Search results for: Dynamic system modeling
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 10886

Search results for: Dynamic system modeling

1196 Pore Model Prediction of CH4 Separation from HS Using PTMSP and γ -Alumina Membranes

Authors: H. Mukhtar, N. M. Noor, R. Nasir, D. F. Mohshim

Abstract:

The main aim of this work is to develop a model of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) separation from natural gas by using membrane separation technology. The model is developed by incorporating three diffusion mechanisms which are Knudsen, viscous and surface diffusion towards membrane selectivity and permeability. The findings from the simulation result shows that the permeability of the gas is dependent toward the pore size of the membrane, operating pressure, operating temperature as well as feed composition. The permeability of methane has the highest value for Poly (1-trimethylsilyl-1-propyne ) PTMSP membrane at pore size of 0.1nm and decreasing toward a minimum peak at pore range 1 to 1.5 nm as pore size increased before it increase again for pore size is greater than 1.5 nm. On the other hand, the permeability of hydrogen sulfide is found to increase almost proportionally with the increase of membrane pore size. Generally, the increase of pressure will increase the permeability of gas since more driving force is provided to the system while increasing of temperature would decrease the permeability due to the surface diffusion drop off effect. A corroboration of the simulation result also showed a good agreement with the experimental data.

Keywords: Hydrogen Sulfide, Methane, Inorganic Membrane, Organic Membrane, Pore Model

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1195 CFD Simulation for Flow Behavior in Boiling Water Reactor Vessel and Upper Pool under Decommissioning Condition

Authors: Y. T. Ku, S. W. Chen, J. R. Wang, C. Shih, Y. F. Chang

Abstract:

In order to respond the policy decision of non-nuclear homes, Tai Power Company (TPC) will provide the decommissioning project of Kuosheng Nuclear power plant (KSNPP) to meet the regulatory requirement in near future. In this study, the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methodology has been employed to develop a flow prediction model for boiling water reactor (BWR) with upper pool under decommissioning stage. The model can be utilized to investigate the flow behavior as the vessel combined with upper pool and continuity cooling system. At normal operating condition, different parameters are obtained for the full fluid area, including velocity, mass flow, and mixing phenomenon in the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) and upper pool. Through the efforts of the study, an integrated simulation model will be developed for flow field analysis of decommissioning KSNPP under normal operating condition. It can be expected that a basis result for future analysis application of TPC can be provide from this study.

Keywords: CFD, BWR, decommissioning, upper pool.

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1194 Power Quality Improvement Using PI and Fuzzy Logic Controllers Based Shunt Active Filter

Authors: Dipen A. Mistry, Bhupelly Dheeraj, Ravit Gautam, Manmohan Singh Meena, Suresh Mikkili

Abstract:

In recent years the large scale use of the power electronic equipment has led to an increase of harmonics in the power system. The harmonics results into a poor power quality and have great adverse economical impact on the utilities and customers. Current harmonics are one of the most common power quality problems and are usually resolved by using shunt active filter (SHAF). The main objective of this work is to develop PI and Fuzzy logic controllers (FLC) to analyze the performance of Shunt Active Filter for mitigating current harmonics under balanced and unbalanced sinusoidal source voltage conditions for normal load and increased load. When the supply voltages are ideal (balanced), both PI and FLC are converging to the same compensation characteristics. However, the supply voltages are non-ideal (unbalanced), FLC offers outstanding results. Simulation results validate the superiority of FLC with triangular membership function over the PI controller.

Keywords: DC link voltage, Fuzzy logic controller, Harmonics, PI controller, Shunt Active Filter.

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1193 People Empowerment in Livelihood Activities toward Sustainable Coastal Resource Management in Indonesia

Authors: Achmad Zamroni, Masahiro Yamao

Abstract:

Coastal resource management, community empowerment and socio economic development are the cornerstones for uplifting the lives of coastal area inhabitants. This paper aims to identify the positive impacts of coastal management projects toward fishermen-s economic well-being, to analyze the role of fishermen and their families in effecting economic change and to analyze the roles of stakeholders in managing coastal resources. Structured and semi-structured questionnaires were prepared to obtain qualitative data, and interviews were conducted with fishermen. Findings show that community empowerment and conservation of coastal resources through local and central government projects have exerted positive impact on the coastal community. Some activities involved women who are more active particularly in “off-fishing" season. Traditionally, local fishermen together with local stakeholders have set up a zoning system to minimize conflicts between fishermen. In addition, zoning is used to protect certain ecosystems that can provide benefits well into the future.

Keywords: Economic development, Off-fishing, Resource management, Stakeholders' participation, Women's participation

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1192 Weld Defect Detection in Industrial Radiography Based Digital Image Processing

Authors: N. Nacereddine, M. Zelmat, S. S. Belaïfa, M. Tridi

Abstract:

Industrial radiography is a famous technique for the identification and evaluation of discontinuities, or defects, such as cracks, porosity and foreign inclusions found in welded joints. Although this technique has been well developed, improving both the inspection process and operating time, it does suffer from several drawbacks. The poor quality of radiographic images is due to the physical nature of radiography as well as small size of the defects and their poor orientation relatively to the size and thickness of the evaluated parts. Digital image processing techniques allow the interpretation of the image to be automated, avoiding the presence of human operators making the inspection system more reliable, reproducible and faster. This paper describes our attempt to develop and implement digital image processing algorithms for the purpose of automatic defect detection in radiographic images. Because of the complex nature of the considered images, and in order that the detected defect region represents the most accurately possible the real defect, the choice of global and local preprocessing and segmentation methods must be appropriated.

Keywords: Digital image processing, global and localapproaches, radiographic film, weld defect.

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1191 The Adoption of Process Management for Accounting Information Systems in Thailand

Authors: Manirath Wongsim, Pawornprat Hongsakon

Abstract:

Information Quality (IQ) has become a critical, strategic issue in Accounting Information Systems (AIS) adoption. In order to implement AIS adoption successfully, it is important to consider the quality of information use throughout the adoption process, which seriously impacts the effectiveness of AIS adoption practice and the optimisation of AIS adoption decisions. There is a growing need for research to provide insights into issues and solutions related to IQ in AIS adoption. The need for an integrated approach to improve IQ in AIS adoption, as well as the unique characteristics of accounting data, demands an AIS adoption specific IQ framework. This research aims to explore ways of managing information quality and AIS adoption to investigate the relationship between the IQ issues and AIS adoption process. This study has led to the development of a framework for understanding IQ management in AIS adoption. This research was done on 44 respondents as ten organisations from manufacturing firms in Thailand. The findings of the research’s empirical evidence suggest that IQ dimensions in AIS adoption to provide assistance in all process of decision making. This research provides empirical evidence that information quality of AIS adoption affect decision making and suggests that these variables should be considered in adopting AIS in order to improve the effectiveness of AIS.

Keywords: Information quality, information quality dimensions, accounting information systems, accounting Information system adoption.

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1190 Online Monitoring Rheological Property of Polymer Melt during Injection Molding

Authors: Chung-Chih Lin, Chien-Liang Wu

Abstract:

The detection of the polymer melt state during manufacture process is regarded as an efficient way to control the molded part quality in advance. Online monitoring rheological property of polymer melt during processing procedure provides an approach to understand the melt state immediately. Rheological property reflects the polymer melt state at different processing parameters and is very important in injection molding process especially. An approach that demonstrates how to calculate rheological property of polymer melt through in-process measurement, using injection molding as an example, is proposed in this study. The system consists of two sensors and a data acquisition module can process the measured data, which are used for the calculation of rheological properties of polymer melt. The rheological properties of polymer melt discussed in this study include shear rate and viscosity which are investigated with respect to injection speed and melt temperature. The results show that the effect of injection speed on the rheological properties is apparent, especially for high melt temperature and should be considered for precision molding process.

Keywords: Injection molding, melt viscosity, shear rate, monitoring.

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1189 Knowledge Reactor: A Contextual Computing Work in Progress for Eldercare

Authors: Scott N. Gerard, Aliza Heching, Susann M. Keohane, Samuel S. Adams

Abstract:

The world-wide population of people over 60 years of age is growing rapidly. The explosion is placing increasingly onerous demands on individual families, multiple industries and entire countries. Current, human-intensive approaches to eldercare are not sustainable, but IoT and AI technologies can help. The Knowledge Reactor (KR) is a contextual, data fusion engine built to address this and other similar problems. It fuses and centralizes IoT and System of Record/Engagement data into a reactive knowledge graph. Cognitive applications and services are constructed with its multiagent architecture. The KR can scale-up and scaledown, because it exploits container-based, horizontally scalable services for graph store (JanusGraph) and pub-sub (Kafka) technologies. While the KR can be applied to many domains that require IoT and AI technologies, this paper describes how the KR specifically supports the challenging domain of cognitive eldercare. Rule- and machine learning-based analytics infer activities of daily living from IoT sensor readings. KR scalability, adaptability, flexibility and usability are demonstrated.

Keywords: Ambient sensing, AI, artificial intelligence, eldercare, IoT, internet of things, knowledge graph.

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1188 Using Genetic Algorithm for Distributed Generation Allocation to Reduce Losses and Improve Voltage Profile

Authors: M. Sedighizadeh, A. Rezazadeh

Abstract:

This paper presents a method for the optimal allocation of Distributed generation in distribution systems. In this paper, our aim would be optimal distributed generation allocation for voltage profile improvement and loss reduction in distribution network. Genetic Algorithm (GA) was used as the solving tool, which referring two determined aim; the problem is defined and objective function is introduced. Considering to fitness values sensitivity in genetic algorithm process, there is needed to apply load flow for decision-making. Load flow algorithm is combined appropriately with GA, till access to acceptable results of this operation. We used MATPOWER package for load flow algorithm and composed it with our Genetic Algorithm. The suggested method is programmed under MATLAB software and applied ETAP software for evaluating of results correctness. It was implemented on part of Tehran electricity distributing grid. The resulting operation of this method on some testing system is illuminated improvement of voltage profile and loss reduction indexes.

Keywords: Distributed Generation, Allocation, Voltage Profile, losses, Genetic Algorithm.

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1187 Enhancing Human Mobility Exoskeleton Comfort Using Admittance Controller

Authors: Alexandre Rabaseda, Emelie Seguin, Marc Doumit

Abstract:

Human mobility exoskeletons have been in development for several years and are becoming increasingly efficient. Unfortunately, user comfort was not always a priority design criterion throughout their development. To further improve this technology, exoskeletons should operate and deliver assistance without causing discomfort to the user. For this, improvements are necessary from an ergonomic point of view. The device’s control method is important when endeavoring to enhance user comfort. Exoskeleton or rehabilitation device controllers use methods of control called interaction controls (admittance and impedance controls). This paper proposes an extended version of an admittance controller to enhance user comfort. The control method used consists of adding an inner loop that is controlled by a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller. This allows the interaction force to be kept as close as possible to the desired force trajectory. The force-tracking admittance controller modifies the actuation force of the system in order to follow both the desired motion trajectory and the desired relative force between the user and the exoskeleton.

Keywords: Mobility assistive device, exoskeleton, force-tracking admittance controller, user comfort.

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1186 Constructal Enhancement of Fins Design Integrated to Phase Change Materials

Authors: Varun Joshi, Manish K. Rathod

Abstract:

The latent heat thermal energy storage system is a thrust area of research due to exuberant thermal energy storage potential. The thermal performance of PCM is significantly augmented by installation of the high thermal conductivity fins. The objective of the present study is to obtain optimum size and location of the fins to enhance diffusion heat transfer without altering overall melting time. Hence, the constructal theory is employed to eliminate, resize, and re-position the fins. A numerical code based on conjugate heat transfer coupled enthalpy porosity approached is developed to solve Navier-Stoke and energy equation.The numerical results show that the constructal fin design has enhanced the thermal performance along with the increase in the overall volume of PCM when compared to conventional. The overall volume of PCM is found to be increased by half of total of volume of fins. The elimination and repositioning the fins at high temperature gradient from low temperature gradient is found to be vital.

Keywords: Constructal theory, enthalpy porosity approach, phase change materials, fins.

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1185 Using Different Aspects of the Signings for Appearance-based Sign Language Recognition

Authors: Morteza Zahedi, Philippe Dreuw, Thomas Deselaers, Hermann Ney

Abstract:

Sign language is used by the deaf and hard of hearing people for communication. Automatic sign language recognition is a challenging research area since sign language often is the only way of communication for the deaf people. Sign language includes different components of visual actions made by the signer using the hands, the face, and the torso, to convey his/her meaning. To use different aspects of signs, we combine the different groups of features which have been extracted from the image frames recorded directly by a stationary camera. We combine the features in two levels by employing three techniques. At the feature level, an early feature combination can be performed by concatenating and weighting different feature groups, or by concatenating feature groups over time and using LDA to choose the most discriminant elements. At the model level, a late fusion of differently trained models can be carried out by a log-linear model combination. In this paper, we investigate these three combination techniques in an automatic sign language recognition system and show that the recognition rate can be significantly improved.

Keywords: American sign language, appearance-based features, Feature combination, Sign language recognition

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1184 Combined Automatic Speech Recognition and Machine Translation in Business Correspondence Domain for English-Croatian

Authors: Sanja Seljan, Ivan Dunđer

Abstract:

The paper presents combined automatic speech recognition (ASR) of English and machine translation (MT) for English and Croatian and Croatian-English language pairs in the domain of business correspondence. The first part presents results of training the ASR commercial system on English data sets, enriched by error analysis. The second part presents results of machine translation performed by free online tool for English and Croatian and Croatian-English language pairs. Human evaluation in terms of usability is conducted and internal consistency calculated by Cronbach's alpha coefficient, enriched by error analysis. Automatic evaluation is performed by WER (Word Error Rate) and PER (Position-independent word Error Rate) metrics, followed by investigation of Pearson’s correlation with human evaluation.

Keywords: Automatic machine translation, integrated language technologies, quality evaluation, speech recognition.

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1183 Performance Evaluation of Intelligent Controllers for AGC in Thermal Systems

Authors: Muhammad Muhsin, Abhishek Mishra, Shreyansh Vishwakarma, K. Dasaratha Babu, Anudevi Samuel

Abstract:

In an interconnected power system, any sudden small load perturbation in any of the interconnected areas causes the deviation of the area frequencies, the tie line power and voltage deviation at the generator terminals. This paper deals with the study of performance of intelligent Fuzzy Logic controllers coupled with Conventional Controllers (PI and PID) for Load Frequency Control. For analysis, an isolated single area and interconnected two area thermal power systems with and without generation rate constraints (GRC) have been considered. The studies have been performed with conventional PI and PID controllers and their performance has been compared with intelligent fuzzy controllers. It can be demonstrated that these controllers can successfully bring back the excursions in area frequencies and tie line powers within acceptable limits in smaller time periods and with lesser transients as compared to the performance of conventional controllers under same load disturbance conditions. The simulations in MATLAB have been used for comparative studies.

Keywords: Area Control Error, Fuzzy Logic, Generation rate constraint, Load Frequency, Tie line Power.

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1182 Increase Energy Savings with Lighting Automation Using Light Pipes and Power LEDs

Authors: İ. Kıyak, G. Gökmen

Abstract:

Using of natural lighting has come into prominence in constructed buildings, especially in last ten years, under scope of energy efficiency. Natural lighting methods are one of the methods that aim to take advantage of day light in maximum level and decrease using of artificial lighting. Increasing of day light amount in buildings by using suitable methods will give optimum result in terms of comfort and energy saving when the daylight-artificial light integration is ensured with a suitable control system. Using of natural light in places that require lighting will ensure energy saving in great extent. With this study, it is aimed to save energy used for purpose of lighting. Under this scope, lighting of a scanning laboratory of a hospital was realized by using a lighting automation containing natural and artificial lighting. In natural lighting, light pipes were used and in artificial lighting, dimmable power LED modules were used. Necessity of lighting was followed with motion sensors. The lighting automation containing natural and artificial light was ensured with fuzzy logic control. At the scanning laboratory where this application was realized, energy saving in lighting was obtained.

Keywords: Daylight transfer, fuzzy logic controller, light pipe, Power LED.

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1181 Development of One-Axis Didactic Solar Tracker for Photovoltaic Panels

Authors: L. J. de Bessa Neto, M. R. B. Guerra Vale, F. K. O. M. Varella Guerra

Abstract:

In recent years, solar energy has established itself as one of the main sources of renewable energy, gaining a large space in electricity generation around the world. However, due to the low performance of photovoltaic panels, technologies need to be sought to maximize the production of electricity. In this regard, the present study aims to develop a prototype of solar tracker for didactics applications, controlled with the Arduino® platform, that enables the movement of photovoltaic plates in relation to the sun positions throughout the day through an electromechanical system, optimizing, thus, the efficiency of solar photovoltaic generation and improvements for the photovoltaic effect. The solar tracking technology developed in this work was presented of the shape oral and practical in two middle schools in the municipality of Mossoró/RN, being one of the public network and other of the private network, always keeping the average age of the students, in the case, around 16 years, contemplating an average of 60 students in each of the visits. Thus, it is concluded that the present study contributed substantially to the dissemination of knowledge concerning the photovoltaic solar generation, as well as the study of solar trackers, thus arousing the interest and curiosity of the students regarding the thematic approached.

Keywords: Alternative energy, solar tracker, energy efficiency.

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1180 Multi-Objective Planning and Operation of Water Supply Systems Subject to Climate Change

Authors: B. J. C. Perera, D. A. Sachindra, W. Godoy., A.F. Barton, F. Huang

Abstract:

Many water supply systems in Australia are currently undergoing significant reconfiguration due to reductions in long term average rainfall and resulting low inflows to water supply reservoirs since the second half of the 20th century. When water supply systems undergo change, it is necessary to develop new operating rules, which should consider climate, because the climate change is likely to further reduce inflows. In addition, water resource systems are increasingly intended to be operated to meet complex and multiple objectives representing social, economic, environmental and sustainability criteria. This is further complicated by conflicting preferences on these objectives from diverse stakeholders. This paper describes a methodology to develop optimum operating rules for complex multi-reservoir systems undergoing significant change, considering all of the above issues. The methodology is demonstrated using the Grampians water supply system in northwest Victoria, Australia. Initial work conducted on the project is also presented in this paper.

Keywords: Climate change, Multi-objective planning, Pareto optimal; Stakeholder preference, Statistical downscaling, Water supply systems.

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1179 Reduction of Linear Time-Invariant Systems Using Routh-Approximation and PSO

Authors: S. Panda, S. K. Tomar, R. Prasad, C. Ardil

Abstract:

Order reduction of linear-time invariant systems employing two methods; one using the advantages of Routh approximation and other by an evolutionary technique is presented in this paper. In Routh approximation method the denominator of the reduced order model is obtained using Routh approximation while the numerator of the reduced order model is determined using the indirect approach of retaining the time moments and/or Markov parameters of original system. By this method the reduced order model guarantees stability if the original high order model is stable. In the second method Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is employed to reduce the higher order model. PSO method is based on the minimization of the Integral Squared Error (ISE) between the transient responses of original higher order model and the reduced order model pertaining to a unit step input. Both the methods are illustrated through numerical examples.

Keywords: Model Order Reduction, Markov Parameters, Routh Approximation, Particle Swarm Optimization, Integral Squared Error, Steady State Stability.

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1178 Collaborative Web Platform for Rich Media Educational Material Creation

Authors: I. Alberdi, H. Iribas, A. Martin, N. Aginako

Abstract:

This paper describes a platform that faces the main research areas for e-learning educational contents. Reusability tackles the possibility to use contents in different courses reducing costs and exploiting available data from repositories. In our approach the production of educational material is based on templates to reuse learning objects. In terms of interoperability the main challenge lays on reaching the audience through different platforms. E-learning solution must track social consumption evolution where nowadays lots of multimedia contents are accessed through the social networks. Our work faces it by implementing a platform for generation of multimedia presentations focused on the new paradigm related to social media. The system produces videos-courses on top of web standard SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language) ready to be published and shared. Regarding interfaces it is mandatory to satisfy user needs and ease communication. To overcome it the platform deploys virtual teachers that provide natural interfaces while multimodal features remove barriers to pupils with disabilities.

Keywords: Collaborative, multimedia e-learning, reusability, SMIL, virtual teacher

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1177 Destination of the Solid Waste Generated at the Agricultural Products Wholesale Market in Brazil

Authors: C de Almeida, I. M. Dal Fabbro

Abstract:

The Brazilian Agricultural Products Wholesale Market fits well as example of residues generating system, reaching 750 metric tons per month of total residues, from which 600 metric tons are organic material and 150 metric tons are recyclable materials. Organic material is basically composed of fruit, vegetables and flowers leftovers from the products commercialization. The recyclable compounds are generate from packing material employed in the commercialization process. This research work devoted efforts in carrying quantitative analysis of the residues generated in the agricultural enterprise at its final destination. Data survey followed the directions implemented by the Residues Management Program issued by the agricultural enterprise. It was noticed from that analysis the necessity of changing the logistics applied to the recyclable material collecting process. However, composting process was elected as the organic compounds destination which is considered adequate for a material composed of significant percentage of organic matter far higher than wood, cardboard and plastics contents.

Keywords: Composting, environment, recycling, solid waste.

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1176 Does the Adoption of IFRS Influence Earnings Management towards Small Positive Profits? Evidence from Emerging Markets

Authors: Sawcen Chebaane, Hakim Ben Othman

Abstract:

This paper investigates the effect of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption on the frequency of earnings managements towards small positive profits. We focus on two emerging markets IFRS adopters: South Africa and Turkey. We tested our logistic regression using appropriate panelestimation techniques over a sample of 330 South African and 210 Turkish firm-year observations over the period 2002-2008. Our results document that mandatory adoption of IFRS is not associated with a reduction in earnings management towards small positive profits in emerging markets. These results contradict most of the previous findings of the studies conducted in developed countries. Based on the legal system factor, we compare the intensity of earnings management between a code law country (Turkey) and a common law country (South Africa) over the pre and post-adoption periods. Our findings show that the frequency of such earnings management practice increases significantly for the code law country.

Keywords: Civil law, common law, emerging markets, Mandatory IFRS adoption, small positive profits.

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1175 Distributional Effects of Tax and Benefit Reforms in the Czech Republic

Authors: L. Vítek

Abstract:

The Czech Republic has over the past decade carried out two waves of tax and benefit reforms. The first one took place in 2005–2006 during the left-wing government and the second one has been carried out in 2008 by the right-wing government. Using EUSILC data for selected types of households, the paper assesses changes in the distribution of gross incomes and effects of the changes in taxes and benefits on the distribution of incomes after taxes and a provision of social benefits. The analysis is carried out on four types of households with and without children. The analysis is performed using Lorenz curves and Gini coefficients. The results show that the tax system changes the distribution of incomes less significantly than benefits. The 2006 reform reduced the differential between the Gini coefficient for the gross income and the Gini coefficient after taxes and benefits for households with active parents and one child. Reform in 2008 supported families with children and an reduced the differential between the gross income and income after taxes and benefits for different types of families.

Keywords: Czech Republic, redistribution, tax reforms.

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1174 Automatic Thresholding for Data Gap Detection for a Set of Sensors in Instrumented Buildings

Authors: Houda Najeh, Stéphane Ploix, Mahendra Pratap Singh, Karim Chabir, Mohamed Naceur Abdelkrim

Abstract:

Building systems are highly vulnerable to different kinds of faults and failures. In fact, various faults, failures and human behaviors could affect the building performance. This paper tackles the detection of unreliable sensors in buildings. Different literature surveys on diagnosis techniques for sensor grids in buildings have been published but all of them treat only bias and outliers. Occurences of data gaps have also not been given an adequate span of attention in the academia. The proposed methodology comprises the automatic thresholding for data gap detection for a set of heterogeneous sensors in instrumented buildings. Sensor measurements are considered to be regular time series. However, in reality, sensor values are not uniformly sampled. So, the issue to solve is from which delay each sensor become faulty? The use of time series is required for detection of abnormalities on the delays. The efficiency of the method is evaluated on measurements obtained from a real power plant: an office at Grenoble Institute of technology equipped by 30 sensors.

Keywords: Building system, time series, diagnosis, outliers, delay, data gap.

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1173 Random Projections for Dimensionality Reduction in ICA

Authors: Sabrina Gaito, Andrea Greppi, Giuliano Grossi

Abstract:

In this paper we present a technique to speed up ICA based on the idea of reducing the dimensionality of the data set preserving the quality of the results. In particular we refer to FastICA algorithm which uses the Kurtosis as statistical property to be maximized. By performing a particular Johnson-Lindenstrauss like projection of the data set, we find the minimum dimensionality reduction rate ¤ü, defined as the ratio between the size k of the reduced space and the original one d, which guarantees a narrow confidence interval of such estimator with high confidence level. The derived dimensionality reduction rate depends on a system control parameter β easily computed a priori on the basis of the observations only. Extensive simulations have been done on different sets of real world signals. They show that actually the dimensionality reduction is very high, it preserves the quality of the decomposition and impressively speeds up FastICA. On the other hand, a set of signals, on which the estimated reduction rate is greater than 1, exhibits bad decomposition results if reduced, thus validating the reliability of the parameter β. We are confident that our method will lead to a better approach to real time applications.

Keywords: Independent Component Analysis, FastICA algorithm, Higher-order statistics, Johnson-Lindenstrauss lemma.

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1172 Segmentation Problems and Solutions in Printed Degraded Gurmukhi Script

Authors: M. K. Jindal, G. S. Lehal, R. K. Sharma

Abstract:

Character segmentation is an important preprocessing step for text recognition. In degraded documents, existence of touching characters decreases recognition rate drastically, for any optical character recognition (OCR) system. In this paper we have proposed a complete solution for segmenting touching characters in all the three zones of printed Gurmukhi script. A study of touching Gurmukhi characters is carried out and these characters have been divided into various categories after a careful analysis. Structural properties of the Gurmukhi characters are used for defining the categories. New algorithms have been proposed to segment the touching characters in middle zone, upper zone and lower zone. These algorithms have shown a reasonable improvement in segmenting the touching characters in degraded printed Gurmukhi script. The algorithms proposed in this paper are applicable only to machine printed text. We have also discussed a new and useful technique to segment the horizontally overlapping lines.

Keywords: Character Segmentation, Middle Zone, Upper Zone, Lower Zone, Touching Characters, Horizontally Overlapping Lines.

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1171 An Assessment of the Effects of Microbial Products on the Specific Oxygen Uptake in Submerged Membrane Bioreactor

Authors: M. F. R. Zuthi, H. H. Ngo, W. S. Guo, S. S. Chen, N. C. Nguyen, L. J. Deng, T. D. C. Tran

Abstract:

Sustaining a desired rate of oxygen transfer for microbial activity is a matter of major concern for biological wastewater treatment (MBR). The study reported in the paper was aimed at assessing the effects of microbial products on the specific oxygen uptake rate (SOUR) in a conventional membrane bioreactor (CMBR) and that in a sponge submerged MBR (SSMBR). The production and progressive accumulation of soluble microbial products (SMP) and bound-extracellular polymeric substances (bEPS) were affecting the SOUR of the microorganisms which varied at different stages of operation of the MBR systems depending on the variable concentrations of the SMP/bEPS. The effect of bEPS on the SOUR was stronger in the SSMBR compared to that of the SMP, while relative high concentrations of SMP had adverse effects on the SOUR of the CMBR system. Of the different mathematical correlations analyzed in the study, logarithmic mathematical correlations could be established between SOUR and bEPS in SSMBR, and similar correlations could also be found between SOUR and SMP concentrations in the CMBR.

Keywords: Microbial products, Microbial activity, Specific oxygen uptake rate, Membrane bioreactor.

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1170 The Role of Driving Experience in Hazard Perception and Categorization: A Traffic-Scene Paradigm

Authors: Avinoam Borowsky, Tal Oron-Gilad, Yisrael Parmet

Abstract:

This study examined the role of driving experience in hazard perception and categorization using traffic scene pictures. Specifically, young-inexperienced, moderately experienced and very experienced (taxi) drivers observed traffic scene pictures while connected to an eye tracking system and were asked to rate the level of hazardousness of each picture and to mention the three most prominent hazards in it. Target pictures included nine, nearly identical, pairs of pictures where one picture in each pair included an actual hazard as an additional element. Altogether, 22 areas of interest (AOIs) were predefined and included 13 potential hazards and 9 actual hazards. Data analysis included both verbal reports and eye scanning patterns of these AOIs. Generally, both experienced and taxi drivers noted a relatively larger number of potential hazards than young inexperienced drivers Thus, by relating to less salient potential hazards, experienced drivers have demonstrated a better situation model of the traffic environment.

Keywords: Concept Construction, Hazard Perception, EyeMovements, Driving Experience.

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1169 Designing of Multi-Agent Rescue Robot: Development and Basic Experiments of Master-Slave Type Rescue Robots

Authors: J. Lin, T. C. Kuo, C. -Y. Gau, K. C. Liu, Y. J. Huang, J. D. Yu, Y. W. Lin

Abstract:

A multi-agent type robot for disaster response in calamity scene is proposed in this paper. The proposed grouped rescue robots can perform cooperative reconnaissance and surveillance to achieve a given rescue mission. The multi-agent rescue of dual set robot consists of one master set and three slave units. The research for this rescue robot system is going to detect at harmful environment where human is unreachable, such as the building is infected with virus or the factory has hazardous liquid in effluent. As a dual set robot, with Bluetooth and communication network, the master set can connect with slave units and send information back to computer by wireless and monitor. Therefore, rescuer can be informed the real-time information in a calamity area. Furthermore, each slave robot is able to obstacle avoidance by ultrasonic sensors, and encodes distance and location by compass. The master robot can integrate every devices information to increase the efficiency of prospected and research unknown area.

Keywords: Designing of multi-agent rescue robot, development and basic experiments of master-slave type rescue robots.

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1168 State Dependent Riccati Equation Based Roll Autopilot for 122mm Artillery Rocket

Authors: Muhammad Kashif Siddiq, Fang Jian Cheng, Yu Wen Bo

Abstract:

State-dependent Riccati equation based controllers are becoming increasingly popular because of having attractive properties like optimality, stability and robustness. This paper focuses on the design of a roll autopilot for a fin stabilized and canard controlled 122mm artillery rocket using state-dependent Riccati equation technique. Initial spin is imparted to rocket during launch and it quickly decays due to straight tail fins. After the spin phase, the roll orientation of rocket is brought to zero with the canard deflection commands generated by the roll autopilot. Roll autopilot has been developed by considering uncoupled roll, pitch and yaw channels. The canard actuator is modeled as a second-order nonlinear system. Elements of the state weighing matrix for Riccati equation have been chosen to be state dependent to exploit the design flexibility offered by the Riccati equation technique. Simulation results under varying conditions of flight demonstrate the wide operating range of the proposed autopilot.

Keywords: Fin stabilized 122mm artillery rocket, Roll Autopilot, Six degree of freedom trajectory model, State-dependent Riccati equation.

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1167 Splitting Modified Donor-Cell Schemes for Spectral Action Balance Equation

Authors: Tanapat Brikshavana, Anirut Luadsong

Abstract:

The spectral action balance equation is an equation that used to simulate short-crested wind-generated waves in shallow water areas such as coastal regions and inland waters. This equation consists of two spatial dimensions, wave direction, and wave frequency which can be solved by finite difference method. When this equation with dominating propagation velocity terms are discretized using central differences, stability problems occur when the grid spacing is chosen too coarse. In this paper, we introduce the splitting modified donorcell scheme for avoiding stability problems and prove that it is consistent to the modified donor-cell scheme with same accuracy. The splitting modified donor-cell scheme was adopted to split the wave spectral action balance equation into four one-dimensional problems, which for each small problem obtains the independently tridiagonal linear systems. For each smaller system can be solved by direct or iterative methods at the same time which is very fast when performed by a multi-cores computer.

Keywords: donor-cell scheme, parallel algorithm, spectral action balance equation, splitting method.

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