Search results for: Distribution system

Authors: Rossitza M. Setchi, Nikolaos Lagos

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Problem solving has traditionally been one of the principal research areas for artificial intelligence. Yet, although artificial intelligence reasoning techniques have been employed in several product support systems, the benefit of integrating product support, knowledge engineering, and problem solving, is still unclear. This paper studies the synergy of these areas and proposes a knowledge engineering framework that integrates product support systems and artificial intelligence techniques. The framework includes four spaces; the data, problem, hypothesis, and solution ones. The data space incorporates the knowledge needed for structured reasoning to take place, the problem space contains representations of problems, and the hypothesis space utilizes a multimodal reasoning approach to produce appropriate solutions in the form of virtual documents. The solution space is used as the gateway between the system and the user. The proposed framework enables the development of product support systems in terms of smaller, more manageable steps while the combination of different reasoning techniques provides a way to overcome the lack of documentation resources.

Keywords: Knowledge engineering framework, product support, case-based reasoning, model-based reasoning, multimodal reasoning.

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Authors: Hamed Afrasiab, Saeed Khodaygan

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Prediction of machining process capability in the design stage plays a key role to reach the precision design and manufacturing of mechanical products. Inaccuracies in machining process lead to errors in position and orientation of machined features on the part, and strongly affect the process capability in the final quality of the product. In this paper, an efficient systematic approach is given to investigate the machining errors to predict the manufacturing errors of the parts and capability prediction of corresponding machining processes. A mathematical formulation of fixture locators modeling is presented to establish the relationship between the part errors and the related sources. Based on this method, the final machining errors of the part can be accurately estimated by relating them to the combined dimensional and geometric tolerances of the workpiece – fixture system. This method is developed for uncertainty analysis based on the Worst Case and statistical approaches. The application of the presented method is illustrated through presenting an example and the computational results are compared with the Monte Carlo simulation results.

Keywords: Process capability, machining error, dimensional and geometrical tolerances, uncertainty analysis.

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Authors: Sorore Benabid

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The Q-enhanced LC filters are the most used architecture in the Bandpass (BP) Continuous-Time (CT) Delta-Sigma (ΣΔ) modulators, due to their: high frequencies operation, high linearity than the active filters and a high quality factor obtained by Q-enhanced technique. This technique consists of the use of a negative resistance that compensate the ohmic losses in the on-chip inductor. However, this technique introduces a zero in the filter transfer function which will affect the modulator performances in term of Dynamic Range (DR), stability and in-band noise (Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR)). In this paper, we study the effect of this zero and we demonstrate that a calibration of the excess loop delay (ELD) is required to ensure the best performances of the modulator. System level simulations are done for a 2ndorder BP CT (ΣΔ) modulator at a center frequency of 300MHz. Simulation results indicate that the optimal ELD should be reduced by 13% to achieve the maximum SNR and DR compared to the ideal LC-based ΣΔ modulator.

Keywords: Continuous-time bandpass delta-sigma modulators, excess loop delay, on-chip inductor, Q-enhanced LC filter.

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Authors: Abbas Ali Mahmood Karwi

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Accurate timing alignment and stability is important to maximize the true counts and minimize the random counts in positron emission tomography So signals output from detectors must be centering with the two isotopes to pre-operation and fed signals into four units of pulse-processing units, each unit can accept up to eight inputs. The dual source computed tomography consist two units on the left for 15 detector signals of Cs-137 isotope and two units on the right are for 15 detectors signals of Co-60 isotope. The gamma spectrum consisting of either single or multiple photo peaks. This allows for the use of energy discrimination electronic hardware associated with the data acquisition system to acquire photon counts data with a specific energy, even if poor energy resolution detectors are used. This also helps to avoid counting of the Compton scatter counts especially if a single discrete gamma photo peak is emitted by the source as in the case of Cs-137. In this study the polyenergetic version of the alternating minimization algorithm is applied to the dual energy gamma computed tomography problem.

Keywords: Alignment, Spectrum, Laser, Detectors, Image

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Authors: M. Hari Prabhu

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This paper is based on the performance of the Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM) drives using Z-Source Inverter with the simplified rule base of Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) with the output scaling factor (SF) self-tuning mechanism are proposed. The aim of this paper is to simplify the program complexity of the controller by reducing the number of fuzzy sets of the membership functions (MFs) without losing the system performance and stability via the adjustable controller gain. ZSI exhibits both voltage-buck and voltage-boost capability. It reduces line harmonics, improves reliability, and extends output voltage range. The output SF of the controller can be tuned continuously by a gain updating factor, whose value is derived from fuzzy logic, with the plant error and error change ratio as input variables. Then the results, carried out on a four-phase 6/8 pole SRM based on the dSPACEDS1104 platform, to show the feasibility and effectiveness of the devised methods and also performance of the proposed controllers will be compared with conventional counterpart.

Keywords: Fuzzy logic controller, scaling factor (SF), switched reluctance motor (SRM), variable-speed drives.

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Authors: Khelood A. Mkalaf, Peter Gibson, John Flanagan

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This study investigates the relationship between the reliability of critical medical equipment (CME) and the effectiveness of CME maintenance management strategies in relation to patient outcomes in 84 public hospitals of a top 20 OECD country. The work has examined the effectiveness of CME maintenance management strategies used by the public hospital system of a large state run health organization. The conceptual framework was designed to examine the significance of the relationship between six variables: (1) types of maintenance management strategies, (2) maintenance services, (3) maintenance practice, (4) medical equipment reliability, (5) maintenance costs and (6) patient outcomes. The results provide interesting insights into the effectiveness of the maintenance strategies used. For example, there appears to be about a 1 in 10 000 probability of failure of anesthesia equipment, but these seem to be confined to specific maintenance situations. There are also some findings in relation to outsourcing of maintenance. For each of the variables listed, results are reported in relation to the various types of maintenance strategies and services. Decision-makers may use these results to evaluate more effective maintenance strategies for their CME and generate more effective patient outcomes.

Keywords: Critical medical equipment, maintenance strategy, patient outcomes, reliability.

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Authors: Banashree N. P., Andhe Dharani, R. Vasanta, P. S. Satyanarayana

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The applications on numbers are across-the-board that there is much scope for study. The chic of writing numbers is diverse and comes in a variety of form, size and fonts. Identification of Indian languages scripts is challenging problems. In Optical Character Recognition [OCR], machine printed or handwritten characters/numerals are recognized. There are plentiful approaches that deal with problem of detection of numerals/character depending on the sort of feature extracted and different way of extracting them. This paper proposes a recognition scheme for handwritten Hindi (devnagiri) numerals; most admired one in Indian subcontinent our work focused on a technique in feature extraction i.e. Local-based approach, a method using 16-segment display concept, which is extracted from halftoned images & Binary images of isolated numerals. These feature vectors are fed to neural classifier model that has been trained to recognize a Hindi numeral. The archetype of system has been tested on varieties of image of numerals. Experimentation result shows that recognition rate of halftoned images is 98 % compared to binary images (95%).

Keywords: OCR, Halftoning, Neural classifier, 16-segmentdisplay concept.

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Authors: Somkiat Tangjitsitcharoen, Siripong Damrongthaveesak

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This paper presents an advance in monitoring and process control of surface roughness in CNC machine for the turning and milling processes. An integration of the in-process monitoring and process control of the surface roughness is proposed and developed during the machining process by using the cutting force ratio. The previously developed surface roughness models for turning and milling processes of the author are adopted to predict the inprocess surface roughness, which consist of the cutting speed, the feed rate, the tool nose radius, the depth of cut, the rake angle, and the cutting force ratio. The cutting force ratios obtained from the turning and the milling are utilized to estimate the in-process surface roughness. The dynamometers are installed on the tool turret of CNC turning machine and the table of 5-axis machining center to monitor the cutting forces. The in-process control of the surface roughness has been developed and proposed to control the predicted surface roughness. It has been proved by the cutting tests that the proposed integration system of the in-process monitoring and the process control can be used to check the surface roughness during the cutting by utilizing the cutting force ratio.

Keywords: Turning, milling, monitoring, surface roughness, cutting force ratio.

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

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

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

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Authors: S. J. Arif

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In the presented technique, a simple method is given for accurate measurement and control of power frequency deviation. The sinusoidal signal for which the frequency deviation measurement is required is transformed to a low voltage level and passed through a zero crossing detector to convert it into a pulse train. Another stable square wave signal of 10 KHz is obtained using a crystal oscillator and decade dividing assemblies (DDA). These signals are combined digitally and then passed through decade counters to give a unique combination of pulses or levels, which are further encoded to make them equally suitable for both control applications and display units. The developed circuit using discrete components has a resolution of 0.5 Hz and completes measurement within 20 ms. The realized circuit is simulated and synthesized using Verilog HDL and subsequently implemented on FPGA. The results of measurement on FPGA are observed on a very high resolution logic analyzer. These results accurately match the simulation results as well as the results of same circuit implemented with discrete components. The proposed system is suitable for accurate measurement and control of power frequency deviation.

Keywords: Digital encoder for frequency measurement, frequency deviation measurement, measurement and control systems, power systems.

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Authors: Anas M. Fares

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Reinforced concrete shear walls are the most frequently used forms of lateral resisting structural elements. These walls may take many forms due to their functions and locations in the building. In Palestine, the most lateral resisting forces construction forms is the cantilever shear walls system. It is thus of prime importance to study the rigidity of these walls. The virtual work theorem is used to derive the total lateral deflection of cantilever shear walls due to flexural and shear deformation. The case of neglecting the shear deformation in the walls is also studied, and it is found that the wall height to length aspect ratio (H/B) plays a major role in calculating the lateral deflection and the rigidity of such walls. When the H/B is more than or equal to 3.7, the shear deformation may be neglected from the calculation of the lateral deflection. Moreover, the walls with the same material properties, same lateral load value, and same aspect ratio, shall have the same of both the lateral deflection and the rigidity. Finally, an equation to calculate the total rigidity and total deflection of such walls is derived by using the virtual work theorem for a cantilever beam.

Keywords: Cantilever shear walls, flexural deformation, lateral deflection, lateral loads, reinforced concrete shear walls, rigidity, shear deformation, virtual work theorem.

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Authors: Rezaul Azim, A. Toaha Mobashsher, M. Tariqul Islam

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In this paper a novel ultra-wideband (UWB) slot antenna with band notch characteristics for world interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) is proposed. The designed antenna consists of a rectangular radiating patch and a ground plane with tapered shape slot. To realize a notch band, a curved parasitic element has been etched out along with the radiating patch. It is observed that by adjusting the length, thickness and position of the parasitic element, the proposed antenna can achieved an impedance bandwidth of 8.01GHz (2.84 to 10.85GHz) with a notched band of 3.28-3.85GHz. Compared to the recently reported band notch antennas, the proposed antenna has a simple configuration to realize band notch characteristics in order to mitigate the potential interference between WiMAX and UWB system. Furthermore, a stable radiation pattern and moderate gain except at the notched band makes the proposed antenna suitable for various UWB applications. 

Keywords: Band notch, Filter element, Ultra-wideband (UWB), WiMAX.

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Authors: Fei Long Wei, Hua Yang, Hai Tao Zhang, Zhou Ping Yin

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In this study, an local invariant generalized Houghtransform (LI-GHT) method is proposed for integrated circuit (IC) visual positioning. The original generalized Hough transform (GHT) is robust to external noise; however, it is not suitable for visual positioning of IC chips due to the four-dimensionality (4D) of parameter space which leads to the substantial storage requirement and high computational complexity. The proposed LI-GHT method can reduce the dimensionality of parameter space to 2D thanks to the rotational invariance of local invariant geometric feature and it can estimate the accuracy position and rotation angle of IC chips in real-time under noise and blur influence. The experiment results show that the proposed LI-GHT can estimate position and rotation angle of IC chips with high accuracy and fast speed. The proposed LI-GHT algorithm was implemented in IC visual positioning system of radio frequency identification (RFID) packaging equipment.

Keywords: Integrated Circuit Visual Positioning, Generalized Hough Transform, Local invariant Generalized Hough Transform, ICpacking equipment.

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Authors: J. Siame, H. Kasaini

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

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

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Authors: Harri Jalonen

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Faced with social and health system capacity constraints and rising and changing demand for welfare services, governments and welfare providers are increasingly relying on innovation to help support and enhance services. However, the evidence reported by several studies indicates that the realization of that potential is not an easy task. Innovations can be deemed inherently complex to implement and operate, because many of them involve a combination of technological and organizational renewal within an environment featuring a diversity of stakeholders. Many public welfare service innovations are markedly systemic in their nature, which means that they emerge from, and must address, the complex interplay between political, administrative, technological, institutional and legal issues. This paper suggests that stakeholders dealing with systemic innovation in welfare services must deal with ambiguous and incomplete information in circumstances of uncertainty. Employing a literature review methodology and case study, this paper identifies, categorizes and discusses different aspects of the uncertainty of systemic innovation in public welfare services, and argues that uncertainty can be classified into eight categories: technological uncertainty, market uncertainty, regulatory/institutional uncertainty, social/political uncertainty, acceptance/legitimacy uncertainty, managerial uncertainty, timing uncertainty and consequence uncertainty.

Keywords: Systemic innovation, uncertainty, welfare services

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Authors: Iman Hadipour, Javad Marzbanrad

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In this paper, the strength of a stabilizer is determined when the static and fatigue multiaxial loading are applied. Stabilizer is a part of suspension system in the heavy truck for stabilizing the cabin against the vibration of the road which composes of a thin-walled tube joined to a forge component by fillet weld. The component is loaded by non proportional random sequence of torsion and bending. Residual stress of welding process is considered here for static loading. This static loading with road irregularities are applied in this study as fatigue case that can affected in the fillet welded area of this part. The stresses in the welded structure are calculated using FEA. In addition, the fatigue with multi axial loading in the fillet weld is also investigated and the critical zone of the stabilizer is specified and presented by graphs. Residual stresses that have been resulted by the thermal forces are considered in FEA. Force increasing is the element of finding the critical point of the component.

Keywords: Fillet weld, fatigue, weld toe crack, weld root crack, S-N curve, multiaxial load, residual stress, combined force.

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Authors: A. Shayeghi, H. Eimani Kalasar, H. Shayeghi

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This paper emphasizes on the application of genetic algorithm (GA) to optimize the parameters of the TMD for achieving the best results in the reduction of the building response under earthquake excitations. The Integral of the Time multiplied Absolute value of the Error (ITAE) based on relative displacement of all floors in the building is taken as a performance index of the optimization criterion. The problem of robustly TMD controller design is formatted as an optimization problem based on the ITAE performance index to be solved using GA that has a story ability to find the most optimistic results. An 11–story realistic building, located in the city of Rasht, Iran is considered as a test system to demonstrate effectiveness of the proposed GA based TMD (GATMD) controller without specifying which mode should be controlled. The results of the proposed GATMD controller are compared with the uncontrolled structure through timedomain simulation and some performance indices. The results analysis reveals that the designed GA based TMD controller has an excellent capability in reduction of the seismically excited example building and the ITAE performance, that is so for remains as unknown, can be introduced a new criteria - method for structural dynamic design.

Keywords: Tuned Mass Damper, Genetic Algorithm, TallBuildings, Structural Dynamics.

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Authors: Amit Kumar, Peeyush Sharma, Anil Bhandari

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The aim of present work was to optimize the effect of Ethyl Cellulose (EC) and Polyvinyl Pyrrolidone (PVP) concentration in extended release solid dispersion of Glibenclamide using combination of hydrophilic and hydrophobic polymers such as Polyvinyl Pyrrolidone and Ethyl cellulose. The advantage of solid dispersion technique provides a unique approach to particle size reduction and increased rates of dissolution. The compatibility studies of the drug and polymers were studied by TLC and results suggested no interaction between drug and polymers. Solid dispersions of Glibenclamide were prepared by common solvent evaporation method using Polyvinyl Pyrrolidone and Ethyl cellulose. The results indicated that homogeneous or heterogeneous conditions during the preparation methods employed governed the internal structures of the polymer matrices while retaining the drug in an amorphous form. F2 formulation prepared by solid dispersion method, displayed extended drug release followed by Higuchi matrix model indicating diffusion release of GLB from polymer matrices.

Keywords: Ethyl Cellulose, Glibenclamide, Polyvinyl Pyrrolidone, Solid Dispersion.

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Authors: S. Srinivasa Moorthy, K. Manonmani

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The new, polymer composites consisting of e-glass fiber reinforcement with titanium oxide filler in the double bonded unsaturated polyester resin matrix were made. The glass fiber and titanium oxide reinforcement composites were made in three different fiber lengths (3cm, 5cm, and 7cm), filler content (2 wt%, 4 wt%, and 6 wt%) and fiber content (20 wt%, 40 wt%, and 60 wt%). 27 different compositions were fabricated and a sequence of experiments were carried out to determine tensile strength and impact strength. The vital influencing factors fiber length, fiber content and filler content were chosen as 3 factors in 3 levels of Taguchi’s L₉ orthogonal array. The influences of parameters were determined for tensile strength and impact strength by Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and S/N ratio. Using Artificial Neural Network (ANN) an expert system was devised to predict the properties of hybrid reinforcement GFRP composites. The predict models were experimentally proved with the maximum coincidence.

Keywords: Analysis of variance (ANOVA), Artificial neural network (ANN), Polymer composites, Taguchi’s orthogonal array.

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Authors: Hadeer R. M. Tawfik, Rania A. K. Birry, Amani A. Saad

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Eyes are considered to be the most sensitive and important organ for human being. Thus, any eye disorder will affect the patient in all aspects of life. Cataract is one of those eye disorders that lead to blindness if not treated correctly and quickly. This paper demonstrates a model for automatic detection, classification, and grading of cataracts based on image processing techniques and artificial intelligence. The proposed system is developed to ease the cataract diagnosis process for both ophthalmologists and patients. The wavelet transform combined with 2D Log Gabor Wavelet transform was used as feature extraction techniques for a dataset of 120 eye images followed by a classification process that classified the image set into three classes; normal, early, and advanced stage. A comparison between the two used classifiers, the support vector machine SVM and the artificial neural network ANN were done for the same dataset of 120 eye images. It was concluded that SVM gave better results than ANN. SVM success rate result was 96.8% accuracy where ANN success rate result was 92.3% accuracy.

Keywords: Cataract, classification, detection, feature extraction, grading, log-gabor, neural networks, support vector machines, wavelet.

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Authors: M. Owlia, M. H. Azarsa, M. Khabbazan, A. Mirbagheri

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Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation exercises are a series of stretching techniques that are commonly used in rehabilitation and exercise therapy. Assessment of these exercises for true maneuvering requires extensive experience in this field and could not be down with patients themselves. In this paper, we developed software that uses Microsoft Kinect sensor, a spherical color marker, and real-time image processing methods to evaluate patient’s performance in generating true patterns of movements. The software also provides the patient with a visual feedback by showing his/her avatar in a Virtual Reality environment along with the correct path of moving hand, wrist and marker. Primary results during PNF exercise therapy of a patient in a room environment shows the ability of the system to identify any deviation of maneuvering path and direction of the hand from the one that has been performed by an expert physician.

Keywords: Image processing, Microsoft Kinect, proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation, upper extremities assessment, virtual reality.

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Authors: Ismail I. Abo-Ghanema, El-Nasharty M.A., El-Far A. H., Hanan A.Ghonium

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In this study, we investigated the effects of ginger and L-carnitine on the reproductive performance of male rats with respect to semen parameters, male sex hormones and the testicular antioxidant system. A total of sixty mature male albino rats were divided into four groups of fifteen rats. The control group received saline, whereas the other three groups received ginger (100 mg kg-1 d- 1.), L-carnitine (150 mg kg-1 d-1.) or a combination of both ginger (100 mg kg-1 d-1.) and L-carnitine (150 mg kg-1 d-1.) via a stomach tube daily for one month. At the end of the treatment period, the rats were sacrificed, and their sperm characteristics (count, motility and viability), antioxidant enzyme factors levels (reduced glutathione, catalase, superoxide dismutase and total antioxidant capacity) and sex hormone levels (testosterone, Follicle stimulating hormone(FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) were analysed. Our results showed that the three experimental treatments improved sperm parameters, antioxidant enzyme activity and testosterone hormone levels; the most pronounced positive effects were observed in the group that received a combination of both ginger and L-carnitine. Therefore, the administration of a combination of ginger and L-carnitine may be beneficial for improving male sexual performance.

Keywords: Ginger, L-Carnitine, Spermatogenesis, Rats.

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Authors: Tanya N. Beran, Michelle A. Drefs, Ghazwan Altabbaa, Nouf Al Harbi, Noof Al Baz, Elizabeth Oddone Paolucci

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Although interprofessional practice is a collaborative approach for problem solving among health professionals, its implementation can present challenges to its team members. In particular, they may feel pressured to agree with or conform to other members who share information that is contrary to their own understanding. Obtaining evidence of this phenomenon is challenging, as team members may underreport their conformity behaviors due to reasons such as social desirability. In this paper, a series of studies are reviewed in which several approaches to assessing conformity in the health care professions are tested. Simulations, questionnaires, and behavior checklists can be used to measure conformity behaviors. Insights from these studies show that a significant proportion of people conform either in the presence or absence of others, express a variety of verbal and nonverbal behaviors when considering whether to conform to others, may shift between conforming and moments later not conforming (and vice versa), and may not accurately report whether they conformed. A method of measuring conformity using the implicit bias test is also discussed. People at all levels in the healthcare system are encouraged to develop both formal and informal strategies to manage the conformity pressures that people face.

Keywords: Conformity, decision-making, interprofessional teams, medical simulation.

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Authors: Mohammadreza Ashouri, Majid Bayatian

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Analysis of fire data is a way for the implementation of any plan to improve the level of safety in cities. Such an analysis is able to reveal signs of changes in a given period and can be used as a measure of safety. The information of about 66,341 fires (from 2002 to 2012) released by Tehran Safety Services and Fire-Fighting Organization and data on the population and the number of households provided by Tehran Municipality and the Statistical Yearbook of Iran were extracted. Using the data, the fire changes, the rate of injuries, and mortality rate were determined and analyzed. The rate of injuries and mortality rate of fires per one million population of Tehran were 59.58% and 86.12%, respectively. During the study period, the number of fires and fire stations increased by 104.38% and 102.63%, respectively. Most fires (9.21%) happened in the 4th District of Tehran. The results showed that the recorded fire data have not been systematically planned for fire prevention since one of the ways to reduce injuries caused by fires is to develop a systematic plan for necessary actions in emergency situations. To determine a reliable source for fire prevention, the stages, definitions of working processes and the cause and effect chains should be considered. Therefore, a comprehensive statistical system should be developed for reported and recorded fire data.

Keywords: Fire statistics, fire analysis, accident prevention, Tehran.

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Authors: Abhay Bodake, Ping Sui, Hafeez Syed, Ratish Kadam

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Real-time measurement of applied forces, like tension, compression, torsion, and bending moment, identifies the transferred energies being applied to the bottomhole assembly (BHA). These forces are highly detrimental to measurement/logging-while-drilling tools and downhole equipment. Real-time measurement of the dynamic downhole behavior, including weight, torque, bending on bit, and vibration, establishes a real-time feedback loop between the downhole drilling system and drilling team at the surface. This paper describes the numerical analysis of the strain data acquired by the measurement tool at different locations on the strain pockets. The strain values obtained by FEA for various loading conditions (tension, compression, torque, and bending moment) are compared against experimental results obtained from an identical experimental setup. Numerical analyses results agree with experimental data within 8% and, therefore, substantiate and validate the FEA model. This FEA model can be used to analyze the combined loading conditions that reflect the actual drilling environment.

Keywords: FEA, M/LWD, Oil & Gas, Strain Measurement.

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Authors: Ahmed Kamil Hasan Al-Ali, Bouchra Senadji, Ganesh Naik

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We propose a system to real environmental noise and channel mismatch for forensic speaker verification systems. This method is based on suppressing various types of real environmental noise by using independent component analysis (ICA) algorithm. The enhanced speech signal is applied to mel frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC) or MFCC feature warping to extract the essential characteristics of the speech signal. Channel effects are reduced using an intermediate vector (i-vector) and probabilistic linear discriminant analysis (PLDA) approach for classification. The proposed algorithm is evaluated by using an Australian forensic voice comparison database, combined with car, street and home noises from QUT-NOISE at a signal to noise ratio (SNR) ranging from -10 dB to 10 dB. Experimental results indicate that the MFCC feature warping-ICA achieves a reduction in equal error rate about (48.22%, 44.66%, and 50.07%) over using MFCC feature warping when the test speech signals are corrupted with random sessions of street, car, and home noises at -10 dB SNR.

Keywords: Noisy forensic speaker verification, ICA algorithm, MFCC, MFCC feature warping.

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Authors: Pascal Gliesche, Kathrin Seibert, Christian Kowalski, Dominik Domhoff, Max Pfingsthorn, Karin Wolf-Ostermann, Andreas Hein

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Robotic assistance in nursing care is an increasingly important area of research and development. Facing a shortage of labor and an increasing number of people in need of care, the German Nursing Care Innovation Center (Pflegeinnovationszentrum, PIZ) aims to address these challenges from the side of technology. Little is known about nurses experiences with existing robotic assistance systems. Especially nurses perspectives on starting points for the development of robotic solutions, that target recurring burdensome tasks in everyday nursing care, are of interest. This paper presents findings focusing on robotics resulting from an explanatory mixed-methods study on nurses experiences with and their expectations for innovative technologies in nursing care in stationary and ambulant care facilities and hospitals in Germany. Based on the findings, eight scenarios for robotic assistance are identified based on the real needs of practitioners. An initial system addressing a single use-case is described to show perspectives for the use of robots in nursing care.

Keywords: Robotics and automation, engineering management, engineering in medicine and biology, medical services, public healthcare.

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Authors: Hsin-Hung Chang, Jin-Lung Guan, Ming-Ta Yang

Abstract:

This paper presents an inexpensive and effective temperature-controlled chamber for temperature environment tests of Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) panels. The proposed chamber is a compact warmer and cooler with an exact temperature control system. In the temperature-controlled space of the chamber, thermoelectric modules (TEMs) are utilized to cool or to heat OLED panels, novel fixtures are designed to flexibly clamp the OLED panels of different size, and special connectors for wiring between the OLED panels and the test instrument are supplied. The proposed chamber has the following features. (1) The TEMs are solid semi-conductive devices, so they operate without noise and without pollution. (2) The volume of the temperature-controlled space of the chamber about 160mm*160mm*120mm, so the chamber are compact and easy to move. (3) The range of the controlled temperatures is from -10 oC to +80 oC, and the precision is ?0.5 oC. (4) The test instrument can conveniently and easily measure the OLED panels via the novel fixtures and special connectors. In addition to a constant temperature being maintained in the chamber, a temperature shock experiments can run for a long time. Therefore, the chamber will be convenient and useful for temperature environment tests of OLED panels.

Keywords: Thermoelectric module, Temperature environment test, OLED, chamber.

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Authors: Mahdieh Khalilinezhad, Silvana Dellepiane, Gianni Vernazza

Abstract:

The aim of this work is to build a model based on tissue characterization that is able to discriminate pathological and non-pathological regions from three-phasic CT images. With our research and based on a feature selection in different phases, we are trying to design a neural network system with an optimal neuron number in a hidden layer. Our approach consists of three steps: feature selection, feature reduction, and classification. For each region of interest (ROI), 6 distinct sets of texture features are extracted such as: first order histogram parameters, absolute gradient, run-length matrix, co-occurrence matrix, autoregressive model, and wavelet, for a total of 270 texture features. When analyzing more phases, we show that the injection of liquid cause changes to the high relevant features in each region. Our results demonstrate that for detecting HCC tumor phase 3 is the best one in most of the features that we apply to the classification algorithm. The percentage of detection between pathology and healthy classes, according to our method, relates to first order histogram parameters with accuracy of 85% in phase 1, 95% in phase 2, and 95% in phase 3.

Keywords: Feature selection, Multi-phasic liver images, Neural network, Texture analysis.

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Authors: D. S. Fardhyanti, A. Damayanti

Abstract:

The utilization of biomass as a source of new and renewable energy is being carried out. One of the technologies to convert biomass as an energy source is pyrolysis which is converting biomass into more valuable products, such as bio-oil. Bio-oil is a liquid which is produced by steam condensation process from the pyrolysis of coconut shells. The composition of a coconut shell e.g. hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin will be oxidized to phenolic compounds as the main component of the bio-oil. The phenolic compounds in bio-oil are corrosive; they cause various difficulties in the combustion system because of a high viscosity, low calorific value, corrosiveness, and instability. Phenolic compounds are very valuable components which phenol has used as the main component for the manufacture of antiseptic, disinfectant (known as Lysol) and deodorizer. The experiments typically occurred at the atmospheric pressure in a pyrolysis reactor at temperatures ranging from 300 ^oC to 350 ^oC with a heating rate of 10 ^oC/min and a holding time of 1 hour at the pyrolysis temperature. The Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS) was used to analyze the bio-oil components. The obtained bio-oil has the viscosity of 1.46 cP, the density of 1.50 g/cm³, the calorific value of 16.9 MJ/kg, and the molecular weight of 1996.64. By GC-MS, the analysis of bio-oil showed that it contained phenol (40.01%), ethyl ester (37.60%), 2-methoxy-phenol (7.02%), furfural (5.45%), formic acid (4.02%), 1-hydroxy-2-butanone (3.89%), and 3-methyl-1,2-cyclopentanedione (2.01%).

Keywords: Bio-oil, pyrolysis, coconut shell, phenol, gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy.

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