Search results for: small group
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 2876

Search results for: small group

1496 Amine Solution Recovery Package and Controlling Corrosion in Regeneration Tower

Authors: A.Atash J ameh

Abstract:

Sarkhoon gas plant, located in south of Iran, has been installed to removal H2S contained in a high pressure natural gas stream. The solvent used for the H2S removal from gaseous stream is 34% by weight (wt%) Di-ethanol amine (DEA) solutions. Due to increasing concentration of heat stable salt (HSS) in solvent, corrosivity of amine solution had been increased. Reports indicated that there was corrosion on the shell of regeneration column. Because source formation of HSS was unknown, we decided to control the amount of HSS at the limit less than 3% wt amine solvent. Therefore, two small columns were filled by strong anionic base and carbon active, and then polluted amine was passed through beds. Finally a temporary amine recovery package on industrial scale was made based on laboratory’s results. From economical point of view we could save $700000 beside corrosion occurrence of the stripping column has been vigorously decreased.

Keywords: Amines, corrosion, heat stable salt, resin anionic.

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1495 Using Ultrasonic and Infrared Sensors for Distance Measurement

Authors: Tarek Mohammad

Abstract:

The amplitude response of infrared (IR) sensors depends on the reflectance properties of the target. Therefore, in order to use IR sensor for measuring distances accurately, prior knowledge of the surface must be known. This paper describes the Phong Illumination Model for determining the properties of a surface and subsequently calculating the distance to the surface. The angular position of the IR sensor is computed as normal to the surface for simplifying the calculation. Ultrasonic (US) sensor can provide the initial information on distance to obtain the parameters for this method. In addition, the experimental results obtained by using LabView are discussed. More care should be taken when placing the objects from the sensors during acquiring data since the small change in angle could show very different distance than the actual one. Since stereo camera vision systems do not perform well under some environmental conditions such as plain wall, glass surfaces, or poor lighting conditions, the IR and US sensors can be used additionally to improve the overall vision systems of mobile robots.

Keywords: Distance Measurement, Infrared sensor, Surface properties, Ultrasonic sensor.

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1494 Dynamic Analysis of Offshore 2-HUS/U Parallel Platform

Authors: Xie Kefeng, Zhang He

Abstract:

For the stability and control demand of offshore small floating platform, a 2-HUS/U parallel mechanism was presented as offshore platform. Inverse kinematics was obtained by institutional constraint equation, and the dynamic model of offshore 2-HUS/U parallel platform was derived based on rigid body’s Lagrangian method. The equivalent moment of inertia, damping and driving force/torque variation of offshore 2-HUS/U parallel platform were analyzed. A numerical example shows that, for parallel platform of given motion, system’s equivalent inertia changes 1.25 times maximally. During the movement of platform, they change dramatically with the system configuration and have coupling characteristics. The maximum equivalent drive torque is 800 N. At the same time, the curve of platform’s driving force/torque is smooth and has good sine features. The control system needs to be adjusted according to kinetic equation during stability and control and it provides a basis for the optimization of control system.

Keywords: 2-HUS/U platform, Dynamics, Lagrange, Parallel platform.

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1493 Thermal and Flammability Properties of Paraffin/Nanoclay Composite Phase Change Materials Incorporated in Building Materials for Thermal Energy Storage

Authors: Awni H. Alkhazaleh, Baljinder K. Kandola

Abstract:

In this study, a form-stable composite Paraffin/Nanoclay (PA-NC) has been prepared by absorbing PA into porous particles of NC to be used for low-temperature latent heat thermal energy storage. The leakage test shows that the maximum mass fraction of PA that can be incorporated in NC without leakage is 60 wt.%. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) has been used to measure the thermal properties of the PA and PA-NC both before and after incorporation in plasterboard (PL). The mechanical performance of the samples has been evaluated in flexural mode. The thermal energy storage performance has been studied using a small test chamber (100 mm × 100 mm × 100 mm) made from 10 mm thick PL and measuring the temperatures using thermocouples. The flammability of the PL+PL-NC has been discussed using a cone calorimeter. The results indicate that the form composite PA has good potential for use as thermal energy storage materials in building applications.

Keywords: Flammability, paraffin, plasterboard, thermal energy storage.

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1492 Assessing and Visualizing the Stability of Feature Selectors: A Case Study with Spectral Data

Authors: R.Guzman-Martinez, Oscar Garcia-Olalla, R.Alaiz-Rodriguez

Abstract:

Feature selection plays an important role in applications with high dimensional data. The assessment of the stability of feature selection/ranking algorithms becomes an important issue when the dataset is small and the aim is to gain insight into the underlying process by analyzing the most relevant features. In this work, we propose a graphical approach that enables to analyze the similarity between feature ranking techniques as well as their individual stability. Moreover, it works with whatever stability metric (Canberra distance, Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, Kuncheva's stability index,...). We illustrate this visualization technique evaluating the stability of several feature selection techniques on a spectral binary dataset. Experimental results with a neural-based classifier show that stability and ranking quality may not be linked together and both issues have to be studied jointly in order to offer answers to the domain experts.

Keywords: Feature Selection Stability, Spectral data, Data visualization

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1491 Performance and Emission Study of Linseed Oilas a Fuel for CI Engine

Authors: Ashutosh Kumar Rai, Naveen Kumar, Bhupendra Singh Chauhan

Abstract:

Increased energy demand and the concern about environment friendly technology, renewable bio-fuels are better alternative to petroleum products. In the present study linseed oil was used as alternative source for diesel engine fuel and the results were compared with baseline data of neat diesel. Performance parameters such as brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) and emissions parameters such as CO, unburned hydro carbon (UBHC), NOx, CO2 and exhaust temperature were compared. BTE of the engine was lower and BSFC was higher when the engine was fueled with Linseed oil compared to diesel fuel. Emission characteristics are better than diesel fuel. NOx formation by using linseed oil during the experiment was lower than diesel fuel. Linseed oil is non edible oil, so it can be used as an extender of diesel fuel energy source for small and medium energy needs.

Keywords: Bio-fuel, exhaust emission, linseed oil, triglyceride.

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1490 An Enhanced Situational Awareness of AUV's Mission by Multirate Neural Control

Authors: Igor Astrov, Mikhail Pikkov

Abstract:

This paper focuses on a critical component of the situational awareness (SA), the neural control of depth flight of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). Constant depth flight is a challenging but important task for AUVs to achieve high level of autonomy under adverse conditions. With the SA strategy, we proposed a multirate neural control of an AUV trajectory using neural network model reference controller for a nontrivial mid-small size AUV "r2D4" stochastic model. This control system has been demonstrated and evaluated by simulation of diving maneuvers using software package Simulink. From the simulation results it can be seen that the chosen AUV model is stable in the presence of high noise, and also can be concluded that the fast SA of similar AUV systems with economy in energy of batteries can be asserted during the underwater missions in search-and-rescue operations.

Keywords: Autonomous underwater vehicles, multirate systems, neurocontrollers, situational awareness.

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1489 Short-Path Near-Infrared Laser Detection of Environmental Gases by Wavelength-Modulation Spectroscopy

Authors: Isao Tomita

Abstract:

The detection of environmental gases, 12CO2, 13CO2, and CH4, using near-infrared semiconductor lasers with a short laser path length is studied by means of wavelength-modulation spectroscopy. The developed system is compact and has high sensitivity enough to detect the absorption peaks of isotopic 13CO2 of a 3-% CO2 gas at 2 μm with a path length of 2.4 m, where its peak size is two orders of magnitude smaller than that of the ordinary 12CO2 peaks. In addition, the detection of 12CO2 peaks of a 385-ppm (0.0385-%) CO2 gas in the air is made at 2 μm with a path length of 1.4 m. Furthermore, in pursuing the detection of an ancient environmental CH4 gas confined to a bubble in ice at the polar regions, measurements of the absorption spectrum for a trace gas of CH4 in a small area are attempted. For a 100-% CH4 gas trapped in a ∼ 1 mm3 glass container, the absorption peaks of CH4 are obtained at 1.65 μm with a path length of 3 mm, and also the gas pressure is extrapolated from the measured data.

Keywords: Environmental Gases, Near-Infrared Laser Detection, Wavelength-Modulation Spectroscopy.

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1488 Measuring the Level of Housing Defects in the Build-Then-Sell Housing Delivery System

Authors: S. N. F. Mohd Fauzi, N. Yusof, N. Zainul Abidin

Abstract:

When the Malaysian government announced the implementation of the Build-Then-Sell (BTS) system in 2007, the proponents of the BTS have argued that the implementation of this new system may provide houses with low defects. However, there has been no empirical data to support their argument. Therefore, this study is conducted to measure the level of housing defects in the BTS housing delivery system. A survey was conducted to the occupiers in six BTS residential areas. The BTS residential areas have been identified through the media and because of the small number of population, all households in the BTS residential areas were required to participate in the study to enable the researcher to collect the data concerning defects. Questionnaire had been employed as the data collection instrument and was distributed to the respondents of this study. The result has shown that the level of defects in the BTS houses is low, as the rate of defects for all elements are slight. Such low level of defects has apparently only affected the aesthetic value of the houses.

Keywords: Build-Then-Sell houses, housing defects, residentialareas, occupiers

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1487 Two DEA Based Ant Algorithms for CMS Problems

Authors: Hossein Ali Akbarpour, Fatemeh Dadkhah

Abstract:

This paper considers a multi criteria cell formation problem in Cellular Manufacturing System (CMS). Minimizing the number of voids and exceptional elements in cells simultaneously are two proposed objective functions. This problem is an Np-hard problem according to the literature, and therefore, we can-t find the optimal solution by an exact method. In this paper we developed two ant algorithms, Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) and Max-Min Ant System (MMAS), based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Both of them try to find the efficient solutions based on efficiency concept in DEA. Each artificial ant is considered as a Decision Making Unit (DMU). For each DMU we considered two inputs, the values of objective functions, and one output, the value of one for all of them. In order to evaluate performance of proposed methods we provided an experimental design with some empirical problem in three different sizes, small, medium and large. We defined three different criteria that show which algorithm has the best performance.

Keywords: Ant algorithm, Cellular manufacturing system, Data envelopment analysis, Efficiency

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1486 Three-Dimensional Numerical Simulation of Drops Suspended in Poiseuille Flow: Effect of Reynolds Number

Authors: A. Nourbakhsh

Abstract:

A finite difference/front tracking method is used to study the motion of three-dimensional deformable drops suspended in plane Poiseuille flow at non-zero Reynolds numbers. A parallel version of the code was used to study the behavior of suspension on a reasonable grid resolution (grids). The viscosity and density of drops are assumed to be equal to that of the suspending medium. The effect of the Reynolds number is studied in detail. It is found that drops with small deformation behave like rigid particles and migrate to an equilibrium position about half way between the wall and the centerline (the Segre-Silberberg effect). However, for highly deformable drops there is a tendency for drops to migrate to the middle of the channel, and the maximum concentration occurs at the centerline. The effective viscosity of suspension and the fluctuation energy of the flow across the channel increases with the Reynolds number of the flow.

Keywords: Suspensions, Poiseuille flow, Effective viscosity, Reynolds number.

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1485 Considering Aerosol Processes in Nuclear Transport Package Containment Safety Cases

Authors: Andrew Cummings, Rhianne Boag, Sarah Bryson, Gordon Turner

Abstract:

Packages designed for transport of radioactive material must satisfy rigorous safety regulations specified by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Higher Activity Waste (HAW) transport packages have to maintain containment of their contents during normal and accident conditions of transport (NCT and ACT). To ensure containment criteria is satisfied these packages are required to be leak-tight in all transport conditions to meet allowable activity release rates. Package design safety reports are the safety cases that provide the claims, evidence and arguments to demonstrate that packages meet the regulations and once approved by the competent authority (in the UK this is the Office for Nuclear Regulation) a licence to transport radioactive material is issued for the package(s). The standard approach to demonstrating containment in the RWM transport safety case is set out in BS EN ISO 12807. In this document a method for measuring a leak rate from the package is explained by way of a small interspace test volume situated between two O-ring seals on the underside of the package lid. The interspace volume is pressurised and a pressure drop measured. A small interspace test volume makes the method more sensitive enabling the measurement of smaller leak rates. By ascertaining the activity of the contents, identifying a releasable fraction of material and by treating that fraction of material as a gas, allowable leak rates for NCT and ACT are calculated. The adherence to basic safety principles in ISO12807 is very pessimistic and current practice in the demonstration of transport safety, which is accepted by the UK regulator. It is UK government policy that management of HAW will be through geological disposal. It is proposed that the intermediate level waste be transported to the geological disposal facility (GDF) in large cuboid packages. This poses a challenge for containment demonstration because such packages will have long seals and therefore large interspace test volumes. There is also uncertainty on the releasable fraction of material within the package ullage space. This is because the waste may be in many different forms which makes it difficult to define the fraction of material released by the waste package. Additionally because of the large interspace test volume, measuring the calculated leak rates may not be achievable. For this reason a justification for a lower releasable fraction of material is sought. This paper considers the use of aerosol processes to reduce the releasable fraction for both NCT and ACT. It reviews the basic coagulation and removal processes and applies the dynamic aerosol balance equation. The proposed solution includes only the most well understood physical processes namely; Brownian coagulation and gravitational settling. Other processes have been eliminated either on the basis that they would serve to reduce the release to the environment further (pessimistically in keeping with the essence of nuclear transport safety cases) or that they are not credible in the conditions of transport considered.

Keywords: Aerosol processes, Brownian coagulation, gravitational settling, transport regulations.

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1484 A Methodology for Quality Problems Diagnosis in SMEs

Authors: Humberto N. Teixeira, Isabel S. Lopes, Sérgio D. Sousa

Abstract:

This article proposes a new methodology to be used by SMEs (Small and Medium enterprises) to characterize their performance in quality, highlighting weaknesses and area for improvement. The methodology aims to identify the principal causes of quality problems and help to prioritize improvement initiatives. This is a self-assessment methodology that intends to be easy to implement by companies with low maturity level in quality. The methodology is organized in six different steps which includes gathering information about predetermined processes and subprocesses of quality management, defined based on the well-known Juran-s trilogy for quality management (Quality planning, quality control and quality improvement) and, predetermined results categories, defined based on quality concept. A set of tools for data collecting and analysis, such as interviews, flowcharts, process analysis diagrams and Failure Mode and effects Analysis (FMEA) are used. The article also presents the conclusions obtained in the application of the methodology in two cases studies.

Keywords: Continuous improvement, Diagnosis, Quality Management, Self-assessment, SMEs

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1483 The use of a Bespoke Computer Game For Teaching Analogue Electronics

Authors: Olaf Hallan Graven, Dag Andreas Hals Samuelsen

Abstract:

An implementation of a design for a game based virtual learning environment is described. The game is developed for a course in analogue electronics, and the topic is the design of a power supply. This task can be solved in a number of different ways, with certain constraints, giving the students a certain amount of freedom, although the game is designed not to facilitate trial-and error approach. The use of storytelling and a virtual gaming environment provides the student with the learning material in a MMORPG environment. The game is tested on a group of second year electrical engineering students with good results.

Keywords: analogue electronics, e-learning, computer games for learning, virtual reality

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1482 Military Families’ Attachment to the Royal Guards Community of Dusit District, Bangkok Metropolitan

Authors: Kaniknun Photchong, Phusit Phukamchanoad

Abstract:

The objective of this research is to study the people’s level of participation in activities of the community, their satisfaction towards the community, the attachment they have to the community, factors that influence the attachment, as well as the characteristics of the relationships of military families’ of the Royal Guards community of Dusit District. The method used was non-probability sampling by quota sampling according to people’s age. The determined age group was 18 years or older.

One set of a sample group was done per family. The questionnaires were conducted by 287 people. Snowball sampling was also used by interviewing people of the community, starting from the Royal Guards Community’s leader, then by 20 of the community’s well-respected persons. The data was analyzed by using descriptive statistics, such as arithmetic mean and standard deviation, as well as by inferential statistics, such as Independent - Samples T test (T-test), One-Way ANOVA (F-test), Chi-Square. Descriptive analysis according to the structure of the interview content was also used. The results of the research is that the participation of the population in the Royal Guards Community in various activities is at a medium level, with the average participation level during Mother’s and Father’s Days. The people’s general level of satisfaction towards the premises of the Royal Guards Community is at the highest level.

The people were most satisfied with the transportation within the community and in contacting with people from outside the premises. The access to the community is convenient and there are various entrances. The attachment of the people to the Royal Guards Community in general and by each category is at a high level. The feeling that the community is their home rated the highest average. Factors that influence the attachment of the people of the Royal Guards Community are age, status, profession, income, length of stay in the community, membership of social groups, having neighbors they feel close and familiar with, and as well as the benefits they receive from the community. In addition, it was found that people that participate in activities have a high level of positive relationship towards the attachment of the people to the Royal Guards Community. The satisfaction of the community has a very high level of positive relationship with the attachment of the people to the Royal Guards Community.

The characteristics of the attachment of military families’ is that they live in big houses that everyone has to protect and care for, starting from the leader of the family as well as all members. Therefore, they all love the community they live in. The characteristics that show the participation of activities within the community and the high level of satisfaction towards the premises of the community will enable the people to be more attached to the community. The people feel that everyone is close neighbors within the community, as if they are one big family.

Keywords: Activities, Attachment, Community, Royal Guards, Satisfaction.

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1481 Transient Stability Improvement in Multi-Machine System Using Power System Stabilizer (PSS) and Static Var Compensator (SVC)

Authors: Khoshnaw Khalid Hama Saleh, Ergun Ercelebi

Abstract:

Increasingly complex modern power systems require stability, especially for transient and small disturbances. Transient stability plays a major role in stability during fault and large disturbance. This paper compares a power system stabilizer (PSS) and static Var compensator (SVC) to improve damping oscillation and enhance transient stability. The effectiveness of a PSS connected to the exciter and/or governor in damping electromechanical oscillations of isolated synchronous generator was tested. The SVC device is a member of the shunt FACTS (flexible alternating current transmission system) family, utilized in power transmission systems. The designed model was tested with a multi-machine system consisting of four machines six bus, using MATLAB/SIMULINK software. The results obtained indicate that SVC solutions are better than PSS.

Keywords: FACTS, MATLAB/SIMULINK, multi-machine system, PSS, SVC, transient stability.

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1480 Technological Development and Implementation of a Robotic Arm Motioned by Programmable Logic Controller

Authors: J. G. Batista, L. J. de Bessa Neto, M. A. F. B. Lima, J. R. Leite, J. I. de Andrade Nunes

Abstract:

The robot manipulator is an equipment that stands out for two reasons: Firstly because of its characteristics of movement and reprogramming, resembling the arm; secondly, by adding several areas of knowledge of science and engineering. The present work shows the development of the prototype of a robotic manipulator driven by a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), having two degrees of freedom, which allows the movement and displacement of mechanical parts, tools, and objects in general of small size, through an electronic system. The aim is to study direct and inverse kinematics of the robotic manipulator to describe the translation and rotation between two adjacent links of the robot through the Denavit-Hartenberg parameters. Currently, due to the many resources that microcomputer systems offer us, robotics is going through a period of continuous growth that will allow, in a short time, the development of intelligent robots with the capacity to perform operations that require flexibility, speed and precision.

Keywords: Direct and inverse kinematics, Denavit-Hartenberg, microcontrollers, robotic manipulator.

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1479 Throughput Enhancement in AUDTWMN Using Throwboxes – An Overview

Authors: Laveen Sundararaj, Palanisamy Vellaiyan

Abstract:

Delay and Disruption Tolerant Networking is part of the Inter Planetary Internet with primary application being Deep Space Networks. Its Terrestrial form has interesting research applications such as Alagappa University Delay Tolerant Water Monitoring Network which doubles as test beds for improvising its routing scheme. DTNs depend on node mobility to deliver packets using a store-carry-and forward paradigm. Throwboxes are small and inexpensive stationary devices equipped with wireless interfaces and storage. We propose the use of Throwboxes to enhance the contact opportunities of the nodes and hence improve the Throughput. The enhancement is evaluated using Alunivdtnsim, a desktop simulator in C language and the results are graphically presented.

Keywords: Alunivdtnsim – Alagappa University Delay TolerantNetwork Simulator, AUDTWMN- Alagappa University DelayTolerant Water Monitoring Network, DTN - Delay and DisruptionTolerant Networking, LTP – Lick Lider Transmission Protocol.

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1478 Tutoring between “The Can Do” and “The Have to Do”: The Case of Batna 2 University, Algeria

Authors: Radia Guerza

Abstract:

Tutoring in the Algerian university has been an issue of great controversy and debate. Henceforth, the current paper is an attempt to shed light on the issue of tutoring at the Algerian university. It aims to set a plan for tutoring that might meet the students’ needs and challenges. It endeavors to explore the viability of tutoring in the Algerian university between “The Can Do” and “The Have to Do”. To equate with the addressed research question, an exploratory small-scale study has been carried out at Batna 2 University using questionnaires and interviews with 50 teachers. Results indicate that the Algerian university is still lagging behind because of the huge lack of infrastructure means, human resources, and even pedagogical resources. In addition, the majority of our teachers are reluctant to adhere to the tutorial policy due to the lack of incentives; next to that the yearly increasing number of students and students’ high ratio would hardly permit any tutoring sessions. Finally, this paper is an attempt towards raising the awareness of our institution, staff members, teachers and students towards the importance of tutoring and how to adopt it. 

Keywords: higher education, tutoring, tutoring awareness, tutoring policy

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1477 Novel Process Formulation of Multiple Unit Tablet of Pantoprazole

Authors: Vipin Saini, Sunil Kamboj, Suman Bala, A. Pandurangan

Abstract:

The present invention relates to multiple-unit tablet dosage forms, which is composed of several subunits (multiparticulates/pellets). Each small multiparticulate further composed of many layers. Some layer contains drug substance; others are rate controlling polymer. The resulting multiple-unit tablet dosage forms of pantoprazole were satisfactory fabricated. Pelletization technique has some advantages over coated tablet formulation. In coated tablet the coating may be damaged and a pinhole possibly formed that would result in increased release of drug in stomach and may be deactivated in stomach juices. If the coat of some pellets may be damaged that would not affect the release properties of the multiple-unit tablet. Hence they are beneficial in this aspect. The results confirmed the successful preparation of stable and bioequivalent once daily controlled release multiple-unit tablets of pantoprazole.

Keywords: Controlled release, multiple unit tablets, pantoprazole, pelletization.

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1476 Effect of Preheating Temperature and Chamber Pressure on the Properties of Porous NiTi Alloy Prepared by SHS Technique

Authors: Wisutmethangoon S., Denmud N., Sikong L.

Abstract:

The fabrication of porous NiTi shape memory alloys (SMAs) from elemental powder compacts was conducted by selfpropagating high temperature synthesis (SHS). Effects of the preheating temperature and the chamber pressure on the combustion characteristics as well as the final morphology and the composition of products were studied. The samples with porosity between 56.4 and 59.0% under preheating temperature in the range of 200-300°C and Ar-gas chamber pressure of 138 and 201 kPa were obtained. The pore structures were found to be dissimilar only in the samples processed with different preheating temperature. The major phase in the porous product is NiTi with small amounts of secondary phases, NiTi2 and Ni4Ti3. The preheating temperature and the chamber pressure have very little effect on the phase constituent. While the combustion temperature of the sample was notably increased by increasing the preheating temperature, they were slightly changed by varying the chamber pressure.

Keywords: Combustion synthesis, porous materials, self propagating high temperature synthesis, shape memory alloy.

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1475 Modeling and Control of a Quadrotor UAV with Aerodynamic Concepts

Authors: Wei Dong, Guo-Ying Gu, Xiangyang Zhu, Han Ding

Abstract:

This paper presents preliminary results on modeling and control of a quadrotor UAV. With aerodynamic concepts, a mathematical model is firstly proposed to describe the dynamics of the quadrotor UAV. Parameters of this model are identified by experiments with Matlab Identify Toolbox. A group of PID controllers are then designed based on the developed model. To verify the developed model and controllers, simulations and experiments for altitude control, position control and trajectory tracking are carried out. The results show that the quadrotor UAV well follows the referenced commands, which clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Keywords: Quadrotor UAV, Modeling, Control, Aerodynamics, System Identification.

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1474 Information Technology and Business Alignments among Different Divisions: A Comparative Analysis of Japan and South Korea

Authors: Michiko Miyamoto

Abstract:

This paper empirically investigates whether information technology (IT) strategies, business strategies, and divisions are aligned to meet overall business goals for Korean Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), based on structure based Strategic Alignment Model, and make comparison with those of Japanese SMEs. Using 2,869 valid responses of Korean Human Capital Corporate Panel survey, a result of this study suggests that Korean human resources (HR) departments have a major influence over IT strategy, which is the same as Japanese SMEs, even though their management styles are quite different. As for IT strategy, it is not related to other departments at all for Korean SMEs. The Korean management seems to possess a great power over each division, such as Sales/Service, Research and Development/Technical Experts, HR, and Production.

Keywords: IT-business alignment, structured based strategic alignment model, structural equation model, human resources department.

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1473 Design of Power System Stabilizer Based on Sliding Mode Control Theory for Multi- Machine Power System

Authors: Hossein Shahinzadeh, Ladan Darougaran, Ebrahim Jalili Sani, Hamed Yavari, Mahdi Mozaffari Legha

Abstract:

This paper present a new method for design of power system stabilizer (PSS) based on sliding mode control (SMC) technique. The control objective is to enhance stability and improve the dynamic response of the multi-machine power system. In order to test effectiveness of the proposed scheme, simulation will be carried out to analyze the small signal stability characteristics of the system about the steady state operating condition following the change in reference mechanical torque and also parameters uncertainties. For comparison, simulation of a conventional control PSS (lead-lag compensation type) will be carried out. The main approach is focusing on the control performance which later proven to have the degree of shorter reaching time and lower spike.

Keywords: Power system stabilizer (PSS), multi-machine power system, sliding mode control

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1472 Optimization of Transmitter Aperture by Genetic Algorithm in Optical Satellite

Authors: Karim Kemih, Yacine Yaiche, Malek Benslama

Abstract:

To establish optical communication between any two satellites, the transmitter satellite must track the beacon of the receiver satellite and point the information optical beam in its direction. Optical tracking and pointing systems for free space suffer during tracking from high-amplitude vibration because of background radiation from interstellar objects such as the Sun, Moon, Earth, and stars in the tracking field of view or the mechanical impact from satellite internal and external sources. The vibrations of beam pointing increase the bit error rate and jam communication between the two satellites. One way to overcome this problem is the use of very small transmitter beam divergence angles of too narrow divergence angle is that the transmitter beam may sometimes miss the receiver satellite, due to pointing vibrations. In this paper we propose the use of genetic algorithm to optimize the BER as function of transmitter optics aperture.

Keywords: Optical Satellite Communication, Genetic Algorithm, Transmitter Optics Aperture

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1471 Correlation-based Feature Selection using Ant Colony Optimization

Authors: M. Sadeghzadeh, M. Teshnehlab

Abstract:

Feature selection has recently been the subject of intensive research in data mining, specially for datasets with a large number of attributes. Recent work has shown that feature selection can have a positive effect on the performance of machine learning algorithms. The success of many learning algorithms in their attempts to construct models of data, hinges on the reliable identification of a small set of highly predictive attributes. The inclusion of irrelevant, redundant and noisy attributes in the model building process phase can result in poor predictive performance and increased computation. In this paper, a novel feature search procedure that utilizes the Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) is presented. The ACO is a metaheuristic inspired by the behavior of real ants in their search for the shortest paths to food sources. It looks for optimal solutions by considering both local heuristics and previous knowledge. When applied to two different classification problems, the proposed algorithm achieved very promising results.

Keywords: Ant colony optimization, Classification, Datamining, Feature selection.

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1470 Enhancing the Error-Correcting Performance of LDPC Codes through an Efficient Use of Decoding Iterations

Authors: Insah Bhurtah, P. Clarel Catherine, K. M. Sunjiv Soyjaudah

Abstract:

The decoding of Low-Density Parity-Check (LDPC) codes is operated over a redundant structure known as the bipartite graph, meaning that the full set of bit nodes is not absolutely necessary for decoder convergence. In 2008, Soyjaudah and Catherine designed a recovery algorithm for LDPC codes based on this assumption and showed that the error-correcting performance of their codes outperformed conventional LDPC Codes. In this work, the use of the recovery algorithm is further explored to test the performance of LDPC codes while the number of iterations is progressively increased. For experiments conducted with small blocklengths of up to 800 bits and number of iterations of up to 2000, the results interestingly demonstrate that contrary to conventional wisdom, the error-correcting performance keeps increasing with increasing number of iterations.

Keywords: Error-correcting codes, information theory, low-density parity-check codes, sum-product algorithm.

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1469 Queen-bee Algorithm for Energy Efficient Clusters in Wireless Sensor Networks

Authors: Z. Pooranian, A. Barati, A. Movaghar

Abstract:

Wireless sensor networks include small nodes which have sensing ability; calculation and connection extend themselves everywhere soon. Such networks have source limitation on connection, calculation and energy consumption. So, since the nodes have limited energy in sensor networks, the optimized energy consumption in these networks is of more importance and has created many challenges. The previous works have shown that by organizing the network nodes in a number of clusters, the energy consumption could be reduced considerably. So the lifetime of the network would be increased. In this paper, we used the Queen-bee algorithm to create energy efficient clusters in wireless sensor networks. The Queen-bee (QB) is similar to nature in that the queen-bee plays a major role in reproduction process. The QB is simulated with J-sim simulator. The results of the simulation showed that the clustering by the QB algorithm decreases the energy consumption with regard to the other existing algorithms and increases the lifetime of the network.

Keywords: Queen-bee, sensor network, energy efficient, clustering.

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1468 Synthesis, Characterization and PL Properties of Cds Nanoparticles Confined within a Functionalized SBA-15 Mesoprous

Authors: Azam Anaraki Firooz, Ali Reza Mahjoub, Reza Donyaei Ziba

Abstract:

A simple and dexterous in situ method was introduced to load CdS nanocrystals into organofunctionalized mesoporous, which used an ion-exchange method. The products were extensively characterized by combined spectroscopic methods. X- ray diffraction (XRD) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) demonstrated both the maintenance of pore symmetry (space group p6mm) of SBA-15 and the presence of CdS nanocrystals with uniform sizes of about 6 - 8 nm inside the functionalized SBA-15 channels. These mesoporous silica-supported CdS composites showed room temperature photoluminescence properties with a blue shift, indicating the quantum size effect of nanocrystalline CdS.

Keywords: Semiconductors, luminescence, mesoporous material, CdS.

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1467 Sub-Image Detection Using Fast Neural Processors and Image Decomposition

Authors: Hazem M. El-Bakry, Qiangfu Zhao

Abstract:

In this paper, an approach to reduce the computation steps required by fast neural networksfor the searching process is presented. The principle ofdivide and conquer strategy is applied through imagedecomposition. Each image is divided into small in sizesub-images and then each one is tested separately usinga fast neural network. The operation of fast neuralnetworks based on applying cross correlation in thefrequency domain between the input image and theweights of the hidden neurons. Compared toconventional and fast neural networks, experimentalresults show that a speed up ratio is achieved whenapplying this technique to locate human facesautomatically in cluttered scenes. Furthermore, fasterface detection is obtained by using parallel processingtechniques to test the resulting sub-images at the sametime using the same number of fast neural networks. Incontrast to using only fast neural networks, the speed upratio is increased with the size of the input image whenusing fast neural networks and image decomposition.

Keywords: Fast Neural Networks, 2D-FFT, CrossCorrelation, Image decomposition, Parallel Processing.

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