Search results for: non-destructive testing methods.
Commenced in January 2007
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Edition: International
Paper Count: 4863

Search results for: non-destructive testing methods.

3843 Assessment of Using Wastage Steel as Welded Reinforcement

Authors: Muhammad Murtaza Nasir, Safdar Abbas Zaidi, Kamran Khan

Abstract:

This work is carried out to evaluate the possibility of using to-be-wasted steel as reinforcement after welding together pieces of reinforcing steel bars, left over during construction activities. Tests were performed on a total of nine samples. These were made by welding pieces of reinforcing steel bars purchased from the local scrap steel market. The samples were tested in uniaxial tension using a universal testing machine (UTM). It was found that the failure of the welded bars is governed by the thickness of the weld. It is concluded that suitable design of the weld is essential for achieving the desired level of ductility/elongation of these bars, if they are to be used as conventional reinforcement in reinforced concrete members.

Keywords: Ductility/elongation, low cost housing, reinforced concrete, welding, welded reinforcement, wastage steel.

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3842 Patents as Indicators of Innovative Environment

Authors: S. Karklina, I. Erins

Abstract:

The main problem is that there is a very low innovation performance in Latvia. Since Latvia is a Member State of European Union, it also shall have to fulfill the set targets and to improve innovative results.Universities are one of the main performers to provide innovative capacity of country. University, industry and government need to cooperate for getting best results.The intellectual property is one of the indicators to determine innovation level in the country or organization, and patents are one of the characteristics of intellectual property.The objective of the article is to determine indicators characterizing innovative environment in Latvia and influence of the development of universities on them.The methods that will be used in the article to achieve the objectives are quantitative and qualitative analysis of the literature, statistical data analysis and graphical analysis methods.

Keywords: HEI, innovations, Latvia, patents.

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3841 Object Tracking System Using Camshift, Meanshift and Kalman Filter

Authors: Afef Salhi, Ameni Yengui Jammaoussi

Abstract:

This paper presents a implementation of an object tracking system in a video sequence. This object tracking is an important task in many vision applications. The main steps in video analysis are two: detection of interesting moving objects and tracking of such objects from frame to frame. In a similar vein, most tracking algorithms use pre-specified methods for preprocessing. In our work, we have implemented several object tracking algorithms (Meanshift, Camshift, Kalman filter) with different preprocessing methods. Then, we have evaluated the performance of these algorithms for different video sequences. The obtained results have shown good performances according to the degree of applicability and evaluation criteria.

Keywords: Tracking, meanshift, camshift, Kalman filter, evaluation.

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3840 Water Saving in Arid Regions: Comparison of Innovative Techniques for Irrigation of Young Date Palms

Authors: R. Bourziza, A. Hammani, M. Kuper, A. Bouaziz

Abstract:

In oases, the surface water resources are becoming increasingly scarce and groundwater resources, which generally have a poor quality due to the high levels of salinity, are often overexploited. Water saving have therefore become imperative for better oases sustainability. If drip irrigation is currently recommended in Morocco for saving water and valuing, its use in the sub-desert areas does not keep water safe from high evaporation rates. An alternative to this system would be the use of subsurface drip irrigation. This technique is defined as an application of water under the soil surface through drippers, which deliver water at rates generally similar to surface drip irrigation. As subsurface drip irrigation is a recently introduced in Morocco, a better understanding of the infiltration process around a buried source, in local conditions, and its impact on plant growth is necessarily required. This study aims to contribute to improving the water use efficiency by testing the performance of subsurface irrigation system, especially in areas where water is a limited source. The objectives of this research are performance evaluation in arid conditions of the subsurface drip irrigation system for young date palms compared to the surface drip. In this context, an experimental test is installed at a farmer’s field in the area of Erfoud (Errachidia Province, southeastern Morocco), using the subsurface drip irrigation system in comparison with the classic drip system for young date palms. Flow measurement to calculate the uniformity of the application of water was done through two methods: a flow measurement of drippers above the surface and another one underground. The latter method has also helped us to estimate losses through evaporation for both irrigation techniques. In order to compare the effect of two irrigation modes, plants were identified for each type of irrigation to monitor certain agronomic parameters (cumulative numbers of palms and roots development). Experimentation referred to a distribution uniformity of about 88%; considered acceptable for subsurface drip irrigation while it is around 80% for the surface drip irrigation. The results also show an increase in root development and in the number of palm, as well as a substantial water savings due to lower evaporation losses compared to the classic drip irrigation. The results of this study showed that subsurface drip irrigation is an efficient technique, which allows sustainable irrigation in arid areas.

Keywords: Subsurface drip irrigation, Water conservation, Arid areas, Young date palms.

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3839 Dissipation of Higher Mode using Numerical Integration Algorithm in Dynamic Analysis

Authors: Jin Sup Kim, Woo Young Jung, Minho Kwon

Abstract:

In general dynamic analyses, lower mode response is of interest, however the higher modes of spatially discretized equations generally do not represent the real behavior and not affects to global response much. Some implicit algorithms, therefore, are introduced to filter out the high-frequency modes using intended numerical error. The objective of this study is to introduce the P-method and PC α-method to compare that with dissipation method and Newmark method through the stability analysis and numerical example. PC α-method gives more accuracy than other methods because it based on the α-method inherits the superior properties of the implicit α-method. In finite element analysis, the PC α-method is more useful than other methods because it is the explicit scheme and it achieves the second order accuracy and numerical damping simultaneously.

Keywords: Dynamic, α-Method, P-Method, PC α-Method, Newmark method.

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3838 Reduction of Peak Input Currents during Charge Pump Boosting in Monolithically Integrated High-Voltage Generators

Authors: Jan Doutreloigne

Abstract:

This paper describes two methods for the reduction of the peak input current during the boosting of Dickson charge pumps. Both methods are implemented in the fully integrated Dickson charge pumps of a high-voltage display driver chip for smart-card applications. Experimental results reveal good correspondence with Spice simulations and show a reduction of the peak input current by a factor of 6 during boosting.

Keywords: Bi-stable display driver, Dickson charge pump, highvoltage generator, peak current reduction, sub-pump boosting, variable frequency boosting.

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3837 Compression of Semistructured Documents

Authors: Leo Galambos, Jan Lansky, Katsiaryna Chernik

Abstract:

EGOTHOR is a search engine that indexes the Web and allows us to search the Web documents. Its hit list contains URL and title of the hits, and also some snippet which tries to shortly show a match. The snippet can be almost always assembled by an algorithm that has a full knowledge of the original document (mostly HTML page). It implies that the search engine is required to store the full text of the documents as a part of the index. Such a requirement leads us to pick up an appropriate compression algorithm which would reduce the space demand. One of the solutions could be to use common compression methods, for instance gzip or bzip2, but it might be preferable if we develop a new method which would take advantage of the document structure, or rather, the textual character of the documents. There already exist a special compression text algorithms and methods for a compression of XML documents. The aim of this paper is an integration of the two approaches to achieve an optimal level of the compression ratio

Keywords: Compression, search engine, HTML, XML.

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3836 Theoretical and Experimental Bending Properties of Composite Pipes

Authors: M. Stefanovska, S. Risteska, B. Samakoski, G. Maneski, B. Kostadinoska

Abstract:

Aim of this work is to determine the theoretical and experimental properties of filament wound glass fiber/epoxy resin composite pipes with different winding design subjected under bending. For determination of bending strength of composite samples three point bending tests were conducted. Good correlation between theoretical and experimental results has been obtained, where sample No4 has shown the highest value of bending strength. All samples have demonstrated matrix cracking and fiber failure followed by layers delamination during testing. Also, it was found that smaller winding angles lead to an increase in bending stress. From presented results good merger between glass fibers and epoxy resin was confirmed by SEM analysis.

Keywords: Bending properties, composite pipe, winding design.

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3835 Testing of DISAL D240 and D420 Ceramic Tool Materials with an Interrupted Cut Simulator

Authors: Robert Cep, Marek Sadilek, Lenka Ocenasova, Josef Brychta, Michal Hatala, Branimir Barisic

Abstract:

This paper presents a solution for ceramic cutting tools availability in interrupted machining. Experiments were performed on a special fixture – the interrupted cut simulator. This fixture was constructed at our Department of Machining and Assembly within the scope of a project by the Czech Science Foundation. The goals of the tests were to contribute to the wider usage of these cutting materials in machining, especially in interrupted machining. Through the centuries, producers of ceramic cutting tools have taken big steps forward. Namely, increasing durability in maintaining high levels of strength and hardness lends an advantage. Some producers of these materials advise cutting inserts for interrupted machining at the present time [1, 2].

Keywords: Ceramic cutting tool, cutting tool tests, interrupted cutting, machining.

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3834 Owner/Managers’ External Financing Used and Preference towards Islamic Banking

Authors: Khalid Hassan Abdesamed, Kalsom Abd Wahab

Abstract:

Economic development and growth are significantly linked to the consistent and sustainable sector of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Banks are the frontrunners in financing and advising SMEs. The main objective of the study is to assess the tendency of SMEs to use the Islamic bank. Model was developed using quantitative method with a hypothetical-deductive testing approach. Model (N = 364) used primary data on the tendency of SMEs to use Islamic banks gathered from questionnaire. It is found by Mann-Whitney test that the tendency to use Islamic bank varies between those firms which consider formal financing with the ones relying on informal financing with the latter tends more to use Islamic bank. This study can serve academic researchers, policy makers, and developing countries as a model of SMEs’ desirability to Islamic banking.

Keywords: Formal financing, informal financing, Islamic bank, SMEs.

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3833 High Impedance Faults Detection Technique Based on Wavelet Transform

Authors: Ming-Ta Yang, Jin-Lung Guan, Jhy-Cherng Gu

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to solve the problem of protecting aerial lines from high impedance faults (HIFs) in distribution systems. This investigation successfully applies 3I0 zero sequence current to solve HIF problems. The feature extraction system based on discrete wavelet transform (DWT) and the feature identification technique found on statistical confidence are then applied to discriminate effectively between the HIFs and the switch operations. Based on continuous wavelet transform (CWT) pattern recognition of HIFs is proposed, also. Staged fault testing results demonstrate that the proposed wavelet based algorithm is feasible performance well.

Keywords: Continuous wavelet transform, discrete wavelet transform, high impedance faults, statistical confidence.

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3832 A Study on the Effect of Design Factors of Slim Keyboard’s Tactile Feedback

Authors: Kai-Chieh Lin, Chih-Fu Wu, Hsiang Ling Hsu, Yung-Hsiang Tu, Chia-Chen Wu

Abstract:

With the rapid development of computer technology, the design of computers and keyboards moves towards a trend of slimness. The change of mobile input devices directly influences users’ behavior. Although multi-touch applications allow entering texts through a virtual keyboard, the performance, feedback, and comfortableness of the technology is inferior to traditional keyboard, and while manufacturers launch mobile touch keyboards and projection keyboards, the performance has not been satisfying. Therefore, this study discussed the design factors of slim pressure-sensitive keyboards. The factors were evaluated with an objective (accuracy and speed) and a subjective evaluation (operability, recognition, feedback, and difficulty) depending on the shape (circle, rectangle, and L-shaped), thickness (flat, 3mm, and 6mm), and force (35±10g, 60±10g, and 85±10g) of the keyboard. Moreover, MANOVA and Taguchi methods (regarding signal-to-noise ratios) were conducted to find the optimal level of each design factor. The research participants, by their typing speed (30 words/ minute), were divided in two groups. Considering the multitude of variables and levels, the experiments were implemented using the fractional factorial design. A representative model of the research samples were established for input task testing. The findings of this study showed that participants with low typing speed primarily relied on vision to recognize the keys, and those with high typing speed relied on tactile feedback that was affected by the thickness and force of the keys. In the objective and subjective evaluation, a combination of keyboard design factors that might result in higher performance and satisfaction was identified (L-shaped, 3mm, and 60±10g) as the optimal combination. The learning curve was analyzed to make a comparison with a traditional standard keyboard to investigate the influence of user experience on keyboard operation. The research results indicated the optimal combination provided input performance to inferior to a standard keyboard. The results could serve as a reference for the development of related products in industry and for applying comprehensively to touch devices and input interfaces which are interacted with people.

Keywords: Input performance, mobile device, slim keyboard, tactile feedback.

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3831 Application of Liquid Emulsion Membrane Technique for the Removal of Cadmium(II) from Aqueous Solutions Using Aliquat 336 as a Carrier

Authors: B. Medjahed, M. A. Didi, B. Guezzen

Abstract:

In the present work, emulsion liquid membrane (ELM) technique was applied for the extraction of cadmium(II) present in aqueous samples. Aliquat 336 (Chloride tri-N-octylmethylammonium) was used as carrier to extract cadmium(II). The main objective of this work is to investigate the influence of various parameters affected the ELM formation and its stability and testing the performance of the prepared ELM on removal of cadmium by using synthetic solution with different concentrations. Experiments were conducted to optimize pH of the feed solution and it was found that cadmium(II) can be extracted at pH 6.5. The influence of the carrier concentration and treat ratio on the extraction process was investigated. The obtained results showed that the optimal values are respectively 3% (Aliquat 336) and a ratio (feed: emulsion) equal to 1:1.

Keywords: Cadmium, carrier, emulsion liquid membrane, surfactant.

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3830 Testing the Validity of Feldstein-Horioka Puzzle in BRICS Countries

Authors: Teboho J. Mosikari, Johannes T. Tsoku, Diteboho L. Xaba

Abstract:

The increase of capital mobility across emerging economies has become an interesting topic for many economic policy makers. The current study tests the validity of Feldstein–Horioka puzzle for 5 BRICS countries. The sample period of the study runs from 2001 to 2014. The study uses the following parameter estimates well known as the Fully Modified OLS (FMOLS), and Dynamic OLS (DOLS). The results of the study show that investment and savings are cointegrated in the long run. The parameters estimated using FMOLS and DOLS are 0.85 and 0.74, respectively. These results imply that policy makers within BRICS countries have to consider flexible monetary and fiscal policy instruments to influence the mobility of capital with the bloc.

Keywords: Feldstein and Horioka puzzle, saving and investment, panel models, BRICS countries.

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3829 The Grinding Influence on the Strength of Fan-Out Wafer-Level Packages

Authors: Z. W. Zhong, C. Xu, W. K. Choi

Abstract:

To build a thin fan-out wafer-level package, the package had to be ground to a thin level. In this work, the influence of the grinding processes on the strength of the fan-out wafer-level packages was investigated. After different grinding processes, all specimens were placed on a three-point-bending fixture installed on a universal tester for three-point-bending testing, and the strength of the fan-out wafer-level packages was measured. The experiments revealed that the average flexure strength increased with the decreasing surface roughness height of the fan-out wafer-level package tested. The grinding processes had a significant influence on the strength of the fan-out wafer-level packages investigated.

Keywords: FOWLP strength, surface roughness, three-point bending, grinding.

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3828 The Use of Simulation Programs of Leakage of Harmful Substances for Crisis Management

Authors: Jiří Barta

Abstract:

The paper deals with simulation programs of spread of harmful substances. Air pollution has a direct impact on the quality of human life and environmental protection is currently a very hot topic. Therefore, the paper focuses on the simulation of release of harmful substances. The first part of article deals with perspectives and possibilities of implementation outputs of simulations programs into the system which is education and of practical training of the management staff during emergency events in the frame of critical infrastructure. The last part shows the practical testing and evaluation of simulation programs. Of the tested simulations software been selected Symos97. The tool offers advanced features for setting leakage. Gradually allows the user to model the terrain, location, and method of escape of harmful substances.

Keywords: Computer Simulation, Symos97, spread, simulation software, harmful substances.

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3827 Determination of Cd, Zn, K, pH, TNV, Organic Material and Electrical Conductivity (EC) Distribution in Agricultural Soils using Geostatistics and GIS (Case Study: South- Western of Natanz- Iran)

Authors: Abbas Hani, Seyed Ali Hoseini Abari

Abstract:

Soil chemical and physical properties have important roles in compartment of the environment and agricultural sustainability and human health. The objectives of this research is determination of spatial distribution patterns of Cd, Zn, K, pH, TNV, organic material and electrical conductivity (EC) in agricultural soils of Natanz region in Esfehan province. In this study geostatistic and non-geostatistic methods were used for prediction of spatial distribution of these parameters. 64 composite soils samples were taken at 0-20 cm depth. The study area is located in south of NATANZ agricultural lands with area of 21660 hectares. Spatial distribution of Cd, Zn, K, pH, TNV, organic material and electrical conductivity (EC) was determined using geostatistic and geographic information system. Results showed that Cd, pH, TNV and K data has normal distribution and Zn, OC and EC data had not normal distribution. Kriging, Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW), Local Polynomial Interpolation (LPI) and Redial Basis functions (RBF) methods were used to interpolation. Trend analysis showed that organic carbon in north-south and east to west did not have trend while K and TNV had second degree trend. We used some error measurements include, mean absolute error(MAE), mean squared error (MSE) and mean biased error(MBE). Ordinary kriging(exponential model), LPI(Local polynomial interpolation), RBF(radial basis functions) and IDW methods have been chosen as the best methods to interpolating of the soil parameters. Prediction maps by disjunctive kriging was shown that in whole study area was intensive shortage of organic matter and more than 63.4 percent of study area had shortage of K amount.

Keywords: Electrical conductivity, Geostatistics, Geographical Information System, TNV

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3826 Event Information Extraction System (EIEE): FSM vs HMM

Authors: Shaukat Wasi, Zubair A. Shaikh, Sajid Qasmi, Hussain Sachwani, Rehman Lalani, Aamir Chagani

Abstract:

Automatic Extraction of Event information from social text stream (emails, social network sites, blogs etc) is a vital requirement for many applications like Event Planning and Management systems and security applications. The key information components needed from Event related text are Event title, location, participants, date and time. Emails have very unique distinctions over other social text streams from the perspective of layout and format and conversation style and are the most commonly used communication channel for broadcasting and planning events. Therefore we have chosen emails as our dataset. In our work, we have employed two statistical NLP methods, named as Finite State Machines (FSM) and Hidden Markov Model (HMM) for the extraction of event related contextual information. An application has been developed providing a comparison among the two methods over the event extraction task. It comprises of two modules, one for each method, and works for both bulk as well as direct user input. The results are evaluated using Precision, Recall and F-Score. Experiments show that both methods produce high performance and accuracy, however HMM was good enough over Title extraction and FSM proved to be better for Venue, Date, and time.

Keywords: Emails, Event Extraction, Event Detection, Finite state machines, Hidden Markov Model.

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3825 Modeling and Investigation of Elongation in Free Explosive Forming of Aluminum Alloy Plate

Authors: R. Alipour, F.Najarian

Abstract:

Because of high ductility, aluminum alloys, have been widely used as an important base of metal forming industries. But the main week point of these alloys is their low strength so in forming them with conventional methods like deep drawing, hydro forming, etc have been always faced with problems like fracture during of forming process. Because of this, recently using of explosive forming method for forming of these plates has been recommended. In this paper free explosive forming of A2024 aluminum alloy is numerically simulated and during it, explosion wave propagation process is studied. Consequences of this simulation can be effective in prediction of quality of production. These consequences are compared with an experimental test and show the superiority of this method to similar methods like hydro forming and deep drawing.

Keywords: Free explosive forming, CEL, Johnson cook.

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3824 Application of Pattern Search Method to Power System Security Constrained Economic Dispatch

Authors: A. K. Al-Othman, K. M. EL-Nagger

Abstract:

Direct search methods are evolutionary algorithms used to solve optimization problems. (DS) methods do not require any information about the gradient of the objective function at hand while searching for an optimum solution. One of such methods is Pattern Search (PS) algorithm. This paper presents a new approach based on a constrained pattern search algorithm to solve a security constrained power system economic dispatch problem (SCED). Operation of power systems demands a high degree of security to keep the system satisfactorily operating when subjected to disturbances, while and at the same time it is required to pay attention to the economic aspects. Pattern recognition technique is used first to assess dynamic security. Linear classifiers that determine the stability of electric power system are presented and added to other system stability and operational constraints. The problem is formulated as a constrained optimization problem in a way that insures a secure-economic system operation. Pattern search method is then applied to solve the constrained optimization formulation. In particular, the method is tested using one system. Simulation results of the proposed approach are compared with those reported in literature. The outcome is very encouraging and proves that pattern search (PS) is very applicable for solving security constrained power system economic dispatch problem (SCED).

Keywords: Security Constrained Economic Dispatch, Direct Search method, optimization.

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3823 Design and Evaluation of a Pneumatic Muscle Actuated Gripper

Authors: Tudor Deaconescu, Andrea Deaconescu

Abstract:

Deployment of pneumatic muscles in various industrial applications is still in its early days, considering the relative newness of these components. The field of robotics holds particular future potential for pneumatic muscles, especially in view of their specific behaviour known as compliance. The paper presents and discusses an innovative constructive solution for a gripper system mountable on an industrial robot, based on actuation by a linear pneumatic muscle and transmission of motion by gear and rack mechanism. The structural, operational and constructive models of the new gripper are presented, along with some of the experimental results obtained subsequently to the testing of a prototype. Further presented are two control variants of the gripper system, one by means of a 3/2-way fast-switching solenoid valve, the other by means of a proportional pressure regulator. Advantages and disadvantages are discussed for both variants.

Keywords: Gripper system, pneumatic muscle, structural modeling.

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3822 Simulation Method for Determining the Thermally Induced Displacement of Machine Tools – Experimental Validation and Utilization in the Design Process

Authors: G. Kehl, P. Wagner

Abstract:

A novel simulation method to determine the displacements of machine tools due to thermal factors is presented. The specific characteristic of this method is the employment of original CAD data from the design process chain, which is interpreted by an algorithm in terms of geometry-based allocation of convection and radiation parameters. Furthermore analogous models relating to the thermal behaviour of machine elements are automatically implemented, which were gained by extensive experimental testing with thermography imaging. With this a transient simulation of the thermal field and in series of the displacement of the machine tool is possible simultaneously during the design phase. This method was implemented and is already used industrially in the design of machining centres in order to improve the quality of herewith manufactured workpieces.

Keywords: Accuracy, design process, finite element analysis, machine tools, thermal simulation.

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3821 Biospeckle Supported Fruit Bruise Detection

Authors: Adilson M. Enes, Juliana A. Fracarolli, Inácio M. Dal Fabbro, Silvestre Rodrigues

Abstract:

This research work proposed a study of fruit bruise detection by means of a biospeckle method, selecting the papaya fruit (Carica papaya) as testing body. Papaya is recognized as a fruit of outstanding nutritional qualities, showing high vitamin A content, calcium, carbohydrates, exhibiting high popularity all over the world, considering consumption and acceptability. The commercialization of papaya faces special problems which are associated to bruise generation during harvesting, packing and transportation. Papaya is classified as climacteric fruit, permitting to be harvested before the maturation is completed. However, by one side bruise generation is partially controlled once the fruit flesh exhibits high mechanical firmness. By the other side, mechanical loads can set a future bruise at that maturation stage, when it can not be detected yet by conventional methods. Mechanical damages of fruit skin leave an entrance door to microorganisms and pathogens, which will cause severe losses of quality attributes. Traditional techniques of fruit quality inspection include total soluble solids determination, mechanical firmness tests, visual inspections, which would hardly meet required conditions for a fully automated process. However, the pertinent literature reveals a new method named biospeckle which is based on the laser reflectance and interference phenomenon. The laser biospeckle or dynamic speckle is quantified by means of the Moment of Inertia, named after its mechanical counterpart due to similarity between the defining formulae. Biospeckle techniques are able to quantify biological activities of living tissues, which has been applied to seed viability analysis, vegetable senescence and similar topics. Since the biospeckle techniques can monitor tissue physiology, it could also detect changes in the fruit caused by mechanical damages. The proposed technique holds non invasive character, being able to generate numerical results consistent with an adequate automation. The experimental tests associated to this research work included the selection of papaya fruit at different maturation stages which were submitted to artificial mechanical bruising tests. Damages were visually compared with the frequency maps yielded by the biospeckle technique. Results were considered in close agreement.

Keywords: Biospeckle, papaya, mechanical damages, vegetable bruising.

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3820 Design Calculation and Performance Testing of Heating Coil in Induction Surface Hardening Machine

Authors: Soe Sandar Aung, Han Phyo Wai, Nyein Nyein Soe

Abstract:

The induction hardening machines are utilized in the industries which modify machine parts and tools needed to achieve high ware resistance. This paper describes the model of induction heating process design of inverter circuit and the results of induction surface hardening of heating coil. In the design of heating coil, the shape and the turn numbers of the coil are very important design factors because they decide the overall operating performance of induction heater including resonant frequency, Q factor, efficiency and power factor. The performance will be tested by experiments in some cases high frequency induction hardening machine.

Keywords: Induction Heating, Resonant Circuit, InverterCircuit, Coil Design, Induction Hardening Machine.

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3819 Factors Related to the Satisfaction of Car Consumers

Authors: Somtop Keawchuer

Abstract:

The objective of this research was to study the factors related to the satisfaction of consumers who purchased a Toyota SUV Fortuner. This paper was a survey data which collected 400 samples from 65 car dealerships. The survey was conducted mainly in Bangkok, Thailand. The statistics utilized in this paper included percentage, mean, standard deviation and Pearson Product-Moment. The findings revealed that the majority of respondent were male with an undergraduate degree, married and live together. The average income of the respondents was between 20,001 - 30,000 baht. Most of them worked for private companies. Most of them had a family with the average of 4 members. The hypotheses testing revealed that the factors of marketing mix in terms of product (ability, gas mileage, and safety) were related to overall satisfaction at the medium level. However, the findings also revealed that the factors of marketing mix in terms of product (image), price, and promotion, and service center were related to the overall satisfaction at the low level.

Keywords: Car Consumers, Factors related, Overall Satisfaction.

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3818 A Method to Saturation Modeling of Synchronous Machines in d-q Axes

Authors: Mohamed A. Khlifi, Badr M. Alshammari

Abstract:

This paper discusses the general methods to saturation in the steady-state, two axis (d & q) frame models of synchronous machines. In particular, the important role of the magnetic coupling between the d-q axes (cross-magnetizing phenomenon), is demonstrated. For that purpose, distinct methods of saturation modeling of dumper synchronous machine with cross-saturation are identified, and detailed models synthesis in d-q axes. A number of models are given in the final developed form. The procedure and the novel models are verified by a critical application to prove the validity of the method and the equivalence between all developed models is reported. Advantages of some of the models over the existing ones and their applicability are discussed.

Keywords: Cross-magnetizing, models synthesis, synchronous machine, saturated modeling, state-space vectors.

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3817 The Practical MFCAV Riemann Solver is Applied to a New Cell-centered Lagrangian Method

Authors: Yan Liu, Weidong Shen, Dekang Mao, Baolin Tian

Abstract:

The MFCAV Riemann solver is practically used in many Lagrangian or ALE methods due to its merit of sharp shock profiles and rarefaction corners, though very often with numerical oscillations. By viewing it as a modification of the WWAM Riemann solver, we apply the MFCAV Riemann solver to the Lagrangian method recently developed by Maire. P. H et. al.. The numerical experiments show that the application is successful in that the shock profiles and rarefaction corners are sharpened compared with results obtained using other Riemann solvers. Though there are still numerical oscillations, they are within the range of the MFCAV applied in onther Lagrangian methods.

Keywords: Cell-centered Lagrangian method, approximated Riemann solver, HLLC Riemann solver

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3816 Heterogeneous Artifacts Construction for Software Evolution Control

Authors: Mounir Zekkaoui, Abdelhadi Fennan

Abstract:

The software evolution control requires a deep understanding of the changes and their impact on different system heterogeneous artifacts. And an understanding of descriptive knowledge of the developed software artifacts is a prerequisite condition for the success of the evolutionary process. The implementation of an evolutionary process is to make changes more or less important to many heterogeneous software artifacts such as source code, analysis and design models, unit testing, XML deployment descriptors, user guides, and others. These changes can be a source of degradation in functional, qualitative or behavioral terms of modified software. Hence the need for a unified approach for extraction and representation of different heterogeneous artifacts in order to ensure a unified and detailed description of heterogeneous software artifacts, exploitable by several software tools and allowing to responsible for the evolution of carry out the reasoning change concerned.

Keywords: Heterogeneous software artifacts, Software evolution control, Unified approach, Meta Model, Software Architecture.

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3815 A Dynamic Mechanical Thermal T-Peel Test Approach to Characterize Interfacial Behavior of Polymeric Textile Composites

Authors: J. R. Büttler, T. Pham

Abstract:

Basic understanding of interfacial mechanisms is of importance for the development of polymer composites. For this purpose, we need techniques to analyze the quality of interphases, their chemical and physical interactions and their strength and fracture resistance. In order to investigate the interfacial phenomena in detail, advanced characterization techniques are favorable. Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) using a rheological system is a sensitive tool. T-peel tests were performed with this system, to investigate the temperature-dependent peel behavior of woven textile composites. A model system was made of polyamide (PA) woven fabric laminated with films of polypropylene (PP) or PP modified by grafting with maleic anhydride (PP-g-MAH). Firstly, control measurements were performed with solely PP matrixes. Polymer melt investigations, as well as the extensional stress, extensional viscosity and extensional relaxation modulus at -10°C, 100 °C and 170 °C, demonstrate similar viscoelastic behavior for films made of PP-g-MAH and its non-modified PP-control. Frequency sweeps have shown that PP-g-MAH has a zero phase viscosity of around 1600 Pa·s and PP-control has a similar zero phase viscosity of 1345 Pa·s. Also, the gelation points are similar at 2.42*104 Pa (118 rad/s) and 2.81*104 Pa (161 rad/s) for PP-control and PP-g-MAH, respectively. Secondly, the textile composite was analyzed. The extensional stress of PA66 fabric laminated with either PP-control or PP-g-MAH at -10 °C, 25 °C and 170 °C for strain rates of 0.001 – 1 s-1 was investigated. The laminates containing the modified PP need more stress for T-peeling. However, the strengthening effect due to the modification decreases by increasing temperature and at 170 °C, just above the melting temperature of the matrix, the difference disappears. Independent of the matrix used in the textile composite, there is a decrease of extensional stress by increasing temperature. It appears that the more viscous is the matrix, the weaker the laminar adhesion. Possibly, the measurement is influenced by the fact that the laminate becomes stiffer at lower temperatures. Adhesive lap-shear testing at room temperature supports the findings obtained with the T-peel test. Additional analysis of the textile composite at the microscopic level ensures that the fibers are well embedded in the matrix. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging of a cross section of the composite shows no gaps between the fibers and matrix. Measurements of the water contact angle show that the MAH grafted PP is more polar than the virgin-PP, and that suggests a more favorable chemical interaction of PP-g-MAH with PA, compared to the non-modified PP. In fact, this study indicates that T-peel testing by DMTA is a technique to achieve more insights into polymeric textile composites.

Keywords: Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis, interphase, polyamide, polypropylene, textile composite, T-peel test.

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3814 Field Study for Evaluating Winter Thermal Performance of Auckland School Buildings

Authors: Bin Su

Abstract:

Auckland has a temperate climate with comfortable warm, dry summers and mild, wet winters. An Auckland school normally does not need air conditioning for cooling during the summer and only needs heating during the winter. The Auckland school building thermal design should more focus on winter thermal performance and indoor thermal comfort for energy efficiency. This field study of testing indoor and outdoor air temperatures, relative humidity and indoor surface temperatures of three classrooms with different envelopes were carried out in the Avondale College during the winter months in 2013. According to the field study data, this study is to compare and evaluate winter thermal performance and indoor thermal conditions of school buildings with different envelopes.

Keywords: Building envelope, Building mass effect, Building thermal comfort, Building thermal performance, School building.

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