Search results for: Porous structure film; ATO particle; Ultra-low refractive index; vertical drop method; Low-density material;
761 Teaching Attentive Literature Reading in Higher Education French as a Foreign Language: A Pilot Study of a Flipped Classroom Teaching Model
Authors: Malin Isaksson
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Teaching French as a foreign language usually implies teaching French literature, especially in higher education. Training university students in literary reading in a foreign language requires addressing several aspects at the same time: the (foreign) language, the poetic language, the aesthetic aspects of the studied works, and various interpretations of them. A pilot study sought to test a teaching model that would support students in learning to perform competent readings and short analyses of French literary works, in a rather independent manner. This shared practice paper describes the use of a flipped classroom method in two French literature courses, a campus course and an online course, and suggests that the teaching model may provide efficient tools for teaching literary reading and analysis in a foreign language. The teaching model builds on a high level of student activity and focuses on attentive reading, meta-perspectives such as theoretical concepts, individual analyses by students where said concepts are applied, and group discussions of the studied texts and of possible interpretations.
Keywords: Shared practice, flipped classroom, literature in foreign language studies, teaching literature analysis.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 746760 Ethanol Production from Sugarcane Bagasse by Means of Enzymes Produced by Solid State Fermentation Method
Authors: Nasim Shaibani, Saba Ghazvini, Mohammad R. Andalibi, Soheila Yaghmaei
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Nowadays there is a growing interest in biofuel production in most countries because of the increasing concerns about hydrocarbon fuel shortage and global climate changes, also for enhancing agricultural economy and producing local needs for transportation fuel. Ethanol can be produced from biomass by the hydrolysis and sugar fermentation processes. In this study ethanol was produced without using expensive commercial enzymes from sugarcane bagasse. Alkali pretreatment was used to prepare biomass before enzymatic hydrolysis. The comparison between NaOH, KOH and Ca(OH)2 shows NaOH is more effective on bagasse. The required enzymes for biomass hydrolysis were produced from sugarcane solid state fermentation via two fungi: Trichoderma longibrachiatum and Aspergillus niger. The results show that the produced enzyme solution via A. niger has functioned better than T. longibrachiatum. Ethanol was produced by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) with crude enzyme solution from T. longibrachiatum and Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast. To evaluate this procedure, SSF of pretreated bagasse was also done using Celluclast 1.5L by Novozymes. The yield of ethanol production by commercial enzyme and produced enzyme solution via T. longibrachiatum was 81% and 50% respectively.
Keywords: Alkali pretreatment, bioethanol, cellulase, simultaneous saccharification and fermentation, solid statefermentation, sugarcane bagasse
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3001759 An Advanced Approach Based on Artificial Neural Networks to Identify Environmental Bacteria
Authors: Mauro Giacomini, Stefania Bertone, Federico Caneva Soumetz, Carmelina Ruggiero
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Environmental micro-organisms include a large number of taxa and some species that are generally considered nonpathogenic, but can represent a risk in certain conditions, especially for elderly people and immunocompromised individuals. Chemotaxonomic identification techniques are powerful tools for environmental micro-organisms, and cellular fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) content is a powerful fingerprinting identification technique. A system based on an unsupervised artificial neural network (ANN) was set up using the fatty acid profiles of standard bacterial strains, obtained by gas-chromatography, used as learning data. We analysed 45 certified strains belonging to Acinetobacter, Aeromonas, Alcaligenes, Aquaspirillum, Arthrobacter, Bacillus, Brevundimonas, Enterobacter, Flavobacterium, Micrococcus, Pseudomonas, Serratia, Shewanella and Vibrio genera. A set of 79 bacteria isolated from a drinking water line (AMGA, the major water supply system in Genoa) were used as an example for identification compared to standard MIDI method. The resulting ANN output map was found to be a very powerful tool to identify these fresh isolates.
Keywords: Cellular fatty acid methyl esters, environmental bacteria, gas-chromatography, unsupervised ANN.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1828758 Aircraft Automatic Collision Avoidance Using Spiral Geometric Approach
Authors: M. Orefice, V. Di Vito
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This paper provides a description of a Collision Avoidance algorithm that has been developed starting from the mathematical modeling of the flight of insects, in terms of spirals and conchospirals geometric paths. It is able to calculate a proper avoidance manoeuver aimed to prevent the infringement of a predefined distance threshold between ownship and the considered intruder, while minimizing the ownship trajectory deviation from the original path and in compliance with the aircraft performance limitations and dynamic constraints. The algorithm is designed in order to be suitable for real-time applications, so that it can be considered for the implementation in the most recent airborne automatic collision avoidance systems using the traffic data received through an ADS-B IN device. The presented approach is able to take into account the rules-of-the-air, due to the possibility to select, through specifically designed decision making logic based on the consideration of the encounter geometry, the direction of the calculated collision avoidance manoeuver that allows complying with the rules-of-the-air, as for instance the fundamental right of way rule. In the paper, the proposed collision avoidance algorithm is presented and its preliminary design and software implementation is described. The applicability of this method has been proved through preliminary simulation tests performed in a 2D environment considering single intruder encounter geometries, as reported and discussed in the paper.
Keywords: collision avoidance, RPAS, spiral geometry, ADS-B based application
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1649757 The Tourist Satisfaction on Brand Identity Design of Creative Agriculture Community Enterprise, Bang Khonthi District, Samut Songkhram Province
Authors: Panupong Chanplin, Kathaleeya Chanda., Wilailuk Mepracha
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The aims of this research were twofold: 1) to brand identity design of Creative Agriculture Community Enterprise, Bang Khonthi District, Samut Songkhram Province and 2) to study the level of tourist satisfaction towards brand identity design of Creative Agriculture Community Enterprise, Bang Khonthi District, Samut Songkhram Province. tourist satisfaction was measured using six criteria: clear brand positioning, likeable brand personality, memorable logo, attractive color palette, professional typography and on-brand supporting graphics. The researcher utilized a probability sampling method via simple random sampling. The sample consisted of 30 tourists in the Creative Agriculture Community Enterprise. Statistics utilized for data analysis were percentage, mean, and standard deviation. The results suggest that tourist had high levels of satisfaction towards all six criteria of the brand identity design that was designed to target them. This study proposes that specifically brand identity designed of Creative Agriculture Community Enterprise could also be implemented with other real media already available on the market.
Keywords: Satisfaction, brand identity, logo, creative agriculture community enterprise.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 804756 Comparison of Different Discontinuous PWM Technique for Switching Losses Reduction in Modular Multilevel Converters
Authors: Kaumil B. Shah, Hina Chandwani
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The modular multilevel converter (MMC) is one of the advanced topologies for medium and high-voltage applications. In high-power, high-voltage MMC, a large number of switching power devices are required. These switching power devices (IGBT) considerable switching losses. This paper analyzes the performance of different discontinuous pulse width modulation (DPWM) techniques and compares the results against a conventional carrier based pulse width modulation method, in order to reduce the switching losses of an MMC. The DPWM reference wave can be generated by adding the zero-sequence component to the original (sine) reference modulation signal. The result of the addition gives the reference signal of DPWM techniques. To minimize the switching losses of the MMC, the clamping period is controlled according to the absolute value of the output load current. No switching is generated in the clamping period so overall switching of the power device is reduced. The simulation result of the different DPWM techniques is compared with conventional carrier-based pulse-width modulation technique.Keywords: Modular multilevel converter, discontinuous pulse width modulation, switching losses, zero-sequence voltage.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 892755 Benefits of Construction Management Implications and Processes by Projects Managers on Project Completion
Authors: Mamoon Mousa Atout
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Projects managers in construction industry usually face a difficult organizational environment especially if the project is unique. The organization lacks the processes to practice construction management correctly, and the executive’s technical managers who have lack of experience in playing their role and responsibilities correctly. Project managers need to adopt best practices that allow them to do things effectively to make sure that the project can be delivered without any delay even though the executive’s technical managers should follow a certain process to avoid any factor might cause any delay during the project life cycle. The purpose of the paper is to examine the awareness level of projects managers about construction management processes, tools, techniques and implications to complete projects on time. The outcome and the results of the study are prepared based on the designed questionnaires and interviews conducted with many project managers. The method used in this paper is a quantitative study. A survey with a sample of 100 respondents was prepared and distributed in a construction company in Dubai, which includes nine questions to examine the level of their awareness. This research will also identify the necessary benefits of processes of construction management that has to be adopted by projects managers to mitigate the maximum potential problems which might cause any delay to the project life cycle.
Keywords: Construction Methodology, Design Process, Project Managers, Scheduling and Resource Planning.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2069754 Accurate Modeling and Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis of a Flexible-Link Manipulator
Authors: M. Pala Prasad Reddy, Jeevamma Jacob
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Accurate dynamic modeling and analysis of flexible link manipulator (FLM) with non linear dynamics is very difficult due to distributed link flexibility and few studies have been conducted based on assumed modes method (AMM) and finite element models. In this paper a nonlinear dynamic model with first two elastic modes is derived using combined Euler/Lagrange and AMM approaches. Significant dynamics associated with the system such as hub inertia, payload, structural damping, friction at joints, combined link and joint flexibility are incorporated to obtain the complete and accurate dynamic model. The response of the FLM to the applied bang-bang torque input is compared against the models derived from LS-DYNA finite element discretization approach and linear finite element models. Dynamic analysis is conducted using LS-DYNA finite element model which uses the explicit time integration scheme to simulate the system. Parametric study is conducted to show the impact payload mass. A numerical result shows that the LS-DYNA model gives the smooth hub-angle profile.
Keywords: Flexible link manipulator, AMM, FEM, LS-DYNA, Bang-bang torque input.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2904753 The Design of Axisymmetric Ducts for Incompressible Flow with a Parabolic Axial Velocity Inlet Profile
Authors: V.Pavlika
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In this paper a numerical algorithm is described for solving the boundary value problem associated with axisymmetric, inviscid, incompressible, rotational (and irrotational) flow in order to obtain duct wall shapes from prescribed wall velocity distributions. The governing equations are formulated in terms of the stream function ψ (x,y)and the function φ (x,y)as independent variables where for irrotational flow φ (x,y)can be recognized as the velocity potential function, for rotational flow φ (x,y)ceases being the velocity potential function but does remain orthogonal to the stream lines. A numerical method based on the finite difference scheme on a uniform mesh is employed. The technique described is capable of tackling the so-called inverse problem where the velocity wall distributions are prescribed from which the duct wall shape is calculated, as well as the direct problem where the velocity distribution on the duct walls are calculated from prescribed duct geometries. The two different cases as outlined in this paper are in fact boundary value problems with Neumann and Dirichlet boundary conditions respectively. Even though both approaches are discussed, only numerical results for the case of the Dirichlet boundary conditions are given. A downstream condition is prescribed such that cylindrical flow, that is flow which is independent of the axial coordinate, exists.
Keywords: Inverse problem, irrotational incompressible flow, Boundary value problem.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1627752 BIDENS: Iterative Density Based Biclustering Algorithm With Application to Gene Expression Analysis
Authors: Mohamed A. Mahfouz, M. A. Ismail
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Biclustering is a very useful data mining technique for identifying patterns where different genes are co-related based on a subset of conditions in gene expression analysis. Association rules mining is an efficient approach to achieve biclustering as in BIMODULE algorithm but it is sensitive to the value given to its input parameters and the discretization procedure used in the preprocessing step, also when noise is present, classical association rules miners discover multiple small fragments of the true bicluster, but miss the true bicluster itself. This paper formally presents a generalized noise tolerant bicluster model, termed as μBicluster. An iterative algorithm termed as BIDENS based on the proposed model is introduced that can discover a set of k possibly overlapping biclusters simultaneously. Our model uses a more flexible method to partition the dimensions to preserve meaningful and significant biclusters. The proposed algorithm allows discovering biclusters that hard to be discovered by BIMODULE. Experimental study on yeast, human gene expression data and several artificial datasets shows that our algorithm offers substantial improvements over several previously proposed biclustering algorithms.Keywords: Machine learning, biclustering, bi-dimensional clustering, gene expression analysis, data mining.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1946751 Privacy in New Mobile Payment Protocol
Authors: Tan Soo Fun, Leau Yu Beng, Rozaini Roslan, Habeeb Saleh Habeeb
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The increasing development of wireless networks and the widespread popularity of handheld devices such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), mobile phones and wireless tablets represents an incredible opportunity to enable mobile devices as a universal payment method, involving daily financial transactions. Unfortunately, some issues hampering the widespread acceptance of mobile payment such as accountability properties, privacy protection, limitation of wireless network and mobile device. Recently, many public-key cryptography based mobile payment protocol have been proposed. However, limited capabilities of mobile devices and wireless networks make these protocols are unsuitable for mobile network. Moreover, these protocols were designed to preserve traditional flow of payment data, which is vulnerable to attack and increase the user-s risk. In this paper, we propose a private mobile payment protocol which based on client centric model and by employing symmetric key operations. The proposed mobile payment protocol not only minimizes the computational operations and communication passes between the engaging parties, but also achieves a completely privacy protection for the payer. The future work will concentrate on improving the verification solution to support mobile user authentication and authorization for mobile payment transactions.Keywords: Mobile Network Operator, Mobile payment protocol, Privacy, Symmetric key.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2121750 Adaptive Fuzzy Control for Air-Fuel Ratio of Automobile Spark Ignition Engine
Authors: Ali Ghaffari, A. Hosein Shamekhi, Akbar Saki, Ehsan Kamrani
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In order to meet the limits imposed on automotive emissions, engine control systems are required to constrain air/fuel ratio (AFR) in a narrow band around the stoichiometric value, due to the strong decay of catalyst efficiency in case of rich or lean mixture. This paper presents a model of a sample spark ignition engine and demonstrates Simulink-s capabilities to model an internal combustion engine from the throttle to the crankshaft output. We used welldefined physical principles supplemented, where appropriate, with empirical relationships that describe the system-s dynamic behavior without introducing unnecessary complexity. We also presents a PID tuning method that uses an adaptive fuzzy system to model the relationship between the controller gains and the target output response, with the response specification set by desired percent overshoot and settling time. The adaptive fuzzy based input-output model is then used to tune on-line the PID gains for different response specifications. Experimental results demonstrate that better performance can be achieved with adaptive fuzzy tuning relative to similar alternative control strategies. The actual response specifications with adaptive fuzzy matched the desired response specifications.Keywords: Modelling, Air–fuel ratio control, SI engine, Adaptive fuzzy Control.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2507749 Value Engineering and Its Effect in Reduction of Industrial Organization Energy Expenses
Authors: Habibollah Najafi, Amir Abbas Yazdani, Hosseinali Nahavandi
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The review performed on the condition of energy consumption & rate in Iran, shows that unfortunately the subject of optimization and conservation of energy in active industries of country lacks a practical & effective method and in most factories, the energy consumption and rate is more than in similar industries of industrial countries. The increasing demand of electrical energy and the overheads which it imposes on the organization, forces companies to search for suitable approaches to optimize energy consumption and demand management. Application of value engineering techniques is among these approaches. Value engineering is considered a powerful tool for improving profitability. These tools are used for reduction of expenses, increasing profits, quality improvement, increasing market share, performing works in shorter durations, more efficient utilization of sources & etc. In this article, we shall review the subject of value engineering and its capabilities for creating effective transformations in industrial organizations, in order to reduce energy costs & the results have been investigated and described during a case study in Mazandaran wood and paper industries, the biggest consumer of energy in north of Iran, for the purpose of presenting the effects of performed tasks in optimization of energy consumption by utilizing value engineering techniques in one case study.Keywords: Value Engineering (VE), Expense, Energy, Industrial
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2252748 Fault and Theft Recognition Using Toro Dial Sensor in Programmable Current Relay for Feeder Security
Authors: R. Kamalakannan, N. Ravi Kumar
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Feeder protection is important in transmission and distribution side because if any fault occurs in any feeder or transformer, man power is needed to identify the problem and it will take more time. In the existing system, directional overcurrent elements with load further secured by a load encroachment function can be used to provide necessary security and sensitivity for faults on remote points in a circuit. It is validated only in renewable plant collector circuit protection applications over a wide range of operating conditions. In this method, the directional overcurrent feeder protection is developed by using monitoring of feeder section through internet. In this web based monitoring, the fault and power theft are identified by using Toro dial sensor and its information is received by SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) and controlled by ARM microcontroller. This web based monitoring is also used to monitor the feeder management, directional current detection, demand side management, overload fault. This monitoring system is capable of monitoring the distribution feeder over a large area depending upon the cost. It is also used to reduce the power theft, time and man power. The simulation is done by MATLAB software.
Keywords: Current sensor, distribution feeder protection, directional overcurrent, power theft, protective relay.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 785747 Flood Predicting in Karkheh River Basin Using Stochastic ARIMA Model
Authors: Karim Hamidi Machekposhti, Hossein Sedghi, Abdolrasoul Telvari, Hossein Babazadeh
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Floods have huge environmental and economic impact. Therefore, flood prediction is given a lot of attention due to its importance. This study analysed the annual maximum streamflow (discharge) (AMS or AMD) of Karkheh River in Karkheh River Basin for flood predicting using ARIMA model. For this purpose, we use the Box-Jenkins approach, which contains four-stage method model identification, parameter estimation, diagnostic checking and forecasting (predicting). The main tool used in ARIMA modelling was the SAS and SPSS software. Model identification was done by visual inspection on the ACF and PACF. SAS software computed the model parameters using the ML, CLS and ULS methods. The diagnostic checking tests, AIC criterion, RACF graph and RPACF graphs, were used for selected model verification. In this study, the best ARIMA models for Annual Maximum Discharge (AMD) time series was (4,1,1) with their AIC value of 88.87. The RACF and RPACF showed residuals’ independence. To forecast AMD for 10 future years, this model showed the ability of the model to predict floods of the river under study in the Karkheh River Basin. Model accuracy was checked by comparing the predicted and observation series by using coefficient of determination (R2).
Keywords: Time series modelling, stochastic processes, ARIMA model, Karkheh River.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1021746 Synthesis and Physicochemical Characterization of Biomimetic Scaffold of Gelatin/Zn-Incorporated 58S Bioactive Glass
Authors: Seyed Mohammad Hosseini, Amirhossein Moghanian
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The main purpose of this research was to design a biomimetic system by freeze-drying method for evaluating the effect of adding 5 and 10 mol. % of zinc (Zn) in 58S bioactive glass and gelatin (5ZnBG/G and 10ZnBG/G) in terms of structural and biological changes. The structural analyses of samples were performed by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Also, 3-(4,5dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity tests were carried out for investigation of MC3T3-E1 cell behaviors. The SEM results demonstrated the spherical shape of the formed hydroxyapatite (HA) phases and also HA characteristic peaks were detected by XRD spectroscopy after 3 days of immersion in the simulated body fluid (SBF) solution. Meanwhile, FTIR spectra proved that the intensity of P–O peaks for 5ZnBG/G was more than 10ZnBG/G and control samples. Moreover, the results of ALP activity test illustrated that the optimal amount of Zn (5ZnBG/G) caused a considerable enhancement in bone cell growth. Taken together, the scaffold with 5 mol.% Zn was introduced as an optimal sample because of its higher biocompatibility, in vitro bioactivity and growth of MC3T3-E1 cells in comparison with other samples in bone tissue engineering.
Keywords: Scaffold, gelatin, modified bioactive glass, ALP, bone tissue engineering.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 372745 Discrete Polyphase Matched Filtering-based Soft Timing Estimation for Mobile Wireless Systems
Authors: Thomas O. Olwal, Michael A. van Wyk, Barend J. van Wyk
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In this paper we present a soft timing phase estimation (STPE) method for wireless mobile receivers operating in low signal to noise ratios (SNRs). Discrete Polyphase Matched (DPM) filters, a Log-maximum a posterior probability (MAP) and/or a Soft-output Viterbi algorithm (SOVA) are combined to derive a new timing recovery (TR) scheme. We apply this scheme to wireless cellular communication system model that comprises of a raised cosine filter (RCF), a bit-interleaved turbo-coded multi-level modulation (BITMM) scheme and the channel is assumed to be memory-less. Furthermore, no clock signals are transmitted to the receiver contrary to the classical data aided (DA) models. This new model ensures that both the bandwidth and power of the communication system is conserved. However, the computational complexity of ideal turbo synchronization is increased by 50%. Several simulation tests on bit error rate (BER) and block error rate (BLER) versus low SNR reveal that the proposed iterative soft timing recovery (ISTR) scheme outperforms the conventional schemes.
Keywords: discrete polyphase matched filters, maximum likelihood estimators, soft timing phase estimation, wireless mobile systems.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1681744 Disaggregation the Daily Rainfall Dataset into Sub-Daily Resolution in the Temperate Oceanic Climate Region
Authors: Mohammad Bakhshi, Firas Al Janabi
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High resolution rain data are very important to fulfill the input of hydrological models. Among models of high-resolution rainfall data generation, the temporal disaggregation was chosen for this study. The paper attempts to generate three different rainfall resolutions (4-hourly, hourly and 10-minutes) from daily for around 20-year record period. The process was done by DiMoN tool which is based on random cascade model and method of fragment. Differences between observed and simulated rain dataset are evaluated with variety of statistical and empirical methods: Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (K-S), usual statistics, and Exceedance probability. The tool worked well at preserving the daily rainfall values in wet days, however, the generated data are cumulated in a shorter time period and made stronger storms. It is demonstrated that the difference between generated and observed cumulative distribution function curve of 4-hourly datasets is passed the K-S test criteria while in hourly and 10-minutes datasets the P-value should be employed to prove that their differences were reasonable. The results are encouraging considering the overestimation of generated high-resolution rainfall data.
Keywords: DiMoN tool, disaggregation, exceedance probability, Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test, rainfall.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 977743 Effect of L-Arginine on Neuromuscular Transmission of the Chick Biventer Cervicis Muscle
Authors: S. Asadzadeh Vostakolaei
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In this study, the effect of L-arginine was examined at the neuromuscular junction of the chick biventer cervicis muscle. LArginine at 500 μg/ ml, decreased twitch response to electerical stimulation, and produced rightward shift of the dose- response curve for acetylcholine or carbachol. L-Arginine at 1000μg/ ml produced a strong shift to the right of the dose – response curve for acetylcholine or carbachol with a reduction in the efficacy. The inhibitory effect of L-arginine on the twitch response was blocked by caffeine (200μg/ ml). NO levels were also measured in the chick biventer cervicis muscle homogenates, using spectrophotometric method for the direct detection of NO, nitrite and nitrate. Total nitrite (nitrite + nitrate) was measured by a spectrophotometer at 540 nm after the conversion of nitrate to nitrite by copperized cadmium granules. NO levels were found to be significantly increased in concentrations 500 and 1000μg/ ml of L-arginine in comparison with the control group (p<0.001). These findings indicate a possible role of increased NO levels in the suppressive action of L-arginine on the twitch response. In addition, the results indicate that the post- junctional antagonistic action of L-arginine is probably the result of impaired sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca+2 releases.
Keywords: Chick, L-Arginine, Nitric Oxide, Skeletal muscle.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1698742 The Influence of Audio on Perceived Quality of Segmentation
Authors: Silvio R. R. Sanches, Bianca C. Barbosa, Beatriz R. Brum, Cléber G.Corrêa
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In order to evaluate the quality of a segmentation algorithm, the researchers use subjective or objective metrics. Although subjective metrics are more accurate than objective ones, objective metrics do not require user feedback to test an algorithm. Objective metrics require subjective experiments only during their development. Subjective experiments typically display to users some videos (generated from frames with segmentation errors) that simulate the environment of an application domain. This user feedback is crucial information for metric definition. In the subjective experiments applied to develop some state-of-the-art metrics used to test segmentation algorithms, the videos displayed during the experiments did not contain audio. Audio is an essential component in applications such as videoconference and augmented reality. If the audio influences the user’s perception, using only videos without audio in subjective experiments can compromise the efficiency of an objective metric generated using data from these experiments. This work aims to identify if the audio influences the user’s perception of segmentation quality in background substitution applications with audio. The proposed approach used a subjective method based on formal video quality assessment methods. The results showed that audio influences the quality of segmentation perceived by a user.
Keywords: Background substitution, influence of audio, segmentation evaluation, segmentation quality.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 326741 Experimental Investigation on the Lithium-ion Battery Thermal Management System Based on U-Shaped Micro Heat Pipe Array in High Temperature Environment
Authors: Ruyang Ren, Yaohua Zhao, Yanhua Diao
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In this study, a type of active air cooling thermal management system (TMS) based on U-shaped micro heat pipe array (MHPA) is established for the battery energy storage box which operates in high ambient temperature all the year round. The thermal management performance of the active air cooling TMS based on U-shaped MHPA under different ambient temperatures and different cooling conditions is analyzed by the method of experimental research. Results show that even if the battery energy storage box operates at a high ambient temperature of 45 °C, the active air cooling TMS based on U-shaped MHPA controls not only the maximum temperature of the battery in the battery energy storage box below 55 °C, but also the maximum temperature difference in the battery energy storage box below 5 °C during the whole charge-discharge process. The experimental results provide guidance for the application of the battery energy storage box TMS that operates in high temperature areas.
Keywords: Active air cooling, lithium-ion battery, micro heat pipe array, thermal management system.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 318740 An Investigation on Students’ Reticence in Iranian University EFL Classrooms
Authors: Azizeh Chalak, Firouzeh Baktash
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Reticence is a prominent and complex phenomenon which occurs in foreign language classrooms and influences students’ oral passivity. The present study investigated the extent in which students experience reticence in the EFL classrooms and explored the underlying factors triggering reticence. The participants were 104 Iranian freshmen undergraduate male and female EFL students, who enrolled in listening and speaking courses, all majoring in English studying at Islamic Azad University Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch and University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran. To collect the data, the Reticence Scale-12 (RS-12) questionnaire which measures the level of reticence consisting of six dimensions (anxiety, knowledge, timing, organization, skills, and memory) was administered to the participants. The statistical analyses showed that the reticent level was high among the Iranian EFL undergraduate students, and their major problems were feelings of anxiety and delivery skills. Moreover, the results revealed that factors such as low English proficiency, the teaching method, and lack of confidence contributed to the students’ reticence in Iranian EFL classrooms. It can be implied that language teachers’ awareness of learners’ reticence can help them choose more appropriate activities and provide a friendly environment enhancing hopefully more effective participation of EFL learners. The findings can have implications for EFL teachers, learners and policy makers.Keywords: Reticence, reticence scale, anxiety, Iranian EFL learners.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2657739 Numerical Simulation of unsteady MHD Flow and Heat Transfer of a Second Grade Fluid with Viscous Dissipation and Joule Heating using Meshfree Approach
Authors: R. Bhargava, Sonam Singh
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In the present study, a numerical analysis is carried out to investigate unsteady MHD (magneto-hydrodynamic) flow and heat transfer of a non-Newtonian second grade viscoelastic fluid over an oscillatory stretching sheet. The flow is induced due to an infinite elastic sheet which is stretched oscillatory (back and forth) in its own plane. Effect of viscous dissipation and joule heating are taken into account. The non-linear differential equations governing the problem are transformed into system of non-dimensional differential equations using similarity transformations. A newly developed meshfree numerical technique Element free Galerkin method (EFGM) is employed to solve the coupled non linear differential equations. The results illustrating the effect of various parameters like viscoelastic parameter, Hartman number, relative frequency amplitude of the oscillatory sheet to the stretching rate and Eckert number on velocity and temperature field are reported in terms of graphs and tables. The present model finds its application in polymer extrusion, drawing of plastic films and wires, glass, fiber and paper production etc.Keywords: EFGM, MHD, Oscillatory stretching sheet, Unsteady, Viscoelastic
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1881738 Gaits Stability Analysis for a Pneumatic Quadruped Robot Using Reinforcement Learning
Authors: Soofiyan Atar, Adil Shaikh, Sahil Rajpurkar, Pragnesh Bhalala, Aniket Desai, Irfan Siddavatam
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Deep reinforcement learning (deep RL) algorithms leverage the symbolic power of complex controllers by automating it by mapping sensory inputs to low-level actions. Deep RL eliminates the complex robot dynamics with minimal engineering. Deep RL provides high-risk involvement by directly implementing it in real-world scenarios and also high sensitivity towards hyperparameters. Tuning of hyperparameters on a pneumatic quadruped robot becomes very expensive through trial-and-error learning. This paper presents an automated learning control for a pneumatic quadruped robot using sample efficient deep Q learning, enabling minimal tuning and very few trials to learn the neural network. Long training hours may degrade the pneumatic cylinder due to jerk actions originated through stochastic weights. We applied this method to the pneumatic quadruped robot, which resulted in a hopping gait. In our process, we eliminated the use of a simulator and acquired a stable gait. This approach evolves so that the resultant gait matures more sturdy towards any stochastic changes in the environment. We further show that our algorithm performed very well as compared to programmed gait using robot dynamics.
Keywords: model-based reinforcement learning, gait stability, supervised learning, pneumatic quadruped
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 563737 Fabrication of Powdery Composites Based Alumina and Its Consolidation by Hot Pressing Method in OXY-GON Furnace
Authors: T. Kuchukhidze, N. Jalagonia, T. Korkia, V. Gabunia, N. Jalabadze, R. Chedia
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In this work, obtaining methods of ultrafine alumina powdery composites and high temperature pressing technology of matrix ceramic composites with different compositions have been discussed. Alumina was obtained by solution combustion synthesis and sol-gel methods. Metal carbides containing powdery composites were obtained by homogenization of finishing powders in nanomills, as well as by their single-step high temperature synthesis .Different types of matrix ceramics composites (α-Al2O3-ZrO2-Y2O3, α-Al2O3- Y2O3-MgO, α-Al2O3-SiC-Y2O3, α-Al2O3-WC-Co-Y2O3, α-Al2O3- B4C-Y2O3, α-Al2O3- B4C-TiB2 etc.) were obtained by using OXYGON furnace. Consolidation of powders were carried out at 1550- 1750°C (hold time - 1 h, pressure - 50 MPa). Corundum ceramics samples have been obtained and characterized by high hardness and fracture toughness, absence of open porosity, high corrosion resistance. Their density reaches 99.5-99.6% TD. During the work, the following devices have been used: High temperature vacuum furnace OXY-GON Industries Inc (USA), Electronic Scanning Microscopes Nikon Eclipse LV 150, Optical Microscope NMM- 800TRF, Planetary mill Pulverisette 7 premium line, Shimadzu Dynamic Ultra Micro Hardness Tester DUH-211S, Analysette 12 Dynasizer.Keywords: α-Alumina, Consolidation, Matrix Ceramics, Powdery composites.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1079736 User-Driven Product Line Engineering for Assembling Large Families of Software
Authors: Zhaopeng Xuan, Yuan Bian, C. Cailleaux, Jing Qin, S. Traore
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Traditional software engineering allows engineers to propose to their clients multiple specialized software distributions assembled from a shared set of software assets. The management of these assets however requires a trade-off between client satisfaction and software engineering process. Clients have more and more difficult to find a distribution or components based on their needs from all of distributed repositories.
This paper proposes a software engineering for a user-driven software product line in which engineers define a Feature Model but users drive the actual software distribution on demand. This approach makes the user become final actor as a release manager in software engineering process, increasing user product satisfaction and simplifying user operations to find required components. In addition, it provides a way for engineers to manage and assembly large software families.
As a proof of concept, a user-driven software product line is implemented for Eclipse, an integrated development environment. An Eclipse feature model is defined, which is exposed to users on a cloud-based built platform from which clients can download individualized Eclipse distributions.
Keywords: Software Product Line, Model-driven Development, Reverse Engineering and Refactoring, Agile Method
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1819735 Image Compression with Back-Propagation Neural Network using Cumulative Distribution Function
Authors: S. Anna Durai, E. Anna Saro
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Image Compression using Artificial Neural Networks is a topic where research is being carried out in various directions towards achieving a generalized and economical network. Feedforward Networks using Back propagation Algorithm adopting the method of steepest descent for error minimization is popular and widely adopted and is directly applied to image compression. Various research works are directed towards achieving quick convergence of the network without loss of quality of the restored image. In general the images used for compression are of different types like dark image, high intensity image etc. When these images are compressed using Back-propagation Network, it takes longer time to converge. The reason for this is, the given image may contain a number of distinct gray levels with narrow difference with their neighborhood pixels. If the gray levels of the pixels in an image and their neighbors are mapped in such a way that the difference in the gray levels of the neighbors with the pixel is minimum, then compression ratio as well as the convergence of the network can be improved. To achieve this, a Cumulative distribution function is estimated for the image and it is used to map the image pixels. When the mapped image pixels are used, the Back-propagation Neural Network yields high compression ratio as well as it converges quickly.Keywords: Back-propagation Neural Network, Cumulative Distribution Function, Correlation, Convergence.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2541734 Selection of Designs in Ordinal Regression Models under Linear Predictor Misspecification
Authors: Ishapathik Das
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The purpose of this article is to find a method of comparing designs for ordinal regression models using quantile dispersion graphs in the presence of linear predictor misspecification. The true relationship between response variable and the corresponding control variables are usually unknown. Experimenter assumes certain form of the linear predictor of the ordinal regression models. The assumed form of the linear predictor may not be correct always. Thus, the maximum likelihood estimates (MLE) of the unknown parameters of the model may be biased due to misspecification of the linear predictor. In this article, the uncertainty in the linear predictor is represented by an unknown function. An algorithm is provided to estimate the unknown function at the design points where observations are available. The unknown function is estimated at all points in the design region using multivariate parametric kriging. The comparison of the designs are based on a scalar valued function of the mean squared error of prediction (MSEP) matrix, which incorporates both variance and bias of the prediction caused by the misspecification in the linear predictor. The designs are compared using quantile dispersion graphs approach. The graphs also visually depict the robustness of the designs on the changes in the parameter values. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the proposed methodology.Keywords: Model misspecification, multivariate kriging, multivariate logistic link, ordinal response models, quantile dispersion graphs.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 986733 An Analysis of the Five Most Used Numerals and a Proposal for the Adoption of a Universally Acceptable Numeral (UAN)
Authors: Mufutau Ayinla Abdul-Yakeen
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An analysis of the five most used numerals and a proposal for the adoption of a Universally Acceptable Numerals (UAN), came up as a result of the researchers inquisitiveses of the need for a set of numerals that is universally accepted. The researcher sought for the meaning of the first letter, “Nun”, “ن”, of the first verse of Suratul-Kalam (Chapter of the Pen), the Sixty-Eighth Chapter of the Holy Qur'an. It was observed that there was no universally accepted, economical, explainable, linkable and consistent set of numerals used by all scientists up till the moment of making this enquiry. As a theoretical paper, explanatory method is used to review five of the most used numerals (Tally Marks, Roman Figure, Hindu-Arabic, Arabic, and Chinese) and the urgent need for a universally accepted, economical, explainable, linkable and consistent set of numerals arises. The study discovers: ., I, \, _, L, U, =, C, O, 9, and 1.; to be used as numeral 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 respectively; as a set of universally acceptable, economical, explainable, linkable, sustainable, convertible and consistent set of numerals that originates from Islam. They can be called Islameconumerals or UAN. With UAN, everything dropped, written, drawn and/or scribbled has meaning(s) as postulated by the first verse of Qur'an 68 and everyone can easily document all figures within the shortest period. It is suggested that there should be a discipline called Numeralnomics (Study of optimum utilization of Numerals) and everybody should start using the UAN, now, in order in know their strengths and weaknesses so as to suggest a better and acceptable set of numerals for the interested readers. Similarly study can be conducted for the alphabets.
Keywords: Islameconumerals, economical, Universally Acceptable Numerals (UAN), numeralnomics.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 779732 A Recommendation to Oncologists for Cancer Treatment by Immunotherapy: Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis
Authors: Mandana Kariminejad, Ali Ghaffari
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Today, the treatment of cancer, in a relatively short period, with minimum adverse effects is a great concern for oncologists. In this paper, based on a recently used mathematical model for cancer, a guideline has been proposed for the amount and duration of drug doses for cancer treatment by immunotherapy. Dynamically speaking, the mathematical ordinary differential equation (ODE) model of cancer has different equilibrium points; one of them is unstable, which is called the no tumor equilibrium point. In this paper, based on the number of tumor cells an intelligent soft computing controller (a combination of fuzzy logic controller and genetic algorithm), decides regarding the amount and duration of drug doses, to eliminate the tumor cells and stabilize the unstable point in a relatively short time. Two different immunotherapy approaches; active and adoptive, have been studied and presented. It is shown that the rate of decay of tumor cells is faster and the doses of drug are lower in comparison with the result of some other literatures. It is also shown that the period of treatment and the doses of drug in adoptive immunotherapy are significantly less than the active method. A recommendation to oncologists has also been presented.Keywords: Tumor, immunotherapy, fuzzy controller, Genetic algorithm, mathematical model.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1065