Search results for: space efficiency
3263 Modeling of Bisphenol A (BPA) Removal from Aqueous Solutions by Adsorption Using Response Surface Methodology (RSM)
Authors: Mohammad Ali Zazouli, Farzaneh Veisi, Amir Veisi
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Bisphenol A (BPA) is an organic synthetic compound that has many applications in various industries and is known as persistent pollutant. The aim of this research was to evaluate the efficiency of bone ash and banana peel as adsorbents for BPA adsorption from aqueous solution by using Response Surface Methodology. The effects of some variables such as sorbent dose, detention time, solution pH, and BPA concentration on the sorption efficiency was examined. All analyses were carried out according to Standard Methods. The sample size was performed using Box-Benken design and also optimization of BPA removal was done using response surface methodology (RSM). The results showed that the BPA adsorption increases with increasing of contact time and BPA concentration. However, it decreases with higher pH. More adsorption efficiency of a banana peel is very smaller than a bone ash so that BPA removal for bone ash and banana peel is 62 and 28 percent, respectively. It is concluded that a bone ash has a good ability for the BPA adsorption.
Keywords: Adsorbent, banana peel, bisphenol A (BPA), bone ash, wastewater treatment.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16543262 Anaerobic Treatment of Petroleum Refinery Wastewater
Authors: H. A. Gasim, S. R. M. Kutty, M. Hasnain Isa
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Anaerobic treatment has many advantages over other biological method particularly when used to treat complex wastewater such as petroleum refinery wastewater. In this study two Up-flow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) reactors were operated in parallel to treat six volumetric organic loads (0.58, 1.21, 0.89, 2.34, 1.47 and 4.14 kg COD/m3·d) to evaluate the chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency. The reactors were continuously adapting to the changing of operation condition with increase in the removal efficiency or slight decrease until the last load which was more than two times the load, at which the reactor stressed and the removal efficiency decreased to 75% with effluent concentration of 1746 mg COD/L. Other parameters were also monitored such as pH, alkalinity, volatile fatty acid and gas production rate. The UASB reactor was suitable to treat petroleum refinery wastewater and the highest COD removal rate was 83% at 1215 kg/m3·d with COD concentration about 356 mg/L in the effluent.Keywords: Petroleum refinery wastewater, anaerobic digestion, UASB, organic volumetric loading rate
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 29413261 Thermodynamic Performance of a Combined Power and Ejector Refrigeration Cycle
Authors: Hyung Jong Ko, Kyoung Hoon Kim
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In this study thermodynamic performance analysis of a combined organic Rankine cycle and ejector refrigeration cycle is carried out for use of low-grade heat source in the form of sensible energy. Special attention is paid to the effects of system parameters including the turbine inlet temperature and turbine inlet pressure on the characteristics of the system such as ratios of mass flow rate, net work production, and refrigeration capacity as well as the coefficient of performance and exergy efficiency of the system. Results show that for a given source the coefficient of performance increases with increasing of the turbine inlet pressure. However, the exergy efficiency has an optimal condition with respect to the turbine inlet pressure.
Keywords: Coefficient of performance, ejector refrigeration cycle, exergy efficiency, low-grade energy, organic rankine cycle.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 25073260 Parametric Primitives for Hand Gesture Recognition
Authors: Sanmohan Krüger, Volker Krüger
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Imitation learning is considered to be an effective way of teaching humanoid robots and action recognition is the key step to imitation learning. In this paper an online algorithm to recognize parametric actions with object context is presented. Objects are key instruments in understanding an action when there is uncertainty. Ambiguities arising in similar actions can be resolved with objectn context. We classify actions according to the changes they make to the object space. Actions that produce the same state change in the object movement space are classified to belong to the same class. This allow us to define several classes of actions where members of each class are connected with a semantic interpretation.Keywords: Parametric actions, Action primitives, Hand gesture recognition, Imitation learning
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14903259 New Hybrid Algorithm for Task Scheduling in Grid Computing to Decrease missed Task
Authors: Z. Pooranian, A. Harounabadi, M. Shojafar, N. Hedayat
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The purpose of Grid computing is to utilize computational power of idle resources which are distributed in different areas. Given the grid dynamism and its decentralize resources, there is a need for an efficient scheduler for scheduling applications. Since task scheduling includes in the NP-hard problems various researches have focused on invented algorithms especially the genetic ones. But since genetic is an inherent algorithm which searches the problem space globally and does not have the efficiency required for local searching, therefore, its combination with local searching algorithms can compensate for this shortcomings. The aim of this paper is to combine the genetic algorithm and GELS (GAGELS) as a method to solve scheduling problem by which simultaneously pay attention to two factors of time and number of missed tasks. Results show that the proposed algorithm can decrease makespan while minimizing the number of missed tasks compared with the traditional methods.Keywords: Grid Computing, Genetic Algorithm, Gravitational Emulation Local Search (GELS), missed task
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19473258 Treatment of Cutting Oily-Wastewater by Sono Fenton Process: Experimental Approach and Combined Process
Authors: P. Painmanakul, T. Chintateerachai, S. Lertlapwasin, N. Rojvilavan, T. Chalermsinsuwan, N. Chawaloesphonsiya, O. Larpparisudthi
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Conventional coagulation, advance oxidation process (AOPs), and the combined process were evaluated and compared for its suitability to treat the stabilized cutting-oil wastewater. The 90% efficiency was obtained from the coagulation at Al2(SO4)3 dosage of 150 mg/L and pH 7. On the other hands, efficiencies of AOPs for 30 minutes oxidation time were 10% for acoustic oxidation, 12% for acoustic oxidation with hydrogen peroxide, 76% for Fenton, and 92% sono-Fenton processes. The highest efficiency for effective oil removal of AOPs required large amount of chemical. Therefore, AOPs were studied as a post-treatment after conventional separation process. The efficiency was considerable as the effluent COD can pass the standard required for industrial wastewater discharge with less chemical and energy consumption.
Keywords: Cutting oily-wastewater, Advance oxidation process, Sono-Fenton, Combined process.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 32723257 Tracking Trajectory of a Cable-Driven Robot for Lower Limb Rehabilitation
Authors: Hachmia Faqihi, Maarouf Saad, Khalid Benjelloun, Mohammed Benbrahim, M. Nabil Kabbaj
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This paper investigates and presents a cable-driven robot to lower limb rehabilitation use in sagittal plane. The presented rehabilitation robot is used for a trajectory tracking in joint space. The paper covers kinematic and dynamic analysis, which reveals the tensionability of the used cables as being the actuating source to provide a rehabilitation exercises of the human leg. The desired trajectory is generated to be used in the control system design in joint space. The obtained simulation results is showed to be efficient in this kind of application.Keywords: Cable-driven multibody system, computed-torque controller, lower limb rehabilitation, tracking trajectory.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17623256 Position Vector of a Partially Null Curve Derived from a Vector Differential Equation
Authors: Süha Yılmaz, Emin Özyılmaz, Melih Turgut, Şuur Nizamoğlu
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In this paper, position vector of a partially null unit speed curve with respect to standard frame of Minkowski space-time is studied. First, it is proven that position vector of every partially null unit speed curve satisfies a vector differential equation of fourth order. In terms of solution of the differential equation, position vector of a partially null unit speed curve is expressed.
Keywords: Frenet Equations, Partially Null Curves, Minkowski Space-time, Vector Differential Equation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 11693255 Tri-Axis Receiver for Wireless Micro-Power Transmission
Authors: Nan-Chyuan Tsai, Sheng-Liang Hsu
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An innovative tri-axes micro-power receiver is proposed. The tri-axes micro-power receiver consists of two sets 3-D micro-solenoids and one set planar micro-coils in which iron core is embedded. The three sets of micro-coils are designed to be orthogonal to each other. Therefore, no matter which direction the flux is present along, the magnetic energy can be harvested and transformed into electric power. Not only dead space of receiving power is mostly reduced, but also transformation efficiency of electromagnetic energy to electric power can be efficiently raised. By employing commercial software, Ansoft Maxwell, the preliminary simulation results verify that the proposed micro-power receiver can efficiently pick up the energy transmitted by magnetic power source. As to the fabrication process, the isotropic etching technique is employed to micro-machine the inverse-trapezoid fillister so that the copper wire can be successfully electroplated. The adhesion between micro-coils and fillister is much enhanced.Keywords: Wireless Power Transmission, Magnetic Flux, Tri-axes Micro-power Receiver
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13513254 Effect of Three Drying Methods on Antioxidant Efficiency and Vitamin C Content of Moringa oleifera Leaf Extract
Authors: Kenia Martínez, Geniel Talavera, Juan Alonso
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Moringa oleifera is a plant containing many nutrients that are mostly concentrated within the leaves. Commonly, the separation process of these nutrients involves solid-liquid extraction followed by evaporation and drying to obtain a concentrated extract, which is rich in proteins, vitamins, carbohydrates, and other essential nutrients that can be used in the food industry. In this work, three drying methods were used, which involved very different temperature and pressure conditions, to evaluate the effect of each method on the vitamin C content and the antioxidant efficiency of the extracts. Solid-liquid extractions of Moringa leaf (LE) were carried out by employing an ethanol solution (35% v/v) at 50 °C for 2 hours. The resulting extracts were then dried i) in a convective oven (CO) at 100 °C and at an atmospheric pressure of 750 mbar for 8 hours, ii) in a vacuum evaporator (VE) at 50 °C and at 300 mbar for 2 hours, and iii) in a freeze-drier (FD) at -40 °C and at 0.050 mbar for 36 hours. The antioxidant capacity (EC50, mg solids/g DPPH) of the dry solids was calculated by the free radical inhibition method employing DPPH˙ at 517 nm, resulting in a value of 2902.5 ± 14.8 for LE, 3433.1 ± 85.2 for FD, 3980.1 ± 37.2 for VE, and 8123.5 ± 263.3 for CO. The calculated antioxidant efficiency (AE, g DPPH/(mg solids·min)) was 2.920 × 10-5 for LE, 2.884 × 10-5 for FD, 2.512 × 10-5 for VE, and 1.009 × 10-5 for CO. Further, the content of vitamin C (mg/L) determined by HPLC was 59.0 ± 0.3 for LE, 49.7 ± 0.6 for FD, 45.0 ± 0.4 for VE, and 23.6 ± 0.7 for CO. The results indicate that the convective drying preserves vitamin C and antioxidant efficiency to 40% and 34% of the initial value, respectively, while vacuum drying to 76% and 86%, and freeze-drying to 84% and 98%, respectively.
Keywords: Antioxidant efficiency, convective drying, freeze-drying, Moringa oleifera, vacuum drying, vitamin C content.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18013253 A Cooperative Transmission Scheme Using Two Sources Based On OFDM System
Authors: Bit-Na Kwon, Dong-Hyun Ha, Hyoung-Kyu Song
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In wireless communication, space-time block code (STBC), cyclic delay diversity (CDD) and space-time cyclic delay diversity (STCDD)are used as the spatial diversity schemes and have been widely studied for the reliablecommunication. If these schemes are used, the communication system can obtain the improved performance. However,the quality of the system is degraded when the distance between a source and a destination is distant in wireless communication system. In this paper, the cooperative transmission scheme using two sources is proposed and improves the performance of the wireless communication system.
Keywords: OFDM, Cooperative communication, CDD, STBC, STCDD.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21253252 The Optimum Aeration Time of Wastewater Treatment by Surface Aerators in Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University
Authors: Anat Thapinta
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This research aimed to study on the efficiency of wastewater treatment by comparing the different aeration times of surface aerators in Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. In doing so, the operation of surface aerators was divided into 2 groups which included the groups of 8 hours (8-0/opened-closed) and 4 hours (2-2/opened-closed) of aeration time per day. As a result of the study, it was found that the efficiency of wastewater treatment in the forms of DO, BOD, turbidity and NO2- by 8 hours (8-0/opened-closed) and 4 hours (2-2/opened-closed) of aeration time per day of surface aerators was not statistically different [Sig. = .644, .488, .716 and .054 > α (.05)] while the efficiency in the forms of NO3- and P was significantly different at the statistical level of .01 [Sig. = .001 and .000 < α (.01)].
Keywords: Aeration time, Surface aerator, Wastewater treatment.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22453251 Selection of Extracurricular Education Facilities and Organizational Performance Analysis of Meg-city Spatial System
Authors: Chen Zhang, Wei Yaping
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With the rapid expansion of city scale and the excessive concentration of population, achieving relative equality of extracurricular education resources and improving spatial service performance of relevant facilities become necessary arduous tasks. In urban space, extracurricular education facilities should offer better service to its targeted area and promote the equality and efficiency of education, which is accomplished by the allocation of facilities. Based on questionnaire and survey for local students in Hangzhou City in 2009, this study classifies extracurricular education facilities in meg-city and defines the equalization of these facilities. Then it is suggested to establish extracurricular education facilities system according to the development level of city and demands of local students, and to introduce a spatial analysis method into urban planning through the aspects of spatial distribution, travel cost and spatial service scope. Finally, the practice of nine sub-districts of Hangzhou is studied.Keywords: extracurricular education facilities, equalization, spatial service performance, meg-city
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14323250 Use of Zeolite and Surfactant Modified Zeolite as Ion Exchangers to Control Nitrate Leaching
Authors: R. Malekian, J. Abedi-Koupai, S. S. Eslamian
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Nitrogen loss from irrigated cropland, particularly sandy soils, significantly contributes to nitrate (NO3 -) levels in surface and groundwaters. Thus, it is of great interest to use inexpensive natural products that can increase the fertilizer efficiency and decrease nitrate leaching. In this study, the ability of natural Iranian zeolite clinoptilolite (Cp) and surfactant modified zeolite clinoptilolite (SMZ) to remove NH4 + and NO3 -, respectively, from aqueous solutions was determined. The feasibility of using Cp and SMZ as soil amendment to reduce nitrate leaching from soil using lysimeters was also investigated. Zeolite showed 10.23% to 88.42% NH4 + removal efficiency over a wide range of initial NH4 + concentrations. Nitrate removal efficiency by SMZ was 32.26% to 82.26%. Field study results showed that Cp and SMZ significantly (p < 0.05) reduced leachate NO3-N concentration compared to control. There was no significant difference between maximum and mean leachate NO3-N concentration of SMZ lysimeters and those of Cp lysimeters.Keywords: Ammonium removal, Leaching, Nitrate removal, Surfactant modified zeolite
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 27563249 Performance Assessment of Wet-Compression Gas Turbine Cycle with Turbine Blade Cooling
Authors: Kyoung Hoon Kim
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Turbine blade cooling is considered as the most effective way of maintaining high operating temperature making use of the available materials, and turbine systems with wet compression have a potential for future power generation because of high efficiency and high specific power with a relatively low cost. In this paper performance analysis of wet-compression gas turbine cycle with turbine blade cooling is carried out. The wet compression process is analytically modeled based on non-equilibrium droplet evaporation. Special attention is paid for the effects of pressure ratio and water injection ratio on the important system variables such as ratio of coolant fluid flow, fuel consumption, thermal efficiency and specific power. Parametric studies show that wet compression leads to insignificant improvement in thermal efficiency but significant enhancement of specific power in gas turbine systems with turbine blade cooling.Keywords: Water injection, wet compression, gas turbine, turbine blade cooling.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 34113248 Optimum Working Fluid Selection for Automotive Cogeneration System
Authors: Wonsim Cha, Kibum Kim, Kyungwook Choi, Kihyung Lee
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A co-generation system in automobile can improve thermal efficiency of vehicle in some degree. The waste heat from the engine exhaust and coolant is still attractive energy source that reaches around 60% of the total energy converted from fuel. To maximize the effectiveness of heat exchangers for recovering the waste heat, it is vital to select the most suitable working fluid for the system, not to mention that it is important to find the optimum design for the heat exchangers. The design of heat exchanger is out of scoop of this study; rather, the main focus has been on the right selection of working fluid for the co-generation system. Simulation study was carried out to find the most suitable working fluid that can allow the system to achieve the optimum efficiency in terms of the heat recovery rate and thermal efficiency.Keywords: Cycle Analysis, Heat Recovery, Rankine Cycle, Waste Heat Recovery, Working Fluid.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22273247 Data Envelopment Analysis under Uncertainty and Risk
Authors: P. Beraldi, M. E. Bruni
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Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is one of the most widely used technique for evaluating the relative efficiency of a set of homogeneous decision making units. Traditionally, it assumes that input and output variables are known in advance, ignoring the critical issue of data uncertainty. In this paper, we deal with the problem of efficiency evaluation under uncertain conditions by adopting the general framework of the stochastic programming. We assume that output parameters are represented by discretely distributed random variables and we propose two different models defined according to a neutral and risk-averse perspective. The models have been validated by considering a real case study concerning the evaluation of the technical efficiency of a sample of individual firms operating in the Italian leather manufacturing industry. Our findings show the validity of the proposed approach as ex-ante evaluation technique by providing the decision maker with useful insights depending on his risk aversion degree.Keywords: DEA, Stochastic Programming, Ex-ante evaluation technique, Conditional Value at Risk.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19713246 Dependence of Virtual Subjects Reflection from the Features of Coping Behavior of Students
Authors: F.S.Tashimova, A. Mirzabekova, Z. Ismagambetova, Y. Massanov, Z. Gabit
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In the globalization process, when the struggle for minds and values of the people is taking place, the impact of the virtual space can cause unexpected effects and consequences in the process of adjustment of young people in this world. Their special significance is defined by unconscious influence on the underlying process of meaning and therefore the values preached by them are much more effective and affect both the personal characteristics and the peculiarities of adjustment process. Related to this the challenge is to identify factors influencing the reflection characteristics of virtual subjects and measures their impact on the personal characteristics of the students.
Keywords: Coping behavior, overcoming, personalization (representation), psychological defense, values, virtual space, virtual subject, subjective reflection.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 11733245 Enhancing Power Conversion Efficiency of P3HT/PCBM Polymer Solar Cells
Authors: Nidal H. Abu-Zahra, Mahmoud Algazzar
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In this research, n-dodecylthiol was added to P3HT/ PC70BM polymer solar cells to improve the crystallinity of P3HT and enhance the phase separation of P3HT/PC70BM. The improved crystallinity of P3HT:PC70BM doped with 0-5% by volume of n-dodecylthiol resulted in improving the power conversion efficiency of polymer solar cells by 33%. In addition, thermal annealing of the P3HT/PC70MB/n-dodecylthiolcompound showed further improvement in crystallinity with n-dodecylthiol concentration up to 2%. The highest power conversion efficiency of 3.21% was achieved with polymer crystallites size L of 11.2nm, after annealing at 150°C for 30 minutes under a vacuum atmosphere. The smaller crystallite size suggests a shorter path of the charge carriers between P3HT backbones, which could be beneficial to getting a higher short circuit current in the devices made with the additive.
Keywords: n-dodecylthiol, Congugated PSC, P3HT/PCBM, Polymer Solar Cells.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 35593244 A Technique for Reachability Graph Generation for the Petri Net Models of Parallel Processes
Authors: Farooq Ahmad, Hejiao Huang, Xiaolong Wang
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Reachability graph (RG) generation suffers from the problem of exponential space and time complexity. To alleviate the more critical problem of time complexity, this paper presents the new approach for RG generation for the Petri net (PN) models of parallel processes. Independent RGs for each parallel process in the PN structure are generated in parallel and cross-product of these RGs turns into the exhaustive state space from which the RG of given parallel system is determined. The complexity analysis of the presented algorithm illuminates significant decrease in the time complexity cost of RG generation. The proposed technique is applicable to parallel programs having multiple threads with the synchronization problem.Keywords: Parallel processes, Petri net, reachability graph, time complexity.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20173243 Numerical Modeling of Various Support Systems to Stabilize Deep Excavations
Authors: M. Abdallah
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Urban development requires deep excavations near buildings and other structures. Deep excavation has become more a necessity for better utilization of space as the population of the world has dramatically increased. In Lebanon, some urban areas are very crowded and lack spaces for new buildings and underground projects, which makes the usage of underground space indispensable. In this paper, a numerical modeling is performed using the finite element method to study the deep excavation-diaphragm wall soil-structure interaction in the case of nonlinear soil behavior. The study is focused on a comparison of the results obtained using different support systems. Furthermore, a parametric study is performed according to the remoteness of the structure.Keywords: Deep excavation, ground anchors, interaction, struts.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 10923242 Effect of Cyclotron Resonance Frequencies in Particles Due to AC and DC Electromagnetic Fields
Authors: Malka N. Halgamuge, Chathurika D. Abeyratne, Priyan Mendis
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A fundamental model consisting of charged particles moving in free space exposed to alternating and direct current (ACDC) electromagnetic fields is analyzed. Effects of charged particles initial position and initial velocity to cyclotron resonance frequency are observed. Strong effects are observed revealing that effects of electric and magnetic fields on a charged particle in free space varies with the initial conditions. This indicates the frequency where maximum displacement occur can be changed. At this frequency the amplitude of oscillation of the particle displacement becomes unbounded.Keywords: Cyclotron resonance, electromagnetic fields, particle displacement
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15593241 Skin Lesion Segmentation Using Color Channel Optimization and Clustering-based Histogram Thresholding
Authors: Rahil Garnavi, Mohammad Aldeen, M. Emre Celebi, Alauddin Bhuiyan, Constantinos Dolianitis, George Varigos
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Automatic segmentation of skin lesions is the first step towards the automated analysis of malignant melanoma. Although numerous segmentation methods have been developed, few studies have focused on determining the most effective color space for melanoma application. This paper proposes an automatic segmentation algorithm based on color space analysis and clustering-based histogram thresholding, a process which is able to determine the optimal color channel for detecting the borders in dermoscopy images. The algorithm is tested on a set of 30 high resolution dermoscopy images. A comprehensive evaluation of the results is provided, where borders manually drawn by four dermatologists, are compared to automated borders detected by the proposed algorithm, applying three previously used metrics of accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity and a new metric of similarity. By performing ROC analysis and ranking the metrics, it is demonstrated that the best results are obtained with the X and XoYoR color channels, resulting in an accuracy of approximately 97%. The proposed method is also compared with two state-of-theart skin lesion segmentation methods.Keywords: Border detection, Color space analysis, Dermoscopy, Histogram thresholding, Melanoma, Segmentation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22493240 Production of Hydrogen and Carbon Nanofiber via Methane Decomposition
Authors: Zhi Zhang, Tao Tang, Guangda Lu, Cheng Qin, Huogen Huang, Shaotao Zheng
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High purity hydrogen and the valuable by-product of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can be produced by the methane catalytic decomposition. The methane conversion and the performance of CNTs were determined by the choices of catalysts and the condition of decomposition reaction. In this paper, Ni/MgO and Ni/O-D (oxidized diamond) catalysts were prepared by wetness impregnation method. The effects of reaction temperature and space velocity of methane on the methane conversion were investigated in a fixed-bed. The surface area, structure and micrography were characterized with BET, XPS, SEM, EDS technology. The results showed that the conversion of methane was above 8% within 150 min (T=500) for 33Ni/O-D catalyst and higher than 25% within 120 min (T=650) for 41Ni/MgO catalyst. The initial conversion increased with the increasing temperature of the decomposition reaction, but their catalytic activities decreased rapidly while at too higher temperature. To decrease the space velocity of methane was propitious to promote the methane conversion, but not favor of the hydrogen yields. The appearance of carbon resulted from the methane decomposition lied on the support type and the condition of catalytic reaction. It presented as fiber shape on the surface of Ni/O-D at the relatively lower temperature such as 500 and 550, but as grain shape stacked on and overlayed on the surface of the metal nickel while at 650. The carbon fiber can form on the Ni/MgO surface at 650 and the diameter of the carbon fiber increased with the decreasing space velocity.
Keywords: methane, catalytic decomposition, hydrogen, carbon nanofiber
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21803239 Discovering Liouville-Type Problems for p-Energy Minimizing Maps in Closed Half-Ellipsoids by Calculus Variation Method
Authors: Lina Wu, Jia Liu, Ye Li
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The goal of this project is to investigate constant properties (called the Liouville-type Problem) for a p-stable map as a local or global minimum of a p-energy functional where the domain is a Euclidean space and the target space is a closed half-ellipsoid. The First and Second Variation Formulas for a p-energy functional has been applied in the Calculus Variation Method as computation techniques. Stokes’ Theorem, Cauchy-Schwarz Inequality, Hardy-Sobolev type Inequalities, and the Bochner Formula as estimation techniques have been used to estimate the lower bound and the upper bound of the derived p-Harmonic Stability Inequality. One challenging point in this project is to construct a family of variation maps such that the images of variation maps must be guaranteed in a closed half-ellipsoid. The other challenging point is to find a contradiction between the lower bound and the upper bound in an analysis of p-Harmonic Stability Inequality when a p-energy minimizing map is not constant. Therefore, the possibility of a non-constant p-energy minimizing map has been ruled out and the constant property for a p-energy minimizing map has been obtained. Our research finding is to explore the constant property for a p-stable map from a Euclidean space into a closed half-ellipsoid in a certain range of p. The certain range of p is determined by the dimension values of a Euclidean space (the domain) and an ellipsoid (the target space). The certain range of p is also bounded by the curvature values on an ellipsoid (that is, the ratio of the longest axis to the shortest axis). Regarding Liouville-type results for a p-stable map, our research finding on an ellipsoid is a generalization of mathematicians’ results on a sphere. Our result is also an extension of mathematicians’ Liouville-type results from a special ellipsoid with only one parameter to any ellipsoid with (n+1) parameters in the general setting.Keywords: Bochner Formula, Stokes’ Theorem, Cauchy-Schwarz Inequality, first and second variation formulas, Hardy-Sobolev type inequalities, Liouville-type problem, p-harmonic map.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 9153238 Vibration Suppression of Timoshenko Beams with Embedded Piezoelectrics Using POF
Authors: T. C. Manjunath, B. Bandyopadhyay
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This paper deals with the design of a periodic output feedback controller for a flexible beam structure modeled with Timoshenko beam theory, Finite Element Method, State space methods and embedded piezoelectrics concept. The first 3 modes are considered in modeling the beam. The main objective of this work is to control the vibrations of the beam when subjected to an external force. Shear piezoelectric sensors and actuators are embedded into the top and bottom layers of a flexible aluminum beam structure, thus making it intelligent and self-adaptive. The composite beam is divided into 5 finite elements and the control actuator is placed at finite element position 1, whereas the sensor is varied from position 2 to 5, i.e., from the nearby fixed end to the free end. 4 state space SISO models are thus developed. Periodic Output Feedback (POF) Controllers are designed for the 4 SISO models of the same plant to control the flexural vibrations. The effect of placing the sensor at different locations on the beam is observed and the performance of the controller is evaluated for vibration control. Conclusions are finally drawn.Keywords: Smart structure, Timoshenko beam theory, Periodic output feedback control, Finite Element Method, State space model, SISO, Embedded sensors and actuators, Vibration control.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21363237 Face Detection using Gabor Wavelets and Neural Networks
Authors: Hossein Sahoolizadeh, Davood Sarikhanimoghadam, Hamid Dehghani
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This paper proposes new hybrid approaches for face recognition. Gabor wavelets representation of face images is an effective approach for both facial action recognition and face identification. Perform dimensionality reduction and linear discriminate analysis on the down sampled Gabor wavelet faces can increase the discriminate ability. Nearest feature space is extended to various similarity measures. In our experiments, proposed Gabor wavelet faces combined with extended neural net feature space classifier shows very good performance, which can achieve 93 % maximum correct recognition rate on ORL data set without any preprocessing step.Keywords: Face detection, Neural Networks, Multi-layer Perceptron, Gabor wavelets.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21673236 A Tuning Method for Microwave Filter via Complex Neural Network and Improved Space Mapping
Authors: Shengbiao Wu, Weihua Cao, Min Wu, Can Liu
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This paper presents an intelligent tuning method of microwave filter based on complex neural network and improved space mapping. The tuning process consists of two stages: the initial tuning and the fine tuning. At the beginning of the tuning, the return loss of the filter is transferred to the passband via the error of phase. During the fine tuning, the phase shift caused by the transmission line and the higher order mode is removed by the curve fitting. Then, an Cauchy method based on the admittance parameter (Y-parameter) is used to extract the coupling matrix. The influence of the resonant cavity loss is eliminated during the parameter extraction process. By using processed data pairs (the amount of screw variation and the variation of the coupling matrix), a tuning model is established by the complex neural network. In view of the improved space mapping algorithm, the mapping relationship between the actual model and the ideal model is established, and the amplitude and direction of the tuning is constantly updated. Finally, the tuning experiment of the eight order coaxial cavity filter shows that the proposed method has a good effect in tuning time and tuning precision.Keywords: Microwave filter, scattering parameter (s-parameter), coupling matrix, intelligent tuning.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13203235 Self-Tuning Robot Control Based on Subspace Identification
Authors: Mathias Marquardt, Peter Dünow, Sandra Baßler
Abstract:
The paper describes the use of subspace based identification methods for auto tuning of a state space control system. The plant is an unstable but self balancing transport robot. Because of the unstable character of the process it has to be identified from closed loop input-output data. Based on the identified model a state space controller combined with an observer is calculated. The subspace identification algorithm and the controller design procedure is combined to a auto tuning method. The capability of the approach was verified in a simulation experiments under different process conditions.Keywords: Auto tuning, balanced robot, closed loop identification, subspace identification.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 11363234 Genetic Algorithm Based Optimal Control for a 6-DOF Non Redundant Stewart Manipulator
Authors: A. Omran, G. El-Bayiumi, M. Bayoumi, A. Kassem
Abstract:
Applicability of tuning the controller gains for Stewart manipulator using genetic algorithm as an efficient search technique is investigated. Kinematics and dynamics models were introduced in detail for simulation purpose. A PD task space control scheme was used. For demonstrating technique feasibility, a Stewart manipulator numerical-model was built. A genetic algorithm was then employed to search for optimal controller gains. The controller was tested onsite a generic circular mission. The simulation results show that the technique is highly convergent with superior performance operating for different payloads.
Keywords: Stewart kinematics, Stewart dynamics, task space control, genetic algorithm.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1896