Search results for: Business process management system
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 14181

Search results for: Business process management system

921 Fuel Economy and Stability Enhancement of the Hybrid Vehicles by Using Electrical Machines on Non-Driven Wheels

Authors: P. Naderi, S.M.T. Bathaee, R. Hoseinnezhad, R. Chini

Abstract:

Using electrical machine in conventional vehicles, also called hybrid vehicles, has become a promising control scheme that enables some manners for fuel economy and driver assist for better stability. In this paper, vehicle stability control, fuel economy and Driving/Regeneration braking for a 4WD hybrid vehicle is investigated by using an electrical machine on each non-driven wheels. In front wheels driven vehicles, fuel economy and regenerative braking can be obtained by summing torques applied on rear wheels. On the other hand, unequal torques applied to rear wheels provides enhanced safety and path correction in steering. In this paper, a model with fourteen degrees of freedom is considered for vehicle body, tires and, suspension systems. Thereafter, powertrain subsystems are modeled. Considering an electrical machine on each rear wheel, a fuzzy controller is designed for each driving, braking, and stability conditions. Another fuzzy controller recognizes the vehicle requirements between the driving/regeneration and stability modes. Intelligent vehicle control to multi objective operation and forward simulation are the paper advantages. For reaching to these aims, power management control and yaw moment control will be done by three fuzzy controllers. Also, the above mentioned goals are weighted by another fuzzy sub-controller base on vehicle dynamic. Finally, Simulations performed in MATLAB/SIMULINK environment show that the proposed structure can enhance the vehicle performance in different modes effectively.

Keywords: Hybrid, pitch, roll, regeneration, yaw.

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920 Issues in Organizational Assessment: The Case of Frustration Tolerance Measurement in Mexico

Authors: David Ruiz, Carlos Nava, Roberto Carbajal

Abstract:

The psychological profile has become one of the most important sources of information when it comes to individual selection and the hiring process in any organization. Psychological instruments are used to collect data about variables that are considered critically important for performance in work. However, because of conceptual chaos in organizational psychology, most of the information provided by psychological testing is not directly useful for Mexican human resources professionals to take hiring decisions. The aims of this paper are 1) to underline the lack of conceptual precision in theoretical testing foundations in Mexico and 2) presenting a reliability and validity analysis of a frustration tolerance instrument created as an alternative to a heuristically conduct individual assessment in organizations. First, a description of assessment conditions in Mexico is made. Second, an instrument and a theoretical framework is presented as an alternative to the assessment practices in the country. A total of 65 Psychology Iztacala Superior Studies Faculty students were assessed. Cronbach´s alpha coefficient was calculated and an exploratory factor analysis was carried out to prove the scale unidimensionality. Reliability analysis revealed good internal consistency of the scale (Cronbach’s α = 0.825). Factor analysis produced 4 factors for the scale. However, factor loadings and explained variation give proof to the scale unidimensionality. It is concluded that the instrument has good psychometric properties that will allow human resources professionals to collect useful data. Different possibilities to conduct psychological assessment are suggested for future development.

Keywords: Psychological assessment, frustration tolerance, human resources, organizational psychology.

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919 Result of Fatty Acid Content in Meat of Selenge Breed Younger Cattle

Authors: Myagmarsuren Soronzonjav, N. Togtokhbayar, L. Davaahuu, B. Minjigdorj, Seong Gu Hwang

Abstract:

The number of natural or organic product consumers is increased in recent years and this healthy demand pushes to increase usage of healthy meat. At the same time, consumers pay more attention on the healthy fat, especially on unsaturated fatty acids. These long chain carbohydrates reduce heart diseases, improve memory and eye sight and activate the immune system. One of the important issues to be solved for our Mongolia’s food security is to provide healthy, fresh, widely available and cheap meat for the population. Thus, an importance of the Selenge breed meat production is increasing in order to supply the quality meat food security since the Selenge breed cattle are rapidly multiplied, beneficial in term of income, the same quality as Mongolian breed, and well digested for human body. We researched the lipid, unsaturated and saturated fatty acid contents of meat of Selenge breed younger cattle by their muscle types. Result of our research reveals that 11 saturated fatty acids are detected. For the content of palmitic acid among saturated fatty acids, 23.61% was in the sirloin meat, 24.01% was in the round and chuck meat, and 24.83% was in the short loin meat.

Keywords: Chromatogram, gas chromatography, organic resolving, saturated and unsaturated fatty acids.

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918 End-to-End Spanish-English Sequence Learning Translation Model

Authors: Vidhu Mitha Goutham, Ruma Mukherjee

Abstract:

The low availability of well-trained, unlimited, dynamic-access models for specific languages makes it hard for corporate users to adopt quick translation techniques and incorporate them into product solutions. As translation tasks increasingly require a dynamic sequence learning curve; stable, cost-free opensource models are scarce. We survey and compare current translation techniques and propose a modified sequence to sequence model repurposed with attention techniques. Sequence learning using an encoder-decoder model is now paving the path for higher precision levels in translation. Using a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) encoder and a Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) decoder background, we use Fairseq tools to produce an end-to-end bilingually trained Spanish-English machine translation model including source language detection. We acquire competitive results using a duo-lingo-corpus trained model to provide for prospective, ready-made plug-in use for compound sentences and document translations. Our model serves a decent system for large, organizational data translation needs. While acknowledging its shortcomings and future scope, it also identifies itself as a well-optimized deep neural network model and solution.

Keywords: Attention, encoder-decoder, Fairseq, Seq2Seq, Spanish, translation.

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917 Speeding up Nonlinear Time History Analysis of Base-Isolated Structures Using a Nonlinear Exponential Model

Authors: Nicolò Vaiana, Giorgio Serino

Abstract:

The nonlinear time history analysis of seismically base-isolated structures can require a significant computational effort when the behavior of each seismic isolator is predicted by adopting the widely used differential equation Bouc-Wen model. In this paper, a nonlinear exponential model, able to simulate the response of seismic isolation bearings within a relatively large displacements range, is described and adopted in order to reduce the numerical computations and speed up the nonlinear dynamic analysis. Compared to the Bouc-Wen model, the proposed one does not require the numerical solution of a nonlinear differential equation for each time step of the analysis. The seismic response of a 3d base-isolated structure with a lead rubber bearing system subjected to harmonic earthquake excitation is simulated by modeling each isolator using the proposed analytical model. The comparison of the numerical results and computational time with those obtained by modeling the lead rubber bearings using the Bouc-Wen model demonstrates the good accuracy of the proposed model and its capability to reduce significantly the computational effort of the analysis.

Keywords: Base isolation, computational efficiency, nonlinear exponential model, nonlinear time history analysis.

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916 Irrigation Scheduling for Maize and Indian-mustard based on Daily Crop Water Requirement in a Semi- Arid Region

Authors: Vijay Shankar, C.S.P. Ojha, K.S. Hari Prasad

Abstract:

Maize and Indian mustard are significant crops in semi-arid climate zones of India. Improved water management requires precise scheduling of irrigation, which in turn requires an accurate computation of daily crop evapotranspiration (ETc). Daily crop evapotranspiration comes as a product of reference evapotranspiration (ET0) and the growth stage specific crop coefficients modified for daily variation. The first objective of present study is to develop crop coefficients Kc for Maize and Indian mustard. The estimated values of Kc for maize at the four crop growth stages (initial, development, mid-season, and late season) are 0.55, 1.08, 1.25, and 0.75, respectively, and for Indian mustard the Kc values at the four growth stages are 0.3, 0.6, 1.12, and 0.35, respectively. The second objective of the study is to compute daily crop evapotranspiration from ET0 and crop coefficients. Average daily ETc of maize varied from about 2.5 mm/d in the early growing period to > 6.5 mm/d at mid season. The peak ETc of maize is 8.3 mm/d and it occurred 64 days after sowing at the reproductive growth stage when leaf area index was 4.54. In the case of Indian mustard, average ETc is 1 mm/d at the initial stage, >1.8 mm/d at mid season and achieves a peak value of 2.12 mm/d on 56 days after sowing. Improved schedules of irrigation have been simulated based on daily crop evapo-transpiration and field measured data. Simulation shows a close match between modeled and field moisture status prevalent during crop season.

Keywords: Crop coefficient, Crop evapotranspiration, Field moisture, Irrigation Scheduling

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915 Analysis on Iranian Wind Catcher and Its Effect on Natural Ventilation as a Solution towards Sustainable Architecture(Case Study: Yazd)

Authors: Mahnaz Mahmoudi Zarandi (Qazvin Islamic Azad University)

Abstract:

wind catchers have been served as a cooling system, used to provide acceptable ventilation by means of renewable energy of wind. In the present study, the city of Yazd in arid climate is selected as case study. From the architecture point of view, learning about wind catchers in this study is done by means of field surveys. Research method for selection of the case is based on random form, and analytical method. Wind catcher typology and knowledge of relationship governing the wind catcher's architecture were those measures that are taken for the first time. 53 wind catchers were analyzed. The typology of the wind-catchers is done by the physical analyzing, patterns and common concepts as incorporated in them. How the architecture of wind catcher can influence their operations by analyzing thermal behavior are the archetypes of selected wind catchers. Calculating fluids dynamics science, fluent software and numerical analysis are used in this study as the most accurate analytical approach. The results obtained from these analyses show the formal specifications of wind catchers with optimum operation in Yazd. The knowledge obtained from the optimum model could be used for design and construction of wind catchers with more improved operation

Keywords: Fluent Software, Iranian architecture, wind catcher

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914 Analysis of Pressure Drop in a Concentrated Solar Collector with Direct Steam Production

Authors: Sara Sallam, Mohamed Taqi, Naoual Belouaggadia

Abstract:

Solar thermal power plants using parabolic trough collectors (PTC) are currently a powerful technology for generating electricity. Most of these solar power plants use thermal oils as heat transfer fluid. The latter is heated in the solar field and transfers the heat absorbed in an oil-water heat exchanger for the production of steam driving the turbines of the power plant. Currently, we are seeking to develop PTCs with direct steam generation (DSG). This process consists of circulating water under pressure in the receiver tube to generate steam directly into the solar loop. This makes it possible to reduce the investment and maintenance costs of the PTCs (the oil-water exchangers are removed) and to avoid the environmental risks associated with the use of thermal oils. The pressure drops in these systems are an important parameter to ensure their proper operation. The determination of these losses is complex because of the presence of the two phases, and most often we limit ourselves to describing them by models using empirical correlations. A comparison of these models with experimental data was performed. Our calculations focused on the evolution of the pressure of the liquid-vapor mixture along the receiver tube of a PTC-DSG for pressure values and inlet flow rates ranging respectively from 3 to 10 MPa, and from 0.4 to 0.6 kg/s. The comparison of the numerical results with experience allows us to demonstrate the validity of some models according to the pressures and the flow rates of entry in the PTC-DSG receiver tube. The analysis of these two parameters’ effects on the evolution of the pressure along the receiving tub, shows that the increase of the inlet pressure and the decrease of the flow rate lead to minimal pressure losses.

Keywords: Direct steam generation, parabolic trough collectors, pressure drop.

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913 Numerical Investigation of the Evaporation and Mixing of UWS in a Diesel Exhaust Pipe

Authors: Tae Hyun Ahn, Gyo Woo Lee, Man Young Kim

Abstract:

Because of high thermal efficiency and low CO2 emission, diesel engines are being used widely in many industrial fields although it makes many PM and NOx which give both human health and environment a negative effect. NOx regulations for diesel engines, however, are being strengthened and it is impossible to meet the emission standard without NOx reduction devices such as SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction), LNC (Lean NOx Catalyst), and LNT (Lean NOx Trap). Among the NOx reduction devices, urea-SCR system is known as the most stable and efficient method to solve the problem of NOx emission. But this device has some issues associated with the ammonia slip phenomenon which is occurred by shortage of evaporation and thermolysis time, and that makes it difficult to achieve uniform distribution of the injected urea in front of monolith. Therefore, this study has focused on the mixing enhancement between urea and exhaust gases to enhance the efficiency of the SCR catalyst equipped in catalytic muffler by changing inlet gas temperature and spray conditions to improve the spray uniformity of the urea water solution. Finally, it can be found that various parameters such as inlet gas temperature and injector and injection angles significantly affect the evaporation and mixing of the urea water solution with exhaust gases, and therefore, optimization of these parameters are required.

Keywords: Evaporation, Injection, Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR), Thermolysis, UWS (Urea-Water-Solution).

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912 Automatic Generation Control of Multi-Area Electric Energy Systems Using Modified GA

Authors: Gayadhar Panda, Sidhartha Panda, C. Ardil

Abstract:

A modified Genetic Algorithm (GA) based optimal selection of parameters for Automatic Generation Control (AGC) of multi-area electric energy systems is proposed in this paper. Simulations on multi-area reheat thermal system with and without consideration of nonlinearity like governor dead band followed by 1% step load perturbation is performed to exemplify the optimum parameter search. In this proposed method, a modified Genetic Algorithm is proposed where one point crossover with modification is employed. Positional dependency in respect of crossing site helps to maintain diversity of search point as well as exploitation of already known optimum value. This makes a trade-off between exploration and exploitation of search space to find global optimum in less number of generations. The proposed GA along with decomposition technique as developed has been used to obtain the optimum megawatt frequency control of multi-area electric energy systems. Time-domain simulations are conducted with trapezoidal integration along with decomposition technique. The superiority of the proposed method over existing one is verified from simulations and comparisons.

Keywords: Automatic Generation Control (AGC), Reheat, Proportional Integral (PI) controller, Dead Band, Genetic Algorithm(GA).

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911 Effects of Cerium Oxide Nanoparticle Addition in Diesel and Diesel-Biodiesel Blends on the Performance Characteristics of a CI Engine

Authors: Abbas Alli Taghipoor Bafghi, Hosein Bakhoda, Fateme Khodaei Chegeni

Abstract:

An experimental investigation is carried out to establish the performance characteristics of a compression ignition engine while using cerium oxide nanoparticles as additive in neat diesel and diesel-biodiesel blends. In the first phase of the experiments, stability of neat diesel and diesel-biodiesel fuel blends with the addition of cerium oxide nanoparticles is analyzed. After series of experiments, it is found that the blends subjected to high speed blending followed by ultrasonic bath stabilization improves the stability. In the second phase, performance characteristics are studied using the stable fuel blends in a single cylinder four stroke engine coupled with an electrical dynamometer and a data acquisition system. The cerium oxide acts as an oxygen donating catalyst and provides oxygen for combustion. The activation energy of cerium oxide acts to burn off carbon deposits within the engine cylinder at the wall temperature and prevents the deposition of non-polar compounds on the cylinder wall results reduction in HC emissions. The tests revealed that cerium oxide nanoparticles can be used as additive in diesel and diesel-biodiesel blends to improve complete combustion of the fuel significantly.

Keywords: Diesel engine, cerium oxide, diesel-biodiesel blends, nanoparticles.

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910 The Development of Smart School Condition Assessment Based on Condition Survey Protocol (CSP) 1 Matrix: A Literature Review

Authors: N. Hamzah, M. Mahli, A. I. Che-Ani, M. M Tahir, N. A. G. Abdullah, N. M Tawil

Abstract:

Building inspection is one of the key components of building maintenance. The primary purpose of performing a building inspection is to evaluate the building-s condition. Without inspection, it is difficult to determine a built asset-s current condition, so failure to inspect can contribute to the asset-s future failure. Traditionally, a longhand survey description has been widely used for property condition reports. Surveys that employ ratings instead of descriptions are gaining wide acceptance in the industry because they cater to the need for numerical analysis output. These kinds of surveys are also in keeping with the new RICS HomeBuyer Report 2009. In this paper, we propose a new assessment method, derived from the current rating systems, for assessing the specifically smart school building-s condition and rating the seriousness of each defect identified. These two assessment criteria are then multiplied to find the building-s score, which we called the Condition Survey Protocol (CSP) 1 Matrix. Instead of a longhand description of a building-s defects, this matrix requires concise explanations about the defects identified, thus saving on-site time during a smart school building inspection. The full score is used to give the building an overall rating: Good, Fair or Dilapidated.

Keywords: Assessment matrix, building condition survey, rating system, smart school and survey protocol.

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909 Theoretical Analysis of Damping Due to Air Viscosity in Narrow Acoustic Tubes

Authors: M. Watanabe, T. Yamaguchi, M. Sasajima, Y. Kurosawa, Y. Koike

Abstract:

Headphones and earphones have many extremely small holes or narrow slits; they use sound-absorbing or porous material (i.e., dampers) to suppress vibratory system resonance. The air viscosity in these acoustic paths greatly affects the acoustic properties. Simulation analyses such as the finite element method (FEM) therefore require knowledge of the material properties of sound-absorbing or porous materials, such as the characteristic impedance and propagation constant. The transfer function method using acoustic tubes is a widely known measuring method, but there is no literature on taking measurements up to the audible range. To measure the acoustic properties at high-range frequencies, the acoustic tubes that form the measuring device need to be narrowed, and the distance between the two microphones needs to be reduced. However, when the tubes are narrowed, the characteristic impedance drops below the air impedance. In this study, we considered the effect of air viscosity in an acoustical tube, introduced a theoretical formula for this effect in the form of complex density and complex sonic velocity, and verified the theoretical formula. We also conducted an experiment and observed the effect from air viscosity in the actual measurements.

Keywords: acoustic tube, air viscosity, earphones, FEM, porous material, sound-absorbing material, transfer function method

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908 An Integrated Design Evaluation and Assembly Sequence Planning Model using a Particle Swarm Optimization Approach

Authors: Feng-Yi Huang, Yuan-Jye Tseng

Abstract:

In the traditional concept of product life cycle management, the activities of design, manufacturing, and assembly are performed in a sequential way. The drawback is that the considerations in design may contradict the considerations in manufacturing and assembly. The different designs of components can lead to different assembly sequences. Therefore, in some cases, a good design may result in a high cost in the downstream assembly activities. In this research, an integrated design evaluation and assembly sequence planning model is presented. Given a product requirement, there may be several design alternative cases to design the components for the same product. If a different design case is selected, the assembly sequence for constructing the product can be different. In this paper, first, the designed components are represented by using graph based models. The graph based models are transformed to assembly precedence constraints and assembly costs. A particle swarm optimization (PSO) approach is presented by encoding a particle using a position matrix defined by the design cases and the assembly sequences. The PSO algorithm simultaneously performs design evaluation and assembly sequence planning with an objective of minimizing the total assembly costs. As a result, the design cases and the assembly sequences can both be optimized. The main contribution lies in the new concept of integrated design evaluation and assembly sequence planning model and the new PSO solution method. The test results show that the presented method is feasible and efficient for solving the integrated design evaluation and assembly planning problem. In this paper, an example product is tested and illustrated.

Keywords: assembly sequence planning, design evaluation, design for assembly, particle swarm optimization

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907 SPA-VNDN: Enhanced Smart Parking Application by Vehicular Named Data Networking

Authors: Bassma Aldahlan, Zongming Fei

Abstract:

Recently, there is a great interest in smart parking application. Theses applications are enhanced by a vehicular ad-hoc network, which helps drivers find and reserve satiable packing spaces for a period of time ahead of time. Named Data Networking (NDN) is a future Internet architecture that benefits vehicular ad-hoc networks because of its clean-slate design and pure communication model. In this paper, we proposed an NDN-based frame-work for smart parking that involved a fog computing architecture. The proposed application had two main directions: First, we allowed drivers to query the number of parking spaces in a particular parking lot. Second, we introduced a technique that enabled drivers to make intelligent reservations before their arrival time. We also introduced a “push-based” model supporting the NDN-based framework for smart parking applications. To evaluate the proposed solution’s performance, we analyzed the function for finding parking lots with available parking spaces and the function for reserving a parking space. Our system showed high performance results in terms of response time and push overhead. The proposed reservation application performed better than the baseline approach.

Keywords: Cloud Computing, Vehicular Named Data Networking, Smart Parking Applications, Fog Computing.

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906 Analytical Solution of the Boundary Value Problem of Delaminated Doubly-Curved Composite Shells

Authors: András Szekrényes

Abstract:

Delamination is one of the major failure modes in laminated composite structures. Delamination tips are mostly captured by spatial numerical models in order to predict crack growth. This paper presents some mechanical models of delaminated composite shells based on shallow shell theories. The mechanical fields are based on a third-order displacement field in terms of the through-thickness coordinate of the laminated shell. The undelaminated and delaminated parts are captured by separate models and the continuity and boundary conditions are also formulated in a general way providing a large size boundary value problem. The system of differential equations is solved by the state space method for an elliptic delaminated shell having simply supported edges. The comparison of the proposed and a numerical model indicates that the primary indicator of the model is the deflection, the secondary is the widthwise distribution of the energy release rate. The model is promising and suitable to determine accurately the J-integral distribution along the delamination front. Based on the proposed model it is also possible to develop finite elements which are able to replace the computationally expensive spatial models of delaminated structures.

Keywords: J-integral, Lévy method, third-order shell theory, state space solution.

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905 Effects of Reclaimed Agro-Industrial Wastewater for Long-Term Irrigation of Herbaceous Crops on Soil Chemical Properties

Authors: E. Tarantino, G. Disciglio, G. Gatta, L. Frabboni, A. Libutti, A. Tarantino

Abstract:

Worldwide, about two-thirds of industrial and domestic wastewater effluent is discharged without treatment, which can cause contamination and eutrophication of the water. In particular, for Mediterranean countries, irrigation with treated wastewater would mitigate the water stress and support the agricultural sector. Changing global weather patterns will make the situation worse, due to increased susceptibility to drought, which can cause major environmental, social, and economic problems. The study was carried out in open field in an intensive agricultural area of the Apulian region in Southern Italy where freshwater resources are often scarce. As well as providing a water resource, irrigation with treated wastewater represents a significant source of nutrients for soil–plant systems. However, the use of wastewater might have further effects on soil. This study thus investigated the long-term impact of irrigation with reclaimed agro-industrial wastewater on the chemical characteristics of the soil. Two crops (processing tomato and broccoli) were cultivated in succession in Stornarella (Foggia) over four years from 2012 to 2016 using two types of irrigation water: groundwater and tertiary treated agro-industrial wastewater that had undergone an activated sludge process, sedimentation filtration, and UV radiation. Chemical analyses were performed on the irrigation waters and soil samples. The treated wastewater was characterised by high levels of several chemical parameters including TSS, EC, COD, BOD5, Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+, NH4-N, PO4-P, K+, SAR and CaCO3, as compared with the groundwater. However, despite these higher levels, the mean content of several chemical parameters in the soil did not show relevant differences between the irrigation treatments, in terms of the chemical features of the soil.

Keywords: Agro-industrial wastewater, broccoli, long-term re-use, tomato.

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904 Effects of Increased Green Surface on a Densely Built Urban Fabric: The Case of Budapest

Authors: Viktória Sugár, Orsolya Frick, Gabriella Horváth, A. Bendegúz Vöröss, Péter Leczovics, Géza Baráth

Abstract:

Urban greenery has multiple positive effects both on the city and its residents. Apart from the visual advantages, it changes the micro-climate by cooling and shading, also increasing vapor and oxygen, reducing dust and carbon-dioxide content at the same time. The above are all critical factors of livability of an urban fabric. Unfortunately, in a dense, historical district there are restricted possibilities to build green surfaces. The present study collects and systemizes the applicable green solutions in the case of a historical downtown district of Budapest. The study contains a GIS-based measurement of the eligible surfaces for greenery, and also calculates the potential of oxygen production, carbon-dioxide reduction and cooling effect of an increased green surface.  It can be concluded that increasing the green surface has measurable effects on a densely built urban fabric, including air quality, micro-climate and other environmental factors.

Keywords: Urban greenery, green roof, green wall, green surface potential, sustainable city, oxygen production, carbon-dioxide reduction, geographical information system, GIS.

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903 Comparison among Various Question Generations for Decision Tree Based State Tying in Persian Language

Authors: Nasibeh Nasiri, Dawood Talebi Khanmiri

Abstract:

Performance of any continuous speech recognition system is highly dependent on performance of the acoustic models. Generally, development of the robust spoken language technology relies on the availability of large amounts of data. Common way to cope with little data for training each state of Markov models is treebased state tying. This tying method applies contextual questions to tie states. Manual procedure for question generation suffers from human errors and is time consuming. Various automatically generated questions are used to construct decision tree. There are three approaches to generate questions to construct HMMs based on decision tree. One approach is based on misrecognized phonemes, another approach basically uses feature table and the other is based on state distributions corresponding to context-independent subword units. In this paper, all these methods of automatic question generation are applied to the decision tree on FARSDAT corpus in Persian language and their results are compared with those of manually generated questions. The results show that automatically generated questions yield much better results and can replace manually generated questions in Persian language.

Keywords: Decision Tree, Markov Models, Speech Recognition, State Tying.

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902 Determination of an Efficient Differentiation Pathway of Stem Cells Employing Predictory Neural Network Model

Authors: Mughal Yar M, Israr Ul Haq, Bushra Noman

Abstract:

The stem cells have ability to differentiated themselves through mitotic cell division and various range of specialized cell types. Cellular differentiation is a way by which few specialized cell develops into more specialized.This paper studies the fundamental problem of computational schema for an artificial neural network based on chemical, physical and biological variables of state. By doing this type of study system could be model for a viable propagation of various economically important stem cells differentiation. This paper proposes various differentiation outcomes of artificial neural network into variety of potential specialized cells on implementing MATLAB version 2009. A feed-forward back propagation kind of network was created to input vector (five input elements) with single hidden layer and one output unit in output layer. The efficiency of neural network was done by the assessment of results achieved from this study with that of experimental data input and chosen target data. The propose solution for the efficiency of artificial neural network assessed by the comparatative analysis of “Mean Square Error" at zero epochs. There are different variables of data in order to test the targeted results.

Keywords: Computational shcmin, meiosis, mitosis, neuralnetwork, Stem cell SOM;

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901 Analyzing of Temperature-Dependent Thermal Conductivity Effect in the Numerical Modeling of Fin-Tube Radiators: Introduction of a New Method

Authors: Farzad Bazdidi-Tehrani, Mohammad Hadi Kamrava

Abstract:

In all industries which are related to heat, suitable thermal ranges are defined for each device to operate well. Consideration of these limits requires a thermal control unit beside the main system. The Satellite Thermal Control Unit exploits from different methods and facilities individually or mixed. For enhancing heat transfer between primary surface and the environment, utilization of radiating extended surfaces are common. Especially for large temperature differences; variable thermal conductivity has a strong effect on performance of such a surface .In most literatures, thermo-physical properties, such as thermal conductivity, are assumed as constant. However, in some recent researches the variation of these parameters is considered. This may be helpful for the evaluation of fin-s temperature distribution in relatively large temperature differences. A new method is introduced to evaluate temperature-dependent thermal conductivity values. The finite volume method is employed to simulate numerically the temperature distribution in a space radiating fin. The present modeling is carried out for Aluminum as fin material and compared with previous method. The present results are also compared with those of two other analytical methods and good agreement is shown.

Keywords: Variable thermal conductivity, New method, Finitevolume method, Combined heat transfer, Extended Surface

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900 Exploring the Physical Environment and Building Features in Earthquake Disaster Areas

Authors: Chang Hsueh-Sheng, Chen Tzu-Ling

Abstract:

Earthquake is an unpredictable natural disaster and intensive earthquakes have caused serious impacts on social-economic system, environmental and social resilience. Conventional ways to mitigate earthquake disaster are to enhance building codes and advance structural engineering measures. However, earthquake-induced ground damage such as liquefaction, land subsidence, landslide happen on places nearby earthquake prone or poor soil condition areas. Therefore, this study uses spatial statistical analysis to explore the spatial pattern of damaged buildings. Afterwards, principle components analysis (PCA) is applied to categorize the similar features in different kinds of clustered patterns. The results show that serious landslide prone area, close to fault, vegetated ground surface and mudslide prone area are common in those highly damaged buildings. In addition, the oldest building might not be directly referred to the most vulnerable one. In fact, it seems that buildings built between 1974 and 1989 become more fragile during the earthquake. The incorporation of both spatial statistical analyses and PCA can provide more accurate information to subsidize retrofit programs to enhance earthquake resistance in particular areas.

Keywords: Earthquake disaster, spatial statistical analysis, principle components analysis, clustered patterns.

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899 Certain Data Dimension Reduction Techniques for application with ANN based MCS for Study of High Energy Shower

Authors: Gitanjali Devi, Kandarpa Kumar Sarma, Pranayee Datta, Anjana Kakoti Mahanta

Abstract:

Cosmic showers, from their places of origin in space, after entering earth generate secondary particles called Extensive Air Shower (EAS). Detection and analysis of EAS and similar High Energy Particle Showers involve a plethora of experimental setups with certain constraints for which soft-computational tools like Artificial Neural Network (ANN)s can be adopted. The optimality of ANN classifiers can be enhanced further by the use of Multiple Classifier System (MCS) and certain data - dimension reduction techniques. This work describes the performance of certain data dimension reduction techniques like Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Independent Component Analysis (ICA) and Self Organizing Map (SOM) approximators for application with an MCS formed using Multi Layer Perceptron (MLP), Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) and Probabilistic Neural Network (PNN). The data inputs are obtained from an array of detectors placed in a circular arrangement resembling a practical detector grid which have a higher dimension and greater correlation among themselves. The PCA, ICA and SOM blocks reduce the correlation and generate a form suitable for real time practical applications for prediction of primary energy and location of EAS from density values captured using detectors in a circular grid.

Keywords: EAS, Shower, Core, ANN, Location.

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898 Efficacy of Recovery Tech Virtual Reality Rehabilitation System for Shoulder Impingement Syndrome

Authors: Kasra Afsahi, Maryam Soheilifar, Nazanin Vahed, Omid Seyed Esmaeili, S. Hossein Hosseini

Abstract:

The most common cause of shoulder pain occurs when rotator cuff tendons become trapped under the bony area in the shoulder. This pilot study was performed to evaluate the feasibility of Virtual Reality based rehabilitation of shoulder impingement syndrome in athletes. Three consecutive patients with subacromial impingement syndrome were enrolled. The participants were rehabilitated for 5 times a week for 4 weeks, 20 sessions in total (with duration of each session being 60 minutes). In addition to the conventional rehabilitation program, a 10-minute game-based virtual reality exercise was administered. Primary outcome measures were range of motion evaluated with goniometer, pain sensation, disability intensity using ‘The Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand Questionnaire’, muscle strength using ‘dynamometer’; pain threshold with 'algometer' and level of satisfaction. There were significant improvements in the range of motion, pain sensation, disability, pain threshold and muscle strength compared to basis (P < 0.05). There were no major adverse effects. This study showed the usefulness of VR therapy as an adjunct to conventional physiotherapy in improving function in patients with shoulder impingement syndrome.

Keywords: Shoulder impingement syndrome, VR therapy, feasibility, rehabilitation.

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897 Numerical Analysis of Rapid Gas Decompression in Pure Nitrogen using 1D and 3D Transient Mathematical Models of Gas Flow in Pipes

Authors: Evgeniy Burlutskiy

Abstract:

The paper presents a numerical investigation on the rapid gas decompression in pure nitrogen which is made by using the one-dimensional (1D) and three-dimensional (3D) mathematical models of transient compressible non-isothermal fluid flow in pipes. A 1D transient mathematical model of compressible thermal multicomponent fluid mixture flow in pipes is presented. The set of the mass, momentum and enthalpy conservation equations for gas phase is solved in the model. Thermo-physical properties of multicomponent gas mixture are calculated by solving the Equation of State (EOS) model. The Soave-Redlich-Kwong (SRK-EOS) model is chosen. This model is successfully validated on the experimental data [1] and shows a good agreement with measurements. A 3D transient mathematical model of compressible thermal single-component gas flow in pipes, which is built by using the CFD Fluent code (ANSYS), is presented in the paper. The set of unsteady Reynolds-averaged conservation equations for gas phase is solved. Thermo-physical properties of single-component gas are calculated by solving the Real Gas Equation of State (EOS) model. The simplest case of gas decompression in pure nitrogen is simulated using both 1D and 3D models. The ability of both models to simulate the process of rapid decompression with a high order of agreement with each other is tested. Both, 1D and 3D numerical results show a good agreement between each other. The numerical investigation shows that 3D CFD model is very helpful in order to validate 1D simulation results if the experimental data is absent or limited.

Keywords: Mathematical model, Rapid Gas Decompression

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896 Patriarchy and Gender Discrimination as seen in the Novels of Ahdaf Soueif’s In the Eye of the Sun (1992) and Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s The Girl from the Coast (2002)

Authors: Nagwa Soliman

Abstract:

Women for centuries have undergone gender discrimination under the pretext of patriarchy which is engraved in the culture and tradition of some societies. It is important to highlight that this condition has been encoded by the male gender to dominate and manipulate women. It is therefore necessary to draw attention to this important obstacle that stands in the way of women’s achievement of their full potential and humanity in the face of these cultural traditions. The appropriate style that was chosen for this literary analysis is a qualitative research method that relies on the feminist technique using Freud’s psychological theories. This article explores patriarchy and gender discrimination as portrayed in Ahdaf Soueif’s In The Eye of the Sun (1992) and Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s The Girl from the Coast (2002). It could be argued that those two novels describe a society that is feminist, patriarchal, and gender discriminatory. Moreover, it is important to assert that patriarchy and gender discrimination are part of the system’s social order which compels the female characters to adjust to society’s norms and conventions. This social order is supported by traditional and cultural masculine attitudes and results in sustaining gender inequality, female stereo typing and patriarchy which suppress women’s beliefs and dreams.

Keywords: Gender discrimination, Patriarchy, Feminism, Stereotype.

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895 Structural Behavior of Laterally Loaded Precast Foamed Concrete Sandwich Panel

Authors: Y. H. Mugahed Amran, Raizal S. M. Rashid, Farzad Hejazi, Nor Azizi Safiee, A. A. Abang Ali

Abstract:

Experimental and analytical studies were carried out to investigate the structural behavior of precast foamed concrete sandwich panels (PFCSP) of total number (6) as one-way action slab tested under lateral load. The details of the test setup and procedures were illustrated. The results obtained from the experimental tests were discussed which include the observation of cracking patterns and influence of aspect ratio (L/b). Analytical study of finite element analysis was implemented and degree of composite action of the test panels was also examined in both experimental and analytical studies. Result shows that crack patterns appeared in only one-direction, similar to reports on solid slabs, particularly when both concrete wythes act in a composite manner. Foamed concrete was briefly reviewed and experimental results were compared with the finite element analyses data which gives a reasonable degree of accuracy. Therefore, based on the results obtained, PFCSP slab can be used as an alternative to conventional flooring system.

Keywords: Aspect ratio (L/b), finite element analyses (FEA), foamed concrete (FC), precast foamed concrete sandwich panel (PFCSP), ultimate flexural strength capacity.

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894 Managing Iterations in Product Design and Development

Authors: K. Aravindhan, Trishit Bandyopadhyay, Mahesh Mehendale, Supriya Kumar De

Abstract:

The inherent iterative nature of product design and development poses significant challenge to reduce the product design and development time (PD). In order to shorten the time to market, organizations have adopted concurrent development where multiple specialized tasks and design activities are carried out in parallel. Iterative nature of work coupled with the overlap of activities can result in unpredictable time to completion and significant rework. Many of the products have missed the time to market window due to unanticipated or rather unplanned iteration and rework. The iterative and often overlapped processes introduce greater amounts of ambiguity in design and development, where the traditional methods and tools of project management provide less value. In this context, identifying critical metrics to understand the iteration probability is an open research area where significant contribution can be made given that iteration has been the key driver of cost and schedule risk in PD projects. Two important questions that the proposed study attempts to address are: Can we predict and identify the number of iterations in a product development flow? Can we provide managerial insights for a better control over iteration? The proposal introduces the concept of decision points and using this concept intends to develop metrics that can provide managerial insights into iteration predictability. By characterizing the product development flow as a network of decision points, the proposed research intends to delve further into iteration probability and attempts to provide more clarity.

Keywords: Decision Points, Iteration, Product Design, Rework.

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893 Effect of the Ethanolic Leaf Extract of Ficus exasperata on Biochemical Indices of Albino Mice Experimentally Infected with Plasmodium berghei (NK 65)

Authors: Lebari B. Gboeloh

Abstract:

Ficus exasperata is a plant used in the traditional management of malaria in south-south Nigeria. An investigation into the effects of the ethanolic extract of the leaf of the plant on some biochemical indices in albino mice infected with Plasmodium berghei (NK 65) was conducted. 48 mice with weight range of 13-23 g were grouped into six (A, B, C, D, E, and F). Each group contained 8 mice. Groups A, B, C, D and E were infected with blood containing the parasite. Group F was not infected and served as the normal control. On the 6th day after infection, 4 mice from each group were sacrificed and blood samples are collected for investigation. The remaining mice in each group were treated. Mice in Groups A, B and C were administered orally with 200, 300 and 500 mg/kg body weight of Ficus exasperata respectively for six days. Group D was not treated while Group F was given distilled water. Group E was treated with 5 mg/kg body weight of chloroquine. On the 6th day post treatment, these mice were sacrificed and blood samples were collected for biochemical analysis. The results indicated that on the 6th day post inoculation, the levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) in all the mice infected with the parasite were significantly (p < 0.05) elevated. However, on the 6th day post administration of extract, the increased levels of AST, ALP and ALT were significantly (p < 0.05) reduced in groups administered with 300 and 500 mg/kg body weight of the extract compared with groups D and F. The reduction in the levels of these enzymes is an indication that F. exasperata have no hepatotoxic effect on the mice at the dose levels administered.

Keywords: Ficus exasperata, albino mice, Plasmodium berghei, biochemical parameters.

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892 Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Management at the Montfort Hospital

Authors: Kay-Anne Haykal, Issack Biyong

Abstract:

The post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) rises from exposure to a traumatic event and appears by a persistent experience of this event. Several psychiatric co-morbidities are associated with PTSD and include mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and substance abuse. The main objective was to compare the criteria for PTSD according to the literature to those used to diagnose a patient in a francophone hospital and to check the correspondence of these two criteria. 700 medical charts of admitted patients on the medicine or psychiatric unit at the Montfort Hospital were identified with the following diagnoses: major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, substance abuse, and PTSD for the period of time between April 2005 and March 2006. Multiple demographic criteria were assembled. Also, for every chart analyzed, the PTSD criteria, according to the Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) IV were found, identified, and grouped according to pre-established codes. An analysis using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) method was elaborated for the study of data. A sample of 57 women and 50 men was studied. Age was varying between 18 and 88 years with a median age of 48. According to the PTSD criteria in the DSM IV, 12 patients should have the diagnosis of PTSD in opposition to only two identified in the medical charts. The ROC method establishes that with the combination of data from PTSD and depression, the sensitivity varies between 0,127 and 0,282, and the specificity varies between 0,889 and 0,917. Otherwise, if we examine the PTSD data alone, the sensibility jumps to 0.50, and the specificity varies between 0,781 and 0,895. This study confirms the presence of an underdiagnosed and treated PTSD that causes severe perturbations for the affected individual.

Keywords: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, diagnosis, co-morbidities, mental health disorders.

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