Search results for: non-real-time data

Authors: K.Manimala, Dr.K.Selvi, R.Ahila

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods are increasingly being used for problem solving. This paper concerns using AI-type learning machines for power quality problem, which is a problem of general interest to power system to provide quality power to all appliances. Electrical power of good quality is essential for proper operation of electronic equipments such as computers and PLCs. Malfunction of such equipment may lead to loss of production or disruption of critical services resulting in huge financial and other losses. It is therefore necessary that critical loads be supplied with electricity of acceptable quality. Recognition of the presence of any disturbance and classifying any existing disturbance into a particular type is the first step in combating the problem. In this work two classes of AI methods for Power quality data mining are studied: Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) and Support Vector Machines (SVMs). We show that SVMs are superior to ANNs in two critical respects: SVMs train and run an order of magnitude faster; and SVMs give higher classification accuracy.

Keywords: back propagation network, power quality, probabilistic neural network, radial basis function support vector machine

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Authors: Ibrahim Gomaa, Hoda M. O. Mokhtar

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Although most of the existing skyline queries algorithms focused basically on querying static points through static databases; with the expanding number of sensors, wireless communications and mobile applications, the demand for continuous skyline queries has increased. Unlike traditional skyline queries which only consider static attributes, continuous skyline queries include dynamic attributes, as well as the static ones. However, as skyline queries computation is based on checking the domination of skyline points over all dimensions, considering both the static and dynamic attributes without separation is required. In this paper, we present an efficient algorithm for computing continuous skyline queries without discriminating between static and dynamic attributes. Our algorithm in brief proceeds as follows: First, it excludes the points which will not be in the initial skyline result; this pruning phase reduces the required number of comparisons. Second, the association between the spatial positions of data points is examined; this phase gives an idea of where changes in the result might occur and consequently enables us to efficiently update the skyline result (continuous update) rather than computing the skyline from scratch. Finally, experimental evaluation is provided which demonstrates the accuracy, performance and efficiency of our algorithm over other existing approaches.

Keywords: Continuous query processing, dynamic database, moving object, skyline queries.

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Authors: Takashi Kaburagi, Takamasa Komura, Yosuke Kurihara

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Absolute pitch is the ability to identify a musical note without a reference tone. Training for absolute pitch often occurs in preschool education. It is necessary to clarify how well the trainee can make use of synesthesia in order to evaluate the effect of the training. To the best of our knowledge, there are no existing methods for objectively confirming whether the subject is using synesthesia. Therefore, in this study, we present a method to distinguish the use of color-auditory synesthesia from the separate use of color and audition during absolute pitch training. This method measures blood volume in the prefrontal cortex using functional Near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and assumes that the cognitive step has two parts, a non-linear step and a linear step. For the linear step, we assume a second order ordinary differential equation. For the non-linear part, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to create an inverse filter of such a complex system as the brain. Therefore, we apply a method based on a self-organizing map (SOM) and are guided by the available data. The presented method was tested using 15 subjects, and the estimation accuracy is reported.

Keywords: Absolute pitch, functional near-infrared spectroscopy, prefrontal cortex, synesthesia.

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Authors: F. Havas Beigi, E. Mohammadi, M.Vafaee Yeganeh

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Curriculum is one of the most important inputs in higher education system and for knowing the strong and weak spots of it we need evaluation. The main purpose of this study was to survey of the curriculum quality of Insurance Management field. Case: University of Allameh Taba Tabaee(according to view point of students,alumni,employer and faculty members).Descriptive statistics (mean, tables, percentages, frequency distribution) and inferential statistics (CHI SQUARE) were used to analyze the data. Six criterions considered for the Quality of curriculum: objectives, content, teaching and learning methods, space and facilities, Time, assessment of learning. objectives, teaching and learning methods criterions was desirable level, content criteria was undesirable level, space and facilities, time and assessment of learning were rather desirable level. The quality of curriculum of insurance management field was relatively desirable level.

Keywords: Quality, curriculum, insurance management, higher education.

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Authors: Amin Sedighfar, M. R. Moniri

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Determination of state of charge (SOC) in today’s world becomes an increasingly important issue in all the applications that include a battery. In fact, estimation of the SOC is a fundamental need for the battery, which is the most important energy storage in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs), smart grid systems, drones, UPS and so on. Regarding those applications, the SOC estimation algorithm is expected to be precise and easy to implement. This paper presents an online method for the estimation of the SOC of Valve-Regulated Lead Acid (VRLA) batteries. The proposed method uses the well-known Kalman Filter (KF), and Neural Networks (NNs) and all of the simulations have been done with MATLAB software. The NN is trained offline using the data collected from the battery discharging process. A generic cell model is used, and the underlying dynamic behavior of the model has used two capacitors (bulk and surface) and three resistors (terminal, surface, and end), where the SOC determined from the voltage represents the bulk capacitor. The aim of this work is to compare the performance of conventional integration-based SOC estimation methods with a mixed algorithm. Moreover, by containing the effect of temperature, the final result becomes more accurate. 

Keywords: Kalman filter, neural networks, state-of-charge, VRLA battery.

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Authors: K. Krushnamurty, D. Rasmitha, I. Srikanth, K. Ramji, Ch. Subrahmanyam

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E-glass-epoxy laminated composites having different fiber volume fractions (40, 50, 60 and 70) were fabricated with and without the addition of nanoclay. Flexural strength and tensile strength of the composite laminates were determined. It was observed that, with increasing the fiber volume fraction (V_f) of fiber from 40 to 60, the ability of nanoclay to enhance the tensile and flexural strength of E-glass-epoxy composites decreases significantly. At 70V_f, the tensile and flexural strength of the nanoclay reinforced E-glass-epoxy were found to be lowest when compared to the E-glass-epoxy composite made without the addition of nanoclay. Based on the obtained data and microstructure of the tested samples, plausible mechanism for the observed trends has been proposed. The enhanced mechanical properties for nanoclay reinforced E-glass-epoxy composites for 40-60 V_f, due to higher interface toughness coupled with strong interfilament bonding may have ensured the homogeneous load distribution across all the glass fibers. Results in the decrease in mechanical properties at 70V_f, may be due to the inability of the matrix to bind the nanoclay and glass-fibers.

Keywords: E-glass-epoxy composite laminates, fiber volume fraction, e-glass fiber, mechanical properties, delamination.

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Authors: Hyunjin Rho, Bongjin Shin, Okbok Lee, Yu-Hyun Choi, Jiyoung Lee, Jaerang Rho

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The increasing usage of antibiotics in the animal farming industry is an emerging worldwide problem contributing to the development of antibiotic resistance. The purpose of this work was to investigate the prevalence and antibiotic resistance profile of bacterial isolates collected from aquatic environments and meats in a peri-urban community in Daejeon, Korea. In an antibacterial susceptibility test, the bacterial isolates showed a high incidence of resistance (~ 26.04 %) to cefazolin, tetracycline, gentamycin, norfloxacin, erythromycin and vancomycin. The results from a test for multiple antibiotic resistance indicated that the isolates were displaying an approximately 5-fold increase in the incidence of multiple antibiotic resistance to combinations of two different antibiotics compared to combinations of three or more antibiotics. Most of the isolates showed multi-antibiotic resistance, and the resistance patterns were similar among the sampling groups. Sequencing data analysis of 16S rRNA showed that most of the resistant isolates appeared to be dominated by the classes Betaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria in the phylum Proteobacteria.

Keywords: Antibiotics, Antibiotic resistance, Antimicrobial resistance, Multi-resistance

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Authors: Martina Kanciruk, Jac W. Andrews, Tyrone Donnon

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The purpose of this study was to determine the significance of maternal smoking for the development of childhood overweight and/or obesity. Accordingly, a systematic literature review of English-language studies published from 1980 to 2012 using the following data bases: MEDLINE, PsychINFO, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and Dissertation Abstracts International was conducted. The following terms were used in the search: pregnancy, overweight, obesity, smoking, parents, childhood, risk factors. Eighteen studies of maternal smoking during pregnancy and obesity conducted in Europe, Asia, North America, and South America met the inclusion criteria. A meta-analysis of these studies indicated that maternal smoking during pregnancy is a significant risk factor for overweight and obesity; mothers who smoke during pregnancy are at a greater risk for developing obesity or overweight; the quantity of cigarettes consumed by the mother during pregnancy influenced the odds of offspring overweight and/or obesity. In addition, the results from moderator analyses suggest that part of the heterogeneity discovered between the studies can be explained by the region of world that the study occurred in and the age of the child at the time of weight assessment.

Keywords: Childhood obesity, overweight, smoking, parents, risk factors.

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Authors: Miroslava Šidlovská, Ida Petrovičová, Tomáš Pilka, Branislav Kolena

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Phthalates are ubiquitous environmental pollutants well known because of their endocrine disrupting activity in human organism. The aim of our study was, by biological monitoring, investigate exposure to phthalates of Roma ethnicity group i.e. children and adults from 5 families (n=29, average age 11.8 ± 7.6 years) living in western Slovakia. Additionally, we analysed some associations between anthropometric measures, questionnaire data i.e. socio-economic status, eating and drinking habits, practise of personal care products and household conditions in comparison with concentrations of phthalate metabolites. We used for analysis of urine samples high performance liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) to determine concentrations of phthalate metabolites monoethyl phthalate (MEP), mono-n-butyl phthalate (MnBP), mono-iso-butyl phthalate (MiBP), mono(2-ethyl- 5-hydroxyhexyl) phthalate (5OH-MEHP), mono(2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl) phthalate (5oxo-MEHP) and mono(2-etylhexyl) phthalate (MEHP). Our results indicate that ethnicity, lower socioeconomic status and different housing conditions in Roma population can affect urinary concentration of phthalate metabolites.

Keywords: Biomonitoring, ethnicity, human exposure, phthalate metabolites.

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Authors: Z. Zaman Asam, M. Ajmal, R. Saeed, H. Miraj, M. Muhammad Ahtisham, B. Hameed, A. -Sattar Nizami

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In Pakistan, environmental degradation and consequent human health deterioration has rapidly accelerated in the past decade due to solid waste mismanagement. As the situation worsens with time, establishment of proper waste management practices is urgently needed especially in semi urban and rural areas of Pakistan. This study uses a concept of Waste Bank, which involves a transfer station for collection of sorted waste fractions and its delivery to the targeted market such as recycling industries, biogas plants, composting facilities etc. The management efficiency and effectiveness of Waste Bank depend strongly on the proficient sorting and collection of solid waste fractions at household level. However, the social attitude towards such a solution in semi urban/rural areas of Pakistan demands certain prerequisites to make it workable. Considering these factors the objectives of this study are to: [A] Obtain reliable data about quantity and characteristics of generated waste to define feasibility of business and design factors, such as required storage area, retention time, transportation frequency of the system etc. [B] Analyze the effects of various social factors on waste generation to foresee future projections. [C] Quantify the improvement in waste sorting efficiency after awareness campaign. We selected Gujrat city of Central Punjab province of Pakistan as it is semi urban adjoined by rural areas. A total of 60 houses (20 from each of the three selected colonies), belonging to different social status were selected. Awareness sessions about waste segregation were given through brochures and individual lectures in each selected household. Sampling of waste, that households had attempted to sort, was then carried out in the three colored bags that were provided as part of the awareness campaign. Finally, refined waste sorting, weighing of various fractions and measurement of dry mass was performed in environmental laboratory using standard methods. It was calculated that sorting efficiency of waste improved from 0 to 52% as a result of the awareness campaign. The generation of waste (dry mass basis) on average from one household was 460 kg/year whereas per capita generation was 68 kg/year. Extrapolating these values for Gujrat Tehsil, the total waste generation per year is calculated to be 101921 tons dry mass (DM). Characteristics found in waste were (i) organic decomposable (29.2%, 29710 tons/year DM), (ii) recyclables (37.0%, 37726 tons/year DM) that included plastic, paper, metal and glass, and (iii) trash (33.8%, 34485 tons/year DM) that mainly comprised of polythene bags, medicine packaging, pampers and wrappers. Waste generation was more in colonies with comparatively higher income and better living standards. In future, data collection for all four seasons and improvements due to expansion of awareness campaign to educational institutes will be quantified. This waste management system can potentially fulfill vital sustainable development goals (e.g. clean water and sanitation), reduce the need to harvest fresh resources from the ecosystem, create business and job opportunities and consequently solve one of the most pressing environmental issues of the country.

Keywords: Integrated solid waste management, waste segregation, waste bank, community development.

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Authors: Rasheed O. Oloyede, Joseph O. Adelusi, Peter O. Akinbile

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This study was conducted to investigate the extent with which knowledge of results influences the performance of cricket players. A sample of 160 fresh students in the Department of Physical and Health Education who are novice in the game were randomly assigned into two groups. The first group of eighty (80) subjects was classified as experimental group while the second group of eighty (80) subjects was the control group. Subjects in both groups were asked to bowl and bat ten times each for a period of six weeks. After the first round, the subjects in the experimental group were allowed feedback on their performance in the first trial while those in the control group were denied feedback. Two null hypotheses generated for the study were tested using percentages and chi-square statistical analysis at 0.05 level of significance. Analysis of data showed that knowledge of results influenced the performance of cricket players. It was concluded that knowledge of results is pertinent for effective skill acquisition and could enhance better performance among unskilled cricket players. Hence, it is suggested that immediate feedback on the level of skill acquisition by the prospective and unskilled cricket players would inspire them for better performance in cricket tournaments.

Keywords: Batting, Bowling, Knowledge of Results, Performance, Skill Acquisition.

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Authors: Ali Mirmohammadi, Arash Taheri, Meysam Mohammadi-Amin

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One of the major parts of a jet engine is air intake, which provides proper and required amount of air for the engine to operate. There are several aerodynamic parameters which should be considered in design, such as distortion, pressure recovery, etc. In this research, the effects of lip ice accretion on pitot intake performance are investigated. For ice accretion phenomenon, two supervised multilayer neural networks (ANN) are designed, one for ice shape prediction and another one for ice roughness estimation based on experimental data. The Fourier coefficients of transformed ice shape and parameters include velocity, liquid water content (LWC), median volumetric diameter (MVD), spray time and temperature are used in neural network training. Then, the subsonic intake flow field is simulated numerically using 2D Navier-Stokes equations and Finite Volume approach with Hybrid mesh includes structured and unstructured meshes. The results are obtained in different angles of attack and the variations of intake aerodynamic parameters due to icing phenomenon are discussed. The results show noticeable effects of ice accretion phenomenon on intake behavior.

Keywords: Artificial Neural Network, Ice Accretion, IntakeAerodynamics, Design Parameters, Finite Volume Method.

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Authors: Vladimir Simovic, Matija Varga, Robert Svetlacic

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Scientific work analytically explores and demonstrates techniques that can animate objects and geometric characters using CSS3 language by applying proper formatting and positioning of elements. This paper presents examples of optimum application of the CSS3 descriptive language when generating general web animations (e.g., billiards and movement of geometric characters, etc.). The paper presents analytically, the optimal development and animation design with the frames within which the animated objects are. The originally developed content is based on the upgrading of existing CSS3 descriptive language animations with more complex syntax and project-oriented work. The purpose of the developed animations is to provide an overview of the interactive features of CSS3 descriptive language design for computer games and the animation of important analytical data based on the web view. It has been analytically demonstrated that CSS3 as a descriptive language allows inserting of various multimedia elements into websites for public and internal sites.

Keywords: Animation recording, web page graphics, HTML5 forms, Cascading Style Sheets 3 - CSS3, man-computer interaction, KML animation presenting format, GML, Google Earth Professional.

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Authors: Seema Chopra, R. Mitra, Vijay Kumar

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In this paper, a neural network tuned fuzzy controller is proposed for controlling Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO) systems. For the convenience of analysis, the structure of MIMO fuzzy controller is divided into single input single-output (SISO) controllers for controlling each degree of freedom. Secondly, according to the characteristics of the system-s dynamics coupling, an appropriate coupling fuzzy controller is incorporated to improve the performance. The simulation analysis on a two-level mass–spring MIMO vibration system is carried out and results show the effectiveness of the proposed fuzzy controller. The performance though improved, the computational time and memory used is comparatively higher, because it has four fuzzy reasoning blocks and number may increase in case of other MIMO system. Then a fuzzy neural network is designed from a set of input-output training data to reduce the computing burden during implementation. This control strategy can not only simplify the implementation problem of fuzzy control, but also reduce computational time and consume less memory.

Keywords: Fuzzy Control, Neural Network, MIMO System, Optimization of Membership functions.

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Authors: A. Mahdy

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The main objective of the present article is to explore the state of mixed convection nanofluid flow of gyrotactic microorganisms from an isothermal vertical wedge in porous medium. In our pioneering investigation, the easiest possible boundary conditions have been employed, in other words when the temperature, the nanofluid and motile microorganisms’ density have been considered to be constant on the wedge wall. Adding motile microorganisms to the nanofluid tends to enhance microscale mixing, mass transfer, and improve the nanofluid stability. Upon the Oberbeck–Boussinesq approximation and non-similarity transmutation, the paradigm of nonlinear equations are obtained and tackled numerically by using the R.K. Gill and shooting methods to obtain the dimensionless velocity, temperature, nanoparticle concentration and motile microorganisms density together with the reduced Sherwood, Nusselt, and numbers. Bioconvection parameters have strong effect upon the motile microorganism, heat, and volume fraction of nanoparticle transport rates. In the case when bioconvection is neglected, the obtained computations were found in very good agreement with the previous published data.

Keywords: Bioconvection, wedge, gyrotactic microorganisms, porous media, nanofluid, mixed.

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Authors: Elison Eduardo Jardim Bierhals, Claudineia Brazil, Deivid Pires, Rafael Haag, Elton Gimenez Rossini

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The objective of this work is to evaluate the results of solar radiation projections between 2006 and 2013 for the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The projections are provided by the General Circulation Models (MCGs) belonging to the Coupled Model Intercomparison Phase 5 (CMIP5). In all, the results of the simulation of six models are evaluated, compared to monthly data, measured by a network of thirteen meteorological stations of the National Meteorological Institute (INMET). The performance of the models is evaluated by the Nash coefficient and the Bias. The results are presented in the form of tables, graphs and spatialization maps. The ACCESS1-0 RCP 4.5 model presented the best results for the solar radiation simulations, for the most optimistic scenario, in much of the state. The efficiency coefficients (CEF) were between 0.95 and 0.98. In the most pessimistic scenario, HADGen2-AO RCP 8.5 had the best accuracy among the analyzed models, presenting coefficients of efficiency between 0.94 and 0.98. From this validation, solar radiation projection maps were elaborated, indicating a seasonal increase of this climatic variable in some regions of the Brazilian territory, mainly in the spring.

Keywords: climate change, projections, solar radiation, validation.

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Authors: Hamed K. Arzani, Ahmad Amiri, Hamid K. Arzani, Salim Newaz Kazi, Ahmad Badarudin

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The new design of heat exchangers utilizing an annular distributor opens a new gateway for realizing higher energy optimization. To realize this goal, graphene nanoplatelet-based water nanofluids with promising thermophysical properties were synthesized in the presence of covalent and noncovalent functionalization. Thermal conductivity, density, viscosity and specific heat capacity were investigated and employed as a raw data for ANSYS-Fluent to be used in two-phase approach. After validation of obtained results by analytical equations, two special parameters of convective heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop were investigated. The study followed by studying other heat transfer parameters of annular pass in the presence of graphene nanopletelesbased water nanofluids at different weight concentrations, input powers and temperatures. As a result, heat transfer performance and friction loss are predicted for both synthesized nanofluids.

Keywords: Heat transfer, nanofluid, turbulent flow, forced convection flow, graphene nanoplatelet.

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Authors: Arash Taheri

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In this paper, effects of the ventral body planform of a swimming whale shark on the formation of ‘reverse von-Kármán vortex street’ behind the aquatic animal are studied using Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) approach. In this regard, incompressible Navier-Stokes equations around the whale shark’s body with a prescribed deflection dynamics are solved with the aid of Boundary Data Immersion Method (BDIM) and Implicit Large Eddy Simulation (ILES) turbulence treatment by WaterLily.jl solver; fully-written in Julia programming language. The whale shark flow simulations here are performed at high Reynolds number, i.e. 1.4 107 corresponding to the swimming of a 10 meter-whale shark at an average speed of 5 km/h. For comparison purposes, vortical flow generation behind a silky shark with a streamlined forehead eidonomy is also simulated at high Reynolds number, Re = 2 106, corresponding to the swimming of a 2 meter-silky shark at an average speed of 3.6 km/h. The results depict formation of distinct wake topologies behind the swimming sharks depending on the travelling wave oscillating amplitudes.

Keywords: Whale shark, vortex street, BDIM, FSI, functional eidonomy, bionics.

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Authors: Panikos Heracleous

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In this study, the use of silicon NAM (Non-Audible Murmur) microphone in automatic speech recognition is presented. NAM microphones are special acoustic sensors, which are attached behind the talker-s ear and can capture not only normal (audible) speech, but also very quietly uttered speech (non-audible murmur). As a result, NAM microphones can be applied in automatic speech recognition systems when privacy is desired in human-machine communication. Moreover, NAM microphones show robustness against noise and they might be used in special systems (speech recognition, speech conversion etc.) for sound-impaired people. Using a small amount of training data and adaptation approaches, 93.9% word accuracy was achieved for a 20k Japanese vocabulary dictation task. Non-audible murmur recognition in noisy environments is also investigated. In this study, further analysis of the NAM speech has been made using distance measures between hidden Markov model (HMM) pairs. It has been shown the reduced spectral space of NAM speech using a metric distance, however the location of the different phonemes of NAM are similar to the location of the phonemes of normal speech, and the NAM sounds are well discriminated. Promising results in using nonlinear features are also introduced, especially under noisy conditions.

Keywords: Speech recognition, unvoiced speech, nonlinear features, HMM distance measures

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Authors: K. Buyana, S. Lwasa, L. Schiebinger

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Although urbanization in Africa has been characterized by fragile socio-economic successes, the sustainability of city infrastructure is now central to planning processes as a pathway to closing the deficit in terms of coverage and access. This paper builds on survey and interview data from Kampala city, to demonstrate how the principle gender responsiveness can inform improvements in urban infrastructure and service delivery. We discovered that women prefer infrastructure that combines living and working spaces for reduced labour and travel burdens between homes, markets, schools, and other urban spaces. Men’s conception of infrastructure needs on the other hand, mirrored public security and connectivity concerns along city streets and work places. However, the urban planning approach at city-level is guided by mainstream engineering and architectural designs that do not necessarily reflect the social context within which urban infrastructure influences gender roles and the attendant mobility needs. To address the challenge across cities of similar context, the paper concludes with a set of analytic steps on how the gendered influences on infrastructure-use can be considered in urban planning cycles.

Keywords: African cities, gender responsiveness, city infrastructure, urban planning.

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Authors: Vijay Sodhi, Ajay Bansal

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The effects of different parameters on the hydrodynamics of trickle bed reactors were discussed for Newtonian and non-Newtonian foaming systems. The varying parameters are varying liquid velocities, gas flow velocities and surface tension. The range for gas velocity is particularly large, thanks to the use of dense gas to simulate very high pressure conditions. This data bank has been used to compare the prediction accuracy of the different trendlines and transition points from the literature. More than 240 experimental points for the trickle flow (GCF) and foaming pulsing flow (PF/FPF) regime were obtained for present study. Hydrodynamic characteristics involving dynamic liquid saturation significantly influenced by gas and liquid flow rates. For 15 and 30 ppm air-aqueous surfactant solutions, dynamic liquid saturation decreases with higher liquid and gas flow rates considerably in high interaction regime. With decrease in surface tension i.e. for 45 and 60 ppm air-aqueous surfactant systems, effect was more pronounced with decreases dynamic liquid saturation very sharply during regime transition significantly at both low liquid and gas flow rates.

Keywords: Trickle Bed Reactor, Dynamic Liquid Saturation, Foaming, Flow Regime Transition

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Authors: Muhammad Rehan Usman, Muhammad Arslan Usman, Soo Young Shin

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The new era of digital communication has brought up many challenges that network operators need to overcome. The high demand of mobile data rates require improved networks, which is a challenge for the operators in terms of maintaining the quality of experience (QoE) for their consumers. In live video transmission, there is a sheer need for live surveillance of the videos in order to maintain the quality of the network. For this purpose objective algorithms are employed to monitor the quality of the videos that are transmitted over a network. In order to test these objective algorithms, subjective quality assessment of the streamed videos is required, as the human eye is the best source of perceptual assessment. In this paper we have conducted subjective evaluation of videos with varying spatial and temporal impairments. These videos were impaired with frame freezing distortions so that the impact of frame freezing on the quality of experience could be studied. We present subjective Mean Opinion Score (MOS) for these videos that can be used for fine tuning the objective algorithms for video quality assessment.

Keywords: Frame freezing, mean opinion score, objective assessment, subjective evaluation.

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Authors: J. Siame, H. Kasaini

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The proof of concept experiments were conducted to determine the feasibility of using small amounts of Dissolved Sulphur (DS) from the gaseous phase to precipitate platinum ions in chloride media. Two sets of precipitation experiments were performed in which the source of sulphur atoms was either a thiosulphate solution (Na2S2O3) or a sulphur dioxide gas (SO2). In liquid-liquid (L-L) system, complete precipitation of Pt was achieved at small dosages of Na2S2O3 (0.01 – 1.0 M) in a time interval of 3-5 minutes. On the basis of this result, gas absorption tests were carried out mainly to achieve sulphur solubility equivalent to 0.018 M. The idea that huge amounts of precious metals could be recovered selectively from their dilute solutions by utilizing the waste SO2 streams at low pressure seemed attractive from the economic and environmental point of views. Therefore, mass transfer characteristics of SO2 gas associated with reactive absorption across the gas-liquid (G-L) interface were evaluated under different conditions of pressure (0.5 – 2 bar), solution temperature ranges from 20 – 50 oC and acid strength (1 – 4 M, HCl). This paper concludes with information about selective precipitation of Pt in the presence of cations (Fe2+, Co2+, and Cr3+) in a CSTR and recommendation to scale up laboratory data to industrial pilot scale operations.

Keywords: CSTR, diffusivity, platinum, selective precipitation, sulphur dioxide, thiosulphate.

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Authors: Sergey I. Shtork, Aleksey P. Vinokurov, Sergey V. Alekseenko

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The paper reports on the results of experimental and numerical study of nonstationary swirling flow in an isothermal model of vortex burner. It has been identified that main source of the instability is related to a precessing vortex core (PVC) phenomenon. The PVC induced flow pulsation characteristics such as precession frequency and its variation as a function of flowrate and swirl number have been explored making use of acoustic probes. Additionally pressure transducers were used to measure the pressure drops on the working chamber and across the vortex flow. The experiments have been included also the mean velocity measurements making use of a laser-Doppler anemometry. The features of instantaneous flowfield generated by the PVC were analyzed employing a commercial CFD code (Star-CCM+) based on Detached Eddy Simulation (DES) approach. Validity of the numerical code has been checked by comparison calculated flowfield data with the obtained experimental results. It has been confirmed particularly that the CFD code applied correctly reproduces the flow features.

Keywords: Acoustic probes, detached eddy simulation (DES), laser-Doppler anemometry (LDA), precessing vortex core (PVC).

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Authors: Nagore Guerra Bilbao, Clemente Lobato Fraile

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Mentoring is provided by professionals with a higher level of experience and competence as part of the professional development of a university faculty. This paper explores the characteristics of the mentoring provided by those teachers participating in the development of an active methodology program run at the University of the Basque Country: to examine and to analyze mentors’ performance with the aim of providing empirical evidence regarding its value as a lifelong learning strategy for teaching staff. A total of 183 teachers were trained during the first three programs. The analysis method uses a coding technique and is based on flexible, systematic guidelines for gathering and analyzing qualitative data. The results have confirmed the conception of mentoring as a methodological innovation in higher education. In short, university teachers in general assessed the mentoring they received positively, considering it to be a valid, useful strategy in their professional development. They highlighted the methodological expertise of their mentor and underscored how they monitored the learning process of the active method and provided guidance and advice when necessary. Finally, they also drew attention to traits such as availability, personal commitment and flexibility in. However, a minority critique is pointed to some aspects of the performance of some mentors.

Keywords: Higher education, Mentoring, Professional development, University teachers.

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Authors: A. I. Augie, M. Saleh, A. A. Gado

Abstract:

In this research, Self-Potential (SP) method was employed to locate anomalous electrical conductivity located in Goronyo area and also to determine the condition of the embankment of the dam. SP data were plotted against distance along with the profile and spacing of electrode using surfer software (version 12). High and low zones of SP values were identified along the right and left abutments of the dam reservoir. The regions with high SP values were described to be high tendency of fluid flow associate with wet sandy soil. These zones have the SP values ranging from 200 mV and above. High SP values were due to the high moisture content that may lead to the seepage of water leaking through this zone. The zones with high SP values occupied Profiles S1, S2, S3, S4 and S5 indicating the presence of potential seepage paths within the subsurface of the embankment. These regions of seepage were identified as weak zones and potential pathways through which water could be lost from the dam reservoir. The SP values for the regions range from 250 m to 400 m (S1), 306 m to 400 m (S2), 192 m to 400 m (S3), 48 m to 200 m (S4) and 7 m to 170 m (S5) with their corresponding maximum depths of 30 m, 28 m, 28 m, 30 m and 26 m respectively. However, zones of low SP values in the overburden were observed which shows the presence of intact regions, which may be due to the compactness and dryness around the dam. The weak zones were considered as geological features (such as fractures, joints, and faults) that have undermined the integrity of the dam structure, which has led to the abnormal seepage.

Keywords: Self-potential, subsurface, seepage, condition and dam.

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Authors: Rashid Slaheldinn Elhaj Mohammed

Abstract:

The design of high performance combustion chambers for turbojet engines is considered as one of the most challenges that face gas turbine designers, since the design approach depends on empirical correlations of data derived from the previous design experiences. The objective of this paper is to design a combustion chamber that suits the requirements of a micro-turbojet engine with 400 N output thrust and operates with kerosene as fuel. In this paper, only preliminary calculations related to the annular type of combustion chamber are explained in details. These calculations will cover the evaluation of reference quantities, calculation of required dimensions, calculation of air distribution and pressure drop, estimation of number and diameters for air admission holes, as well as aerodynamic considerations. The design process is then accompanied by analytical procedure using commercial CFD ANALYSIS tool; ANSYS 16 CFX software. After conducting CFD analysis, the design process will be then iterated in order to gain satisfactory results. It should be noted that the design of the fuel preparation and installation systems is beyond the scope of this work, and it will be discussed separately in another work.  

Keywords: Annular combustion chamber, micro-turbojet engine, CFD ANALYSIS, pressure drop.

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Authors: R. Kabila

Abstract:

IPsec has now become a standard information security technology throughout the Internet society. It provides a well-defined architecture that takes into account confidentiality, authentication, integrity, secure key exchange and protection mechanism against replay attack also. For the connectionless security services on packet basis, IETF IPsec Working Group has standardized two extension headers (AH&ESP), key exchange and authentication protocols. It is also working on lightweight key exchange protocol and MIB's for security management. IPsec technology has been implemented on various platforms in IPv4 and IPv6, gradually replacing old application-specific security mechanisms. IPv4 and IPv6 are not directly compatible, so programs and systems designed to one standard can not communicate with those designed to the other. We propose the design and implementation of controlled Internet security system, which is IPsec-based Internet information security system in IPv4/IPv6 network and also we show the data of performance measurement. With the features like improved scalability and routing, security, ease-of-configuration, and higher performance of IPv6, the controlled Internet security system provides consistent security policy and integrated security management on IPsec-based Internet security system.

Keywords: IDS, IPS, IP-Sec, IPv6, IPv4, VPN.

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Authors: Abbas Keramati, Abtin Boostani, Mohammad Jamal Sadeghi

Abstract:

This paper examines the influence of knowledge management factors on organizational commitment for employees in the oil and gas drilling industry of Iran. We determine what knowledge factors have the greatest impact on the personnel loyalty and commitment to the organization using collected data from a survey of over 300 full-time personnel working in three large companies active in oil and gas drilling industry of Iran. To specify the effect of knowledge factors in the organizational commitment of the personnel in the studied organizations, the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is used. Findings of our study show that the factors such as knowledge and expertise, in-service training, the knowledge value and the application of individuals’ knowledge in the organization as the factor “learning and perception of personnel from the value of knowledge within the organization” has the greatest impact on the organizational commitment. After this factor, “existence of knowledge and knowledge sharing environment in the organization”; “existence of potential knowledge exchanging in the organization”; and “organizational knowledge level” factors have the most impact on the organizational commitment of personnel, respectively.

Keywords: Knowledge management, organizational commitment, loyalty, drilling industry, principle component analysis.

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Authors: E.Darzi

Abstract:

In this study, a reformer model simulation to use refinery (Farashband refinery, Iran) waste natural gas. In the petroleum and allied sectors where natural gas is being encountered (in form of associated gas) without prior preparation for its positive use, its combustion (which takes place in flares, an equipment through which they are being disposed) has become a great problem because of its associated environmental problems in form of gaseous emission. The proposed model is used to product syngas from waste natural gas. A detailed steady model described by a set of ordinary differential and algebraic equations was developed to predict the behavior of the overall process. The proposed steady reactor model was validated against process data of a reformer synthesis plant recorded and a good agreement was achieved. H2/CO ratio has important effect on Fischer- Tropsch synthesis reactor product and we try to achieve this parameter with best designing reformer reactor. We study different kind of reformer reactors and then select auto thermal reforming process of natural gas in a fixed bed reformer that adjustment H2/CO ratio with CO2 and H2O injection. Finally a strategy was proposed for prevention of extra natural gas to atmosphere.

Keywords: Fischer-Tropsch, injection, reformer, syngas, waste natural gas.

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