Search results for: experimental analysis

Authors: Berna Istegun, Erkan Celebi

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The main objective of this experimental study is to assess the shear strength and the crack behavior of the triplets built of perforated brickwork masonry elements. In order to observe the influence of shear resistance and energy dissipating before and after retrofitting applications by using the reinforcing system, static-cyclic shear tests were employed in the structural mechanics laboratory of Sakarya University. The reinforcing system is composed of hybrid multiaxial seismic fabric consisting of alkali resistant glass and polypropylene fibers. The plaster as bonding material used in the specimen’s retrofitting consists of expanded glass granular. In order to acquire exact measuring data about the failure behavior of the two mortar joints under shear stressing, vertical load-controlled cylinder having force capacity of 50 kN and loading rate of 1.5 mm/min. with an internal inductive displacement transducers is carried out perpendicular to the triplet specimens. In this study, a total of six triplet specimens with textile reinforcement were prepared for these shear bond tests. The three of them were produced as single-sided reinforced triplets with seismic fabric, while the others were strengthened on both sides. In addition, three triplet specimens without retrofitting and plaster were also tested as reference samples. The obtained test results were given in the manner of force-displacement relationships, ductility coefficients and shear strength parameters comparatively. It is concluded that two-side seismic textile applications on masonry elements with relevant plaster have considerably increased the sheer force resistance and the ductility capacity.

Keywords: Triplet shears tests, retrofitting, seismic fabric, perforated brickwork, expanded glass granular.

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Authors: Won-Pil Park, Seung-Kwan Cho, Jai-Young Ko, Anders Kristensson, S.T.S. Al-Hassani, Han-Sung Kim, Dohyung Lim

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A number of previous studies were rarely considered the effects of transient non-uniform balloon expansion on evaluation of the properties and behaviors of stents during stent expansion, nor did they determine parameters to maximize the performances driven by mechanical characteristics. Therefore, in order to fully understand the mechanical characteristics and behaviors of stent, it is necessary to consider a realistic modeling of transient non-uniform balloon-stent expansion. The aim of the study is to propose design parameters capable of improving the ability of vascular stent through a comparative study of seven commercial stents using finite element analyses of a realistic transient non-uniform balloon-stent expansion process. In this study, seven representative commercialized stents were evaluated by finite element (FE) analysis in terms of the criteria based on the itemized list of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Standards (prEN). The results indicate that using stents composed of opened unit cells connected by bend-shaped link structures and controlling the geometrical and morphological features of the unit cell strut or the link structure at the distal ends of stent may improve mechanical characteristics of stent. This study provides a better method at the realistic transient non-uniform balloon-stent expansion by investigating the characteristics, behaviors, and parameters capable of improving the ability of vascular stent.

Keywords: Finite Element Analysis, Mechanical Characteristic, Transient Non-uniform Balloon-Stent Expansion, Vascular Stent.

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Authors: Mohammad Bakhshandeh

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Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is a crucial and necessary practice that plays a vital role in ensuring the safety and integrity of critical structures, and in particular, bridges. The continuous monitoring of bridges for signs of damage or degradation through Bridge Health Monitoring (BHM) enables early detection of potential problems, allowing for prompt corrective action to be taken before significant damage occurs. Although all monitoring techniques aim to provide accurate and decisive information regarding the remaining useful life, safety, integrity, and serviceability of bridges, understanding the development and propagation of damage is vital for maintaining uninterrupted bridge operation. Over the years, extensive research has been conducted on BHM methods, and experts in the field have increasingly adopted new methodologies. In this article, we provide a comprehensive exploration of the various BHM approaches, including sensor-based, non-destructive testing (NDT), model-based, and artificial intelligence (AI)-based methods. We also discuss the challenges associated with BHM, including sensor placement and data acquisition, data analysis and interpretation, cost and complexity, and environmental effects, through an extensive review of relevant literature and research studies. Additionally, we examine potential solutions to these challenges and propose future research ideas to address critical gaps in BHM.

Keywords: Structural health monitoring, bridge health monitoring, sensor-based methods, machine-learning algorithms, model-based techniques, sensor placement, data acquisition, data analysis.

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Authors: Veeresham Mokali

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The refractory alloys are crucial for high-temperature applications to improve performance and reduce cost. They are used in several applications such as aerospace, outer space, military and defense, nuclear powerplants, automobiles, and industry. The conventional refractory alloys show greater stability at high temperatures and in contrast they have operational limitations due to their low melting temperatures. However, there is a huge requirement to improve the refractory alloys’ operational temperatures and replace the conventional alloys. The newly emerging refractory high entropy alloys (RHEAs) could be alternative materials for conventional refractory alloys and fulfill the demands and requirements of various practical applications in the future. The RHEA TaHfNbZrTi was prepared through an arc melting process. The annealing behavior of severely deformed equiatomic RHEATaHfNbZrTi has been investigated. To obtain deformed condition, the alloy is cold-rolled to 90% thickness reduction and then subjected to an annealing process to observe recrystallization and microstructural evolution in the range of 800 °C to 1400 °C temperatures. The cold-rolled – 90% condition shows the presence of microstructural heterogeneity. The annealing microstructure of 800 °C temperature reveals that partial recrystallization and further annealing treatment carried out annealing treatment in the range of 850 °C to 1400 °C temperatures exhibits completely recrystallized microstructures, followed by coarsening with a degree of annealing temperature. The deformed and annealed conditions featured the development of body-centered cubic (BCC) fiber textures. The experimental investigation of heavy deformation and followed by high-temperature annealing up to 1400 °C temperature will contribute to the understanding of microstructure and texture evolution of emerging RHEAs.

Keywords: Refractory high entropy alloys, cold-rolling, annealing, microstructure, texture.

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Authors: R. Prakash, B. Meenakshipriya, R. Kumaravelan

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Fresh water is one of the resources which is getting depleted day by day. A wise method to address this issue is by the application of renewable energy-sun irradiation and by means of decentralized, cheap, energetically self-sufficient, robust and simple to operate plants, distillates can be obtained from sea, river or even sewage. Solar desalination is a technique used to desalinate water using solar energy. The present work deals with the comprehensive design and simulation of solar tracking system using LabVIEW, temperature and mass flow rate control of the solar desalination plant using LabVIEW and also analysis of single phase inverter circuit with LC filters for solar pumping system in MATLAB. The main objective of this work is to improve the performance of solar desalination system using automatic tracking system, output control using temperature and mass flow rate control system and also to reduce the harmonic distortion in the solar pumping system by means of LC filters. The simulation of single phase inverter was carried out using MATLAB and the output waveforms were analyzed. Simulations were performed for optimum output temperature control, which in turn controls the mass flow rate of water in the thermal collectors. Solar tracking system was accomplished using LABVIEW and was tested successfully. The thermal collectors are tracked in accordance with the sun’s irradiance levels, thereby increasing the efficiency of the thermal collectors.

Keywords: Desalination, Electro dialysis, LabVIEW, MATLAB, PWM inverter, Reverse osmosis.

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Authors: Zhipeng Chen, Peng Zhang, Qingyun Liu, Li Guo

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With the Internet becoming the dominant channel for business and life, many IPs are increasingly masked using web proxies for illegal purposes such as propagating malware, impersonate phishing pages to steal sensitive data or redirect victims to other malicious targets. Moreover, as Internet traffic continues to grow in size and complexity, it has become an increasingly challenging task to detect the proxy service due to their dynamic update and high anonymity. In this paper, we present an approach based on behavioral graph analysis to study the behavior similarity of web proxy users. Specifically, we use bipartite graphs to model host communications from network traffic and build one-mode projections of bipartite graphs for discovering social-behavior similarity of web proxy users. Based on the similarity matrices of end-users from the derived one-mode projection graphs, we apply a simple yet effective spectral clustering algorithm to discover the inherent web proxy users behavior clusters. The web proxy URL may vary from time to time. Still, the inherent interest would not. So, based on the intuition, by dint of our private tools implemented by WebDriver, we examine whether the top URLs visited by the web proxy users are web proxies. Our experiment results based on real datasets show that the behavior clusters not only reduce the number of URLs analysis but also provide an effective way to detect the web proxies, especially for the unknown web proxies.

Keywords: Bipartite graph, clustering, one-mode projection, web proxy detection.

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Authors: S. B. Rushayati, R. Meilani, R. Hermawan

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A biosphere reserve is developed to create harmony amongst economic development, community development, and environmental protection, through partnership between human and nature. Giam Siak Kecil Bukit Batu Biosphere Reserve (GSKBB BR) in Riau Province, Indonesia, is unique in that it has peat soil dominating the area, many springs essential for human livelihood, high biodiversity. Furthermore, it is the only biosphere reserve covering privately managed production forest areas. In this research, we aimed at analyzing the threat of deforestation and forest fire, and the potential of CO2 emission at GSKBB BR. We used Landsat image, arcView software, and ERDAS IMAGINE 8.5 Software to conduct spatial analysis of land cover and land use changes, calculated CO2 emission based on emission potential from each land cover and land use type, and exercised simple linear regression to demonstrate the relation between CO2 emission potential and deforestation. The result showed that, beside in the buffer zone and transition area, deforestation also occurred in the core area. Spatial analysis of land cover and land use changes from years 2010, 2012, and 2014 revealed that there were changes of land cover and land use from natural forest and industrial plantation forest to other land use types, such as garden, mixed garden, settlement, paddy fields, burnt areas, and dry agricultural land. Deforestation in core area, particularly at the Giam Siak Kecil Wildlife Reserve and Bukit Batu Wildlife Reserve, occurred in the form of changes from natural forest in to garden, mixed garden, shrubs, swamp shrubs, dry agricultural land, open area, and burnt area. In the buffer zone and transition area, changes also happened, what once swamp forest changed into garden, mixed garden, open area, shrubs, swamp shrubs, and dry agricultural land. Spatial analysis on land cover and land use changes indicated that deforestation rate in the biosphere reserve from 2010 to 2014 had reached 16 119 ha/year. Beside deforestation, threat toward the biosphere reserve area also came from forest fire. The occurrence of forest fire in 2014 had burned 101 723 ha of the area, in which 9 355 ha of core area, and 92 368 ha of buffer zone and transition area. Deforestation and forest fire had increased CO2 emission as much as 24 903 855 ton/year.

Keywords: Biosphere reserve, CO2 emission, deforestation, forest fire.

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Authors: Indiramma M., K. R. Anandakumar

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Trust management and Reputation models are becoming integral part of Internet based applications such as CSCW, E-commerce and Grid Computing. Also the trust dimension is a significant social structure and key to social relations within a collaborative community. Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) is a difficult task in the context of distributed environment (information across different geographical locations) and multidisciplinary decisions are involved such as Virtual Organization (VO). To aid team decision making in VO, Decision Support System and social network analysis approaches are integrated. In such situations social learning helps an organization in terms of relationship, team formation, partner selection etc. In this paper we focus on trust learning. Trust learning is an important activity in terms of information exchange, negotiation, collaboration and trust assessment for cooperation among virtual team members. In this paper we have proposed a reinforcement learning which enhances the trust decision making capability of interacting agents during collaboration in problem solving activity. Trust computational model with learning that we present is adapted for best alternate selection of new project in the organization. We verify our model in a multi-agent simulation where the agents in the community learn to identify trustworthy members, inconsistent behavior and conflicting behavior of agents.

Keywords: Collaborative Decision making, Trust, Multi Agent System (MAS), Bayesian Network, Reinforcement Learning.

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Authors: Mohamed Elghorab, Vendra C. Madhav Rao, Jennifer X. Wen

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Turbulence modelling is still evolving, and efforts are on to improve and develop numerical methods to simulate the real turbulence structures by using the empirical and experimental information. The monotonically integrated large eddy simulation (MILES) is an attractive approach for modelling turbulence in high Re flows, which is based on the solving of the unfiltered flow equations with no explicit sub-grid scale (SGS) model. In the current work, this approach has been used, and the action of the SGS model has been included implicitly by intrinsic nonlinear high-frequency filters built into the convection discretization schemes. The MILES solver is developed using the opensource CFD OpenFOAM libraries. The role of flux limiters schemes namely, Gamma, superBee, van-Albada and van-Leer, is studied in predicting turbulent statistical quantities for a fully developed channel flow with a friction Reynolds number, Re_T = 180, and compared the numerical predictions with the well-established Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) results for studying the wall generated turbulence. It is inferred from the numerical predictions that Gamma, van-Leer and van-Albada limiters produced more diffusion and overpredicted the velocity profiles, while superBee scheme reproduced velocity profiles and turbulence statistical quantities in good agreement with the reference DNS data in the streamwise direction although it deviated slightly in the spanwise and normal to the wall directions. The simulation results are further discussed in terms of the turbulence intensities and Reynolds stresses averaged in time and space to draw conclusion on the flux limiter schemes performance in OpenFOAM context.

Keywords: Flux limiters, MILES, OpenFOAM, turbulence structures, TVD schemes.

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Authors: Laor Boongasame, Veera Boonjing, Ho-fung Leung

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Buyer coalition with a combination of items is a group of buyers joining together to purchase a combination of items with a larger discount. The primary aim of existing buyer coalition with a combination of items research is to generate a large total discount. However, the aim is hard to achieve because this research is based on the assumption that each buyer completely knows other buyers- information or at least one buyer knows other buyers- information in a coalition by exchange of information. These assumption contrast with the real world environment where buyers join a coalition with incomplete information, i.e., they concerned only with their expected discounts. Therefore, this paper proposes a new buyer community coalition formation with a combination of items scheme, called the Community Compromised Combinatorial Coalition scheme, under such an environment of incomplete information. In order to generate a larger total discount, after buyers who want to join a coalition propose their minimum required saving, a coalition structure that gives a maximum total retail prices is formed. Then, the total discount division of the coalition is divided among buyers in the coalition depending on their minimum required saving and is a Pareto optimal. In mathematical analysis, we compare concepts of this scheme with concepts of the existing buyer coalition scheme. Our mathematical analysis results show that the total discount of the coalition in this scheme is larger than that in the existing buyer coalition scheme.

Keywords: group decision and negotiations, group buying, gametheory, combinatorial coalition formation, Pareto optimality

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Authors: Vallabha Hampiholi

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A lot of research has been done in the past decade in the field of audio content analysis for extracting various information from audio signal. One such significant information is the "perceived mood" or the "emotions" related to a music or audio clip. This information is extremely useful in applications like creating or adapting the play-list based on the mood of the listener. This information could also be helpful in better classification of the music database. In this paper we have presented a method to classify music not just based on the meta-data of the audio clip but also include the "mood" factor to help improve the music classification. We propose an automated and efficient way of classifying music samples based on the mood detection from the audio data. We in particular try to classify the music based on mood for Indian bollywood music. The proposed method tries to address the following problem statement: Genre information (usually part of the audio meta-data) alone does not help in better music classification. For example the acoustic version of the song "nothing else matters by Metallica" can be classified as melody music and thereby a person in relaxing or chill out mood might want to listen to this track. But more often than not this track is associated with metal / heavy rock genre and if a listener classified his play-list based on the genre information alone for his current mood, the user shall miss out on listening to this track. Currently methods exist to detect mood in western or similar kind of music. Our paper tries to solve the issue for Indian bollywood music from an Indian cultural context

Keywords: Mood, music classification, music genre, rhythm, music analysis.

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Authors: Kevin Anderson, Sukhwinder Singh Sandhu, Nouh Anies, Shilpa Ravichandra, Steven Dobbs, Donald Edberg

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This paper presents the results of a Finite Element based vibration analysis of a solar powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). The purpose of this paper was to quantify the free vibration, forced vibration response due to differing point inputs in order to predict the relative response magnitudes and frequencies at various wing locations of vibration induced power generators (magnet in coil) excited by gust and/or control surface pulse-decays used to help power the flight of the electric UAV. A Fluid Structure Interaction (FSI) study was performed in order to ascertain pertinent design stresses and deflections as well as aerodynamic parameters of the UAV airfoil. The 10 ft span airfoil is modeled using Mylar as the primary material. Results show that the free mode in bending is 4.8 Hz while the first forced bending mode is on range of 16.2 to 16.7 Hz depending on the location of excitation. The free torsional bending mode is 28.3 Hz, and the first forced torsional mode is range of 26.4 to 27.8 Hz, depending on the location of excitation. The FSI results predict the coefficients of aerodynamic drag and lift of 0.0052 and 0.077, respectively, which matches hand-calculations used to validate the Finite Element based results. FSI based maximum von Mises stresses and deflections were found to be 0.282 MPa and 3.4 mm, respectively. Dynamic pressures on the airfoil range from 1.04 to 1.23 kPa corresponding to velocity magnitudes in range of 22 to 66 m/s.

Keywords: ANSYS, finite element, FSI, UAV, vibrations.

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Authors: Guclu Insel, Efe Gumuslu, Gulten Yuksek, Nilay Sayi Ucar, Emine Ubay Cokgor, Tugba Olmez Hanci, Didem Okutman Tas, Fatos Germirli Babuna, Derya Firat Ertem, Okmen Yildirim, Ozge Erturan, Betul Kirci

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In order to eliminate water scarcity problems, effective precautions must be taken. Growing competition for water is increasingly forcing facilities to tackle their own water scarcity problems. At this point, application of wastewater reclamation and reuse results in considerable economic advantageous. In this study, an enamel coating facility, which is one of the high water consumed facilities, is evaluated in terms of its wastewater reuse potential. Wastewater reclamation and reuse can be defined as one of the best available techniques for this sector. Hence, process and pollution profiles together with detailed characterization of segregated wastewater sources are appraised in a way to find out the recoverable effluent streams arising from enamel coating operations. Daily, 170 m³ of process water is required and 160 m³ of wastewater is generated. The segregated streams generated by two enamel coating processes are characterized in terms of conventional parameters. Relatively clean segregated wastewater streams (reusable wastewaters) are separately collected and experimental treatability studies are conducted on it. The results reflected that the reusable wastewater fraction has an approximate amount of 110 m³/day that accounts for 68% of the total wastewaters. The need for treatment applicable on reusable wastewaters is determined by considering water quality requirements of various operations and characterization of reusable wastewater streams. Ultra-filtration (UF), Nano-filtration (NF) and Reverse Osmosis (RO) membranes are subsequently applied on reusable effluent fraction. Adequate organic matter removal is not obtained with the mentioned treatment sequence.

Keywords: enamel coating, membrane, reuse, wastewater

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Authors: Yoshitaka Fujiwara, Jun-ichirou Fukushima, Yasunari Maeda

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Keys to high-quality face-to-face education are ensuring flexibility in the way lectures are given, and providing care and responsiveness to learners. This paper describes a face-to-face education support system that is designed to raise the satisfaction of learners and reduce the workload on instructors. This system consists of a lecture adaptation assistance part, which assists instructors in adapting teaching content and strategy, and a Q&A assistance part, which provides learners with answers to their questions. The core component of the former part is a “learning achievement map", which is composed of a Bayesian network (BN). From learners- performance in exercises on relevant past lectures, the lecture adaptation assistance part obtains information required to adapt appropriately the presentation of the next lecture. The core component of the Q&A assistance part is a case base, which accumulates cases consisting of questions expected from learners and answers to them. The Q&A assistance part is a case-based search system equipped with a search index which performs probabilistic inference. A prototype face-to-face education support system has been built, which is intended for the teaching of Java programming, and this approach was evaluated using this system. The expected degree of understanding of each learner for a future lecture was derived from his or her performance in exercises on past lectures, and this expected degree of understanding was used to select one of three adaptation levels. A model for determining the adaptation level most suitable for the individual learner has been identified. An experimental case base was built to examine the search performance of the Q&A assistance part, and it was found that the rate of successfully finding an appropriate case was 56%.

Keywords: Bayesian network, face-to-face education, lecture adaptation, Q&A assistance.

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Authors: Ali Ghaffari, Mansour Nikkhah Bahrami, Hesam Parsa

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In this paper a comprehensive model of a fossil fueled power plant (FFPP) is developed in order to evaluate the performance of a newly designed turbine follower controller. Considering the drawbacks of previous works, an overall model is developed to minimize the error between each subsystem model output and the experimental data obtained at the actual power plant. The developed model is organized in two main subsystems namely; Boiler and Turbine. Considering each FFPP subsystem characteristics, different modeling approaches are developed. For economizer, evaporator, superheater and reheater, first order models are determined based on principles of mass and energy conservation. Simulations verify the accuracy of the developed models. Due to the nonlinear characteristics of attemperator, a new model, based on a genetic-fuzzy systems utilizing Pittsburgh approach is developed showing a promising performance vis-à-vis those derived with other methods like ANFIS. The optimization constraints are handled utilizing penalty functions. The effect of increasing the number of rules and membership functions on the performance of the proposed model is also studied and evaluated. The turbine model is developed based on the equation of adiabatic expansion. Parameters of all evaluated models are tuned by means of evolutionary algorithms. Based on the developed model a fuzzy PI controller is developed. It is then successfully implemented in the turbine follower control strategy of the plant. In this control strategy instead of keeping control parameters constant, they are adjusted on-line with regard to the error and the error rate. It is shown that the response of the system improves significantly. It is also shown that fuel consumption decreases considerably.

Keywords: Attemperator, Evolutionary algorithms, Fossil fuelled power plant (FFPP), Fuzzy set theory, Gain scheduling

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Authors: Alexander Hendricks, Sean Nevin, Clayton Wikoff, Melissa Dougherty, Jacob Orlita, Rafiqul Noorani

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Knee orthotics play an important role in aiding in the recovery of those with knee injuries, especially athletes. However, structural knee orthotics is often very expensive, ranging between $300 and $800. The primary reason for this project was to answer the question: can 3D printed orthotics represent a viable and cost-effective alternative to present structural knee orthotics? The primary objective for this research project was to design a knee orthotic for athletes with knee injuries for a low-cost under $100 and evaluate its effectiveness. The initial design for the orthotic was done in SolidWorks, a computer-aided design (CAD) software available at Loyola Marymount University. After this design was completed, finite element analysis (FEA) was utilized to understand how normal stresses placed upon the knee affected the orthotic. The knee orthotic was then adjusted and redesigned to meet a specified factor-of-safety of 3.25 based on the data gathered during FEA and literature sources. Once the FEA was completed and the orthotic was redesigned based from the data gathered, the next step was to move on to 3D-printing the first design of the knee brace. Subsequently, physical therapy movement trials were used to evaluate physical performance. Using the data from these movement trials, the CAD design of the brace was refined to accommodate the design requirements. The final goal of this research means to explore the possibility of replacing high-cost, outsourced knee orthotics with a readily available low-cost alternative.

Keywords: Knee Orthotics, 3D printing, finite element analysis.

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Authors: Eleni Giouli

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Distance learning provides a flexible approach to education, enabling busy learners to complete their coursework at their own pace, on their own schedule, and from a convenient location. This flexibility combined with a series of other issues; make the benefits of lifelong distance learning numerous. The purpose of the paper is to investigate whether distance education can contribute to the improvement of adult skills in Greece, highlighting in this way the necessity of the lifelong distance learning. To investigate this goal, a questionnaire is constructed and analyzed based on responses from 3,016 attendees of lifelong distance learning programs in the e-learning of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in Greece. In order to do so, a series of relationships is examined including the effects of a) the gender, b) the previous educational level, c) the current employment status, and d) the method used in the distance learning program, on the development of new general, technical, administrative, social, cultural, entrepreneurial and green skills. The basic conclusions that emerge after using a binary logistic framework are that the following factors are critical in order to develop new skills: the gender, the education level and the educational method used in the lifelong distance learning program. The skills more significantly affected by those factors are the acquiring new skills in general, as well as acquiring general, language and cultural, entrepreneurial and green skills, while for technical and social skills only gender and educational method play a crucial role. Moreover, routine skills and social skills are not affected by the four factors included in the analysis.

Keywords: Adult skills, distance learning, education, lifelong learning.

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Authors: Wai Phyo Aung

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Wheeled Mobile Robots (WMRs) are built with their Wheels- drive machine, Motors. Depend on their desire design of WMR, Technicians made used of DC Motors for motion control. In this paper, the author would like to analyze how to choose DC motor to be balance with their applications of especially for WMR. Specification of DC Motor that can be used with desire WMR is to be determined by using MATLAB Simulink model. Therefore, this paper is mainly focus on software application of MATLAB and Control Technology. As the driving system of DC motor, a Peripheral Interface Controller (PIC) based control system is designed including the assembly software technology and H-bridge control circuit. This Driving system is used to drive two DC gear motors which are used to control the motion of WMR. In this analyzing process, the author mainly focus the drive system on driving two DC gear motors that will control with Differential Drive technique to the Wheeled Mobile Robot . For the design analysis of Motor Driving System, PIC16F84A is used and five inputs of sensors detected data are tested with five ON/OFF switches. The outputs of PIC are the commands to drive two DC gear motors, inputs of Hbridge circuit .In this paper, Control techniques of PIC microcontroller and H-bridge circuit, Mechanism assignments of WMR are combined and analyzed by mainly focusing with the “Modeling and Simulink of DC Motor using MATLAB".

Keywords: Control System Design, DC Motors, DifferentialDrive, H-bridge control circuit, MATLAB Simulink model, Peripheral Interface Controller (PIC), Wheeled Mobile Robots.

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Authors: Chien-Yeh Hsu, Yuan-Ching Chiang, Zi-Jie Chien, Sih-Li Chen

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In this study, a field experiment and performance analysis of air-tunnel heat exchanger integrated with water-filled raft foundation of residential building were performed. In order to obtain better performance, conventional applications of air-tunnel inevitably have high initial cost or issues about insufficient installation space. To improve the feasibility of air tunnel heat exchanger in high-density housing, an integrated system consisting of air pipes immersed in the water-filled raft foundation was presented, taking advantage of immense amount of water and relatively stable temperature in raft foundation of building. The foundation-integrated air tunnel was applied to a residential building located in Yilan, Taiwan, and its thermal performance was measured in the field experiment. The results indicated that the cooling potential of integrated system was close to the potential of soil-based EAHE at 2 m depth or deeper. An analytical model based on thermal resistance method was validated by measurement results, and was used to carry out the dimensioning of foundation-integrated air tunnel. The discrepancies between calculated value and measured data were less than 2.7%. In addition, the return-on-investment with regard to thermal performance and economics of the application was evaluated. Because the installation for air tunnel is scheduled in the building foundation construction, the utilization of integrated system spends less construction cost compare to the conventional earth-air tunnel.

Keywords: Air tunnel, ground heat exchanger, raft foundation, residential building.

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Authors: Alok Madan, Arshad K. Hashmi

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Performance based design (PBD) is an iterative exercise in which a preliminary trial design of the building structure is selected and if the selected trial design of the building structure does not conform to the desired performance objective, the trial design is revised. In this context, development of a fundamental approach for performance based seismic design of masonry infilled frames with minimum number of trials is an important objective. The paper presents a plastic design procedure based on the energy balance concept for PBD of multi-story multi-bay masonry infilled reinforced concrete (R/C) frames subjected to near-field earthquakes. The proposed energy based plastic design procedure was implemented for trial performance based seismic design of representative masonry infilled reinforced concrete frames with various practically relevant distributions of masonry infill panels over the frame elevation. Non-linear dynamic analyses of the trial PBD of masonry infilled R/C frames was performed under the action of near-field earthquake ground motions. The results of non-linear dynamic analyses demonstrate that the proposed energy method is effective for performance based design of masonry infilled R/C frames under near-field as well as far-field earthquakes.

Keywords: Masonry Infilled Frame, Energy Methods, Near-fault Ground Motions, Pushover Analysis, Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis, Seismic Demand.

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Authors: E. M. Hassan, A. L. Kalamkarov

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Two micromechanical models for 3D smart composite with embedded periodic or nearly periodic network of generally orthotropic reinforcements and actuators are developed and applied to cubic structures with unidirectional orientation of constituents. Analytical formulas for the effective piezothermoelastic coefficients are derived using the Asymptotic Homogenization Method (AHM). Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is subsequently developed and used to examine the aforementioned periodic 3D network reinforced smart structures. The deformation responses from the FE simulations are used to extract effective coefficients. The results from both techniques are compared. This work considers piezoelectric materials that respond linearly to changes in electric field, electric displacement, mechanical stress and strain and thermal effects. This combination of electric fields and thermo-mechanical response in smart composite structures is characterized by piezoelectric and thermal expansion coefficients. The problem is represented by unitcell and the models are developed using the AHM and the FEA to determine the effective piezoelectric and thermal expansion coefficients. Each unit cell contains a number of orthotropic inclusions in the form of structural reinforcements and actuators. Using matrix representation of the coupled response of the unit cell, the effective piezoelectric and thermal expansion coefficients are calculated and compared with results of the asymptotic homogenization method. A very good agreement is shown between these two approaches.

Keywords: Asymptotic Homogenization Method, Effective Piezothermoelastic Coefficients, Finite Element Analysis, 3D Smart Network Composite Structures.

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Authors: Junaid Kameran Ahmed

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A laminated plate composite of graphite/epoxy has been analyzed dynamically in the present work by using a quadratic element (8-node diso-parametric), and by depending on 1^st order shear deformation theory, every node in this element has 6-degrees of freedom (displacement in x, y, and z axis and twist about x, y, and z axis). The dynamic analysis in the present work covered parametric studies on a composite laminated plate (square plate) to determine its effect on the natural frequency of the plate. The parametric study is represented by set of changes (plate thickness, number of layers, support conditions, layer orientation), and the plates have been simulated by using ANSYS package 12. The boundary conditions considered in this study, at all four edges of the plate, are simply supported and fixed boundary condition. The results obtained from ANSYS program show that the natural frequency for both fixed and simply supported increases with increasing the number of layers, but this increase in the natural frequency for the first five modes will be neglected after 10 layers. And it is observed that the natural frequency of a composite laminated plate will change with the change of ply orientation, the natural frequency increases and it will be at maximum with angle 45 of ply for simply supported laminated plate, and maximum natural frequency will be with cross-ply (0/90) for fixed laminated composite plate. It is also observed that the natural frequency increase is approximately doubled when the thickness is doubled.

Keywords: Laminated plate, orthotropic plate, square plate, natural frequency, graphite/epoxy.

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Authors: André C. Silva, Izabela L. A. Moraes, Elenice M. S. Silva, Carlos M. Silva Filho

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In Brazil, most soils are acidic and low in essential nutrients required for the growth and development of plants, making fertilizers essential for agriculture. As the biggest producer of soy in the world and a major producer of coffee, sugar cane and citrus fruits, Brazil is a large consumer of phosphate. Brazilian’s phosphate ores are predominantly from igneous rocks showing a complex mineralogy, associated with carbonites and oxides, typically iron, silicon and barium. The adopted industrial concentration circuit for this type of ore is a mix between magnetic separation (both low and high field) to remove the magnetic fraction and a froth flotation circuit composed by a reverse flotation of apatite (barite’s flotation) followed by direct flotation circuit (rougher, cleaner and scavenger circuit). Since the 70’s fatty acids obtained from vegetable oils are widely used as lower-cost collectors in apatite froth flotation. This is a very effective approach to the apatite family of minerals, being that this type of collector is both selective and efficient (high recovery). This paper presents Jatropha curcas L. oil (JCO) as a renewable and sustainable source of fatty acids with high selectivity in froth flotation of apatite. JCO is considerably rich in fatty acids such as linoleic, oleic and palmitic acid. The experimental campaign involved 216 tests using a modified Hallimond tube and two different minerals (apatite and quartz). In order to be used as a collector, the oil was saponified. The results found were compared with the synthetic collector, Fotigam 5806 produced by Clariant, which is composed mainly by soy oil. JCO showed the highest selectivity for apatite flotation with cold saponification at pH 8 and concentration of 2.5 mg/L. In this case, the mineral recovery was around 95%.

Keywords: Froth flotation, Jatropha curcas L., microflotation, selectivity.

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Authors: Monisha Isaac

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Biotechnology is a discipline which explains the use of living organisms and systems to construct a product, or we can define it as an application or technology developed to use biological systems and organisms processes for a specific use. Particularly, it includes cells and its components use for new technologies and inventions. The tools developed can be further used in diverse fields such as agriculture, industry, research and hospitals etc. The 21^st century has seen a drastic development and advancement in biotechnology in India. Significant increase in Government of India’s outlays for biotechnology over the past decade has been observed. A sectoral break up of biotechnology-based companies in India shows that most of the companies are agriculture-based companies having interests ranging from tissue culture to biopesticides. Major attention has been given by the companies in health related activities and in environmental biotechnology. The biopharmaceutical, which comprises of vaccines, diagnostic, and recombinant products is the most reliable and largest segment of the Indian Biotech industry. India has developed its vaccine markets and supplies them to various countries. Then there are the bio-services, which mainly comprise of contract researches and manufacturing services. India has made noticeable developments in the field of bio industries including manufacturing of enzymes, biofuels and biopolymers. Biotechnology is also playing a crucial and significant role in the field of agriculture. Traditional methods have been replaced by new technologies that mainly focus on GM crops, marker assisted technologies and the use of biotechnological tools to improve the quality of fertilizers and soil. It may only be a small contributor but has shown to have huge potential for growth. Bioinformatics is a computational method which helps to store, manage, arrange and design tools to interpret the extensive data gathered through experimental trials, making it important in the design of drugs.

Keywords: Biotechnology, advancement, agriculture, bio-services, bio-industries, bio-pharmaceuticals.

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Authors: S. Chuenchooklin

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This research was conducted in the Lower Ping River Basin downstream of the Bhumibol Dam and the Lower Wang River Basin in Tak Province, Thailand. Most of the tributary streams of the Ping can be considered as ungauged catchments. There are 10- pumping station installation at both river banks of the Ping in Tak Province. Recently, most of them could not fully operate due to the water amount in the river below the level that would be pumping, even though included water from the natural river and released flow from the Bhumibol Dam. The aim of this research was to increase the performance of those pumping stations using weir projects in the Ping. Therefore, the river analysis system model (HEC-RAS) was applied to study the hydraulic behavior of water surface profiles in the Ping River with both cases of existing conditions and proposed weirs during the violent flood in 2011 and severe drought in 2013. Moreover, the hydrologic modeling system (HMS) was applied to simulate lateral streamflow hydrograph from ungauged catchments of the Ping. The results of HEC-RAS model calibration with existing conditions in 2011 showed best trial roughness coefficient for the main channel of 0.026. The simulated water surface levels fitted to observation data with R2 of 0.8175. The model was applied to 3 proposed cascade weirs with 2.35 m in height and found surcharge water level only 0.27 m higher than the existing condition in 2011. Moreover, those weirs could maintain river water levels and increase of those pumping performances during less river flow in 2013.

Keywords: HEC-RAS, HMS, pumping stations, cascade weirs.

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Authors: Chaiwat Waree

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This research aims at development of the Multiple Intelligences Measurement of Elementary Students. The structural accuracy test and normality establishment are based on the Multiple Intelligences Theory of Gardner. This theory consists of eight aspects namely linguistics, logic and mathematics, visual-spatial relations, body and movement, music, human relations, self-realization/selfunderstanding and nature. The sample used in this research consists of elementary school students (aged between 5-11 years). The size of the sample group was determined by Yamane Table. The group has 2,504 students. Multistage Sampling was used. Basic statistical analysis and construct validity testing were done using confirmatory factor analysis. The research can be summarized as follows; 1. Multiple Intelligences Measurement consisting of 120 items is content-accurate. Internal consistent reliability according to the method of Kuder-Richardson of the whole Multiple Intelligences Measurement equals .91. The difficulty of the measurement test is between .39-.83. Discrimination is between .21-.85. 2). The Multiple Intelligences Measurement has construct validity in a good range, that is 8 components and all 120 test items have statistical significance level at .01. Chi-square value equals 4357.7; p=.00 at the degree of freedom of 244 and Goodness of Fit Index equals 1.00. Adjusted Goodness of Fit Index equals .92. Comparative Fit Index (CFI) equals .68. Root Mean Squared Residual (RMR) equals 0.064 and Root Mean Square Error of Approximation equals 0.82. 3). The normality of the Multiple Intelligences Measurement is categorized into 3 levels. Those with high intelligence are those with percentiles of more than 78. Those with moderate/medium intelligence are those with percentiles between 24 and 77.9. Those with low intelligence are those with percentiles from 23.9 downwards.

Keywords: Multiple Intelligences, Measurement, Elementary Students.

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Authors: Claudineia Brazil, Elison Eduardo Bierhals, Francisco Pereira, José Leandro Néris, Matheus Rippel, Luciane Salvi

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The global concern about climate change has been increasing, since the emission of gases from human activities contributes to the greenhouse effect in the atmosphere, indicating significant impacts to the planet in the coming years. The study of precipitation regime is fundamental for the development of research in several areas. Among them are hydrology, agriculture, and electric sector. Using the climatic projections of the models belonging to the CMIP5, the main objective of the paper was to present an analysis of the impacts of climate change without rainfall in the Uruguay River basin. After an analysis of the results, it can be observed that for the future climate, there is a tendency, in relation to the present climate, for larger numbers of dry events, mainly in the winter months, changing the pluviometric regime for wet summers and drier winters. Given this projected framework, it is important to note the importance of adequate management of the existing water sources in the river basin, since the value of rainfall is reduced for the next years, it may compromise the dynamics of the ecosystems in the region. Facing climate change is fundamental issue for regions and cities all around the world. Society must improve its resilience to phenomenon impacts, and spreading the knowledge among decision makers and citizens is also essential. So, these research results can be subsidies for the decision-making in planning and management of mitigation measures and/or adaptation in south Brazil.

Keywords: Climate change, hydrological potential, precipitation, mitigation.

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Authors: Ashiquer Rahman

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The cutting edge knowledge mediation system called ‘ePLANETe’ provides a framework for building knowledge, tools, and methods for education, research, and sustainable practices, as well as the deliberative assessment support for Higher Education, Research Institutions, and elsewhere e.g., the collaborative learning and research on sustainability and biodiversity issues of territorial development sectors. The paper is to present the analytical perspective of the ‘ePLANETe’ concept and functionalities as an experimental platform for contributing to sustainability assessment. Now the ‘ePLANETe’ can be seen as experimentation of the challenges of “ICT for Green”. The digital technologies of ‘ePLANETe’ are exploited (i) to facilitate collaborative research, learning tools, and knowledge for sustainability challenges, and (ii) as deliberation support tools in pursuing of sustainability performance and practices in territorial governance, public policy, and business strategy, as well as in the higher education sectors itself. The paper investigates the dealing capacity of qualitative and quantitative assessment of agriculture sustainability through the stakeholder-based integrated assessment. Specifically, this paper focuses on integrating system methodologies with Deliberation Support Tools (DST) and INTEGRAAL method for collective assessment and decision-making in implementing regional plans. The report aims to identify the effective knowledge and tools to enable deliberations methodologies regarding practices on the sustainability of agriculture and biodiversity issues, societal responsibilities, and regional planning, concentrating on the question: “How to effectively mobilize resources (knowledge, tools, and methods) from different sources and at different scales regarding on agriculture and biodiversity issues to address sustainability challenges” that will create the scope for qualitative and quantitative assessments of sustainability as a new landmark of the agriculture sector.

Keywords: Biodiversity, Deliberation Support Tools, INTEGRAAL, stakeholder.

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Authors: Hamidreza Akbari

Abstract:

In this paper, for detection of inclined eccentricity in an induction motor, time–frequency analysis of the stator startup current is carried out. For this purpose, the discrete wavelet transform is used. Data are obtained from simulations, using winding function approach. The results show the validity of the approach for detecting the fault and discriminating with respect to other faults.

Keywords: Induction machine, Fault, DWT.

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Authors: Dae Gon Woo, Ji Hyung Park, Chi Hoon Kim, Tae Woo Lee, Beob Yi Lee, Han Sung Kim

Abstract:

The aim of the present study is to analyze the generation of osteoporotic vertebral bone induced by lack of calcium during growth period and analyze its effects for disc degeneration, based on biomechanical and histomorphometrical study. Mechanical and histomorphological characteristics of lumbar vertebral bones and discs of rats with calcium free diet (CFD) were detected and tracked by using high resolution in-vivo micro-computed tomography (in-vivo micro-CT), finite element (FE) and histological analysis. Twenty female Sprague-Dawley rats (6 weeks old, approximate weight 170g) were randomly divided into two groups (CFD group: 10, NOR group: 10). The CFD group was maintained on a refmed calcium-controlled semisynthetic diet without added calcium, to induce osteoporosis. All lumbar (L 1-L6) were scanned by using in vivo micro-CT with 35i.un resolution at 0, 4, 8 weeks to track the effects of CFD on the generation of osteoporosis. The fmdings of the present study indicated that calcium insufficiency was the main factor in the generation of osteoporosis and it induced lumbar vertebral disc degeneration. This study is a valuable experiment to firstly evaluate osteoporotic vertebral bone and disc degeneration induced by lack of calcium during growth period from a biomechanical and histomorphometrical point of view.

Keywords: Calcium free diet, Disc degeneration, Osteoporosis, in-vivo micro-CT, Finite element analysis, Histology.

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