Search results for: Solid State Drive.
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 2915

Search results for: Solid State Drive.

1865 Crack Width Evaluation for Flexural RC Members with Axial Tension

Authors: Sukrit Ghorai

Abstract:

Proof of controlling crack width is a basic condition for securing suitable performance in serviceability limit state. The cracking in concrete can occur at any time from the casting of time to the years after the concrete has been set in place. Most codes struggle with offering procedure for crack width calculation. There is lack in availability of design charts for designers to compute crack width with ease. The focus of the study is to utilize design charts and parametric equations in calculating crack width with minimum error. The paper contains a simplified procedure to calculate crack width for reinforced concrete (RC) sections subjected to bending with axial tensile force following the guidelines of Euro code [DS EN-1992-1-1 & DS EN-1992-1-2]. Numerical examples demonstrate the application of the suggested procedure. Comparison with parallel analytical tools supports the validity of result and show the percentage deviation of crack width in both the procedures. The technique is simple, user friendly and ready to evolve for a greater spectrum of section sizes and materials.

Keywords: Concrete structures, crack width calculation, serviceability limit state, structural design, bridge engineering.

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1864 Characterization of Cement Mortar Based on Fine Quartz

Authors: K. Arroudj, M. Lanez, M. N. Oudjit

Abstract:

The introduction of siliceous mineral additions in cement production allows, in addition to the ecological and economic gain, improvement of concrete performance. This improvement is mainly due to the fixing of Portlandite, released during the hydration of cement, by fine siliceous, forming denser calcium silicate hydrates and therefore a more compact cementitious matrix. This research is part of the valuation of the Dune Sand (DS) in the cement industry in Algeria. The high silica content of DS motivated us to study its effect, at ground state, on the properties of mortars in fresh and hardened state. For this purpose, cement pastes and mortars based on ground dune sand (fine quartz) has been analyzed with a replacement to cement of 15%, 20% and 25%. This substitution has reduced the amount of heat of hydration and avoids any risk of initial cracking. In addition, the grinding of the dune sand provides amorphous thin populations adsorbed at the surface of the crystal particles of quartz. Which gives to ground quartz pozzolanic character. This character results an improvement of mechanical strength of mortar (66 MPa in the presence of 25% of ground quartz).

Keywords: Mineralogical structure, Pozzolanic reactivity, quartz, mechanical strength.

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1863 Smart Side View Mirror Camera for Real Time System

Authors: Nunziata Ivana Guarneri, Arcangelo Bruna, Giuseppe Spampinato, Antonio Buemi

Abstract:

In the last decade, automotive companies have invested a lot in terms of innovation about many aspects regarding the automatic driver assistance systems. One innovation regards the usage of a smart camera placed on the car’s side mirror for monitoring the back and lateral road situation. A common road scenario is the overtaking of the preceding car and, in this case, a brief distraction or a loss of concentration can lead the driver to undertake this action, even if there is an already overtaking vehicle, leading to serious accidents. A valid support for a secure drive can be a smart camera system, which is able to automatically analyze the road scenario and consequentially to warn the driver when another vehicle is overtaking. This paper describes a method for monitoring the side view of a vehicle by using camera optical flow motion vectors. The proposed solution detects the presence of incoming vehicles, assesses their distance from the host car, and warns the driver through different levels of alert according to the estimated distance. Due to the low complexity and computational cost, the proposed system ensures real time performances.

Keywords: Camera calibration, ego motion, kalman filters, object tracking, real time systems.

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1862 On Determining the Most Effective Technique Available in Software Testing

Authors: Qasim Zafar, Matthew Anderson, Esteban Garcia, Steven Drager

Abstract:

Software failures can present an enormous detriment to people's lives and cost millions of dollars to repair when they are unexpectedly encountered in the wild. Despite a significant portion of the software development lifecycle and resources are dedicated to testing, software failures are a relatively frequent occurrence. Nevertheless, the evaluation of testing effectiveness remains at the forefront of ensuring high-quality software and software metrics play a critical role in providing valuable insights into quantifiable objectives to assess the level of assurance and confidence in the system. As the selection of appropriate metrics can be an arduous process, the goal of this paper is to shed light on the significance of software metrics by examining a range of testing techniques and metrics as well as identifying key areas for improvement. In doing so, this paper presents a method to compare the effectiveness of testing techniques with heterogeneous output metrics. Additionally, through this investigation, readers will gain a deeper understanding of how metrics can help to drive informed decision-making on delivering high-quality software and facilitate continuous improvement in testing practices.

Keywords: Software testing, software metrics, testing effectiveness, black box testing, random testing, adaptive random testing, combinatorial testing, fuzz testing, equivalence partition, boundary value analysis, white box testings.

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1861 Periodic Control of a Wastewater Treatment Process to Improve Productivity

Authors: Muhammad Rizwan Azhar, Emadadeen Ali

Abstract:

In this paper, periodic force operation of a wastewater treatment process has been studied for the improved process performance. A previously developed dynamic model for the process is used to conduct the performance analysis. The static version of the model was utilized first to determine the optimal productivity conditions for the process. Then, feed flow rate in terms of dilution rate i.e. (D) is transformed into sinusoidal function. Nonlinear model predictive control algorithm is utilized to regulate the amplitude and period of the sinusoidal function. The parameters of the feed cyclic functions are determined which resulted in improved productivity than the optimal productivity under steady state conditions. The improvement in productivity is found to be marginal and is satisfactory in substrate conversion compared to that of the optimal condition and to the steady state condition, which corresponds to the average value of the periodic function. Successful results were also obtained in the presence of modeling errors and external disturbances.

Keywords: Dilution rate, nonlinear model predictive control, sinusoidal function, wastewater treatment.

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1860 An Improved Model for Prediction of the Effective Thermal Conductivity of Nanofluids

Authors: K. Abbaspoursani, M. Allahyari, M. Rahmani

Abstract:

Thermal conductivity is an important characteristic of a nanofluid in laminar flow heat transfer. This paper presents an improved model for the prediction of the effective thermal conductivity of nanofluids based on dimensionless groups. The model expresses the thermal conductivity of a nanofluid as a function of the thermal conductivity of the solid and liquid, their volume fractions and particle size. The proposed model includes a parameter which accounts for the interfacial shell, brownian motion, and aggregation of particle. The validation of the model is verified by applying the results obtained by the experiments of Tio2-water and Al2o3-water nanofluids.

Keywords: Critical particle size, nanofluid, model, and thermal conductivity.

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1859 Model based Soft-Sensor for Industrial Crystallization: On-line Mass of Crystals and Solubility Measurement

Authors: Cédric Damour, Michel Benne, Brigitte Grondin-Perez, Jean-Pierre Chabriat

Abstract:

Monitoring and control of cane sugar crystallization processes depend on the stability of the supersaturation (σ ) state. The most widely used information to represent σ is the electrical conductivity κ of the solutions. Nevertheless, previous studies point out the shortcomings of this approach: κ may be regarded as inappropriate to guarantee an accurate estimation of σ in impure solutions. To improve the process control efficiency, additional information is necessary. The mass of crystals in the solution ( c m ) and the solubility (mass ratio of sugar to water / s w m m ) are relevant to complete information. Indeed, c m inherently contains information about the mass balance and / s w m m contains information about the supersaturation state of the solution. The main problem is that c m and / s w m m are not available on-line. In this paper, a model based soft-sensor is presented for a final crystallization stage (C sugar). Simulation results obtained on industrial data show the reliability of this approach, c m and the crystal content ( cc ) being estimated with a sufficient accuracy for achieving on-line monitoring in industry

Keywords: Soft-sensor, on-line monitoring, cane sugarcrystallization.

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1858 Hysteresis Modulation Based Sliding Mode Control for Positive Output Elementary Super Lift Luo Converter

Authors: K. Ramash Kumar, S. Jeevananthan

Abstract:

The Object of this paper is to design and analyze a Hysteresis modulation based sliding mode control (HMSMC) for positive output elementary super lift Luo converter (POESLLC), which is the start-of-the-art DC-DC converter. The positive output elementary super lift Luo converter performs the voltage conversion from positive source voltage to positive load voltage. This paper proposes a HMSMC capable of providing the good steady state and dynamic performance compared to conventional controllers. Dynamic equations describing the positive output elementary super lift luo converter are derived by using state space average method. The simulation model of the positive output elementary super lift Luo converter with its control circuit is implemented in Matlab/Simulink. The HMSMC for positive output elementary super lift Luo converter is tested for line changes, load changes and also for components variations.

Keywords: DC-DC converter, Positive output elementarysuper lift Luo converter (POESLLC), Hysteresis modulation basedsliding mode control (HMSMC).

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1857 Using Linear Quadratic Gaussian Optimal Control for Lateral Motion of Aircraft

Authors: A. Maddi, A. Guessoum, D. Berkani

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to provide a practical example to the Linear Quadratic Gaussian (LQG) controller. This method includes a description and some discussion of the discrete Kalman state estimator. One aspect of this optimality is that the estimator incorporates all information that can be provided to it. It processes all available measurements, regardless of their precision, to estimate the current value of the variables of interest, with use of knowledge of the system and measurement device dynamics, the statistical description of the system noises, measurement errors, and uncertainty in the dynamics models. Since the time of its introduction, the Kalman filter has been the subject of extensive research and application, particularly in the area of autonomous or assisted navigation. For example, to determine the velocity of an aircraft or sideslip angle, one could use a Doppler radar, the velocity indications of an inertial navigation system, or the relative wind information in the air data system. Rather than ignore any of these outputs, a Kalman filter could be built to combine all of this data and knowledge of the various systems- dynamics to generate an overall best estimate of velocity and sideslip angle.

Keywords: Aircraft motion, Kalman filter, LQG control, Lateral stability, State estimator.

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1856 Power System Security Constrained Economic Dispatch Using Real Coded Quantum Inspired Evolution Algorithm

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

Abstract:

This paper presents a new optimization technique based on quantum computing principles to solve a security constrained power system economic dispatch problem (SCED). The proposed technique is a population-based algorithm, which uses some quantum computing elements in coding and evolving groups of potential solutions to reach the optimum following a partially directed random approach. The SCED problem is formulated as a constrained optimization problem in a way that insures a secure-economic system operation. Real Coded Quantum-Inspired Evolution Algorithm (RQIEA) is then applied to solve the constrained optimization formulation. Simulation results of the proposed approach are compared with those reported in literature. The outcome is very encouraging and proves that RQIEA is very applicable for solving security constrained power system economic dispatch problem (SCED).

Keywords: State Estimation, Fuzzy Linear Regression, FuzzyLinear State Estimator (FLSE) and Measurements Uncertainty.

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1855 Aroma Composition and Polyphenol Content of Ciders Available in Latvian Market

Authors: Rita Riekstina-Dolge, Zanda Kruma, Daina Karklina

Abstract:

Aroma forming volatiles are important components of fermented beverages. The aim of current research is to evaluate the volatile compounds and phenolic compounds of commercial ciders. Volatile aroma compounds and TPC of seven commercial ciders were determined. Extraction of aroma compounds was performed using solid phase microextraction (DVB/Car/PDMS fibre). Analysis of volatile aroma compounds was made using a Perkin Elmer Clarus 500 GC/MS. Total phenol content (TPC) was determined according to the Folin-Ciocalteu spectrophotometric method and results were expressed as gallic acid equivalents. The highest volatile compounds were in apple ciders with pear flavor. The highest TPC and lower content of volatile compounds were detected in French ciders.

Keywords: cider, TPC, volatile compounds

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1854 Evaluation of the Quality of Education Offered to Students with Special Needs in Public Schools in the City of Bauru, Brazil

Authors: V. L. M. F. Capellini, A. P. P. M. Maturana, N. C. M. Brondino, M. B. C. L. B. M. Peixoto, A. J. Broughton

Abstract:

A paradigm shift is a process. The process of implementing inclusive education, a system constructed to support all learners, requires planning, identification, experimentation, and evaluation. In this vein, the purpose of the present study was to evaluate the capacity of one Brazilian state school systems to provide special education students with a quality inclusive education. This study originated at the behest of concerned families of students with special needs who filed complaints with the Municipality of Bauru, São Paulo. These families claimed, 1) children with learning differences and educational needs had not been identified for services, and 2) those who had been identified had not received sufficient specialized educational assistance (SEA) in schools across the City of Bauru. Hence, the Office of Civil Rights for the state of São Paulo (Ministério Público de São Paulo) summoned the local higher education institution, UNESP, to design a research study to investigate these allegations. In this exploratory study, descriptive data were gathered from all elementary and middle schools including 58 state schools and 17 city schools, for a total of 75 schools overall. Data collection consisted of each school's annual strategic action plan, surveys and interviews with all school stakeholders to determine their perceptions of the inclusive education available to students with Special Education Needs (SEN). The data were collected as one of four stages in a larger study which also included field observations of a focal students' experience and a continuing education course for all teachers and administrators in both state and city schools. For the purposes of this study, the researchers were interested in understanding the perceptions of school staff, parents, and students across all schools. Therefore, documents and surveys from 75 schools were analyzed for adherence to federal legislation guaranteeing students with SEN the right to special education assistance within the regular school setting. Results shows that while some schools recognized the legal rights of SEN students to receive special education, the plans to actually deliver services were absent. In conclusion, the results of this study revealed both school staff and families have insufficient planning and accessibility resources, and the schools have inadequate infrastructure for full-time support to SEN students, i.e., structures and systems to support the identification of SEN and delivery of services within schools of Bauru, SP. Having identified the areas of need, the city is now prepared to take next steps in the process toward preparing all schools to be inclusive.

Keywords: Inclusive education, special education, special needs.

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1853 Nutritional Composition of Selected Wild Fruits from Minna Area of Niger State, Nigeria

Authors: John O. Jacob, Abdullahi Mann, Olanrewaju I. Adeshina, Mohammed M. Ndamitso

Abstract:

Strychnos spinosa, Detarium microcarpum, Diospyros mespiliformis, Dialium guineese and Gardenia ternifolia are some of the wild fruits consume in the villages around Minna, Niger State. This investigation was conducted to assess the nutritional potentials of these fruits both for human consumption and for possible application in animal feed formulations. Standard analytical methods were employed in the determination of the various nutritional parameters. The proximate analysis results showed that the moisture contents ranged between (6.17-10.70%); crude fat (2.04-8.85%); crude protein (5.16-6.80%); crude fibre (7.23-19.65%); Ash (3.46-5.56%); carbohydrate (57.77-69.79%); energy value (284.49-407 kcal/mg); Vitamin C (7.2-39.93 mg/100g). The mineral analysis shows that the selected wild fruits could contribute considerable amount of both micro and macro elements to human nutrition potassium, sodium and calcium range between; potassium (343.27-764.71%); sodium (155.04-348.44%); calcium (52.47-101%). The macro element for the fruits pulp were in the order K>Na>Mg>Ca, hence, they could be included in diet to supplement daily nutrient requirement and in animal feed formulations. The domestication of these fruits is also encouraged.

Keywords: Minerals, nutrition, supplements, wild fruits.

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1852 Lack of BIM Training: Investigating Practical Solutions for the State of Kuwait

Authors: Noor M. Abdulfattah, Ahmed M. Khalafallah, Nabil A. Kartam

Abstract:

Despite the evident benefits of building information modeling (BIM) to the construction industry, it faces significant implementation challenges in the State of Kuwait. This study investigates the awareness of construction stakeholders of BIM implementation challenges, and identifies various solutions to overcome these challenges. Specifically, the main objectives of this study are to: (1) characterize the barriers that deter utilization of BIM, (2) examine the awareness of engineers, architects, and construction stakeholders of these barriers, and (3) identify practical solutions to facilitate BIM utilization. A questionnaire survey was designed to collect data on the aforementioned objectives from local companies and senior BIM experts. It was found that engineers are highly aware of BIM implementation barriers. In addition, it was concluded from the questionnaire that the biggest barrier is the lack of BIM training. Based on expert feedback, the study concluded with a number of recommendations on how to overcome the barriers of BIM utilization. This should prove useful to the construction industry stakeholders and can lead to significant changes to design and construction practices.

Keywords: Building information modeling, construction, challenges, information technology.

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1851 Identification of Industrial Health Using ANN

Authors: Deepak Goswami, Padma Lochan Hazarika, Kandarpa Kumar Sarma

Abstract:

The customary practice of identifying industrial sickness is a set traditional techniques which rely upon a range of manual monitoring and compilation of financial records. It makes the process tedious, time consuming and often are susceptible to manipulation. Therefore, certain readily available tools are required which can deal with such uncertain situations arising out of industrial sickness. It is more significant for a country like India where the fruits of development are rarely equally distributed. In this paper, we propose an approach based on Artificial Neural Network (ANN) to deal with industrial sickness with specific focus on a few such units taken from a less developed north-east (NE) Indian state like Assam. The proposed system provides decision regarding industrial sickness using eight different parameters which are directly related to the stages of sickness of such units. The mechanism primarily uses certain signals and symptoms of industrial health to decide upon the state of a unit. Specifically, we formulate an ANN based block with data obtained from a few selected units of Assam so that required decisions related to industrial health could be taken. The system thus formulated could become an important part of planning and development. It can also contribute towards computerization of decision support systems related to industrial health and help in better management.

Keywords: Industrial, Health, Classification, ANN, MLP, MSE.

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1850 Operation Stability Enhancement in Once-Through Micro Evaporators

Authors: Cor M. Rops, Giaco C. Oosterbaan, Cees W.M. v/d Geld

Abstract:

Equipment miniaturisation offers several opportunities such as an increased surface-to-volume ratio and higher heat transfer coefficients. However, moving towards small-diameter channels demands extra attention to fouling, reliability and stable operation of the system. The present investigation explores possibilities to enhance the stability of the once-through micro evaporator by reducing its flow boiling induced pressure fluctuations. Experimental comparison shows that the measured reduction factor approaches a theoretically derived value. Pressure fluctuations are reduced by a factor of ten in the solid conical channel and a factor of 15 in the porous conical channel. This presumably leads to less backflow and therefore to a better flow control.

Keywords: Flow boiling, Operation stability, Microfluidics, Microchannels.

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1849 Vortex Shedding at the End of Parallel-plate Thermoacoustic Stack in the Oscillatory Flow Conditions

Authors: Lei Shi, Zhibin Yu, Artur J. Jaworski, Abdulrahman S. Abduljalil

Abstract:

This paper investigates vortex shedding processes occurring at the end of a stack of parallel plates, due to an oscillating flow induced by an acoustic standing wave within an acoustic resonator. Here, Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) is used to quantify the vortex shedding processes within an acoustic cycle phase-by-phase, in particular during the “ejection" of the fluid out of the stack. Standard hot-wire anemometry measurement is also applied to detect the velocity fluctuations near the end of the stack. Combination of these two measurement techniques allowed a detailed analysis of the vortex shedding phenomena. The results obtained show that, as the Reynolds number varies (by varying the plate thickness and drive ratio), different flow patterns of vortex shedding are observed by the PIV measurement. On the other hand, the time-dependent hot-wire measurements allow obtaining detailed frequency spectra of the velocity signal, used for calculating characteristic Strouhal numbers. The impact of the plate thickness and the Reynolds number on the vortex shedding pattern has been discussed. Furthermore, a detailed map of the relationship between the Strouhal number and Reynolds number has been obtained and discussed.

Keywords: Oscillatory flow, Parallel-plate thermoacoustic stack, Strouhal numbers, Vortex shedding.

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1848 Shifted Window Based Self-Attention via Swin Transformer for Zero-Shot Learning

Authors: Yasaswi Palagummi, Sareh Rowlands

Abstract:

Generalised Zero-Shot Learning, often known as GZSL, is an advanced variant of zero-shot learning in which the samples in the unseen category may be either seen or unseen. GZSL methods typically have a bias towards the seen classes because they learn a model to perform recognition for both the seen and unseen classes using data samples from the seen classes. This frequently leads to the misclassification of data from the unseen classes into the seen classes, making the task of GZSL more challenging. In this work, we propose an approach leveraging the Shifted Window based Self-Attention in the Swin Transformer (Swin-GZSL) to work in the inductive GZSL problem setting. We run experiments on three popular benchmark datasets: CUB, SUN, and AWA2, which are specifically used for ZSL and its other variants. The results show that our model based on Swin Transformer has achieved state-of-the-art harmonic mean for two datasets - AWA2 and SUN and near-state-of-the-art for the other dataset - CUB. More importantly, this technique has a linear computational complexity, which reduces training time significantly. We have also observed less bias than most of the existing GZSL models.

Keywords: Generalised Zero-shot Learning, Inductive Learning, Shifted-Window Attention, Swin Transformer, Vision Transformer.

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1847 Experimental Studies on Treated Sub-base Soil with Fly Ash and Cement for Sustainable Design Recommendations

Authors: M. Jayakumar, Lau Chee Sing

Abstract:

The pavement constructions on soft and expansive soils are not durable and unable to sustain heavy traffic loading. As a result, pavement failures and settlement problems will occur very often even under light traffic loading due to cyclic and rolling effects. Geotechnical engineers have dwelled deeply into this matter, and adopt various methods to improve the engineering characteristics of soft fine-grained soils and expansive soils. The problematic soils are either replaced by good and better quality material or treated by using chemical stabilization with various binding materials. Increased the strength and durability are also the part of the sustainability drive to reduce the environment footprint of the built environment by the efficient use of resources and waste recycle materials. This paper presents a series of laboratory tests and evaluates the effect of cement and fly ash on the strength and drainage characteristics of soil in Miri. The tests were performed at different percentages of cement and fly ash by dry weight of soil. Additional tests were also performed on soils treated with the combinations of fly ash with cement and lime. The results of this study indicate an increase in unconfined compression strength and a decrease in hydraulic conductivity of the treated soil.

Keywords: Pavement failure, soft soil, sustainability, stabilization, fly ash, strength and permeability.

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1846 Control Chart Pattern Recognition Using Wavelet Based Neural Networks

Authors: Jun Seok Kim, Cheong-Sool Park, Jun-Geol Baek, Sung-Shick Kim

Abstract:

Control chart pattern recognition is one of the most important tools to identify the process state in statistical process control. The abnormal process state could be classified by the recognition of unnatural patterns that arise from assignable causes. In this study, a wavelet based neural network approach is proposed for the recognition of control chart patterns that have various characteristics. The procedure of proposed control chart pattern recognizer comprises three stages. First, multi-resolution wavelet analysis is used to generate time-shape and time-frequency coefficients that have detail information about the patterns. Second, distance based features are extracted by a bi-directional Kohonen network to make reduced and robust information. Third, a back-propagation network classifier is trained by these features. The accuracy of the proposed method is shown by the performance evaluation with numerical results.

Keywords: Control chart pattern recognition, Multi-resolution wavelet analysis, Bi-directional Kohonen network, Back-propagation network, Feature extraction.

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1845 Behavioural-Orientation and Continuity of Informality in Ghana

Authors: Yvonne Ayerki Lamptey

Abstract:

The expanding informal sector in developing countries and in Ghana in particular from the 1980s has now been aggravated by the growing population and downsizing in both the public and private sectors, with displaced workers finding alternative livelihoods in the informal sector. Youth and graduate unemployment also swell the numbers and further promote the continuity of the sector. Formal workers and institutions facilitate the growth and complicate demarcations between informality within the formal and informal sectors. In spite of its growth and increasing importance, the informal economy does not feature in policy debates and has often been neglected by the Ghana government. The phenomenon has evolved with modernity into myriad unimaginable forms. Indeed, actors within the sector often clash with the interventions provided by policy makers - because neither the operatives nor the activities they perform can be clearly defined. This study uses in-depth interviews to explore the behavioural nature of the informal workers in Ghana to understand how the operatives describe and perceive the sector, and to identify the factors that influence their drive to stay within the sector. This paper concludes that the operatives clearly distinguish between the formal and informal sectors and identify the characteristics and conditions that constitute the informal sector. Other workers are trapped between formality and informality. The findings also enumerate the push and pull factors contributing to the growth of the sector.

Keywords: Informal work, informal sector, operatives, Sub-Saharan Africa, unemployment.

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1844 Attention Based Fully Convolutional Neural Network for Simultaneous Detection and Segmentation of Optic Disc in Retinal Fundus Images

Authors: Sandip Sadhukhan, Arpita Sarkar, Debprasad Sinha, Goutam Kumar Ghorai, Gautam Sarkar, Ashis K. Dhara

Abstract:

Accurate segmentation of the optic disc is very important for computer-aided diagnosis of several ocular diseases such as glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and hypertensive retinopathy. The paper presents an accurate and fast optic disc detection and segmentation method using an attention based fully convolutional network. The network is trained from scratch using the fundus images of extended MESSIDOR database and the trained model is used for segmentation of optic disc. The false positives are removed based on morphological operation and shape features. The result is evaluated using three-fold cross-validation on six public fundus image databases such as DIARETDB0, DIARETDB1, DRIVE, AV-INSPIRE, CHASE DB1 and MESSIDOR. The attention based fully convolutional network is robust and effective for detection and segmentation of optic disc in the images affected by diabetic retinopathy and it outperforms existing techniques.

Keywords: Ocular diseases, retinal fundus image, optic disc detection and segmentation, fully convolutional network, overlap measure.

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1843 Modeling and Analysis of the Effects of Temperature and Pressure on the Gas-Crossover in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Electrolyzer

Authors: A. H. Abdol Rahim, Alhassan Salami Tijani

Abstract:

Hydrogen produced by means of polymer electrolyte membrane electrolyzer (PEME) is one of the most promising methods due to clean and renewable energy source. In the process, some energy loss due to mass transfer through a PEM is caused by diffusion, electro-osmotic drag, and the pressure difference between the cathode channel and anode channel. In PEME, water molecules and ionic particles transferred between the electrodes from anode to cathode, Extensive mixing of the hydrogen and oxygen at anode channel due to gases cross-over must be avoided. In recent times the consciousness of safety issue in high pressure PEME where the oxygen mix with hydrogen at anode channel could create, explosive conditions have generated a lot of concern. In this paper, the steady state and simulation analysis of gases crossover in PEME on the temperature and pressure effect are presented. The simulations have been analysis in MATLAB based on the well-known Fick’s Law of molecular diffusion. The simulation results indicated that as temperature increases, there is a significant decrease in operating voltage.

Keywords: Diffusion, gases cross-over, steady state.

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1842 Sustainable Control of Taro Beetles via Scoliid Wasps and Metarhizium anisopliae

Authors: F. O. Faithpraise, J. Idung, C. R. Chatwin, R. C. D. Young, P. Birch, H. Lu

Abstract:

Taro Scarab beetles (Papuana uninodis, Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) inflict severe damage on important root crops and plants such as Taro or Cocoyam, yam, sweet potatoes, oil palm and coffee tea plants across Africa and Asia resulting in economic hardship and starvation in some nations. Scoliid wasps and Metarhizium anisopliae fungus - bio-control agents; are shown to be able to control the population of Scarab beetle adults and larvae using a newly created simulation model based on non-linear ordinary differential equations that track the populations of the beetle life cycle stages: egg, larva, pupa, adult and the population of the scoliid parasitoid wasps, which attack beetle larvae. In spite of the challenge driven by the longevity of the scarab beetles, the combined effect of the larval wasps and the fungal bio-control agent is able to control and drive down the population of both the adult and the beetle eggs below the environmental carrying capacity within an interval of 120 days, offering the long term prospect of a stable and eco-friendly environment; where the population of scarab beetles is: regulated by parasitoid wasps and beneficial soil saprophytes.

Keywords: Metarhizium anisopliae, Scoliid wasps, Sustainable control, Taro beetles, parasitoids.

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1841 Online Robust Model Predictive Control for Linear Fractional Transformation Systems Using Linear Matrix Inequalities

Authors: Peyman Sindareh Esfahani, Jeffery Kurt Pieper

Abstract:

In this paper, the problem of robust model predictive control (MPC) for discrete-time linear systems in linear fractional transformation form with structured uncertainty and norm-bounded disturbance is investigated. The problem of minimization of the cost function for MPC design is converted to minimization of the worst case of the cost function. Then, this problem is reduced to minimization of an upper bound of the cost function subject to a terminal inequality satisfying the l2-norm of the closed loop system. The characteristic of the linear fractional transformation system is taken into account, and by using some mathematical tools, the robust predictive controller design problem is turned into a linear matrix inequality minimization problem. Afterwards, a formulation which includes an integrator to improve the performance of the proposed robust model predictive controller in steady state condition is studied. The validity of the approaches is illustrated through a robust control benchmark problem.

Keywords: Linear fractional transformation, linear matrix inequality, robust model predictive control, state feedback control.

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1840 Research on a Forest Fire Spread Simulation Driven by the Wind Field in Complex Terrain

Authors: Ying Shang, Chencheng Wang

Abstract:

The wind field is the main driving factor for the spread of forest fires. For the simulation results of forest fire spread to be more accurate, it is necessary to obtain more detailed wind field data. Therefore, this paper studied the mountainous fine wind field simulation method coupled with WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting Model) and CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) to realize the numerical simulation of the wind field in a mountainous area with a scale of 30 m and a small measurement error. Local topographical changes have an important impact on the wind field. Based on the Rothermel fire spread model, a forest fire in Idaho in the western United States was simulated. The historical data proved that the simulation results had a good accuracy. They showed that the fire spread rate will decrease rapidly with time and then reach a steady state. After reaching a steady state, the fire spread growth area will not only be affected by the slope, but will also show a significant quadratic linear positive correlation with the wind speed change.

Keywords: Wind field, numerical simulation, forest fire spread, fire behavior model, complex terrain.

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1839 Validation and Projections for Solar Radiation up to 2100: HadGEM2-AO Global Circulation Model

Authors: Elison Eduardo Jardim Bierhals, Claudineia Brazil, Deivid Pires, Rafael Haag, Elton Gimenez Rossini

Abstract:

The objective of this work is to evaluate the results of solar radiation projections between 2006 and 2013 for the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The projections are provided by the General Circulation Models (MCGs) belonging to the Coupled Model Intercomparison Phase 5 (CMIP5). In all, the results of the simulation of six models are evaluated, compared to monthly data, measured by a network of thirteen meteorological stations of the National Meteorological Institute (INMET). The performance of the models is evaluated by the Nash coefficient and the Bias. The results are presented in the form of tables, graphs and spatialization maps. The ACCESS1-0 RCP 4.5 model presented the best results for the solar radiation simulations, for the most optimistic scenario, in much of the state. The efficiency coefficients (CEF) were between 0.95 and 0.98. In the most pessimistic scenario, HADGen2-AO RCP 8.5 had the best accuracy among the analyzed models, presenting coefficients of efficiency between 0.94 and 0.98. From this validation, solar radiation projection maps were elaborated, indicating a seasonal increase of this climatic variable in some regions of the Brazilian territory, mainly in the spring.

Keywords: climate change, projections, solar radiation, validation.

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1838 Bandwidth Efficient Diversity Scheme Using STTC Concatenated With STBC: MIMO Systems

Authors: Sameru Sharma, Sanjay Sharma, Derick Engles

Abstract:

Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems are widely in use to improve quality, reliability of wireless transmission and increase the spectral efficiency. However in MIMO systems, multiple copies of data are received after experiencing various channel effects. The limitations on account of complexity due to number of antennas in case of conventional decoding techniques have been looked into. Accordingly we propose a modified sphere decoder (MSD-1) algorithm with lower complexity and give rise to system with high spectral efficiency. With the aim to increase signal diversity we apply rotated quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) constellation in multi dimensional space. Finally, we propose a new architecture involving space time trellis code (STTC) concatenated with space time block code (STBC) using MSD-1 at the receiver for improving system performance. The system gains have been verified with channel state information (CSI) errors.

Keywords: Channel State Information , Diversity, Multi-Antenna, Rotated Constellation, Space Time Codes.

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1837 Dependence of Particle Initiated PD Characteristics on Size and Position of Metallic Particle Adhering to the Spacer Surface in GIS

Authors: F. N. Budiman, Y. Khan, A. A. Khan, A. Beroual, N. H. Malik, A. A. Al-Arainy

Abstract:

It is well known that metallic particles reduce the reliability of Gas-Insulated Substation (GIS) equipments by initiating partial discharge (PDs) that can lead to breakdown and complete failure of GIS. This paper investigates the characteristics of PDs caused by metallic particle adhering to the solid spacer. The PD detection and measurement were carried out by using IEC 60270 method with particles of different sizes and at different positions on the spacer surface. The results show that a particle of certain size at certain position possesses a unique PD characteristic as compared to those caused by particles of different sizes and/or at different positions. Therefore PD characteristics may be useful for the particle size and position identification.

Keywords: Particle, partial discharge, GIS, spacer.

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1836 Modeling of Steady State Creep in Thick-Walled Cylinders under Internal Pressure

Authors: Tejeet Singh, Ishavneet Singh

Abstract:

The present study focused on carrying out the creep analysis in an isotropic thick-walled composite cylindrical pressure vessel composed of aluminum matrix reinforced with silicon-carbide in particulate form. The creep behavior of the composite material has been described by the threshold stress based creep law. The values of stress exponent appearing in the creep law were selected as 3, 5 and 8. The constitutive equations were developed using well known von-Mises yield criteria. Models were developed to find out the distributions of creep stress and strain rate in thick-walled composite cylindrical pressure vessels under internal pressure. In order to obtain the stress distributions in the cylinder, the equilibrium equation of the continuum mechanics and the constitutive equations are solved together. It was observed that the radial stress, tangential stress and axial stress increases along with the radial distance. The cross-over was also obtained almost at the middle region of cylindrical vessel for tangential and axial stress for different values of stress exponent. The strain rates were also decreasing in nature along the entire radius.

Keywords: Steady state creep, composite, cylinder, pressure.

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