Search results for: International monetary system (IMS)
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 8982

Search results for: International monetary system (IMS)

1422 Exergy Analysis of Combined Cycle of Air Separation and Natural Gas Liquefaction

Authors: Hanfei Tuo, Yanzhong Li

Abstract:

This paper presented a novel combined cycle of air separation and natural gas liquefaction. The idea is that natural gas can be liquefied, meanwhile gaseous or liquid nitrogen and oxygen are produced in one combined cryogenic system. Cycle simulation and exergy analysis were performed to evaluate the process and thereby reveal the influence of the crucial parameter, i.e., flow rate ratio through two stages expanders β on heat transfer temperature difference, its distribution and consequent exergy loss. Composite curves for the combined hot streams (feeding natural gas and recycled nitrogen) and the cold stream showed the degree of optimization available in this process if appropriate β was designed. The results indicated that increasing β reduces temperature difference and exergy loss in heat exchange process. However, the maximum limit value of β should be confined in terms of minimum temperature difference proposed in heat exchanger design standard and heat exchanger size. The optimal βopt under different operation conditions corresponding to the required minimum temperature differences was investigated.

Keywords: combined cycle simulation, exergy analysis, natural gas liquefaction.

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1421 A Study of Fatty Acid Production in the Batch Reactor via the Carbohydrate Fermentation by C. butyricum

Authors: H. Azan T., R. W. Lovitt, Nur K. T., N. Azwa. M. B.

Abstract:

Carbohydrate can be used as a substrate that can be consumed by C. butyricum and converted to useful chemicals such as acetic and butyric acid. Influence of concentration and types of carbohydrate to cell growth, carbohydrate consumed, productivity and carbon balance have been explored. Batch reactor was selected in this study to avoid contamination due to simpler operation system. Glucose was preferred as first types of carbohydrate to be tested. Six concentrations were studied from 0 to 28g/L. Eventually, 15g/L has shown the best concentration for glucose in term of growth rate (2.63h-1) and carbon balance (99.76% recovery). Comparison for types of carbohydrate was also conducted. 15g/L of xylose (monosaccharide) and starch (complex carbohydrate) was tested.  In term of growth rate and productivity, glucose showed the best carbohydrates. Results for this study showed that glucose and xylose produced more than 80% of acetic acid and less than 20% of butyric acid. Meanwhile, 63.1% of acetic acid and 36.9% of butyric acid were produced from starch. 

Keywords: C. butyricum, glucose, starch, xylose, carbohydrate.

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1420 Effect of Irrigation Methods on Water Use Efficiency Applied to Citrus Crop in the Souss Region (Morocco) in the Context of Climate Change

Authors: H. Elomari, M. Fallah, A. Elmousadik

Abstract:

This work was conducted in the Souss region, known by severe water scarcity and a high agricultural activity dominated by the citrus (representing 40% of the area of Morocco's citrus). The objective of this work is to diagnose the current situation of the water efficiency in citrus irrigation and analyze the impact of various production factors on water productivity and its sustainability in the context of climate change. A field survey was conducted on 65 farms with areas varying from 0.5 to 350 ha. The stratification method was adopted as a sampling frame. Initial result indicates that the use of water shows a huge shortfall, since 31% of farms in the region are still using the surface irrigation system and 67% of farms are still using only the experience of the manager to control and adjust irrigation. The assessment of water productivity showed a value of 1.2 kg/m3 for surface irrigation and 3.8 kg/m3 for drip irrigation. The use of tools for control and adjustment of irrigation increases the water productivity of drip irrigation by 25%. The availability of the technical staff (internal or external) allows an increase in productivity of 172.4% compared to farms without technical advice.

Keywords: Citrus, irrigation efficiency, water productivity, drip irrigation.

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1419 Hierarchical PSO-Adaboost Based Classifiers for Fast and Robust Face Detection

Authors: Hong Pan, Yaping Zhu, Liang Zheng Xia

Abstract:

We propose a fast and robust hierarchical face detection system which finds and localizes face images with a cascade of classifiers. Three modules contribute to the efficiency of our detector. First, heterogeneous feature descriptors are exploited to enrich feature types and feature numbers for face representation. Second, a PSO-Adaboost algorithm is proposed to efficiently select discriminative features from a large pool of available features and reinforce them into the final ensemble classifier. Compared with the standard exhaustive Adaboost for feature selection, the new PSOAdaboost algorithm reduces the training time up to 20 times. Finally, a three-stage hierarchical classifier framework is developed for rapid background removal. In particular, candidate face regions are detected more quickly by using a large size window in the first stage. Nonlinear SVM classifiers are used instead of decision stump functions in the last stage to remove those remaining complex nonface patterns that can not be rejected in the previous two stages. Experimental results show our detector achieves superior performance on the CMU+MIT frontal face dataset.

Keywords: Adaboost, Face detection, Feature selection, PSO

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1418 Empirical Exploration for the Correlation between Class Object-Oriented Connectivity-Based Cohesion and Coupling

Authors: Jehad Al Dallal

Abstract:

Attributes and methods are the basic contents of an object-oriented class. The connectivity among these class members and the relationship between the class and other classes play an important role in determining the quality of an object-oriented system. Class cohesion evaluates the degree of relatedness of class attributes and methods, whereas class coupling refers to the degree to which a class is related to other classes. Researchers have proposed several class cohesion and class coupling measures. However, the correlation between class coupling and class cohesion measures has not been thoroughly studied. In this paper, using classes of three open-source Java systems, we empirically investigate the correlation between several measures of connectivity-based class cohesion and coupling. Four connectivity-based cohesion measures and eight coupling measures are considered in the empirical study. The empirical study results show that class connectivity-based cohesion and coupling internal quality attributes are inversely correlated. The strength of the correlation depends highly on the cohesion and coupling measurement approaches.

Keywords: Object-oriented class, software quality, class cohesion measure, class coupling measure.

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1417 Reduction of Multiple User Interference for Optical CDMA Systems Using Successive Interference Cancellation Scheme

Authors: Tawfig Eltaif, Hesham A. Bakarman, N. Alsowaidi, M. R. Mokhtar, Malek Harbawi

Abstract:

Multiple User Interference (MUI) considers the primary problem in Optical Code-Division Multiple Access (OCDMA), which resulting from the overlapping among the users. In this article we aim to mitigate this problem by studying an interference cancellation scheme called successive interference cancellation (SIC) scheme. This scheme will be tested on two different detection schemes, spectral amplitude coding (SAC) and direct detection systems (DS), using partial modified prime (PMP) as the signature codes. It was found that SIC scheme based on both SAC and DS methods had a potential to suppress the intensity noise, that is to say it can mitigate MUI noise. Furthermore, SIC/DS scheme showed much lower bit error rate (BER) performance relative to SIC/SAC scheme for different magnitude of effective power. Hence, many more users can be supported by SIC/DS receiver system.

Keywords: Multiple User Interference (MUI), Optical Code-Division Multiple Access (OCDMA), Partial Modified Prime Code (PMP), Spectral Amplitude Coding (SAC), Successive Interference Cancellation (SIC).

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1416 RF Power Consumption Emulation Optimized with Interval Valued Homotopies

Authors: Deogratius Musiige, François Anton, Vital Yatskevich, Laulagnet Vincent, Darka Mioc, Nguyen Pierre

Abstract:

This paper presents a methodology towards the emulation of the electrical power consumption of the RF device during the cellular phone/handset transmission mode using the LTE technology. The emulation methodology takes the physical environmental variables and the logical interface between the baseband and the RF system as inputs to compute the emulated power dissipation of the RF device. The emulated power, in between the measured points corresponding to the discrete values of the logical interface parameters is computed as a polynomial interpolation using polynomial basis functions. The evaluation of polynomial and spline curve fitting models showed a respective divergence (test error) of 8% and 0.02% from the physically measured power consumption. The precisions of the instruments used for the physical measurements have been modeled as intervals. We have been able to model the power consumption of the RF device operating at 5MHz using homotopy between 2 continuous power consumptions of the RF device operating at the bandwidths 3MHz and 10MHz.

Keywords: Radio frequency, high power amplifier, baseband, LTE, power, emulation, homotopy, interval analysis, Tx power, register-transfer level.

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1415 Optimization of Solar Tracking Systems

Authors: A. Zaher, A. Traore, F. Thiéry, T. Talbert, B. Shaer

Abstract:

In this paper, an intelligent approach is proposed to optimize the orientation of continuous solar tracking systems on cloudy days. Considering the weather case, the direct sunlight is more important than the diffuse radiation in case of clear sky. Thus, the panel is always pointed towards the sun. In case of an overcast sky, the solar beam is close to zero, and the panel is placed horizontally to receive the maximum of diffuse radiation. Under partly covered conditions, the panel must be pointed towards the source that emits the maximum of solar energy and it may be anywhere in the sky dome. Thus, the idea of our approach is to analyze the images, captured by ground-based sky camera system, in order to detect the zone in the sky dome which is considered as the optimal source of energy under cloudy conditions. The proposed approach is implemented using experimental setup developed at PROMES-CNRS laboratory in Perpignan city (France). Under overcast conditions, the results were very satisfactory, and the intelligent approach has provided efficiency gains of up to 9% relative to conventional continuous sun tracking systems.

Keywords: Clouds detection, fuzzy inference systems, images processing, sun trackers.

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1414 A Dynamic Decision Model for Vertical Handoffs across Heterogeneous Wireless Networks

Authors: Pramod Goyal, S. K. Saxena

Abstract:

The convergence of heterogeneous wireless access technologies characterizes the 4G wireless networks. In such converged systems, the seamless and efficient handoff between different access technologies (vertical handoff) is essential and remains a challenging problem. The heterogeneous co-existence of access technologies with largely different characteristics creates a decision problem of determining the “best" available network at “best" time to reduce the unnecessary handoffs. This paper proposes a dynamic decision model to decide the “best" network at “best" time moment to handoffs. The proposed dynamic decision model make the right vertical handoff decisions by determining the “best" network at “best" time among available networks based on, dynamic factors such as “Received Signal Strength(RSS)" of network and “velocity" of mobile station simultaneously with static factors like Usage Expense, Link capacity(offered bandwidth) and power consumption. This model not only meets the individual user needs but also improve the whole system performance by reducing the unnecessary handoffs.

Keywords: Dynamic decision model, Seamless handoff, Vertical handoff, Wireless networks

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1413 Modeling and Design of an Active Leg Orthosis for Tumble Protection

Authors: Eileen Chih-Ying Yang, Liang-Han Wu, Chieh-Min Chang

Abstract:

The design of an active leg orthosis for tumble protection is proposed in this paper. The orthosis would be applied to assist elders or invalids in rebalancing while they fall unexpectedly. We observe the regain balance motion of healthy and youthful people, and find the difference to elders or invalids. First, the physical model of leg would be established, and we consider the leg motions are achieve through four joints (phalanx stem, ankle, knee, and hip joint) and five links (phalanges, talus, tibia, femur, and hip bone). To formulate the dynamic equations, the coordinates which can clearly describe the position in 3D space are first defined accordance with the human movement of leg, and the kinematics and dynamics of the leg movement can be formulated based on the robotics. For the purpose, assisting elders and invalids in avoiding tumble, the posture variation of unbalance and regaining balance motion are recorded by the motion-capture image system, and the trajectory is taken as the desire one. Then we calculate the force and moment of each joint based on the leg motion model through programming MATLAB code. The results would be primary information of the active leg orthosis design for tumble protection.

Keywords: Active leg orthosis, Tumble protection

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1412 Movement Optimization of Robotic Arm Movement Using Soft Computing

Authors: V. K. Banga

Abstract:

Robots are now playing a very promising role in industries. Robots are commonly used in applications in repeated operations or where operation by human is either risky or not feasible. In most of the industrial applications, robotic arm manipulators are widely used. Robotic arm manipulator with two link or three link structures is commonly used due to their low degrees-of-freedom (DOF) movement. As the DOF of robotic arm increased, complexity increases. Instrumentation involved with robotics plays very important role in order to interact with outer environment. In this work, optimal control for movement of various DOFs of robotic arm using various soft computing techniques has been presented. We have discussed about different robotic structures having various DOF robotics arm movement. Further stress is on kinematics of the arm structures i.e. forward kinematics and inverse kinematics. Trajectory planning of robotic arms using soft computing techniques is demonstrating the flexibility of this technique. The performance is optimized for all possible input values and results in optimized movement as resultant output. In conclusion, soft computing has been playing very important role for achieving optimized movement of robotic arm. It also requires very limited knowledge of the system to implement soft computing techniques.

Keywords: Artificial intelligence, kinematics, robotic arm, neural networks, fuzzy logic.

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1411 Instructional Design Using the Virtual Ecological Pond for Science Education in Elementary Schools

Authors: Wernhuar Tarng, Wen-Shin Tsai, Yu-Si Lin, Chen-Kai Shiu

Abstract:

Ecological ponds can be a good teaching tool for science teachers, but they must be built and maintained properly to provide students with a safe and suitable learning environment. Hence, many schools do not have the ability to build an ecological pond. This study used virtual reality technology to develop a webbased virtual ecological pond. Supported by situated learning theory and the instructional design of “Aquatic Life" learning unit, elementary school students can actively explore in the virtual ecological pond to observe aquatic animals and plants and learn about the concept of ecological conservation. A teaching experiment was conducted to investigate the learning effectiveness and practicability of this instructional design, and the results showed that students improved a great deal in learning about aquatic life. They found the virtual ecological pond interesting, easy to operate and helpful to understanding the aquatic ecological system. Therefore, it is useful in elementary science education.

Keywords: Virtual reality, virtual ecological ponds, situated learning, instructional design, science education.

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1410 Cost Effective Real-Time Image Processing Based Optical Mark Reader

Authors: Amit Kumar, Himanshu Singal, Arnav Bhavsar

Abstract:

In this modern era of automation, most of the academic exams and competitive exams are Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ). The responses of these MCQ based exams are recorded in the Optical Mark Reader (OMR) sheet. Evaluation of the OMR sheet requires separate specialized machines for scanning and marking. The sheets used by these machines are special and costs more than a normal sheet. Available process is non-economical and dependent on paper thickness, scanning quality, paper orientation, special hardware and customized software. This study tries to tackle the problem of evaluating the OMR sheet without any special hardware and making the whole process economical. We propose an image processing based algorithm which can be used to read and evaluate the scanned OMR sheets with no special hardware required. It will eliminate the use of special OMR sheet. Responses recorded in normal sheet is enough for evaluation. The proposed system takes care of color, brightness, rotation, little imperfections in the OMR sheet images.

Keywords: OMR, image processing, hough circle transform, interpolation, detection, Binary Thresholding.

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1409 Finite-Horizon Tracking Control for Repetitive Systems with Uncertain Initial Conditions

Authors: Sung Wook Yun, Yun Jong Choi, Kyong-min Lee, Poogyeon Park*

Abstract:

Repetitive systems stand for a kind of systems that perform a simple task on a fixed pattern repetitively, which are widely spread in industrial fields. Hence, many researchers have been interested in those systems, especially in the field of iterative learning control (ILC). In this paper, we propose a finite-horizon tracking control scheme for linear time-varying repetitive systems with uncertain initial conditions. The scheme is derived both analytically and numerically for state-feedback systems and only numerically for output-feedback systems. Then, it is extended to stable systems with input constraints. All numerical schemes are developed in the forms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). A distinguished feature of the proposed scheme from the existing iterative learning control is that the scheme guarantees the tracking performance exactly even under uncertain initial conditions. The simulation results demonstrate the good performance of the proposed scheme.

Keywords: Finite time horizon, linear matrix inequality (LMI), repetitive system, uncertain initial condition.

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1408 Urban Reforms of Tanzimat: Early Urbanization and Transportation Practices in The Formation Process of Turkish Reconstruction System(1839-1908) in Bursa The First Capital City of Ottoman Empire

Authors: M.Bilal Bagbanci, Ozlem Koprulu Bagbanci

Abstract:

Bursa, since the establishment of the Ottoman Empire, being on the important trade roads and having a capital accumulation as a result of silk production, was one of the first cities of modernization activities applied. Bursa maintained its importance even during the Republican Period and became one of the most important cities of the country and today is the fourth biggest and the industrialized city in Turkey. Social, political, economical and cultural changes occured with the reforms starting with the 1839 Edict of Tanzimat that aimed at modernizing the society and the government and centralizing the political power began in the Ottoman Empire. After the Tanzimat Reforms transformation of the city changed and planning processes began in Bursa according to the vision of Governors. The theresholds of the city are very important data for a sustainable planning for the city planners. Main aim of this study is to investigate the changes and transformations of the city according to the changes in the socio-economical and cultural properties for the city planners.

Keywords: Transportation, urbanization, Tanzimat reforms, modernization.

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1407 Mechanical Model of Gypsum Board Anchors Subjected Cyclic Shear Loading

Authors: Yoshinori Kitsutaka, Fumiya Ikedo

Abstract:

In this study, the mechanical model of various anchors embedded in gypsum board subjected cyclic shear loading were investigated. Shear tests for anchors embedded in 200 mm square size gypsum board were conducted to measure the load - load displacement curves. The strength of the gypsum board was changed for three conditions and 12 kinds of anchors were selected which were ordinary used for gypsum board anchoring. The loading conditions were a monotonous loading and a cyclic loading controlled by a servo-controlled hydraulic loading system to achieve accurate measurement. The fracture energy for each of the anchors was estimated by the analysis of consumed energy calculated by the load - load displacement curve. The effect of the strength of gypsum board and the types of anchors on the shear properties of gypsum board anchors was cleared. A numerical model to predict the load-unload curve of shear deformation of gypsum board anchors caused by such as the earthquake load was proposed and the validity on the model was proved.

Keywords: Gypsum board, anchor, shear test, cyclic loading, load-unload curve.

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1406 Combining Fuzzy Logic and Neural Networks in Modeling Landfill Gas Production

Authors: Mohamed Abdallah, Mostafa Warith, Roberto Narbaitz, Emil Petriu, Kevin Kennedy

Abstract:

Heterogeneity of solid waste characteristics as well as the complex processes taking place within the landfill ecosystem motivated the implementation of soft computing methodologies such as artificial neural networks (ANN), fuzzy logic (FL), and their combination. The present work uses a hybrid ANN-FL model that employs knowledge-based FL to describe the process qualitatively and implements the learning algorithm of ANN to optimize model parameters. The model was developed to simulate and predict the landfill gas production at a given time based on operational parameters. The experimental data used were compiled from lab-scale experiment that involved various operating scenarios. The developed model was validated and statistically analyzed using F-test, linear regression between actual and predicted data, and mean squared error measures. Overall, the simulated landfill gas production rates demonstrated reasonable agreement with actual data. The discussion focused on the effect of the size of training datasets and number of training epochs.

Keywords: Adaptive neural fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), gas production, landfill

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1405 To Know the Way to the Unknown: A Semi-Experimental Study on the Implication of Skills and Knowledge for Creative Processes in Higher Education

Authors: Mikkel Snorre Wilms Boysen

Abstract:

From a theoretical perspective, expertise is generally considered a precondition for creativity. The assumption is that an individual needs to master the common and accepted rules and techniques within a certain knowledge-domain in order to create something new and valuable. However, real life cases, and a limited amount of empirical studies, demonstrate that this assumption may be overly simple. In this article, this question is explored through a number of semi-experimental case studies conducted within the fields of music, technology, and youth culture. The studies indicate that, in various ways, expertise plays an important part in creative processes. However, the case studies also indicate that expertise sometimes leads to an entrenched perspective, in the sense that knowledge and experience may work as a path into the well-known rather than into the unknown. In this article, these issues are explored with reference to different theoretical approaches to creativity and learning, including actor-network theory, the theory of blind variation and selective retention, and Csikszentmihalyi’s system model. Finally, some educational aspects and implications of this are discussed.

Keywords: Creativity, education, expertise, technology.

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1404 Materialized View Effect on Query Performance

Authors: Yusuf Ziya Ayık, Ferhat Kahveci

Abstract:

Currently, database management systems have various tools such as backup and maintenance, and also provide statistical information such as resource usage and security. In terms of query performance, this paper covers query optimization, views, indexed tables, pre-computation materialized view, query performance analysis in which query plan alternatives can be created and the least costly one selected to optimize a query. Indexes and views can be created for related table columns. The literature review of this study showed that, in the course of time, despite the growing capabilities of the database management system, only database administrators are aware of the need for dealing with archival and transactional data types differently. These data may be constantly changing data used in everyday life, and also may be from the completed questionnaire whose data input was completed. For both types of data, the database uses its capabilities; but as shown in the findings section, instead of repeating similar heavy calculations which are carrying out same results with the same query over a survey results, using materialized view results can be in a more simple way. In this study, this performance difference was observed quantitatively considering the cost of the query.

Keywords: Materialized view, pre-computation, query cost, query performance.

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1403 Development and Characterization of a Polymer Composite Electrolyte to Be Used in Proton Exchange Membranes Fuel Cells

Authors: B. A. Berns, V. Romanovicz, M. M. de Camargo Forte, D. E. O. S. Carpenter

Abstract:

The Proton Exchange Membranes (PEM) are largely studied because they operate at low temperatures and they are suitable for mobile applications. However, there are some deficiencies in their operation, mainly those that use ethanol as a hydrogen source, that require a certain attention. Therefore, this research aimed to develop Nafion® composite membranes, mixing clay minerals, kaolin and halloysite to the polymer matrix in order to improve the ethanol molecule retentions and, at the same time, to keep the system’s protonic conductivity. The modified Nafion/Kaolin, Nafion/Halloysite composite membranes were prepared in weight proportion of 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5. The membranes obtained were characterized as to their ethanol permeability, protonic conductivity and water absorption. The composite morphology and structure are characterized by SEM and EDX and the thermal behavior is determined by TGA and DSC. The analysis of the results shows ethanol permeability reduction from 48% to 63%. However, the protonic conductivity results are lower in relation to pure Nafion®. As to the thermal behavior, the Nafion® composite membranes were stable up to a temperature of 325ºC.

Keywords: Polymer-matrix composites (PMCs), Thermal properties, Nanoclay, Differential scanning calorimetry.

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1402 Interdisciplinary Principles of Field-Like Coordination in the Case of Self-Organized Social Systems1

Authors: D. Plikynas, S. Masteika, A. Budrionis

Abstract:

This interdisciplinary research aims to distinguish universal scale-free and field-like fundamental principles of selforganization observable across many disciplines like computer science, neuroscience, microbiology, social science, etc. Based on these universal principles we provide basic premises and postulates for designing holistic social simulation models. We also introduce pervasive information field (PIF) concept, which serves as a simulation media for contextual information storage, dynamic distribution and organization in social complex networks. PIF concept specifically is targeted for field-like uncoupled and indirect interactions among social agents capable of affecting and perceiving broadcasted contextual information. Proposed approach is expressive enough to represent contextual broadcasted information in a form locally accessible and immediately usable by network agents. This paper gives some prospective vision how system-s resources (tangible and intangible) could be simulated as oscillating processes immersed in the all pervasive information field.

Keywords: field-based coordination, multi-agent systems, information-rich social networks, pervasive information field

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1401 Optimization Approaches for a Complex Dairy Farm Simulation Model

Authors: Jagannath Aryal, Don Kulasiri, Dishi Liu

Abstract:

This paper describes the optimization of a complex dairy farm simulation model using two quite different methods of optimization, the Genetic algorithm (GA) and the Lipschitz Branch-and-Bound (LBB) algorithm. These techniques have been used to improve an agricultural system model developed by Dexcel Limited, New Zealand, which describes a detailed representation of pastoral dairying scenarios and contains an 8-dimensional parameter space. The model incorporates the sub-models of pasture growth and animal metabolism, which are themselves complex in many cases. Each evaluation of the objective function, a composite 'Farm Performance Index (FPI)', requires simulation of at least a one-year period of farm operation with a daily time-step, and is therefore computationally expensive. The problem of visualization of the objective function (response surface) in high-dimensional spaces is also considered in the context of the farm optimization problem. Adaptations of the sammon mapping and parallel coordinates visualization are described which help visualize some important properties of the model-s output topography. From this study, it is found that GA requires fewer function evaluations in optimization than the LBB algorithm.

Keywords: Genetic Algorithm, Linux Cluster, LipschitzBranch-and-Bound, Optimization

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1400 Contribution of the SidePlate Beam-Column Connections to the Seismic Responses of Special Moment Frames

Authors: Gökhan Yüksel, Serdar Akça, İlker Kalkan

Abstract:

The present study is an attempt to demonstrate the significant levels of contribution of the moment-resisting beam-column connections with side plates to the earthquake behavior of special steel moment frames. To this end, the moment-curvature relationships of a regular beam-column connection and its SidePlate counterpart were determined with the help of finite element analyses. The connection stiffness and deformability values from these finite element analyses were used in the linear time-history analyses of an example structural steel frame under three different seismic excitations. The top-story lateral drift, base shear, and overturning moment values in two orthogonal directions were obtained from these time-history analyses and compared to each other. The results revealed the improvements in the system response with the use of SidePlate connections. The paper ends with crucial recommendations for the plan and design of further studies on this very topic.

Keywords: Seismic detailing, special moment frame, steel structures, beam-column connection, earthquake-resistant design.

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1399 Dynamic Self-Scheduling of Pumped-Storage Power Plant in Energy and Ancillary Service Markets Using Sliding Window Technique

Authors: P. Kanakasabapathy, Radhika. S,

Abstract:

In the competitive electricity market environment, the profit of the pumped-storage plant in the energy market can be maximized by operating it as a generator, when market clearing price is high and as a pump, to pump water from lower reservoir to upper reservoir, when the price is low. An optimal self-scheduling plan has been developed for a pumped-storage plant, carried out on weekly basis in order to maximize the profit of the plant, keeping into account of all the major uncertainties such as the sudden ancillary service delivery request and the price forecasting errors. For a pumped storage power plant to operate in a real time market successive self scheduling has to be done by considering the forecast of the day-ahead market and the modified reservoir storage due to the ancillary service request of the previous day. Sliding Window Technique has been used for successive self scheduling to ensure profit for the plant.

Keywords: Ancillary services, BPSO, Power System Economics (Electricity markets), Self-Scheduling, Sliding Window Technique.

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1398 Efficient Large Numbers Karatsuba-Ofman Multiplier Designs for Embedded Systems

Authors: M.Machhout, M.Zeghid, W.El hadj youssef, B.Bouallegue, A.Baganne, R.Tourki

Abstract:

Long number multiplications (n ≥ 128-bit) are a primitive in most cryptosystems. They can be performed better by using Karatsuba-Ofman technique. This algorithm is easy to parallelize on workstation network and on distributed memory, and it-s known as the practical method of choice. Multiplying long numbers using Karatsuba-Ofman algorithm is fast but is highly recursive. In this paper, we propose different designs of implementing Karatsuba-Ofman multiplier. A mixture of sequential and combinational system design techniques involving pipelining is applied to our proposed designs. Multiplying large numbers can be adapted flexibly to time, area and power criteria. Computationally and occupation constrained in embedded systems such as: smart cards, mobile phones..., multiplication of finite field elements can be achieved more efficiently. The proposed designs are compared to other existing techniques. Mathematical models (Area (n), Delay (n)) of our proposed designs are also elaborated and evaluated on different FPGAs devices.

Keywords: finite field, Karatsuba-Ofman, long numbers, multiplication, mathematical model, recursivity.

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1397 Design and Performance Analysis of a Hydro-Power Rim-Driven Superconducting Synchronous Generator

Authors: A. Hassannia, S. Ramezani

Abstract:

The technology of superconductivity has developed in many power system devices such as transmission cable, transformer, current limiter, motor and generator. Superconducting wires can carry high density current without loss, which is the capability that is used to design the compact, lightweight and more efficient electrical machines. Superconducting motors have found applications in marine and air propulsion systems as well as superconducting generators are considered in low power hydraulic and wind generators. This paper presents a rim-driven superconducting synchronous generator for hydraulic power plant. The rim-driven concept improves the performance of hydro turbine. Furthermore, high magnetic field that is produced by superconducting windings allows replacing the rotor core. As a consequent, the volume and weight of the machine is decreased significantly. In this paper, a 1 MW coreless rim-driven superconducting synchronous generator is designed. Main performance characteristics of the proposed machine are then evaluated using finite elements method and compared to an ordinary similar size synchronous generator.

Keywords: Coreless machine, electrical machine design, hydraulic generator, rim-driven machine, superconducting generator.

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1396 Site Selection of Traffic Camera based on Dempster-Shafer and Bagging Theory

Authors: S. Rokhsari, M. Delavar, A. Sadeghi-Niaraki, A. Abed-Elmdoust, B. Moshiri

Abstract:

Traffic incident has bad effect on all parts of society so controlling road networks with enough traffic devices could help to decrease number of accidents, so using the best method for optimum site selection of these devices could help to implement good monitoring system. This paper has considered here important criteria for optimum site selection of traffic camera based on aggregation methods such as Bagging and Dempster-Shafer concepts. In the first step, important criteria such as annual traffic flow, distance from critical places such as parks that need more traffic controlling were identified for selection of important road links for traffic camera installation, Then classification methods such as Artificial neural network and Decision tree algorithms were employed for classification of road links based on their importance for camera installation. Then for improving the result of classifiers aggregation methods such as Bagging and Dempster-Shafer theories were used.

Keywords: Aggregation, Bagging theory, Dempster-Shafer theory, Site selection

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1395 Power Reduction by Automatic Monitoring and Control System in Active Mode

Authors: Somaye Abdollahi Pour, Mohsen Saneei

Abstract:

This paper describes a novel monitoring scheme to minimize total active power in digital circuits depend on the demand frequency, by adjusting automatically both supply voltage and threshold voltages based on circuit operating conditions such as temperature, process variations, and desirable frequency. The delay monitoring results, will be control and apply so as to be maintained at the minimum value at which the chip is able to operate for a given clock frequency. Design details of power monitor are examined using simulation framework in 32nm BTPM model CMOS process. Experimental results show the overhead of proposed circuit in terms of its power consumption is about 40 μW for 32nm technology; moreover the results show that our proposed circuit design is not far sensitive to the temperature variations and also process variations. Besides, uses the simple blocks which offer good sensitivity, high speed, the continuously feedback loop. This design provides up to 40% reduction in power consumption in active mode.

Keywords: active mode, delay monitor, body biasing, VDD scaling, low power.

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1394 Practical Applications and Connectivity Algorithms in Future Wireless Sensor Networks

Authors: Mohamed K. Watfa

Abstract:

Like any sentient organism, a smart environment relies first and foremost on sensory data captured from the real world. The sensory data come from sensor nodes of different modalities deployed on different locations forming a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). Embedding smart sensors in humans has been a research challenge due to the limitations imposed by these sensors from computational capabilities to limited power. In this paper, we first propose a practical WSN application that will enable blind people to see what their neighboring partners can see. The challenge is that the actual mapping between the input images to brain pattern is too complex and not well understood. We also study the connectivity problem in 3D/2D wireless sensor networks and propose distributed efficient algorithms to accomplish the required connectivity of the system. We provide a new connectivity algorithm CDCA to connect disconnected parts of a network using cooperative diversity. Through simulations, we analyze the connectivity gains and energy savings provided by this novel form of cooperative diversity in WSNs.

Keywords: Wireless Sensor Networks, Pervasive Computing, Eye Vision Application, 3D Connectivity, Clusters, Energy Efficient, Cooperative diversity.

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1393 Natural Radioactivity in Foods Consumed in Turkey

Authors: E. Kam, G. Karahan, H. Aslıyuksek, A. Bozkurt

Abstract:

This study aims to determine the natural radioactivity levels in some foodstuffs produced in Turkey. For this purpose, 48 different foods samples were collected from different land parcels throughout the country. All samples were analyzed to designate both gross alpha and gross beta radioactivities and the radionuclides’ concentrations. The gross alpha radioactivities were measured as below 1 Bq kg-1 in most of the samples, some of them being due to the detection limit of the counting system. The gross beta radioactivity levels ranged from 1.8 Bq kg-1 to 453 Bq kg-1, larger levels being observed in leguminous seeds while the highest level being in haricot bean. The concentrations of natural radionuclides in the foodstuffs were investigated by the method of gamma spectroscopy. High levels of 40K were measured in all the samples, the highest activities being again in leguminous seeds. Low concentrations of 238U and 226Ra were found in some of the samples, which are comparable to the reported results in the literature. Based on the activity concentrations obtained in this study, average annual effective dose equivalents for the radionuclides 226Ra, 238U, and 40K were calculated as 77.416 µSv y-1, 0.978 µSv y-1, and 140.55 µSv y-1, respectively.

Keywords: Foods, radioactivity, gross alpha, gross beta, annual equivalent dose, Turkey.

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