Search results for: Optimal Normal Basis

Authors: Emad Askar, Eldesoky Elsoaly, Mohamed Kamel, Hisham Kamel

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The objective of this article is to improve the passive vibration damping of solar array (SA) used in space structures, by the effective application of numerical optimization. A case study of a SA is used for demonstration. A finite element (FE) model was created and verified by experimental testing. Optimization was then conducted by implementing the FE model with the genetic algorithm, to find the optimal placement of aluminum circular patches, to suppress the first two bending mode shapes. The results were verified using experimental testing. Finally, a parametric study was conducted using the FE model where patch locations, material type, and shape were varied one at a time, and the results were compared with the optimal ones. The results clearly show that through the proper application of FE modeling and numerical optimization, passive vibration damping of space structures has been successfully achieved.

Keywords: Damping optimization, genetic algorithm optimization, passive vibration damping, solar array vibration damping.

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Authors: Sultan Noman Qasem

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This paper presents an evolutionary algorithm for solving multi-objective optimization problems-based artificial neural network (ANN). The multi-objective evolutionary algorithm used in this study is genetic algorithm while ANN used is radial basis function network (RBFN). The proposed algorithm named memetic elitist Pareto non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-based RBFN (MEPGAN). The proposed algorithm is implemented on medical diseases problems. The experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithm is viable, and provides an effective means to design multi-objective RBFNs with good generalization capability and compact network structure. This study shows that MEPGAN generates RBFNs coming with an appropriate balance between accuracy and simplicity, comparing to the other algorithms found in literature.

Keywords: Radial basis function network, Hybrid learning, Multi-objective optimization, Genetic algorithm.

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Authors: Thanh-Phong Dao, Shyh-Chour Huang

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This study presents the optimal design and formulation of a kinematic model of a flexible slider crank mechanism. The objective of the proposed innovative design is to take extra advantage of the compliant mechanism and maximize the fatigue life by applying the Taguchi method. A formulated kinematic model is developed using a pseudo-rigid-body model (PRBM). By means of mathematic models, the kinematic behaviors of the flexible slider crank mechanism are captured using MATLAB software. Finite element analysis (FEA) is used to show the stress distribution. The results show that the optimal shape of the flexible hinge includes a force of 8.5N, a width of 9mm and a thickness of 1.1mm. Analysis of variance shows that the thickness of the proposed hinge is the most significant parameter, with an F test of 15.5. Finally, a prototype is manufactured to prepare for testing the kinematic and dynamic behaviors.

Keywords: Kinematic behavior, fatigue life, pseudo-rigid-body model, flexible slider crank mechanism.

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Authors: E. Grochowska-Niedworok, K. Brukało, M. Hadasik, M. Kardas

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Consumption of vegetables by school children and adolescents is essential for their normal growth, development and health, but a significant minority of the world's population consumes the right amount of these products. The aim of the study was to evaluate the preferences and frequency of consumption of vegetables by school children and adolescents. It has been assumed that effectively implemented nutrition education programs should have an impact on increasing the frequency of vegetable consumption among the recipients. The study covered 514 students of five schools in the Opole Voivodeship aged 9 years to 22 years. The research tool was an author's questionnaire, which consisted of closed questions on the frequency of vegetable consumption and the use of 10 ways to treat them. Preferences and frequencies are shown in percentages, while correlations were estimated on the basis of Cramer`s V and gamma coefficients. In each of the examined age groups, the relationship between sex and vegetable consumption (the Cramer`s V coefficient value was 0.06 to 0.38) was determined and the various methods of culinary processing were used (V Craméra was 0.08 to 0.34). For both sexes, the relationship between age and frequency of vegetable consumption was shown (gamma values ranged from ~ 0.00 to 0.39) and different cooking methods (gamma values were 0.01 to 0.22). The most important determinant of nutritional choices is the taste and availability of products. The fact that they have a positive effect on their health is only in third position. As has been shown, obesity prevention programs can not only address nutrition education but also teach about new flavors and increase the availability of healthy foods. In addition, the frequency of vegetable consumption can be a good indicator reflecting the healthy behaviors of children and adolescents.

Keywords: Children and adolescents, frequency, welfare rate, vegetables.

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Authors: Mahdi Hamzeh, Sied Mehdi Fakhraie, Caro Lucas

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All practical real-time scheduling algorithms in multiprocessor systems present a trade-off between their computational complexity and performance. In real-time systems, tasks have to be performed correctly and timely. Finding minimal schedule in multiprocessor systems with real-time constraints is shown to be NP-hard. Although some optimal algorithms have been employed in uni-processor systems, they fail when they are applied in multiprocessor systems. The practical scheduling algorithms in real-time systems have not deterministic response time. Deterministic timing behavior is an important parameter for system robustness analysis. The intrinsic uncertainty in dynamic real-time systems increases the difficulties of scheduling problem. To alleviate these difficulties, we have proposed a fuzzy scheduling approach to arrange real-time periodic and non-periodic tasks in multiprocessor systems. Static and dynamic optimal scheduling algorithms fail with non-critical overload. In contrast, our approach balances task loads of the processors successfully while consider starvation prevention and fairness which cause higher priority tasks have higher running probability. A simulation is conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed approach. Experimental results have shown that the proposed fuzzy scheduler creates feasible schedules for homogeneous and heterogeneous tasks. It also and considers tasks priorities which cause higher system utilization and lowers deadline miss time. According to the results, it performs very close to optimal schedule of uni-processor systems.

Keywords: Computational complexity, Deadline, Feasible scheduling, Fuzzy scheduling, Priority, Real-time multiprocessor systems, Robustness, System utilization.

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Authors: T.T. Wong, C.W. Leung, M.C. Wong

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Cooktop burners are widely used nowadays. In cooktop burner design, nozzle efficiency and greenhouse gas(GHG) emissions mainly depend on heat transfer from the premixed flame to the impinging surface. This is a complicated issue depending on the individual and combined effects of various input combustion variables. Optimal operating conditions for sustainable burner design were rarely addressed, especially in the case of multiple slot-jet burners. Through evaluating the optimal combination of combustion conditions for a premixed slot-jet array, this paper develops a practical approach for the sustainable design of gas cooktop burners. Efficiency, CO and NOx emissions in respect of an array of slot jets using premixed flames were analysed. Response surface experimental design were applied to three controllable factors of the combustion process, viz. Reynolds number, equivalence ratio and jet-to-vessel distance. Desirability Function Approach(DFA) is the analytic technique used for the simultaneous optimization of the efficiency and emission responses.

Keywords: optimization, premixed slot jets

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Authors: A.Seif, H.Aghaie, K.Majlesi

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A computational study at the level density functional theory (DFT) was carried out to investigate the influences of Si and C-doping on the 14N and 27Al quadrupole coupling constant in the (10, 0) zigzag single ? walled Aluminum-Nitride nanotube (AlNNT). To this aim, a 1.16nm, length of AlNNT consisting of 40 Al atoms and 40 N atoms were selected where the end atoms are capped by hydrogen atom. To follow the purpose, three Si atoms and three C atoms were doped instead of three Al atoms and three N atoms as a central ring in the surface of the Si and C-doped AlNNT. At first both of systems optimized at the level of BLYP method and 6-31G (d) basis set and after that, the NQR parameters were calculated at the level BLYP method and 6-311+G** basis set in two optimized forms. The calculate CQ values for both optimized AlNNT systems, raw and Si and C-doped, reveal different electronic environments in the mentioned systems. It was also demonstrated that the end nuclei have the largest CQ values in both considered AlNNT systems. All the calculations were carried out using Gaussian 98 package of program.

Keywords: DFT, Quadrupole Coupling Constant, Si and CDoping, Single-Walled AlN nanotubes.

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Authors: K. Shakeri, M. Mohebbi

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In order to consider the effects of the higher modes in the pushover analysis, during the recent years several multi-modal pushover procedures have been presented. In these methods the response of the considered modes are combined by the square-rootof- sum-of-squares (SRSS) rule while application of the elastic modal combination rules in the inelastic phases is no longer valid. In this research the feasibility of defining an efficient alternative combination method is investigated. Two steel moment-frame buildings denoted SAC-9 and SAC-20 under ten earthquake records are considered. The nonlinear responses of the structures are estimated by the directed algebraic combination of the weighted responses of the separate modes. The weight of the each mode is defined so that the resulted response of the combination has a minimum error to the nonlinear time history analysis. The genetic algorithm (GA) is used to minimize the error and optimize the weight factors. The obtained optimal factors for each mode in different cases are compared together to find unique appropriate weight factors for each mode in all cases.

Keywords: Genetic Algorithm, Modal Pushover, Optimalweight.

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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: Tokuei Sako, Paul-Antoine Hervieux

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The energy-level structure of a pair of electron and positron confined in a quasi-one-dimensional nano-scale potential well has been investigated focusing on its trend in the small limit of confinement strength ω, namely, the Wigner molecular regime. An anisotropic Gaussian-type basis functions supplemented by high angular momentum functions as large as l = 19 has been used to obtain reliable full configuration interaction (FCI) wave functions. The resultant energy spectrum shows a band structure characterized by ω for the large ω regime whereas for the small ω regime it shows an energy-level pattern dominated by excitation into the in-phase motion of the two particles. The observed trend has been rationalized on the basis of the nodal patterns of the FCI wave functions. 

Keywords: Confined systems, positron, wave function, Wigner molecule, quantum dots.

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Authors: S. Al-Asheh, K. Al-Emadi

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In recent years, there have been attempts to store natural gas in adsorptive form. This is called adsorptive natural gas, or ANG. The problem with this technology is the low sorption capacity. The purpose is to achieve compressed natural gas (CNG) capacity of 230 V/V. Further research is required to achieve such target. Several research studies have been performed with this target; through either the modification or development of new sorbents or the optimization of the operation sorption process itself. In this work, storage of methane on molecular sieves 5A and 13X was studied on dry basis, and on wet basis to certain extent. The temperature and the pressure dynamics were investigated. The results indicated that regardless of the charge pressure, the time for the peak temperature during the methane charge process is always the same. This can be used as a characteristic of the adsorbent. The total achieved deliveries using molecular sieves were much lower than that of activated carbons; 53.0 V/V for the case of 13X molecular sieves and 43 V/V for the case of 5A molecular sieves, both at 2oC and 4 MPa (580 psi). Investigation of charge pressure dynamic using wet molecular sieves at 2oC and a mass ratio of 0.5, revealed slowness of the process and unexpected behavior.

Keywords: Methane, Molecular sieves, Adsorption, Delivery, Storage.

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Authors: D. Vainauska, S. Kozireva, A. Karpovs, M. Chistyakovs, M. Baryshev

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Liposomal magnetofection is a simple, highly efficient technology for cell transfection, demonstrating better outcome than a number of other common gene delivery methods. However, aggregate complexes distribution over the cell surface is non-uniform due to the gradient of the permanent magnetic field. The aim of this study was to estimate the efficiency of liposomal magnetofection for prostate carcinoma PC3 cell line using newly designed device, “DynaFECTOR", ensuring magnetofection in a dynamic gradient magnetic field. Liposomal magnetofection in a dynamic gradient magnetic field demonstrated the highest transfection efficiency for PC3 cells – it increased for 21% in comparison with liposomal magnetofection and for 42% in comparison with lipofection alone. The optimal incubation time under dynamic magnetic field for PC3 cell line was 5 minutes and the optimal rotation frequency of magnets – 5 rpm. The new approach also revealed lower cytotoxic effect to cells than liposomal magnetofection.

Keywords: Dynamic gradient magnetic field, gene delivery, liposomal magnetofection, prostate cancer cell line

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Authors: Samia Sadouki Chibani, Abdelkamel Tari

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Web service composition combines available services to provide new functionality. Given the number of available services with similar functionalities and different non functional aspects (QoS), the problem of finding a QoS-optimal web service composition is considered as an optimization problem belonging to NP-hard class. Thus, an optimal solution cannot be found by exact algorithms within a reasonable time. In this paper, a meta-heuristic bio-inspired is presented to address the QoS aware web service composition; it is based on Elephant Herding Optimization (EHO) algorithm, which is inspired by the herding behavior of elephant group. EHO is characterized by a process of dividing and combining the population to sub populations (clan); this process allows the exchange of information between local searches to move toward a global optimum. However, with Applying others evolutionary algorithms the problem of early stagnancy in a local optimum cannot be avoided. Compared with PSO, the results of experimental evaluation show that our proposition significantly outperforms the existing algorithm with better performance of the fitness value and a fast convergence.

Keywords: Elephant herding optimization, web service composition, bio-inspired algorithms, QoS optimization.

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Authors: I. Falconett, K. Nagasaka

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This study investigates the performance of radial basis function networks (RBFN) in forecasting the monthly CO2 emissions of an electric power utility. We also propose a method for input variable selection. This method is based on identifying the general relationships between groups of input candidates and the output. The effect that each input has on the forecasting error is examined by removing all inputs except the variable to be investigated from its group, calculating the networks parameter and performing the forecast. Finally, the new forecasting error is compared with the reference model. Eight input variables were identified as the most relevant, which is significantly less than our reference model with 30 input variables. The simulation results demonstrate that the model with the 8 inputs selected using the method introduced in this study performs as accurate as the reference model, while also being the most parsimonious.

Keywords: Correlation analysis, CO2 emissions forecasting, electric power utility, radial basis function networks.

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Authors: Wennan Long, Yuhao Nie, Yunan Li, Adam Brandt

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To fight against climate change, California government issued the Senate Bill No. 100 (SB-100) in 2018 September, which aims at achieving a target of 100% renewable electricity by the end of 2045. A capacity expansion problem is solved in this case study using a binary quadratic programming model. The optimal locations and capacities of the potential renewable power plants (i.e., solar, wind, biomass, geothermal and hydropower), the phase-out schedule of existing fossil-based (nature gas) power plants and the transmission of electricity across the entire network are determined with the minimal total annualized cost measured by net present value (NPV). The results show that the renewable electricity contribution could increase to 85.9% by 2030 and reach 100% by 2035. Fossil-based power plants will be totally phased out around 2035 and solar and wind will finally become the most dominant renewable energy resource in California electricity mix.

Keywords: 100% renewable electricity, California, capacity expansion, binary quadratic programming.

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Authors: Dewi Fatmaningrum, Ade Wiradnyani

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Optimal feeding, including optimal micronutrient intake, becomes one of the ways to overcome the long-term consequences of undernutrition. Macronutrient and micronutrient intake were important to a rapid growth and development of young children. The study objective was to assess macro and micronutrient intake and its adequacy in children aged 12-23 months. This survey was a cross-sectional study, involving 83 caregivers with children aged 12-23 months old in Senen Sub-district, Central Jakarta selected through simple random sampling. Data on nutrient intake was obtained through interview using single 24-hour recall. Repeated 24- hour recall to sub-sample was done to estimate the proportion of nutrient inadequacy. The highest prevalence of nutrient inadequacy was iron (52.4%), followed by vitamin C (30.9%) and zinc (28.8%). Almost 12% children had inadequate energy intake. More than half of children (62.6%) were anemic (25.3% were severely anemic). Micronutrient inadequacy, especially iron, was more problematic than macronutrient inadequacy in the study area.

Keywords: Micronutrient, macronutrient, children under five, urban setting.

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Authors: Priyanka Sen, Kaibalya Prasad Panda, Soumyakanta Samantaray, Sreyasee Rout, Bishnupriya Biswal

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Deregulation in the power system industry and the invention of new technologies for producing electrical energy has led to innovations in power system planning. Distributed generation (DG) is one of the most attractive technologies that bring different kinds of advantages to a lot of entities, engaged in power systems. In this paper, a model for considering DGs in the power system planning problem is presented. Dynamic power system planning for reduction of maintenance and operational cost is presented in this paper. In addition to that, a modified particle swarm optimization (PSO) is used to find the optimal topology solution. Voltage Profile Improvement Index (VPII) and Line Loss Reduction Index (LLRI) are taken as benefit index of employing DG. The effectiveness of this method is demonstrated through examination of IEEE 30 bus test system.

Keywords: Distributed generation, line loss reduction index, particle swarm optimization, power system, voltage profile improvement index.

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Authors: Mahkameh S. Mostafavi

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In this paper an algorithm is used to detect the color defects of ceramic tiles. First the image of a normal tile is clustered using GCMA; Genetic C-means Clustering Algorithm; those results in best cluster centers. C-means is a common clustering algorithm which optimizes an objective function, based on a measure between data points and the cluster centers in the data space. Here the objective function describes the mean square error. After finding the best centers, each pixel of the image is assigned to the cluster with closest cluster center. Then, the maximum errors of clusters are computed. For each cluster, max error is the maximum distance between its center and all the pixels which belong to it. After computing errors all the pixels of defected tile image are clustered based on the centers obtained from normal tile image in previous stage. Pixels which their distance from their cluster center is more than the maximum error of that cluster are considered as defected pixels.

Keywords: C-Means algorithm, color spaces, Genetic Algorithm, image clustering.

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Authors: Ademuyiwa, M. O., Sanni, S. A.

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The importance of maternal nutritional practices during pregnancy cannot be overemphasized. This paper assessed the consumption pattern and dietary practices of 50 pregnant women selected using purposive sampling technique from three health care centres (Primary Health Care Centre, Obantoko; Primary Health Care Centre Alabata; and the General Hospital, Odeda) in Odeda Local Government Area of Ogun State, Nigeria. Structured questionnaire was used to elicit information on socioeconomic status, consumption pattern and dietary practices. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, 17). The results indicated that about 58% of the pregnant women were below the age of 30 while 42% were ages 28-40 years. Only 16% had tertiary education while (38%) had secondary education, 52% earn income through petty trading. On food intake, 52% got their energy source from rice on a daily basis, followed by pap (38%) and eko (34%). For protein intake, 36% consumed bean cake on a daily basis while 66% consumed moinmoin 2-3 times a week. Orange (48%) and Green Leafy vegetable (40%) accounted for the mostly consumed fruit and vegetable on daily basis. In terms of animal origin, fish (76%), meat (58%) and eggs (30%) were consumed daily, while chicken and snail were consumed occasionally by 54% and 42%, respectively. Forty-six percent (46%) of the pregnant women eat more than three times daily; while 60% of the women eat outside their homes with 42% respondents eat out lunch and only two percent least eaten out dinner. It is important to increase in awareness campaign to sensitize the pregnant women on the importance of good nutrition especially fruits, vegetables and dairy products. 

Keywords: Consumption Pattern, Dietary Practices, Pregnant, Women, Nigeria.

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Authors: Seung Woo Lee, So Jeong Nam, Jai-Kyung Lee

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It can be said that the business sector is faced with a range of challenges–a rapidly changing business environment, an increase and diversification of customers- demands and the consequent need for quick response–for having in place flexible management and production info systems. As a matter of fact, many manufacturers have adopted production info management systems such as MES and ERP. Nevertheless, managers are having difficulties obtaining ever-changing production process information in real time, or responding quickly to any change in production related needs on the basis of such information. This is because they rely on poor production info systems which are not capable of providing real-time factory settings. If the manufacturer doesn-t have a capacity for collecting or digitalizing the 4 Ms (Man, Machine, Material, Method), which are resources for production, on a real time basis, it might to difficult to effectively maintain the information on production process. In this regard, this paper will introduce some new alternatives to the existing methods of collecting the 4 Ms in real time, which are currently comprise the production field.

Keywords: 4M, Acquisition of Data on shop-floor, Real-time machine interface

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Authors: Lingaraju Dumpala, Laxmi Mohan Kumar Chintada, Devadas Deepu, Pravin Kumar Yadav

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Friction stir welding is the new-fangled and cutting-edge technique in welding applications; it is widely used in the fields of transportation, aerospace, defense, etc. For thriving significant welding joints and properties of friction stir welded components, it is essential to carry out this advanced process in a prescribed systematic procedure. At this moment, Underwater Friction Stir Welding (UFSW) Process is the field of interest to do research work. In the continuous assessment, the study of UFSW process is to comprehend problems occurred in the past and the structure through which the mechanical properties of the welded joints can be value-added and contributes to conclude results an acceptable and resourceful joint. A meticulous criticism is given on how to modify the experimental setup from NFSW to UFSW. It can discern the influence of tool materials, feeds, spindle angle, load, rotational speeds and mechanical properties. By expending the DEFORM-3D simulation software, the achieved outcomes are validated.

Keywords: Underwater friction stir welding, al alloys, mechanical properties, normal friction stir welding.

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Authors: M. Sadeghi, A.H. Jafari, S.M.P. Firoozabadi

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Deep Brain Stimulation or DBS is a surgical treatment for Parkinson-s Disease with three stimulation parameters: frequency, pulse width, and voltage. The parameters should be selected appropriately to achieve effective treatment. This selection now, performs clinically. The aim of this research is to study chaotic behavior of recorded tremor of patients under DBS in order to present a computational method to recognize stimulation optimum voltage. We obtained some chaotic features of tremor signal, and discovered embedding space of it has an attractor, and its largest Lyapunov exponent is positive, which show tremor signal has chaotic behavior, also we found out, in optimal voltage, entropy and embedding space variance of tremor signal have minimum values in comparison with other voltages. These differences can help neurologists recognize optimal voltage numerically, which leads to reduce patients' role and discomfort in optimizing stimulation parameters and to do treatment with high accuracy.

Keywords: Chaos, Deep Brain Stimulation, Parkinson's Disease, Stimulation Parameters, tremor.

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Authors: Andrey A. Chernousov, Ben Y. B. Chan

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The thermal behavior of a large-scale, phase change material (PCM) enhanced building envelope system was studied in regard to the need for pre-fabricated construction in subtropical regions. The proposed large-scale envelope consists of a reinforced aluminum skin, insulation core, phase change material and reinforced gypsum board. The PCM impact on an energy efficiency of an enveloped room was resolved by validation of the EnergyPlus numerical scheme and optimization of a smart material location in the core. The PCM location was optimized by a minimization method of a cooling energy demand. It has been shown that there is good agreement between the test and simulation results. The optimal location of the PCM layer in Hong Kong summer conditions has been then recomputed for core thicknesses of 40, 60 and 80 mm. A non-dimensional value of the optimal PCM location was obtained to be same for all the studied cases and the considered external and internal conditions.

Keywords: Thermal performance, phase change material, energy efficiency, PCM optimization.

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Authors: Bao Thach Nguyen, Abbas Mohajerani

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A typical flexible pavement structure consists of the surface, base, sub-base and subgrade soil. The loading traffic is transferred from the top layer with higher stiffness to the layer below with less stiffness. Under normal traffic loading, the behaviour of flexible pavement is very complex and can be predicted by using the repeated load triaxial test equipment in the laboratory. However, the nature of the repeated load triaxial testing procedure is considered time-consuming, complicated and expensive, and it is a challenge to carry out as a routine test in the laboratory. Therefore, the current paper proposes a numerical approach to simulate the repeated load triaxial test by employing the discrete element method. A sample with particle size ranging from 2.36mm to 19.0mm was constructed. Material properties, which included normal stiffness, shear stiffness, coefficient of friction, maximum dry density and particle density, were used as the input for the simulation. The sample was then subjected to a combination of deviator and confining stress and it was found that the discrete element method is able to simulate the repeated load triaxial test in the laboratory.

Keywords: Discrete element method, repeated load triaxial, pavement materials.

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Authors: Eduardo F. Mello, Peter H. Bauer

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The primary focus of this paper is the generation of energy-optimal speed trajectories for heterogeneous electric vehicle platoons in urban driving conditions. Optimal speed trajectories are generated for individual vehicles and for an entire platoon under the assumption that they can be executed without errors, as would be the case for self-driving vehicles. It is then shown that the optimization for the “average vehicle in the platoon” generates similar transportation energy savings to optimizing speed trajectories for each vehicle individually. The introduced approach only requires the lead vehicle to run the optimization software while the remaining vehicles are only required to have adaptive cruise control capability. The achieved energy savings are typically between 30% and 50% for stop-to-stop segments in cities. The prime motivation of urban platooning comes from the fact that urban platoons efficiently utilize the available space and the minimization of transportation energy in cities is important for many reasons, i.e., for environmental, power, and range considerations.

Keywords: Electric vehicles, energy efficiency, optimization, platooning, self-driving vehicles, urban traffic.

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Authors: Chihhao Fan, Ming-Chu Liao

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The purpose of this study is to investigate the chemical degradation of the organophosphorus pesticide of parathion and carbamate insecticide of methomyl in the aqueous phase through Fenton process. With the employment of batch Fenton process, the degradation of the two selected pesticides at different pH, initial concentration, humic acid concentration, and Fenton reagent dosages was explored. The Fenton process was found effective to degrade parathion and methomyl. The optimal dosage of Fenton reagents (i.e., molar concentration ratio of H2O2 to Fe2+) at pH 7 for parathion degradation was equal to 3, which resulted in 50% removal of parathion. Similarly, the optimal dosage for methomyl degradation was 1, resulting in 80% removal of methomyl. This study also found that the presence of humic substances has enhanced pesticide degradation by Fenton process significantly. The mass spectroscopy results showed that the hydroxyl free radical may attack the single bonds with least energy of investigated pesticides to form smaller molecules which is more easily to degrade either through physio-chemical or bilolgical processes.

Keywords: Fenton Process, humic acid, methomyl, parathion, pesticides

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Authors: Mithun B. M., Mattur C. Narasimhan

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Alkali Activated Slag Concrete (AASC) mixes are manufactured by activating ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) using sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate solutions. The aim of the present experimental research was to investigate the effect of increasing the dosages of sodium oxide (Na₂O, in the range of 4 to 8%) and the activator modulus (Ms) (i.e. the SiO₂/Na₂O ratio, in the range of 0.5 to 1.5) of the alkaline solutions, on the workability and strength characteristics of self-cured (air-cured) alkali activated Indian slag concrete mixes. Further the split tensile and flexure strengths for optimal mixes were studied for each dosage of Na₂O.It is observed that increase in Na₂O concentration increases the compressive, split-tensile and flexural strengths, both at the early and later-ages, while increase in Ms, decreases the workability of the mixes. An optimal Ms of 1.25 is found at various Na₂O dosages. No significant differences in the strength performances were observed between AASCs manufactured with alkali solutions prepared using either of potable and de-ionized water.

Keywords: Alkali activated slag, self-curing, strength characteristics.

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Authors: Jean-Pierre Dubois, Rania Minkara, Rafic Ayoubi

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Maximal Ratio Combining (MRC) is considered the most complex combining technique as it requires channel coefficients estimation. It results in the lowest bit error rate (BER) compared to all other combining techniques. However the BER starts to deteriorate as errors are introduced in the channel coefficients estimation. A novel combining technique, termed Generalized Maximal Ratio Combining (GMRC) with a polynomial kernel, yields an identical BER as MRC with perfect channel estimation and a lower BER in the presence of channel estimation errors. We show that GMRC outperforms the optimal MRC scheme in general and we hereinafter introduce it to the scientific community as a new “supraoptimal" algorithm. Since diversity combining is especially effective in small femto- and pico-cells, internet-associated wireless peripheral systems are to benefit most from GMRC. As a result, many spinoff applications can be made to IP-based 4th generation networks.

Keywords: Bit error rate, femto-internet cells, generalized maximal ratio combining, signal-to-scattering noise ratio.

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Authors: Abdel-Rahman M. Jaradat, , Mansour I. Irshid, Talha T. Nassar

Abstract:

A novel file splitting technique for the reduction of the nth-order entropy of text files is proposed. The technique is based on mapping the original text file into a non-ASCII binary file using a new codeword assignment method and then the resulting binary file is split into several subfiles each contains one or more bits from each codeword of the mapped binary file. The statistical properties of the subfiles are studied and it is found that they reflect the statistical properties of the original text file which is not the case when the ASCII code is used as a mapper. The nth-order entropy of these subfiles are determined and it is found that the sum of their entropies is less than that of the original text file for the same values of extensions. These interesting statistical properties of the resulting subfiles can be used to achieve better compression ratios when conventional compression techniques are applied to these subfiles individually and on a bit-wise basis rather than on character-wise basis.

Keywords: Bit-wise compression, entropy, file splitting, source mapping.

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Authors: Chapman Eze Nnadozie

Abstract:

Cloud computing, a technology that is made possible through virtualization within networks represents a shift from the traditional ownership of infrastructure and other resources by distinct organization to a more scalable pattern in which computer resources are rented online to organizations on either as a pay-as-you-use basis or by subscription. In other words, cloud computing entails the renting of computing resources (such as storage space, memory, servers, applications, networks, etc.) by a third party to its clients on a pay-as-go basis. It is a new innovative technology that is globally embraced because of its renowned benefits, profound of which is its cost effectiveness on the part of organizations engaged with its services. In Nigeria, the services are provided either directly to companies mostly by the key IT players such as Microsoft, IBM, and Google; or in partnership with some other players such as Infoware, Descasio, and Sunnet. This action enables organizations to rent IT resources on a pay-as-you-go basis thereby salvaging them from wastages accruable on acquisition and maintenance of IT resources such as ownership of a separate data centre. This paper intends to appraise the challenges of cloud computing adoption in Nigeria, bearing in mind the country’s peculiarities’ in terms of infrastructural development. The methodologies used in this paper include the use of research questionnaires, formulated hypothesis, and the testing of the formulated hypothesis. The major findings of this paper include the fact that there are some addressable challenges to the adoption of cloud computing in Nigeria. Furthermore, the country will gain significantly if the challenges especially in the area of infrastructural development are well addressed. This is because the research established the fact that there are significant gains derivable by the adoption of cloud computing by organizations in Nigeria. However, these challenges can be overturned by concerted efforts in the part of government and other stakeholders.

Keywords: Cloud computing, data centre, infrastructure, IT resources, network, servers, virtualization.

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