Search results for: Applications of Computer Science.
2807 Course Adoption of MS Technologies – Case Study
Authors: Lilac Al Safadi, Rana Abu Nafesa, Regina Garcia
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Motivated by Microsoft Co. Academic Program initiative, the department of Information Technology in King Saud University has adopted Microsoft products in three courses. The initiative aimed at enhancing the abilities of the university graduates and equipping them with skills that would help them in the job market. A number of methods of collecting assessment data were used to evaluate the course adoption initiative. Assessment data indicated that the goal of the course adoption is being achieved and that the students were much better prepared to design applications and administrate networks.Keywords: course adoption, assessment, programming, technologies
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13022806 Experimental Determination of Shear Strength Properties of Lightweight Expanded Clay Aggregates Using Direct Shear and Triaxial Tests
Authors: Mahsa Shafaei Bajestani, Mahmoud Yazdani, Aliakbar Golshani
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Artificial lightweight aggregates have a wide range of applications in industry and engineering. Nowadays, the usage of this material in geotechnical activities, especially as backfill in retaining walls has been growing due to the specific characteristics which make it a competent alternative to the conventional geotechnical materials. In practice, a material with lower weight but higher shear strength parameters would be ideal as backfill behind retaining walls because of the important roles that these parameters play in decreasing the overall active lateral earth pressure. In this study, two types of Light Expanded Clay Aggregates (LECA) produced in the Leca factory are investigated. LECA is made in a rotary kiln by heating natural clay at different temperatures up to 1200 °C making quasi-spherical aggregates with different sizes ranged from 0 to 25 mm. The loose bulk density of these aggregates is between 300 and 700 kN/m3. The purpose of this research is to determine the stress-strain behavior, shear strength parameters, and the energy absorption of LECA materials. Direct shear tests were conducted at five normal stresses of 25, 50, 75, 100, and 200 kPa. In addition, conventional triaxial compression tests were operated at confining pressures of 50, 100, and 200 kPa to examine stress-strain behavior. The experimental results show a high internal angle of friction and even a considerable amount of nominal cohesion despite the granular structure of LECA. These desirable properties along with the intrinsic low density of these aggregates make LECA as a very proper material in geotechnical applications. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that lightweight aggregates may have high energy absorption that is excellent alternative material in seismic isolations.
Keywords: Expanded clay, direct shear test, triaxial test, shear properties, energy absorption.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 12812805 A Protocol for Applied Consumer Behavior Research in Academia
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A Montana university has used applied consumer research in experiential learning with non-profit clients for over a decade. Through trial and error, a successful protocol has been established from problem statement through formative research to integrated marketing campaign execution. In this paper, we describe the protocol and its applications. Analysis was completed to determine the effectiveness of the campaigns and the results of how pre- and post-consumer research mark societal change because of media.
Keywords: Marketing, experiential learning, consumer behavior, community partner.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1882804 A Practical Approach for Testing the Process Quality
Authors: Mou-Yuan Liao, Chien-Wei Wu, Chien-Hua Lin
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Process capability index Cpk is the most widely used index in making managerial decisions since it provides bounds on the process yield for normally distributed processes. However, existent methods for assessing process performance which constructed by statistical inference may unfortunately lead to fine results, because uncertainties exist in most real-world applications. Thus, this study adopts fuzzy inference to deal with testing of Cpk . A brief score is obtained for assessing a supplier’s process instead of a severe evaluation.
Keywords: Process capability analysis, quality control.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14272803 Design and Implementation of Cricket-based Location Tracking System
Authors: Byung Ki Kim, Ho Min Jung, Jae-Bong Yoo, Wan Yeon Lee, Chan Young Park, Young Woong Ko
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In this paper, we present a novel approach to location system under indoor environment. The key idea of our work is accurate distance estimation with cricket-based location system using A* algorithm. We also use magnetic sensor for detecting obstacles in indoor environment. Finally, we suggest how this system can be used in various applications such as asset tracking and monitoring.Keywords: Cricket, Indoor Location Tracking, Mobile Robot, Localization.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20722802 Tribological Aspects of Advanced Roll Material in Cold Rolling of Stainless Steel
Authors: Mohammed Tahir, Jonas Lagergren
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Vancron 40, a nitrided powder metallurgical tool Steel, is used in cold work applications where the predominant failure mechanisms are adhesive wear or galling. Typical applications of Vancron 40 are among others fine blanking, cold extrusion, deep drawing and cold work rolls for cluster mills. Vancron 40 positive results for cold work rolls for cluster mills and as a tool for some severe metal forming process makes it competitive compared to other type of work rolls that require higher precision, among others in cold rolling of thin stainless steel, which required high surface finish quality. In this project, three roll materials for cold rolling of stainless steel strip was examined, Vancron 40, Narva 12B (a high-carbon, high-chromium tool steel alloyed with tungsten) and Supra 3 (a Chromium-molybdenum tungsten-vanadium alloyed high speed steel). The purpose of this project was to study the depth profiles of the ironed stainless steel strips, emergence of galling and to study the lubrication performance used by steel industries. Laboratory experiments were conducted to examine scratch of the strip, galling and surface roughness of the roll materials under severe tribological conditions. The critical sliding length for onset of galling was estimated for stainless steel with four different lubricants. Laboratory experiments result of performance evaluation of resistance capability of rolls toward adhesive wear under severe conditions for low and high reductions. Vancron 40 in combination with cold rolling lubricant gave good surface quality, prevents galling of metal surfaces and good bearing capacity.
Keywords: Adhesive wear, Cold rolling, Lubricant, Stainless steel, Surface finish, Vancron 40.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 27602801 A Nobel Approach for Campus Monitoring
Authors: Rashmi Priyadarshini, S. R. N. Reddy, R. M. Mehra
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This paper presents one of the best applications of wireless sensor network for campus Monitoring. With the help of PIR sensor, temperature sensor and humidity sensor, effective utilization of energy resources has been implemented in one of rooms of Sharda University, Greater Noida, India. The RISC microcontroller is used here for analysis of output of sensors and providing proper control using ZigBee protocol. This wireless sensor module presents a tremendous power saving method for any campus
Keywords: PIC microcontroller, wireless sensor network, ZigBee.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17892800 The Effect of Cyclic Speed on the Wear Properties of Molybdenum Disulfide Greases under Extreme Pressure Loading Using 4 Balls Wear Tests
Authors: Gabi Nehme
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The relationship between different types of Molybdenum disulfide greases under extreme pressure loading and different speed situations have been studied using Design of Experiment (DOE) under 1200rpm steady state rotational speed and cyclic frequencies between 2400 and 1200rpm using a Plint machine software to set up the different rotational speed situations. Research described here is aimed at providing good friction and wear performance while optimizing cyclic frequencies and MoS2 concentration due to the recent concern about grease behavior in extreme pressure applications. Extreme load of 785 Newton was used in conjunction with different cyclic frequencies (2400rpm -3.75min, 1200rpm -7.5min, 2400rpm -3.75min, 1200rpm -7.5min), to examine lithium based grease with and without MoS2 for equal number of revolutions, and a total run of 36000 revolutions; then compared to 1200rpm steady speed for the same total number of revolutions. 4 Ball wear tester was utilized to run large number of experiments randomly selected by the DOE software. The grease was combined with fine grade MoS2 or technical grade then heated to 750C and the wear scar width was collected at the end of each test. DOE model validation results verify that the data were very significant and can be applied to a wide range of extreme pressure applications. Based on simulation results and Scanning Electron images (SEM), it has been found that wear was largely dependent on the cyclic frequency condition. It is believed that technical grade MoS2 greases under faster cyclic speeds perform better and provides antiwear film that can resist extreme pressure loadings. Figures showed reduced wear scars width and improved frictional values.
Keywords: MoS2 grease, wear, friction, extreme load, cyclic frequencies, aircraft grade bearing.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18982799 Exploring the Role of Hydrogen to Achieve the Italian Decarbonization Targets Using an Open-Source Energy System Optimization Model
Authors: A. Balbo, G. Colucci, M. Nicoli, L. Savoldi
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Hydrogen is expected to become an undisputed player in the ecological transition throughout the next decades. The decarbonization potential offered by this energy vector provides various opportunities for the so-called “hard-to-abate” sectors, including industrial production of iron and steel, glass, refineries and the heavy-duty transport. In this regard, Italy, in the framework of decarbonization plans for the whole European Union, has been considering a wider use of hydrogen to provide an alternative to fossil fuels in hard-to-abate sectors. This work aims to assess and compare different options concerning the pathway to be followed in the development of the future Italian energy system in order to meet decarbonization targets as established by the Paris Agreement and by the European Green Deal, and to infer a techno-economic analysis of the required asset alternatives to be used in that perspective. To accomplish this objective, the Energy System Optimization Model TEMOA-Italy is used, based on the open-source platform TEMOA and developed at PoliTo as a tool to be used for technology assessment and energy scenario analysis. The adopted assessment strategy includes two different scenarios to be compared with a business-as-usual one, which considers the application of current policies in a time horizon up to 2050. The studied scenarios are based on the up-to-date hydrogen-related targets and planned investments included in the National Hydrogen Strategy and in the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan, with the purpose of providing a critical assessment of what they propose. One scenario imposes decarbonization objectives for the years 2030, 2040 and 2050, without any other specific target. The second one (inspired to the national objectives on the development of the sector) promotes the deployment of the hydrogen value-chain. These scenarios provide feedback about the applications hydrogen could have in the Italian energy system, including transport, industry and synfuels production. Furthermore, the decarbonization scenario where hydrogen production is not imposed, will make use of this energy vector as well, showing the necessity of its exploitation in order to meet pledged targets by 2050. The distance of the planned policies from the optimal conditions for the achievement of Italian objectives is clarified, revealing possible improvements of various steps of the decarbonization pathway, which seems to have as a fundamental element Carbon Capture and Utilization technologies for its accomplishment. In line with the European Commission open science guidelines, the transparency and the robustness of the presented results are ensured by the adoption of the open-source open-data model such as the TEMOA-Italy.
Keywords: Decarbonization, energy system optimization models, hydrogen, open-source modeling, TEMOA.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 6962798 Choosing an Ontology Language
Authors: Anna V. Zhdanova, Uwe Keller
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We summarize information that facilitates choosing an ontology language for knowledge intensive applications. This paper is a short version of the ontology language state-of-the-art and evolution analysis carried out for choosing an ontology language in the IST Esperonto project. At first, we analyze changes and evolution that took place in the filed of Semantic Web languages during the last years, in particular, around the ontology languages of the RDF/S and OWL family. Second, we present current trends in development of Semantic Web languages, in particular, rule support extensions for Semantic Web languages and emerging ontology languages such as WSMO languages.Keywords: OWL, RDF/S, Semantic Web Languages, WSML
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17532797 Applicability of Overhangs for Energy Saving in Existing High-Rise Housing in Different Climates
Authors: Qiong He, S. Thomas Ng
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Upgrading the thermal performance of building envelope of existing residential buildings is an effective way to reduce heat gain or heat loss. Overhang device is a common solution for building envelope improvement as it can cut down solar heat gain and thereby can reduce the energy used for space cooling in summer time. Despite that, overhang can increase the demand for indoor heating in winter due to its function of lowering the solar heat gain. Obviously, overhang has different impacts on energy use in different climatic zones which have different energy demand. To evaluate the impact of overhang device on building energy performance under different climates of China, an energy analysis model is built up in a computer-based simulation program known as DesignBuilder based on the data of a typical high-rise residential building. The energy simulation results show that single overhang is able to cut down around 5% of the energy consumption of the case building in the stand-alone situation or about 2% when the building is surrounded by other buildings in regions which predominantly rely on space cooling though it has no contribution to energy reduction in cold region. In regions with cold summer and cold winter, adding overhang over windows can cut down around 4% and 1.8% energy use with and without adjoining buildings, respectively. The results indicate that overhang might not an effective shading device to reduce the energy consumption in the mixed climate or cold regions.Keywords: Overhang, energy analysis, computer-based simulation, high-rise residential building, mutual shading, climate.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14482796 Interactive Agents with Artificial Mind
Authors: Hirohide Ushida
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This paper discusses an artificial mind model and its applications. The mind model is based on some theories which assert that emotion is an important function in human decision making. An artificial mind model with emotion is built, and the model is applied to action selection of autonomous agents. In three examples, the agents interact with humans and their environments. The examples show the proposed model effectively work in both virtual agents and real robots.Keywords: Artificial mind, emotion, interactive agent, pet robot
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 12522795 Intelligent Assistive Methods for Diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis Using Histogram Smoothing and Feature Extraction of Bone Images
Authors: SP. Chokkalingam, K. Komathy
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Advances in the field of image processing envision a new era of evaluation techniques and application of procedures in various different fields. One such field being considered is the biomedical field for prognosis as well as diagnosis of diseases. This plethora of methods though provides a wide range of options to select from, it also proves confusion in selecting the apt process and also in finding which one is more suitable. Our objective is to use a series of techniques on bone scans, so as to detect the occurrence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) as accurately as possible. Amongst other techniques existing in the field our proposed system tends to be more effective as it depends on new methodologies that have been proved to be better and more consistent than others. Computer aided diagnosis will provide more accurate and infallible rate of consistency that will help to improve the efficiency of the system. The image first undergoes histogram smoothing and specification, morphing operation, boundary detection by edge following algorithm and finally image subtraction to determine the presence of rheumatoid arthritis in a more efficient and effective way. Using preprocessing noises are removed from images and using segmentation, region of interest is found and Histogram smoothing is applied for a specific portion of the images. Gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) features like Mean, Median, Energy, Correlation, Bone Mineral Density (BMD) and etc. After finding all the features it stores in the database. This dataset is trained with inflamed and noninflamed values and with the help of neural network all the new images are checked properly for their status and Rough set is implemented for further reduction.
Keywords: Computer Aided Diagnosis, Edge Detection, Histogram Smoothing, Rheumatoid Arthritis.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 24792794 Qualitative and Quantitative Case Study Research Method on Social Science: Accounting Perspective
Authors: Bubaker F. Shareia
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The main aim of this paper is to set the parameters within which the study is to be conducted, specifically justifying the use of qualitative research, informed by theory. This paper argues that the social world is subjective in nature and may be accessed through the interpretive approach provided by the people involved in the context of the study. The paper defines and distinguishes between qualitative and quantitative research methodologies, explores Burrell and Morgan's framework for social research, and presents the study's adopted methodology and methods, with the rationale for these choices.
Keywords: Accounting, methodologies, qualitative, quantitative research.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 49282793 Bisymmetric, Persymmetric Matrices and Its Applications in Eigen-decomposition of Adjacency and Laplacian Matrices
Authors: Mahdi Nouri
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In this paper we introduce an efficient solution method for the Eigen-decomposition of bisymmetric and per symmetric matrices of symmetric structures. Here we decompose adjacency and Laplacian matrices of symmetric structures to submatrices with low dimension for fast and easy calculation of eigenvalues and eigenvectors. Examples are included to show the efficiency of the method.Keywords: Graphs theory, Eigensolution, adjacency and Laplacian matrix, Canonical forms, bisymmetric, per symmetric.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 24432792 Classification of the Latin Alphabet as Pattern on ARToolkit Markers for Augmented Reality Applications
Authors: Mohamed Badeche, Mohamed Benmohammed
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augmented reality is a technique used to insert virtual objects in real scenes. One of the most used libraries in the area is the ARToolkit library. It is based on the recognition of the markers that are in the form of squares with a pattern inside. This pattern which is mostly textual is source of confusing. In this paper, we present the results of a classification of Latin characters as a pattern on the ARToolkit markers to know the most distinguishable among them.
Keywords: ARToolkit library, augmented reality, K-means, patterns
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18402791 Histogram Slicing to Better Reveal Special Thermal Objects
Authors: S. Ratna Sulistiyanti, Adhi Susanto, Thomas Sri Widodo, Gede Bayu Suparta
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In this paper, an experimentation to enhance the visibility of hot objects in a thermal image acquired with ordinary digital camera is reported, after the applications of lowpass and median filters to suppress the distracting granular noises. The common thresholding and slicing techniques were used on the histogram at different gray levels, followed by a subjective comparative evaluation. The best result came out with the threshold level 115 and the number of slices 3.Keywords: enhance, thermal image, thresholding and slicingtechniques, granular noise, hot objects.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17352790 ISTER (Immune System - Tumor Efficiency Rate): An Important Key for Planning in Radiotherapic Facilities
Authors: O. Sotolongo-Grau, D. Rodriguez-Perez, J. A. Santos-Miranda, M. M. Desco, O. Sotolongo-Costa, J. C. Antoranz
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The use of the oncologic index ISTER allows for a more effective planning of the radiotherapic facilities in the hospitals. Any change in the radiotherapy treatment, due to unexpected stops, may be adapted by recalculating the doses to the new treatment duration while keeping the optimal prognosis. The results obtained in a simulation model on millions of patients allow the definition of optimal success probability algorithms.
Keywords: Mathematical model, radiation oncology, dynamical systems applications.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15512789 Performance Analysis of the Subgroup Method for Collective I/O
Authors: Kwangho Cha, Hyeyoung Cho, Sungho Kim
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As many scientific applications require large data processing, the importance of parallel I/O has been increasingly recognized. Collective I/O is one of the considerable features of parallel I/O and enables application programmers to easily handle their large data volume. In this paper we measured and analyzed the performance of original collective I/O and the subgroup method, the way of using collective I/O of MPI effectively. From the experimental results, we found that the subgroup method showed good performance with small data size.
Keywords: Collective I/O, MPI, parallel file system.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15752788 Time Temperature Dependence of Long Fiber Reinforced Polypropylene Manufactured by Direct Long Fiber Thermoplastic Process
Authors: K. A. Weidenmann, M. Grigo, B. Brylka, P. Elsner, T. Böhlke
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In order to reduce fuel consumption, the weight of automobiles has to be reduced. Fiber reinforced polymers offer the potential to reach this aim because of their high stiffness to weight ratio. Additionally, the use of fiber reinforced polymers in automotive applications has to allow for an economic large-scale production. In this regard, long fiber reinforced thermoplastics made by direct processing offer both mechanical performance and processability in injection moulding and compression moulding. The work presented in this contribution deals with long glass fiber reinforced polypropylene directly processed in compression moulding (D-LFT). For the use in automotive applications both the temperature and the time dependency of the materials properties have to be investigated to fulfill performance requirements during crash or the demands of service temperatures ranging from -40 °C to 80 °C. To consider both the influence of temperature and time, quasistatic tensile tests have been carried out at different temperatures. These tests have been complemented by high speed tensile tests at different strain rates. As expected, the increase in strain rate results in an increase of the elastic modulus which correlates to an increase of the stiffness with decreasing service temperature. The results are in good accordance with results determined by dynamic mechanical analysis within the range of 0.1 to 100 Hz. The experimental results from different testing methods were grouped and interpreted by using different time temperature shift approaches. In this regard, Williams-Landel-Ferry and Arrhenius approach based on kinetics have been used. As the theoretical shift factor follows an arctan function, an empirical approach was also taken into consideration. It could be shown that this approach describes best the time and temperature superposition for glass fiber reinforced polypropylene manufactured by D-LFT processing.
Keywords: Composite, long fiber reinforced thermoplastics, mechanical properties, dynamic mechanical analysis, time temperature superposition.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16992787 Artificial Neural Network Model Based Setup Period Estimation for Polymer Cutting
Authors: Zsolt János Viharos, Krisztián Balázs Kis, Imre Paniti, Gábor Belső, Péter Németh, János Farkas
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The paper presents the results and industrial applications in the production setup period estimation based on industrial data inherited from the field of polymer cutting. The literature of polymer cutting is very limited considering the number of publications. The first polymer cutting machine is known since the second half of the 20th century; however, the production of polymer parts with this kind of technology is still a challenging research topic. The products of the applying industrial partner must met high technical requirements, as they are used in medical, measurement instrumentation and painting industry branches. Typically, 20% of these parts are new work, which means every five years almost the entire product portfolio is replaced in their low series manufacturing environment. Consequently, it requires a flexible production system, where the estimation of the frequent setup periods' lengths is one of the key success factors. In the investigation, several (input) parameters have been studied and grouped to create an adequate training information set for an artificial neural network as a base for the estimation of the individual setup periods. In the first group, product information is collected such as the product name and number of items. The second group contains material data like material type and colour. In the third group, surface quality and tolerance information are collected including the finest surface and tightest (or narrowest) tolerance. The fourth group contains the setup data like machine type and work shift. One source of these parameters is the Manufacturing Execution System (MES) but some data were also collected from Computer Aided Design (CAD) drawings. The number of the applied tools is one of the key factors on which the industrial partners’ estimations were based previously. The artificial neural network model was trained on several thousands of real industrial data. The mean estimation accuracy of the setup periods' lengths was improved by 30%, and in the same time the deviation of the prognosis was also improved by 50%. Furthermore, an investigation on the mentioned parameter groups considering the manufacturing order was also researched. The paper also highlights the manufacturing introduction experiences and further improvements of the proposed methods, both on the shop floor and on the quotation preparation fields. Every week more than 100 real industrial setup events are given and the related data are collected.Keywords: Artificial neural network, low series manufacturing, polymer cutting, setup period estimation.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 9752786 A Modification on Newton's Method for Solving Systems of Nonlinear Equations
Authors: Jafar Biazar, Behzad Ghanbari
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In this paper, we are concerned with the further study for system of nonlinear equations. Since systems with inaccurate function values or problems with high computational cost arise frequently in science and engineering, recently such systems have attracted researcher-s interest. In this work we present a new method which is independent of function evolutions and has a quadratic convergence. This method can be viewed as a extension of some recent methods for solving mentioned systems of nonlinear equations. Numerical results of applying this method to some test problems show the efficiently and reliability of method.
Keywords: System of nonlinear equations.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15932785 Single Feed Circularly Polarized Poly Fractal Antenna for Wireless Applications
Authors: V. V. Reddy, N. V. S. N. Sarma
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A circularly polarized fractal boundary microstrip antenna is presented. The sides of a square patch along x- axis, yaxis are replaced with Minkowski and Koch curves correspondingly. By using the fractal curves as edges, asymmetry in the structure is created to excite two orthogonal modes for circular polarization (CP) operation. The indentation factors of the fractal curves are optimized for pure CP. The simulated results of the novel polyfractal antenna are demonstrated.
Keywords: Circular polarization, Fractal, Koch, Minkowski.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 25062784 Hardiness vs Alienation Personality Construct Essentially Explains Burnout Proclivity and Erroneous Computer Entry Problems in Rural Hellenic Hospital Labs
Authors: Angela–M. Paleologou, Aphrodite Dellaporta
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Erroneous computer entry problems [here: 'e'errors] in hospital labs threaten the patients-–health carers- relationship, undermining the health system credibility. Are e-errors random, and do lab professionals make them accidentally, or may they be traced through meaningful determinants? Theories on internal causality of mistakes compel to seek specific causal ascriptions of hospital lab eerrors instead of accepting some inescapability. Undeniably, 'To Err is Human'. But in view of rapid global health organizational changes, e-errors are too expensive to lack in-depth considerations. Yet, that efunction might supposedly be entrenched in the health carers- job description remains under dispute – at least for Hellenic labs, where e-use falls behind generalized(able) appreciation and application. In this study: i) an empirical basis of a truly high annual cost of e-errors at about €498,000.00 per rural Hellenic hospital was established, hence interest in exploring the issue was sufficiently substantiated; ii) a sample of 270 lab-expert nurses, technicians and doctors were assessed on several personality, burnout and e-error measures, and iii) the hypothesis that the Hardiness vs Alienation personality construct disposition explains resistance vs proclivity to e-errors was tested and verified: Hardiness operates as a resilience source in the encounter of high pressures experienced in the hospital lab, whereas its 'opposite', i.e., Alienation, functions as a predictor, not only of making e-errors, but also of leading to burn-out. Implications for apt interventions are discussed.
Keywords: Hospital lab, personality hardiness/alienation, e-errors' cost, burnout.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19342783 Photoluminescence Properties of β-FeSi2 on Cu- or Au-coated Si
Authors: Kensuke Akiyama, Satoru Kaneko, Takeshi Ozawa, Kazuya Yokomizo, Masaru Itakura
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The photoluminescence (PL) at 1.55 μm from semiconducting β-FeSi2 has attracted a noticeable interest for silicon-based optoelectronic applications. Moreover, its high optical absorption coefficient (higher than 105 cm-1 above 1.0 eV) allows this semiconducting material to be used as photovoltanics devices. A clear PL spectrum for β-FeSi2 was observed by Cu or Au coating on Si(001). High-crystal-quality β-FeSi2 with a low-level nonradiative center was formed on a Cu- or Au- reated Si layer. This method of deposition can be applied to other materials requiring high crystal quality.Keywords: iron silicide, semiconductor, epitaxial, photoluminescence.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 26142782 Rotation Invariant Fusion of Partial Image Parts in Vista Creation using Missing View Regeneration
Authors: H. B. Kekre, Sudeep D. Thepade
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The automatic construction of large, high-resolution image vistas (mosaics) is an active area of research in the fields of photogrammetry [1,2], computer vision [1,4], medical image processing [4], computer graphics [3] and biometrics [8]. Image stitching is one of the possible options to get image mosaics. Vista Creation in image processing is used to construct an image with a large field of view than that could be obtained with a single photograph. It refers to transforming and stitching multiple images into a new aggregate image without any visible seam or distortion in the overlapping areas. Vista creation process aligns two partial images over each other and blends them together. Image mosaics allow one to compensate for differences in viewing geometry. Thus they can be used to simplify tasks by simulating the condition in which the scene is viewed from a fixed position with single camera. While obtaining partial images the geometric anomalies like rotation, scaling are bound to happen. To nullify effect of rotation of partial images on process of vista creation, we are proposing rotation invariant vista creation algorithm in this paper. Rotation of partial image parts in the proposed method of vista creation may introduce some missing region in the vista. To correct this error, that is to fill the missing region further we have used image inpainting method on the created vista. This missing view regeneration method also overcomes the problem of missing view [31] in vista due to cropping, irregular boundaries of partial image parts and errors in digitization [35]. The method of missing view regeneration generates the missing view of vista using the information present in vista itself.Keywords: Vista, Overlap Estimation, Rotation Invariance, Missing View Regeneration.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17232781 Pulse Generator with Constant Pulse Width
Authors: Hanif Che Lah, Wee Leong Son, Rozita Borhan
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This paper is about method to produce a stable and accurate constant output pulse width regardless of the amplitude, period and pulse width variation of the input signal source. The pulse generated is usually being used in numerous applications as the reference input source to other circuits in the system. Therefore, it is crucial to produce a clean and constant pulse width to make sure the system is working accurately as expected.
Keywords: Amplitude, Constant Pulse Width, Frequency Divider, Pulse Generator.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 36702780 Is HR in a State of Transition? An International Comparative Study on the Development of HR Competencies
Authors: Barbara Covarrubias Venegas, Sabine Groblschegg, Bernhard Klaus, Julia Domnanovich
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Research Objectives: The roles and activities of Human Resource Management (HRM) have changed a lot in the past years. Driven by a changing environment and therefore new business requirements, the scope of human resource (HR) activities has widened. The extent to which these activities should focus on strategic issues to support the long term success of a company has been discussed in science for many years. As many economies of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) experienced a phase of transition after the socialist era and are now recovering from the 2008 global crisis it is needed to examine the current state of HR positioning. Furthermore a trend in HR work developing from rather administrative units to being strategic partners of management can be noticed. This leads to the question of better understanding the underlying competencies which are necessary to support organisations. This topic was addressed by the international study “HR Competencies in international comparison”. The quantitative survey was conducted by the Institute for Human Resources & Organisation of FHWien University of Applied Science of WKW (A) in cooperation with partner universities in the countries Bosnia- Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia. Methodology: Using the questionnaire developed by Dave Ulrich we tested whether the HR Competency model can be used for Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia. After performing confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis for the whole data set containing all five countries we could clearly distinguish between four competencies. In a further step our analysis focused on median and average comparisons between the HR competency dimensions. Conclusion: Our literature review, in alignment with other studies, shows a relatively rapid pace of development of HR Roles and HR Competencies in BCSS in the past decades. Comparing data from BCSS and Austria we still can notice that regards strategic orientation there is a lack in BCSS countries, thus competencies are not as developed as in Austria. This leads us to the tentative conclusion that HR has undergone a rapid change but is still in a State of Transition from being a rather administrative unit to performing the role of a strategic partner.Keywords: Comparative study, HR competencies, HRM, HR Roles.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21622779 Space Vector PWM Simulation for Three Phase DC/AC Inverter
Authors: M. Kubeitari, A. Alhusayn, M. Alnahar
Abstract:
Space Vector Pulse Width Modulation SVPWM is one of the most used techniques to generate sinusoidal voltage and current due to its facility and efficiency with low harmonics distortion. This algorithm is specially used in power electronic applications. This paper describes simulation algorithm of SVPWM & SPWM using MatLab/simulink environment. It also implements a closed loop three phases DC-AC converter controlling its outputs voltages amplitude and frequency using MatLab. Also comparison between SVPWM & SPWM results is given.Keywords: DC-AC Converter, MatLab, SPWM, SVPWM, Vref - rotating frame.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 95002778 Shear Strength Characteristics of Sand-Particulate Rubber Mixture
Authors: Firas Daghistani, Hossam Abuel Naga
Abstract:
Waste tyres is an ongoing global problem that has a negative effect on the environment. Waste tyres are discarded in stockpiles where they provide harm to the environment in many ways. Finding applications to these materials can help in reducing this global problem. One of these applications is recycling these waste materials and using them in geotechnical engineering. Recycled waste tyre particulates can be mixed with sand to form a lightweight material with varying shear strength characteristics. This research further investigates the inclusion of particulate rubber to sand and whether it can increase or decrease the shear strength characteristics of the mixture. For the experiment, a series of direct shear tests was performed on a poorly graded sand with a mean particle size of 0.32 mm mixed with recycled poorly graded particulate rubber with a mean particle size of 0.51 mm. The shear tests were performed on four normal stresses 30, 55, 105, 200 kPa at a shear rate of 1 mm/minute. Different percentages of particulate rubber content were used in the mixture i.e., 10%, 20%, 30% and 50% of sand dry weight at three density states namely loose, slight dense, and dense state. The size ratio of the mixture, which is the mean particle size of the particulate rubber divided by the mean particle size of the sand, was 1.59. The results identified multiple parameters that can influence the shear strength of the mixture. The parameters were: normal stress, particulate rubber content, mixture gradation, mixture size ratio, and the mixture’s density. The inclusion of particulate rubber to sand showed a decrease to the internal friction angle, and an increase to the apparent cohesion. Overall, the inclusion of particulate rubber did not have a significant influence on the shear strength of the mixture. For all the dense states at the low normal stresses 30, and 55 kPa, the inclusion of particulate rubber showed a slight increase in the shear strength where the peak was at 20-30% rubber content of the sand’s dry weight. On the other hand, at the high normal stresses 105, and 200 kPa, there was a slight decrease in the shear strength.
Keywords: Direct shear, granular material, sand-rubber mixture, shear strength, waste material.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 360