Search results for: High quality
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 7973

Search results for: High quality

6413 Real-Time Defects Detection Algorithm for High-Speed Steel Bar in Coil

Authors: Se Ho Choi, Jong Pil Yun, Boyeul Seo, YoungSu Park, Sang Woo Kim

Abstract:

This paper presents a real-time defect detection algorithm for high-speed steel bar in coil. Because the target speed is very high, proposed algorithm should process quickly the large volumes of image for real-time processing. Therefore, defect detection algorithm should satisfy two conflicting requirements of reducing the processing time and improving the efficiency of defect detection. To enhance performance of detection, edge preserving method is suggested for noise reduction of target image. Finally, experiment results show that the proposed algorithm guarantees the condition of the real-time processing and accuracy of detection.

Keywords: Defect detection, edge preserving filter, real-time image processing, surface inspection.

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6412 Simulation of Climate Variability for Assessing Impacts on Yield and Genetic Change of Thai Soybean

Authors: Kanita Thanacharoenchanaphas, Orose Rugchati

Abstract:

This study assessed the effects of climate change on Thai soybeans under simulation situations. Our study is focused on temperature variability and effects on growth, yield, and genetic changes in 2 generations of Chiang Mai 60 cultivars. In the experiment, soybeans were exposed to 3 levels of air temperature for 8 h day-1 in an open top chamber for 2 cropping periods. Air temperature levels in each treatment were controlled at 30-33°C (± 2.3) for LT-treatment, 33-36°C ( ± 2.4) for AT-treatment, and 36-40 °C ( ± 3.2) for HT-treatment, respectively. Positive effects of high temperature became obvious at the maturing stage when yield significantly increased in both cropping periods. Results in growth indicated that shoot length at the pre-maturing stage (V3-R3) was more positively affected by high temperature than at the maturing stage. However, the positive effect on growth under high temperature was not found in the 2nd cropping period. Finally, genetic changes were examined in phenotype characteristics by the AFLPs technique. The results showed that the high temperature factor clearly caused genetic change in the soybeans and showed more alteration in the 2nd cropping period.

Keywords: simulation, air temperature, variability, Thai soybean, yield , genetic change

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6411 Ranking of Performance Measures of GSCM towards Sustainability: Using Analytic Hierarchy Process

Authors: Dixit Garg, S. Luthra, A. Haleem

Abstract:

During recent years, the natural environment has become a challenging topic that business organizations must consider due to the economic and ecological impacts and increasing awareness of environment protection among society. Organizations are trying to achieve the goals of improvement in environment, low cost, high quality, flexibility and more customer satisfaction. Performance measurement frameworks are very useful to monitor the performance of any organization. The basic goal of this paper is to identify performance measures and ranking of these performance measures of GSCM performance measurement towards sustainability framework. Five perspectives (Environment, Economic, Social, Operational and Cost performances) and nineteen performance measures of GSCM performance towards sustainability have been have been identified from extensive literature review. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique has been utilized for ranking of these performance perspectives and measures. All pair comparisons in AHP have been made on the basis on the experts’ opinions (selected from academia and industry). Ranking of these performance perspectives and measures will help to understand the importance of environmental, economic, social, operational performances and cost performances in the supply chain.

Keywords: Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), Green Supply Chain Management, Performance Measures (PM), Sustainability.

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6410 In-flight Meals, Passengers- Level of Satisfaction and Re-flying Intention

Authors: Mohd Zahari, M. S, Salleh, N. K., Kamaruddin, M. S. Y, Kutut, M. Z.

Abstract:

Service quality has become a centerpiece for airline companies in vying with one another and keeps their image in the minds of passengers. Many airlines have pushed service quality through service personalization which includes both ground and on board especially from the viewpoint of retaining satisfied passengers and attracting new ones. Besides those, in-flight meals/food service is another important aspect of the airline operation. The in flight meals/food services now are seen as part of marketing strategies in attracting business or leisure travelers. This study reports the outcomes of the investigation on in-flight meals/food attributes toward passengers- level of satisfaction and re-flying intention. Taste, freshness, appearance of in-flight meals/food served and menu choices are important to the airlines passengers especially for the long haul flight. Food not only contributes to the prediction of the airline passengers- levels of satisfaction but besides other factors slightly influence passengers- re- flying intention. Airline companies therefore should not ignore this element but take the opportunity to create more attractive and acceptable in-flight meals/food along with other matter as marketing tools in attracting passengers to re-flying with them.

Keywords: In-flight meal, passengers, satisfaction, re-flying and intention

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6409 Bandwidth Efficient Diversity Scheme Using STTC Concatenated With STBC: MIMO Systems

Authors: Sameru Sharma, Sanjay Sharma, Derick Engles

Abstract:

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

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

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6408 Constitutive Modeling of Different Types of Concrete under Uniaxial Compression

Authors: Mostafa Jafarian Abyaneh, Khashayar Jafari, Vahab Toufigh

Abstract:

The cost of experiments on different types of concrete has raised the demand for prediction of their behavior with numerical analysis. In this research, an advanced numerical model has been presented to predict the complete elastic-plastic behavior of polymer concrete (PC), high-strength concrete (HSC), high performance concrete (HPC) along with different steel fiber contents under uniaxial compression. The accuracy of the numerical response was satisfactory as compared to other conventional simple models such as Mohr-Coulomb and Drucker-Prager. In order to predict the complete elastic-plastic behavior of specimens including softening behavior, disturbed state concept (DSC) was implemented by nonlinear finite element analysis (NFEA) and hierarchical single surface (HISS) failure criterion, which is a failure surface without any singularity.

Keywords: Disturbed state concept, hierarchical single surface, failure criterion, high performance concrete, high-strength concrete, nonlinear finite element analysis, polymer concrete, steel fibers, uniaxial compression test.

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6407 Ecological Risk Assessment of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in the Northwest of the Persian Gulf

Authors: Ghazaleh Monazami Tehrani, Reza Khani Jazani, Rosli Hashim , Ahmad Savari, Belin Tavakoly Sany, Parastoo Parivar, Zhamak Monazami Tehrani

Abstract:

This study investigated the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the sediments of the Musa Bay (around the PETZONE coastal area) from Feb 2010 to Jun 2010. Concentrations of PAHs recorded in the Musa Bay sediments ranged from 537.89 to 26,659.06 ng/g dry weight with a mean value of 3990.74 ng/g. the highest concentration of PAHs was observed at station 4, which is located near the aromatic outlet of Imam Khomeini petrochemical company (station 4: BI-PC Aromatic effluent outlet) in which its concentration level was more than the NOAA sediment quality guideline value (ERL= 4022 ng/g dry weight). Owing to the concentration of PAHs in the study area, its concentration level was still meet the NOAA sediment quality guideline value (ERL: 4022 ng/g dry weight); however, according to the PELq factor, slightly adverse biological effects are associated with the exposure to PAHs levels in the study area (0.1< PELq= 0.24 > 0.5).

Keywords: Musa Bay, PAHs, PETZONE, NOAA, PELq.

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6406 Adaptive Image Transmission with P-V Diversity in Multihop Wireless Mesh Networks

Authors: Wei Wang, Dongming Peng, Honggang Wang, Hamid Sharif

Abstract:

Multirate multimedia delivery applications in multihop Wireless Mesh Network (WMN) are data redundant and delay-sensitive, which brings a lot of challenges for designing efficient transmission systems. In this paper, we propose a new cross layer resource allocation scheme to minimize the receiver side distortion within the delay bound requirements, by exploring application layer Position and Value (P-V) diversity as well as the multihop Effective Capacity (EC). We specifically consider image transmission optimization here. First of all, the maximum supportable source traffic rate is identified by exploring the multihop Effective Capacity (EC) model. Furthermore, the optimal source coding rate is selected according to the P-V diversity of multirate media streaming, which significantly increases the decoded media quality. Simulation results show the proposed approach improved media quality significantly compared with traditional approaches under the same QoS requirements.

Keywords: Multirate Multimedia Streaming, Effective CapacityMultihop Wireless Mesh Network

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6405 Speaker Identification Using Admissible Wavelet Packet Based Decomposition

Authors: Mangesh S. Deshpande, Raghunath S. Holambe

Abstract:

Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficient (MFCC) features are widely used as acoustic features for speech recognition as well as speaker recognition. In MFCC feature representation, the Mel frequency scale is used to get a high resolution in low frequency region, and a low resolution in high frequency region. This kind of processing is good for obtaining stable phonetic information, but not suitable for speaker features that are located in high frequency regions. The speaker individual information, which is non-uniformly distributed in the high frequencies, is equally important for speaker recognition. Based on this fact we proposed an admissible wavelet packet based filter structure for speaker identification. Multiresolution capabilities of wavelet packet transform are used to derive the new features. The proposed scheme differs from previous wavelet based works, mainly in designing the filter structure. Unlike others, the proposed filter structure does not follow Mel scale. The closed-set speaker identification experiments performed on the TIMIT database shows improved identification performance compared to other commonly used Mel scale based filter structures using wavelets.

Keywords: Speaker identification, Wavelet transform, Feature extraction, MFCC, GMM.

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6404 A Model of Market Segmentation for the Customers of Mellat Bank in Iran

Authors: Nader Gharibnavaz, Hossein Yazdi

Abstract:

If organizations like Mellat Bank want to identify its customer market completely to reach its specified goals, it can segment the market to offer the product package to the right segment. Our objective is to offer a segmentation model for Iran banking market in Mellat bank view. The methodology of this project is combined by “segmentation on the basis of four part-quality variables" and “segmentation on the basis of different in means". Required data are gathered from E-Systems and researcher personal observation. Finally, the research offers the organization that at first step form a four dimensional matrix with 756 segments using four variables named value-based, behavioral, activity style, and activity level, and at the second step calculate the means of profit for every cell of matrix in two distinguished work level (levels α1:normal condition and α2: high pressure condition) and compare the segments by checking two conditions that are 1- homogeneity every segment with its sub segment and 2- heterogeneity with other segments, and so it can do the necessary segmentation process. After all, the last offer (more explained by an operational example and feedback algorithm) is to test and update the model because of dynamic environment, technology, and banking system.

Keywords: market segmentation model, banking system, Mellat bank

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6403 Developing Manufacturing Process for the Graphene Sensors

Authors: Abdullah Faqihi, John Hedley

Abstract:

Biosensors play a significant role in the healthcare sectors, scientific and technological progress. Developing electrodes that are easy to manufacture and deliver better electrochemical performance is advantageous for diagnostics and biosensing. They can be implemented extensively in various analytical tasks such as drug discovery, food safety, medical diagnostics, process controls, security and defence, in addition to environmental monitoring. Development of biosensors aims to create high-performance electrochemical electrodes for diagnostics and biosensing. A biosensor is a device that inspects the biological and chemical reactions generated by the biological sample. A biosensor carries out biological detection via a linked transducer and transmits the biological response into an electrical signal; stability, selectivity, and sensitivity are the dynamic and static characteristics that affect and dictate the quality and performance of biosensors. In this research, a developed experimental study for laser scribing technique for graphene oxide inside a vacuum chamber for processing of graphene oxide is presented. The processing of graphene oxide (GO) was achieved using the laser scribing technique. The effect of the laser scribing on the reduction of GO was investigated under two conditions: atmosphere and vacuum. GO solvent was coated onto a LightScribe DVD. The laser scribing technique was applied to reduce GO layers to generate rGO. The micro-details for the morphological structures of rGO and GO were visualised using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Raman spectroscopy so that they could be examined. The first electrode was a traditional graphene-based electrode model, made under normal atmospheric conditions, whereas the second model was a developed graphene electrode fabricated under a vacuum state using a vacuum chamber. The purpose was to control the vacuum conditions, such as the air pressure and the temperature during the fabrication process. The parameters to be assessed include the layer thickness and the continuous environment. Results presented show high accuracy and repeatability achieving low cost productivity.

Keywords: Laser scribing, LightScribe DVD, graphene oxide, scanning electron microscopy.

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6402 Web Pages Aesthetic Evaluation Using Low-Level Visual Features

Authors: Maryam Mirdehghani, S. Amirhassan Monadjemi

Abstract:

Web sites are rapidly becoming the preferred media choice for our daily works such as information search, company presentation, shopping, and so on. At the same time, we live in a period where visual appearances play an increasingly important role in our daily life. In spite of designers- effort to develop a web site which be both user-friendly and attractive, it would be difficult to ensure the outcome-s aesthetic quality, since the visual appearance is a matter of an individual self perception and opinion. In this study, it is attempted to develop an automatic system for web pages aesthetic evaluation which are the building blocks of web sites. Based on the image processing techniques and artificial neural networks, the proposed method would be able to categorize the input web page according to its visual appearance and aesthetic quality. The employed features are multiscale/multidirectional textural and perceptual color properties of the web pages, fed to perceptron ANN which has been trained as the evaluator. The method is tested using university web sites and the results suggested that it would perform well in the web page aesthetic evaluation tasks with around 90% correct categorization.

Keywords: Web Page Design, Web Page Aesthetic, Color Spaces, Texture, Neural Networks

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6401 EPR Hiding in Medical Images for Telemedicine

Authors: K. A. Navas, S. Archana Thampy, M. Sasikumar

Abstract:

Medical image data hiding has strict constrains such as high imperceptibility, high capacity and high robustness. Achieving these three requirements simultaneously is highly cumbersome. Some works have been reported in the literature on data hiding, watermarking and stegnography which are suitable for telemedicine applications. None is reliable in all aspects. Electronic Patient Report (EPR) data hiding for telemedicine demand it blind and reversible. This paper proposes a novel approach to blind reversible data hiding based on integer wavelet transform. Experimental results shows that this scheme outperforms the prior arts in terms of zero BER (Bit Error Rate), higher PSNR (Peak Signal to Noise Ratio), and large EPR data embedding capacity with WPSNR (Weighted Peak Signal to Noise Ratio) around 53 dB, compared with the existing reversible data hiding schemes.

Keywords: Biomedical imaging, Data security, Datacommunication, Teleconferencing.

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6400 Student Feedback and Its Impact on Fostering the Quality of Teaching at the Academia

Authors: S. Vanker, A. Aaver, A. Roio, L. Nuut

Abstract:

To be sure about the effective and less effective/ineffective approaches to course instruction, we hold the opinion that the faculty members need regular feedback from their students in order to be aware of how well or unwell their teaching styles have worked when instructing the courses. It can be confirmed without a slightest hesitation that undergraduate students’ motivated-ness can be sustained when continually improving the quality of teaching and properly sequencing the academic courses both, in the curricula and timetables. At Estonian Aviation Academy, four different forms of feedback are used: Lecture monitoring, questionnaires for all students, study information system subject monitoring and direct feedback received by the lecturer. Questionnaires for all students are arranged once during a study year and separately for the first year and senior students. The results are discussed in academic departments together with student representatives, analyzed with the teaching staff and, if needed, improvements are suggested. In addition, a monitoring system is planned where a lecturer acts in both roles – as an observer and as the lecturer. This will foster better exchange of experience and through this help to make the whole study process more interesting.

Keywords: Student support, learner motivation, feedback, undergraduate education.

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6399 Dynamic Metrics for Polymorphism in Object Oriented Systems

Authors: Parvinder Singh Sandhu, Gurdev Singh

Abstract:

Metrics is the process by which numbers or symbols are assigned to attributes of entities in the real world in such a way as to describe them according to clearly defined rules. Software metrics are instruments or ways to measuring all the aspect of software product. These metrics are used throughout a software project to assist in estimation, quality control, productivity assessment, and project control. Object oriented software metrics focus on measurements that are applied to the class and other characteristics. These measurements convey the software engineer to the behavior of the software and how changes can be made that will reduce complexity and improve the continuing capability of the software. Object oriented software metric can be classified in two types static and dynamic. Static metrics are concerned with all the aspects of measuring by static analysis of software and dynamic metrics are concerned with all the measuring aspect of the software at run time. Major work done before, was focusing on static metric. Also some work has been done in the field of dynamic nature of the software measurements. But research in this area is demanding for more work. In this paper we give a set of dynamic metrics specifically for polymorphism in object oriented system.

Keywords: Metrics, Software, Quality, Object oriented system, Polymorphism.

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6398 Convex Restrictions for Outage Constrained MU-MISO Downlink under Imperfect Channel State Information

Authors: A. Preetha Priyadharshini, S. B. M. Priya

Abstract:

In this paper, we consider the MU-MISO downlink scenario, under imperfect channel state information (CSI). The main issue in imperfect CSI is to keep the probability of each user achievable outage rate below the given threshold level. Such a rate outage constraints present significant and analytical challenges. There are many probabilistic methods are used to minimize the transmit optimization problem under imperfect CSI. Here, decomposition based large deviation inequality and Bernstein type inequality convex restriction methods are used to perform the optimization problem under imperfect CSI. These methods are used for achieving improved output quality and lower complexity. They provide a safe tractable approximation of the original rate outage constraints. Based on these method implementations, performance has been evaluated in the terms of feasible rate and average transmission power. The simulation results are shown that all the two methods offer significantly improved outage quality and lower computational complexity.

Keywords: Imperfect channel state information, outage probability, multiuser- multi input single output.

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6397 A Numerical Model Simulation for an Updraft Gasifier Using High Temperature Steam

Authors: T. M. Ismail, M. Abd El-Salam

Abstract:

A mathematical model study was carried out to investigate gasification of biomass fuels using high temperature air and steam as a gasifying agent using high-temperature air up to 1000°C. In this study, a 2D computational fluid dynamics model was developed to study the gasification process in an updraft gasifier, considering drying, pyrolysis, combustion, and gasification reactions. The gas and solid phases were resolved using a Euler−Euler multiphase approach, with exchange terms for the momentum, mass, and energy. The standard k−ε turbulence model was used in the gas phase, and the particle phase was modeled using the kinetic theory of granular flow. The results show that the present model giving a promise way in its capability and sensitivity for the parameter affects that influence the gasification process.

Keywords: Computational fluid dynamics, gasification, biomass fuel, fixed bed gasifier

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6396 Analysis of Lower Extremity Muscle Flexibility among Indian Classical Bharathnatyam Dancers

Authors: V. Anbarasi, David V Rajan, K. Adalarasu

Abstract:

Musculoskeletal problems are common in high performance dance population. This study attempts to identify lower extremity muscle flexibility parameters prevailing among bharatanatyam dancers and analyze if there is any significant difference exist between normal and injured dancers in flexibility parameters. Four hundred and one female dancers and 17 male dancers were participated in this study. Flexibility parameters (hamstring tightness, hip internal and external rotation and tendoachilles in supine and sitting posture) were measured using goniometer. Results of our study it is evident that injured female bharathnatyam dancers had significantly (p < 0.05) high hamstring tightness on left side lower extremity compared to normal female dancers. The range of motion for left tendoachilles was significantly (p < 0.05) high for the normal female group when compared to injured dancers during supine lying posture. Majority of the injured dancers had high hamstring tightness that could be a possible reason for pain and MSDs.

Keywords: External rotation (ER), Internal rotation (IR), Musculoskeletal disorder (MSD), Range of motion (ROM)

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6395 Development of Mechanical Properties of Self Compacting Concrete Contain Rice Husk Ash

Authors: M. A. Ahmadi, O. Alidoust, I. Sadrinejad, M. Nayeri

Abstract:

Self-compacting concrete (SCC), a new kind of high performance concrete (HPC) have been first developed in Japan in 1986. The development of SCC has made casting of dense reinforcement and mass concrete convenient, has minimized noise. Fresh self-compacting concrete (SCC) flows into formwork and around obstructions under its own weight to fill it completely and self-compact (without any need for vibration), without any segregation and blocking. The elimination of the need for compaction leads to better quality concrete and substantial improvement of working conditions. SCC mixes generally have a much higher content of fine fillers, including cement, and produce excessively high compressive strength concrete, which restricts its field of application to special concrete only. To use SCC mixes in general concrete construction practice, requires low cost materials to make inexpensive concrete. Rice husk ash (RHA) has been used as a highly reactive pozzolanic material to improve the microstructure of the interfacial transition zone (ITZ) between the cement paste and the aggregate in self compacting concrete. Mechanical experiments of RHA blended Portland cement concretes revealed that in addition to the pozzolanic reactivity of RHA (chemical aspect), the particle grading (physical aspect) of cement and RHA mixtures also exerted significant influences on the blending efficiency. The scope of this research was to determine the usefulness of Rice husk ash (RHA) in the development of economical self compacting concrete (SCC). The cost of materials will be decreased by reducing the cement content by using waste material like rice husk ash instead of. This paper presents a study on the development of Mechanical properties up to 180 days of self compacting and ordinary concretes with rice-husk ash (RHA), from a rice paddy milling industry in Rasht (Iran). Two different replacement percentages of cement by RHA, 10%, and 20%, and two different water/cementicious material ratios (0.40 and 0.35), were used for both of self compacting and normal concrete specimens. The results are compared with those of the self compacting concrete without RHA, with compressive, flexural strength and modulus of elasticity. It is concluded that RHA provides a positive effect on the Mechanical properties at age after 60 days. Base of the result self compacting concrete specimens have higher value than normal concrete specimens in all test except modulus of elasticity. Also specimens with 20% replacement of cement by RHA have the best performance.

Keywords: Self compacting concrete (SCC), Rice husk ash(RHA), Mechanical properties.

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6394 Evaluation of Energy Upgrade Measures and Connection of Renewable Energy Sources Using Software Tools: Case Study of an Academic Library Building in Larissa, Greece

Authors: Giwrgos S. Gkarmpounis, Aikaterini G. Rokkou, Marios N. Moschakis

Abstract:

Increased energy consumption in the academic buildings, creates the need to implement energy saving measures and to take advantage of the renewable energy sources to cover the electrical needs of those buildings. An Academic Library will be used as a case study. With the aid of RETScreen software that takes into account the energy consumptions and characteristics of the Library Building, it is proved that measures such as the replacement of fluorescent lights with led lights, the installation of outdoor shading, the replacement of the openings and Building Management System installation, provide a high level of energy savings. Moreover, given the available space of the building and the climatic data, the installation of a photovoltaic system of 100 kW can also cover a serious amount of the building energy consumption, unlike a wind system that seems uncompromising. Lastly, HOMER software is used to compare the use of a photovoltaic system against a wind system in order to verify the results that came up from the RETScreen software concerning the renewable energy sources.

Keywords: Energy saving measures, homer software, renewable energy sources, RETScreen software, energy efficiency and quality.

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6393 Determination of Safety Distance Around Gas Pipelines Using Numerical Methods

Authors: Omid Adibi, Nategheh Najafpour, Bijan Farhanieh, Hossein Afshin

Abstract:

Energy transmission pipelines are one of the most vital parts of each country which several strict laws have been conducted to enhance the safety of these lines and their vicinity. One of these laws is the safety distance around high pressure gas pipelines. Safety distance refers to the minimum distance from the pipeline where people and equipment do not confront with serious damages. In the present study, safety distance around high pressure gas transmission pipelines were determined by using numerical methods. For this purpose, gas leakages from cracked pipeline and created jet fires were simulated as continuous ignition, three dimensional, unsteady and turbulent cases. Numerical simulations were based on finite volume method and turbulence of flow was considered using k-ω SST model. Also, the combustion of natural gas and air mixture was applied using the eddy dissipation method. The results show that, due to the high pressure difference between pipeline and environment, flow chocks in the cracked area and velocity of the exhausted gas reaches to sound speed. Also, analysis of the incident radiation results shows that safety distances around 42 inches high pressure natural gas pipeline based on 5 and 15 kW/m2 criteria are 205 and 272 meters, respectively.

Keywords: Gas pipelines, incident radiation, numerical simulation, safety distance.

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6392 Federal Open Agent System Platform

Authors: Hong-Bing Wang, Zhi-Hua Fan, Chun-Dong She

Abstract:

Open Agent System platform based on High Level Architecture is firstly proposed to support the application involving heterogeneous agents. The basic idea is to develop different wrappers for different agent systems, which are wrapped as federates to join a federation. The platform is based on High Level Architecture and the advantages for this open standard are naturally inherited, such as system interoperability and reuse. Especially, the federal architecture allows different federates to be heterogeneous so as to support the integration of different agent systems. Furthermore, both implicit communication and explicit communication between agents can be supported. Then, as the wrapper RTI_JADE an example, the components are discussed. Finally, the performance of RTI_JADE is analyzed. The results show that RTI_JADE works very efficiently.

Keywords: Open Agent System, High Level Architecture, Heterogeneous Agents, Wrapper.

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6391 Advanced Micromanufacturing for Ultra Precision Part by Soft Lithography and Nano Powder Injection Molding

Authors: Andy Tirta, Yus Prasetyo, Eung-Ryul. Baek, Chul-Jin. Choi , Hye-Moon. Lee

Abstract:

Recently, the advanced technologies that offer high precision product, relative easy, economical process and also rapid production are needed to realize the high demand of ultra precision micro part. In our research, micromanufacturing based on soft lithography and nanopowder injection molding was investigated. The silicone metal pattern with ultra thick and high aspect ratio succeeds to fabricate Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) micro mold. The process followed by nanopowder injection molding (PIM) by a simple vacuum hot press. The 17-4ph nanopowder with diameter of 100 nm, succeed to be injected and it forms green sample microbearing with thickness, microchannel and aspect ratio is 700μm, 60μm and 12, respectively. Sintering process was done in 1200 C for 2 hours and heating rate 0.83oC/min. Since low powder load (45% PL) was applied to achieve green sample fabrication, ~15% shrinkage happen in the 86% relative density. Several improvements should be done to produce high accuracy and full density sintered part.

Keywords: Micromanufacturing, Nano PIM, PDMS micro mould.

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6390 Current-Mode Resistorless SIMO Universal Filter and Four-Phase Quadrature Oscillator

Authors: Jie Jin

Abstract:

In this paper, a new CMOS current-mode single input and multi-outputs (SIMO) universal filter and quadrature oscillator with a similar circuit are proposed. The circuits only consist of three Current differencing transconductance amplifiers (CDTA) and two grounded capacitors, which are resistorless, and they are suitable for monolithic integration. The universal filter uses minimum CDTAs and passive elements to realize SIMO type low-pass (LP), high-pass (HP), band-pass (BP) band-stop (BS) and all-pass (AP) filter functions simultaneously without any component matching conditions. The angular frequency (ω0) and the quality factor (Q) of the proposed filter can be electronically controlled and tuned orthogonal. By some modifications of the filter, a new current-mode four-phase quadrature oscillator (QO) can be obtained easily. The condition of oscillation (CO) and frequency of oscillation (FO) of the QO can be controlled electronically and independently through the bias current of the CDTAs, and it is suitable for variable frequency oscillator. Moreover, all the passive and active sensitivities of the circuits are low. SPICE simulation results are included to confirm the theory.

Keywords: Universal Filter, Quadrature Oscillator, Current mode, Current differencing transconductance amplifiers.

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6389 Water Quality Trading with Equitable Total Maximum Daily Loads

Authors: S. Jamshidi, E. Feizi Ashtiani, M. Ardestani

Abstract:

Waste Load Allocation (WLA) strategies usually intend to find economic policies for water resource management. Water quality trading (WQT) is an approach that uses discharge permit market to reduce total environmental protection costs. This primarily requires assigning discharge limits known as total maximum daily loads (TMDLs). These are determined by monitoring organizations with respect to the receiving water quality and remediation capabilities. The purpose of this study is to compare two approaches of TMDL assignment for WQT policy in small catchment area of Haraz River, in north of Iran. At first, TMDLs are assigned uniformly for the whole point sources to keep the concentrations of BOD and dissolved oxygen (DO) at the standard level at checkpoint (terminus point). This was simply simulated and controlled by Qual2kw software. In the second scenario, TMDLs are assigned using multi objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) method in which the environmental violation at river basin and total treatment costs are minimized simultaneously. In both scenarios, the equity index and the WLA based on trading discharge permits (TDP) are calculated. The comparative results showed that using economically optimized TMDLs (2nd scenario) has slightly more cost savings rather than uniform TMDL approach (1st scenario). The former annually costs about 1 M$ while the latter is 1.15 M$. WQT can decrease these annual costs to 0.9 and 1.1 M$, respectively. In other word, these approaches may save 35 and 45% economically in comparison with command and control policy. It means that using multi objective decision support systems (DSS) may find more economical WLA, however its outcome is not necessarily significant in comparison with uniform TMDLs. This may be due to the similar impact factors of dischargers in small catchments. Conversely, using uniform TMDLs for WQT brings more equity that makes stakeholders not feel that much envious of difference between TMDL and WQT allocation. In addition, for this case, determination of TMDLs uniformly would be much easier for monitoring. Consequently, uniform TMDL for TDP market is recommended as a sustainable approach. However, economical TMDLs can be used for larger watersheds.

Keywords: Waste load allocation (WLA), Water quality trading (WQT), Total maximum daily loads (TMDLs), Haraz River, Multi objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO), Equity.

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6388 LTE Performance Analysis in the City of Bogota Northern Zone for Two Different Mobile Broadband Operators over Qualipoc

Authors: Víctor D. Rodríguez, Edith P. Estupiñán, Juan C. Martínez

Abstract:

The evolution in mobile broadband technologies has allowed to increase the download rates in users considering the current services. The evaluation of technical parameters at the link level is of vital importance to validate the quality and veracity of the connection, thus avoiding large losses of data, time and productivity. Some of these failures may occur between the eNodeB (Evolved Node B) and the user equipment (UE), so the link between the end device and the base station can be observed. LTE (Long Term Evolution) is considered one of the IP-oriented mobile broadband technologies that work stably for data and VoIP (Voice Over IP) for those devices that have that feature. This research presents a technical analysis of the connection and channeling processes between UE and eNodeB with the TAC (Tracking Area Code) variables, and analysis of performance variables (Throughput, Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio (SINR)). Three measurement scenarios were proposed in the city of Bogotá using QualiPoc, where two operators were evaluated (Operator 1 and Operator 2). Once the data were obtained, an analysis of the variables was performed determining that the data obtained in transmission modes vary depending on the parameters BLER (Block Error Rate), performance and SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio). In the case of both operators, differences in transmission modes are detected and this is reflected in the quality of the signal. In addition, due to the fact that both operators work in different frequencies, it can be seen that Operator 1, despite having spectrum in Band 7 (2600 MHz), together with Operator 2, is reassigning to another frequency, a lower band, which is AWS (1700 MHz), but the difference in signal quality with respect to the establishment with data by the provider Operator 2 and the difference found in the transmission modes determined by the eNodeB in Operator 1 is remarkable.

Keywords: BLER, LTE, Network, Qualipoc, SNR.

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6387 The Influence of using Compost Leachate on Soil Reaction

Authors: Ali Gholami, Shahram Ahmadi

Abstract:

In the area where the high quality water is not available, unconventional water sources are used to irrigate. Household leachate is one of the sources which are used in dry and semi dry areas in order to water the barer trees and plants. It meets the plants needs and also has some effects on the soil, but at the same time it might cause some problems as well. This study in order to evaluate the effect of using Compost leachate on the density of soil iron in form of a statistical pattern called ''Split Plot'' by using two main treatments, one subsidiary treatment and three repetitions of the pattern in a three month period. The main N treatments include: irrigation using well water as a blank treatments and the main I treatments include: irrigation using leachate and well water concurrently. Some subsidiary treatments were DI (Drop Irrigation) and SDI (Sub Drop Irrigation). Then in the established plots, 36 biannual pine and cypress shrubs were randomly grown. Two months later the treatment begins. The results revealed that there was a significant variation between the main treatment and the instance regarding pH decline in the soil which was related to the amount of leachate injected into the soil. After some time and using leachate the pH level fell, as much as 0.46 and also increased due to the great amounts of leachate. The underneath drop irrigation ends in better results than sub drop irrigation since it keeps the soil texture fixed.

Keywords: Compost Leachate, Drop irrigation, Soil Reaction

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6386 Availability Strategy of Medical Information for Telemedicine Services

Authors: Rozo D. Juan Felipe, Ramírez L. Leonardo Juan, Puerta A. Gabriel Alberto

Abstract:

The telemedicine services require correct computing resource management to guarantee productivity and efficiency for medical and non-medical staff. The aim of this study was to examine web management strategies to ensure the availability of resources and services in telemedicine so as to provide medical information management with an accessible strategy. In addition, to evaluate the quality-of-service parameters, the followings were measured: delays, throughput, jitter, latency, available bandwidth, percent of access and denial of services based of web management performance map with profiles permissions and database management. Through 24 different test scenarios, the results show 100% in availability of medical information, in relation to access of medical staff to web services, and quality of service (QoS) of 99% because of network delay and performance of computer network. The findings of this study suggest that the proposed strategy of web management is an ideal solution to guarantee the availability, reliability, and accessibility of medical information. Finally, this strategy offers seven user profile used at telemedicine center of Bogota-Colombia keeping QoS parameters suitable to telemedicine services.

Keywords: Availability, medical information, QoS, strategy, telemedicine.

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6385 Evaluating the Performance of Organic, Inorganic and Liquid Sheep Manure on Growth, Yield and Nutritive Value of Hybrid Napier CO-3

Authors: F. A. M. Safwan, H. N. N. Dilrukshi, P. U. S. Peiris

Abstract:

Less availability of high quality green forages leads to low productivity of national dairy herd of Sri Lanka. Growing grass and fodder to suit the production system is an efficient and economical solution for this problem. CO-3 is placed in a higher category, especially on tillering capacity, green forage yield, regeneration capacity, leaf to stem ratio, high crude protein content, resistance to pests and diseases and free from adverse factors along with other fodder varieties grown within the country. An experiment was designed to determine the effect of organic sheep manure, inorganic fertilizers and liquid sheep manure on growth, yield and nutritive value of CO-3. The study was consisted with three treatments; sheep manure (T1), recommended inorganic fertilizers (T2) and liquid sheep manure (T3) which was prepared using bucket fermentation method and each treatment was consisted with three replicates and those were assigned randomly. First harvest was obtained after 40 days of plant establishment and number of leaves (NL), leaf area (LA), tillering capacity (TC), fresh weight (FW) and dry weight (DW) were recorded and second harvest was obtained after 30 days of first harvest and same set of data were recorded. SPSS 16 software was used for data analysis. For proximate analysis AOAC, 2000 standard methods were used. Results revealed that the plants treated with T1 recorded highest NL, LA, TC, FW and DW and were statistically significant at first and second harvest of CO-3 (p˂ 0.05) and it was found that T1 was statistically significant from T2 and T3. Although T3 was recorded higher than the T2 in almost all growth parameters; it was not statistically significant (p ˃0.05). In addition, the crude protein content was recorded highest in T1 with the value of 18.33±1.61 and was lowest in T2 with the value of 10.82±1.14 and was statistically significant (p˂ 0.05). Apart from this, other proximate composition crude fiber, crude fat, ash, moisture content and dry matter were not statistically significant between treatments (p ˃0.05). In accordance with the results, it was found that the organic fertilizer is the best fertilizer for CO-3 in terms of growth parameters and crude protein content.

Keywords: Fertilizer, growth parameters, Hybrid Napier CO-3, proximate composition.

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6384 Synthesis and Characterization of ZnO and Fe3O4 Nanocrystals from Oleat-based Organometallic Compounds

Authors: PoiSim Khiew, WeeSiong Chiu, ThianKhoonTan, Shahidan Radiman, Roslan Abd-Shukor, Muhammad Azmi Abd-Hamid, ChinHua Chia

Abstract:

Magnetic and semiconductor nanomaterials exhibit novel magnetic and optical properties owing to their unique size and shape-dependent effects. With shrinking the size down to nanoscale region, various anomalous properties that normally not present in bulk start to dominate. Ability in harnessing of these anomalous properties for the design of various advance electronic devices is strictly dependent on synthetic strategies. Hence, current research has focused on developing a rational synthetic control to produce high quality nanocrystals by using organometallic approach to tune both size and shape of the nanomaterials. In order to elucidate the growth mechanism, transmission electron microscopy was employed as a powerful tool in performing real time-resolved morphologies and structural characterization of magnetic (Fe3O4) and semiconductor (ZnO) nanocrystals. The current synthetic approach is found able to produce nanostructures with well-defined shapes. We have found that oleic acid is an effective capping ligand in preparing oxide-based nanostructures without any agglomerations, even at high temperature. The oleate-based precursors and capping ligands are fatty acid compounds, which are respectively originated from natural palm oil with low toxicity. In comparison with other synthetic approaches in producing nanostructures, current synthetic method offers an effective route to produce oxide-based nanomaterials with well-defined shapes and good monodispersity. The nanocystals are well-separated with each other without any stacking effect. In addition, the as-synthesized nanopellets are stable in terms of chemically and physically if compared to those nanomaterials that are previous reported. Further development and extension of current synthetic strategy are being pursued to combine both of these materials into nanocomposite form that will be used as “smart magnetic nanophotocatalyst" for industry waste water treatment.

Keywords: Metal oxide nanomaterials, Nanophotocatalyst, Organometallic synthesis, Morphology Control

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