inappropriately, additionally impacting the entire transmission system and increasing the temperature of connect elements.The objective was to establish a system model for an AT powertrain using Matlab/Simulink. This paper further analyses the effect of varying hydraulic pressure and the associated impact on shift quality during both engagment and disengagement of the joint elements, proving that shift quality improvements could be achieved with appropriate hydraulic pressure control.

Keywords: Automatic transmission, Simulation and analysis, Shift quality.

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Authors: Chuan Li, Ming Liang, Qibing Yu

Abstract:

To improve the dynamics response of the vehicle passive suspension, a two-terminal mass is suggested to connect in parallel with the suspension strut. Three performance criteria, tire grip, ride comfort and suspension deflection, are taken into consideration to optimize the suspension parameters. However, the three criteria are conflicting and non-commensurable. For this reason, the Chebyshev goal programming method is applied to find the best tradeoff among the three objectives. A simulation case is presented to describe the multi-objective optimization procedure. For comparison, the Chebyshev method is also employed to optimize the design of a conventional passive suspension. The effectiveness of the proposed design method has been clearly demonstrated by the result. It is also shown that the suspension with a two-terminal mass in parallel has better performance in terms of the three objectives.

Keywords: Vehicle, passive suspension, two-terminal mass, optimization, Chebyshev goal programming

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Authors: P. Brinks, O. Kornadt, R. Oly

Abstract:

This research focuses on the optimization of glazed surfaces and the assessment of possible solar gains in industrial buildings. Existing window rating methods for single windows were evaluated and a new method for a simple analysis of energy gains and losses by single windows was introduced. Furthermore extensive transient building simulations were carried out to appraise the performance of low cost polycarbonate multi-cell sheets in interaction with typical buildings for industrial applications. Mainly energy saving potential was determined by optimizing the orientation and area of such glazing systems in dependency on their thermal qualities. Moreover the impact on critical aspects such as summer overheating and daylight illumination was considered to ensure the user comfort and avoid additional energy demand for lighting or cooling. Hereby the simulated heating demand could be reduced by up to 1/3 compared to traditional architecture of industrial halls using mainly skylights.

Keywords: Solar Architecture, Passive Solar Building Design, Glazing, Low-Energy Buildings, Industrial Buildings.

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Authors: Biswajit Biswas

Abstract:

Demand of energy is increasing faster than the generation. It leads shortage of power in all sectors of society. At peak hours this shortage is higher. Unless we utilize energy efficient technology, it is very difficult to minimize the shortage of energy. So energy efficiency program and energy conservation has an important role. Energy efficient technologies are cost intensive hence it is always not possible to implement in country like India. In the recent study, an educational building with operating hours from 10:00 a.m. to 05:00 p.m. has been selected to quantify the possibility of lighting energy conservation. As the operating hour is in daytime, integration of daylight with artificial lighting system will definitely reduce the lighting energy consumption. Moreover the initial investment has been given priority and hence the existing lighting installation was unaltered. An automatic controller has been designed which will be operated as a function of daylight through windows and the lighting system of the room will function accordingly. The result of the study of integrating daylight gave quite satisfactory for visual comfort as well as energy conservation.

Keywords: Lighting energy, energy efficiency, daylight, illumination, energy conservation.

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Authors: C. A. Alves, A. I. Calvo, A. Castro, R. Fraile, M. Evtyugina, E. F. Bate-Epey

Abstract:

In July 2012, an indoor/outdoor monitoring programme was undertaken in two university sports facilities: a fronton and a gymnasium. Comfort parameters (temperature, relative humidity, CO and CO2) and total volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were continuously monitored. Concentrations of NO2, carbonyl compounds and individual VOCs were obtained. Low volume samplers were used to collect particulate matter (PM10). The minimum ventilation rates stipulated for acceptable indoor air quality were observed in both sports facilities. It was found that cleaning activities may have a large influence on the VOC levels. Acrolein was one of the most abundant carbonyl compounds, showing concentrations above the recommended limit. Formaldehyde was detected at levels lower than those commonly reported for other indoor environments. The PM10 concentrations obtained during the occupancy periods ranged between 38 and 43μgm-3 in the fronton and from 154 to 198μgm-3 in the gymnasium.

Keywords: Air exchange rates, carbonyls, gymnasiums, indoor air quality, PM10, VOCs.

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Authors: Rosina C. Chia, Elmer Poe, Karl L. Wuensch

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A virtual collaborative classroom was created at East Carolina University, using videoconference technology via regular internet to bring students from 18 different countries, 2 at a time, to the ECU classroom in real time to learn about each other-s culture. Students from two countries are partnered one on one, they meet for 4-5 weeks, and submit a joint paper. Then the same process is repeated for two other countries. Lectures and student discussions are managed with pre-determined topics and questions. Classes are conducted in English and reading assignments are placed on the website. Administratively all partners are independent, students pay fees and get credits at their home institution. Familiarity with technology, knowledge in cultural understanding and attitude change were assessed, only attitude changes are reported in this paper. After taking this course, all students stated their comfort level in working with, and their desire to interact with, culturally different others grew stronger and their xenophobia and isolationist attitudes decreased.

Keywords: Attitude change, interactive cultural learning, multicultural education, real time virtual learning.

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Authors: Chan Eang Teng, Tang Mui Joo

Abstract:

With the viral factor on social media, the sense of persuasion is generated by repetition and popularity. When users’ interest is captured, political awareness increases to spark political enthusiasm, but, the level of user’s political participation and political attitude of those active users is still questionable. An online survey on 250 youth and in-depth interview on two politicians are conducted to answer the main question in this paper. The result shows that Facebook significantly increases political awareness among youths. Social media may not be the major trigger to political activism among youths as most respondents opined that they would still vote without Facebook. Other factors could be political campaigning, political climate, age, peer pressure or others. Finding also shows that majority of respondents did not participate in online political debates or political groups. Many also wondered if the social media was the main power switch that triggers the political influx among young voters. The research finding is significant to understand how the new media, Facebook, has reshaped the political landscape in Malaysia, creating the Social Media Election that changed the rules of the political game. However, research finding does not support the ideal notion that the social media is the major trigger to youth’s political activism. This research outcome has exposed the flaws of the Social Media Election. It has revealed the less optimistic side of youth political activism. Unfortunately, results fall short of the idealistic belief that the social media have given rise to political activism among youths in the 13^th General Election in Malaysia. The research outcome also highlights an important lesson for the democratic discourse of Malaysia which is making informed and educated decisions takes more commitment, proactive and objective attitude.

Keywords: Social media, political participation, political activism, democracy, political communication.

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