Search results for: Systems engineering

Authors: Mohd Fahmi Mohamad Amran, Riza Sulaiman, Saliyah Kahar, Suziyanti Marjudi, Muhammad FairuzAbd Rauf

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The extensive number of engineering drawing will be referred for planning process and the changes will produce a good engineering design to meet the demand in producing a new model. The advantage in reuse of engineering designs is to allow continuous product development to further improve the quality of product development, thus reduce the development costs. However, to retrieve the existing engineering drawing, it is time consuming, a complex process and are expose to errors. Engineering drawing file searching system will be proposed to solve this problem. It is essential for engineer and designer to have some sort of medium to enable them to search for drawing in the most effective way. This paper lays out the proposed research project under the area of information extraction in engineering drawing.

Keywords: Computer aided design, information extraction, engineering drawing, reuse design.

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Authors: Ali M. Al-Khouri

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This paper presents findings from the evaluation study carried out to review the UAE national ID card software. The paper consults the relevant literature to explain many of the concepts and frameworks explained herein. The findings of the evaluation work that was primarily based on the ISO 9126 standard for system quality measurement highlighted many practical areas that if taken into account is argued to more likely increase the success chances of similar system implementation projects.

Keywords: National ID system, software quality, ISO 9126.

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Authors: Yanling Li, Linying Ji, Zita Oravecz, Timothy R. Brick, Michael D. Hunter, Sy-Miin Chow

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Assessing several individuals intensively over time yields intensive longitudinal data (ILD). Even though ILD provide rich information, they also bring other data analytic challenges. One of these is the increased occurrence of missingness with increased study length, possibly under non-ignorable missingness scenarios. Multiple imputation (MI) handles missing data by creating several imputed data sets, and pooling the estimation results across imputed data sets to yield final estimates for inferential purposes. In this article, we introduce dynr.mi(), a function in the R package, Dynamic Modeling in R (dynr). The package dynr provides a suite of fast and accessible functions for estimating and visualizing the results from fitting linear and nonlinear dynamic systems models in discrete as well as continuous time. By integrating the estimation functions in dynr and the MI procedures available from the R package, Multivariate Imputation by Chained Equations (MICE), the dynr.mi() routine is designed to handle possibly non-ignorable missingness in the dependent variables and/or covariates in a user-specified dynamic systems model via MI, with convergence diagnostic check. We utilized dynr.mi() to examine, in the context of a vector autoregressive model, the relationships among individuals’ ambulatory physiological measures, and self-report affect valence and arousal. The results from MI were compared to those from listwise deletion of entries with missingness in the covariates. When we determined the number of iterations based on the convergence diagnostics available from dynr.mi(), differences in the statistical significance of the covariate parameters were observed between the listwise deletion and MI approaches. These results underscore the importance of considering diagnostic information in the implementation of MI procedures.

Keywords: Dynamic modeling, missing data, multiple imputation, physiological measures.

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Authors: Cathy SW. Chow, Kristina Shin, Faming Wang, B. C. L. So

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During some dynamic giant puppet performances, an ergonomically designed load carrier system is necessary for the puppeteers to carry a giant puppet body’s heavy load with minimum muscle stress. A load carrier (i.e. prototype) was designed with two small wheels on the foot; and a hybrid spring device on the knee in order to assist the sliding and knee bending movements respectively. Thus, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of three load carriers including two other commercially available load mounting systems, Tepex and SuitX, and the prototype. Ten male participants were recruited for the experiment. Surface electromyography (sEMG) was used to collect the participants’ muscle activities during forward moving and bouncing and with and without load of 11.1 kg that was 60 cm above the shoulder. Five bilateral muscles including the lumbar erector spinae (LES), rectus femoris (RF), bicep femoris (BF), tibialis anterior (TA), and gastrocnemius (GM) were selected for data collection. During forward moving task, the sEMG data showed smallest muscle activities by Tepex harness which exhibited consistently the lowest, compared with the prototype and SuitX which were significantly higher on left LES 68.99% and 64.99%, right LES 26.57% and 82.45%; left RF 87.71% and 47.61%, right RF 143.57% and 24.28%; left BF 80.21% and 22.23%, right BF 96.02% and 21.83%; right TA 6.32% and 4.47%; left GM 5.89% and 12.35% respectively. The result above reflected mobility was highly restricted by tested exoskeleton devices. On the other hand, the sEMG data from bouncing task showed the smallest muscle activities by prototype which exhibited consistently the lowest, compared with the Tepex harness and SuitX which were significantly lower on lLES 6.65% and 104.93, rLES 23.56% and 92.19%; lBF 33.21% and 93.26% and rBF 24.70% and 81.16%; lTA 46.51% and 191.02%; rTA 12.75% and 125.76%; IGM 31.54% and 68.36%; rGM 95.95% and 96.43% respectively.

Keywords: Exoskeleton, load carriage aid, giant puppet performers, electromyography.

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Authors: Ahmed Al-Ani

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The Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) is a metaheuristic inspired by the behavior of real ants in their search for the shortest paths to food sources. It has recently attracted a lot of attention and has been successfully applied to a number of different optimization problems. Due to the importance of the feature selection problem and the potential of ACO, this paper presents a novel method that utilizes the ACO algorithm to implement a feature subset search procedure. Initial results obtained using the classification of speech segments are very promising.

Keywords: Ant Colony Optimization, ant systems, feature selection, pattern recognition.

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Authors: Berardina De Carolis, Giovanni Cozzolongo

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In this paper, we present C@sa, a multiagent system aiming at modeling, controlling and simulating the behavior of an intelligent house. The developed system aims at providing to architects, designers and psychologists a simulation and control tool for understanding which is the impact of embedded and pervasive technology on people daily life. In this vision, the house is seen as an environment made up of independent and distributed devices, controlled by agents, interacting to support user's goals and tasks.

Keywords: Ambient intelligence, agent-based systems, influence diagrams.

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Authors: Inese Bula

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Symbolic dynamics studies dynamical systems on the basis of the symbol sequences obtained for a suitable partition of the state space. This approach exploits the property that system dynamics reduce to a shift operation in symbol space. This shift operator is a chaotic mapping. In this article we show that in the symbol space exist other chaotic mappings.

Keywords: Infinite symbol space, prefix metric, chaotic mapping, generator function, jump mapping.

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Authors: Xinli Zhang

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In this paper, we consider the nonlinear delay dynamic system xΔ(t) = p(t)f1(y(t)), yΔ(t) = −q(t)f2(x(t − τ )). We obtain some necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of nonoscillatory solutions with special asymptotic properties of the system. We generalize the known results in the literature. One example is given to illustrate the results.

Keywords: Dynamic system, oscillation, time scales, two-dimensional.

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Authors: Münüre Tanur Erkoyuncu, Mustafa Yorgancılar

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Crop improvement through genetic engineering depends on effective and reproducible plant regeneration systems. Immature embryos are the most widely used explant source for in vitro regeneration in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). However, immature embryos require the continuous growth of donor plants and the suitable stage for their culture is also certainly limited. On the other hand, mature embryos can be procured and stored easily; they can be studied throughout the year. In this study, an effective callus induction and plant regeneration were aimed to develop from mature embryos of different barley genotypes. The effect of medium (MS₁ and MS₂), auxin type (2,4-D, dicamba, picloram and 2,4,5-T) and concentrations (2, 4, 6 mg/l) on callus formation and effect of cytokinin type (TDZ, BAP) and concentrations (0.2, 0.5, 1.0 mg/l) on green plant regeneration were evaluated in mature embryo culture of barley. Callus and shoot formation was successful for all genotypes. By depending on genotype, MS₁ is the best medium, 4 mg/l dicamba is the best growth regulator in the callus induction and MS₁ is the best medium, 1 mg/l BAP is the best growth regulator in the shoot formation were determined.

Keywords: Barley, callus, embryo culture, mature embryo.

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Authors: Pham Thi Quynh, Huynh Quyet Thang

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Service-oriented systems have become popular and presented many advantages in develop and maintain process. The coupling is the most important attribute of services when they are integrated into a system. In this paper, we propose a suite of metrics to evaluate service-s quality according to its ability of coupling. We use the coupling metrics to measure the maintainability, reliability, testability, and reusability of services. Our proposed metrics are operated in run-time which bring more exact results.

Keywords: Dynamic coupling metric, SOA, web service, SOAP Extension.

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Authors: Oluwaseun K. Oyebode, Josiah A. Adeyemo

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Hydrological modelling plays a crucial role in the planning and management of water resources, most especially in water stressed regions where the need to effectively manage the available water resources is of critical importance. However, due to the complex, nonlinear and dynamic behaviour of hydro-climatic interactions, achieving reliable modelling of water resource systems and accurate projection of hydrological parameters are extremely challenging. Although a significant number of modelling techniques (process-based and data-driven) have been developed and adopted in that regard, the field of hydrological modelling is still considered as one that has sluggishly progressed over the past decades. This is majorly as a result of the identification of some degree of uncertainty in the methodologies and results of techniques adopted. In recent times, evolutionary computation (EC) techniques have been developed and introduced in response to the search for efficient and reliable means of providing accurate solutions to hydrological related problems. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the underlying principles, methodological needs and applications of a promising evolutionary computation modelling technique – genetic programming (GP). It examines the specific characteristics of the technique which makes it suitable to solving hydrological modelling problems. It discusses the opportunities inherent in the application of GP in water related-studies such as rainfall estimation, rainfall-runoff modelling, streamflow forecasting, sediment transport modelling, water quality modelling and groundwater modelling among others. Furthermore, the means by which such opportunities could be harnessed in the near future are discussed. In all, a case for total embracement of GP and its variants in hydrological modelling studies is made so as to put in place strategies that would translate into achieving meaningful progress as it relates to modelling of water resource systems, and also positively influence decision-making by relevant stakeholders.

Keywords: Computational modelling, evolutionary algorithms, genetic programming, hydrological modelling.

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Authors: Miriam Sosa-Díaz, Faustino Sánchez-Garduño

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In population dynamics the study of both, the abundance and the spatial distribution of the populations in a given habitat, is a fundamental issue a From ecological point of view, the determination of the factors influencing such changes involves important problems. In this paper a mathematical model to describe the temporal dynamic and the spatiotemporal dynamic of the interaction of three populations (pollinators, plants and herbivores) is presented. The study we present is carried out by stages: 1. The temporal dynamics and 2. The spatio-temporal dynamics. In turn, each of these stages is developed by considering three cases which correspond to the dynamics of each type of interaction. For instance, for stage 1, we consider three ODE nonlinear systems describing the pollinator-plant, plant-herbivore and plant-pollinator-herbivore, interactions, respectively. In each of these systems different types of dynamical behaviors are reported. Namely, transcritical and pitchfork bifurcations, existence of a limit cycle, existence of a heteroclinic orbit, etc. For the spatiotemporal dynamics of the two mathematical models a novel factor are introduced. This consists in considering that both, the pollinators and the herbivores, move towards those places of the habitat where the plant population density is high. In mathematical terms, this means that the diffusive part of the pollinators and herbivores equations depend on the plant population density. The analysis of this part is presented by considering pairs of populations, i. e., the pollinator-plant and plant-herbivore interactions and at the end the two mathematical model is presented, these models consist of two coupled nonlinear partial differential equations of reaction-diffusion type. These are defined on a rectangular domain with the homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions. We focused in the role played by the density dependent diffusion term into the coexistence of the populations. For both, the temporal and spatio-temporal dynamics, a several of numerical simulations are included.

Keywords: Bifurcation, heteroclinic orbits, steady state, traveling wave.

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Authors: R. Masarova, M. Juhas, B. Juhasova, Z. Sutova

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In dynamic system theory a mathematical model is often used to describe their properties. In order to find a transfer matrix of a dynamic system we need to calculate an inverse matrix. The paper contains the fusion of the classical theory and the procedures used in the theory of automated control for calculating the inverse matrix. The final part of the paper models the given problem by the Matlab.

Keywords: Dynamic system, transfer matrix, inverse matrix, modeling.

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Authors: F. Lazzeri, I. Reiter

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Energy production optimization has been traditionally very important for utilities in order to improve resource consumption. However, load forecasting is a challenging task, as there are a large number of relevant variables that must be considered, and several strategies have been used to deal with this complex problem. This is especially true also in microgrids where many elements have to adjust their performance depending on the future generation and consumption conditions. The goal of this paper is to present a solution for short-term load forecasting in microgrids, based on three machine learning experiments developed in R and web services built and deployed with different components of Cortana Intelligence Suite: Azure Machine Learning, a fully managed cloud service that enables to easily build, deploy, and share predictive analytics solutions; SQL database, a Microsoft database service for app developers; and PowerBI, a suite of business analytics tools to analyze data and share insights. Our results show that Boosted Decision Tree and Fast Forest Quantile regression methods can be very useful to predict hourly short-term consumption in microgrids; moreover, we found that for these types of forecasting models, weather data (temperature, wind, humidity and dew point) can play a crucial role in improving the accuracy of the forecasting solution. Data cleaning and feature engineering methods performed in R and different types of machine learning algorithms (Boosted Decision Tree, Fast Forest Quantile and ARIMA) will be presented, and results and performance metrics discussed.

Keywords: Time-series, features engineering methods for forecasting, energy demand forecasting, Azure machine learning.

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Authors: M. Derakhshanfar, B. Minaei-Bidgoli

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Spatial trends are one of the valuable patterns in geo databases. They play an important role in data analysis and knowledge discovery from spatial data. A spatial trend is a regular change of one or more non spatial attributes when spatially moving away from a start object. Spatial trend detection is a graph search problem therefore heuristic methods can be good solution. Artificial immune system (AIS) is a special method for searching and optimizing. AIS is a novel evolutionary paradigm inspired by the biological immune system. The models based on immune system principles, such as the clonal selection theory, the immune network model or the negative selection algorithm, have been finding increasing applications in fields of science and engineering. In this paper, we develop a novel immunological algorithm based on clonal selection algorithm (CSA) for spatial trend detection. We are created neighborhood graph and neighborhood path, then select spatial trends that their affinity is high for antibody. In an evolutionary process with artificial immune algorithm, affinity of low trends is increased with mutation until stop condition is satisfied.

Keywords: Spatial Data Mining, Spatial Trend Detection, Heuristic Methods, Artificial Immune System, Clonal Selection Algorithm (CSA)

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Authors: Halil Snopce, Ilir Spahiu, Lavdrim Elmazi

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A lot of Scientific and Engineering problems require the solution of large systems of linear equations of the form bAx in an effective manner. LU-Decomposition offers good choices for solving this problem. Our approach is to find the lower bound of processing elements needed for this purpose. Here is used the so called Omega calculus, as a computational method for solving problems via their corresponding Diophantine relation. From the corresponding algorithm is formed a system of linear diophantine equalities using the domain of computation which is given by the set of lattice points inside the polyhedron. Then is run the Mathematica program DiophantineGF.m. This program calculates the generating function from which is possible to find the number of solutions to the system of Diophantine equalities, which in fact gives the lower bound for the number of processors needed for the corresponding algorithm. There is given a mathematical explanation of the problem as well. Keywordsgenerating function, lattice points in polyhedron, lower bound of processor elements, system of Diophantine equationsand : calculus.

Keywords: generating function, lattice points in polyhedron, lower bound of processor elements, system of Diophantine equations and calculus.

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Authors: Jaouadi Imen, Ben Djemaa Raoudha, Ben Abdallah Hanene

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The access to relevant information that is adapted to user’s needs, preferences and environment is a challenge in many applications running. That causes an appearance of context-aware systems. To facilitate the development of this class of applications, it is necessary that these applications share a common context metamodel. In this article, we will present our context metamodel that is defined using the OMG Meta Object facility (MOF).This metamodel is based on the analysis and synthesis of context concepts proposed in literature.

Keywords: Context, metamodel, Meta Object Facility (MOF), awareness system.

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Authors: J. P. Dubois, O. M. Abdul-Latif

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Support Vector Machine (SVM) is a statistical learning tool that was initially developed by Vapnik in 1979 and later developed to a more complex concept of structural risk minimization (SRM). SVM is playing an increasing role in applications to detection problems in various engineering problems, notably in statistical signal processing, pattern recognition, image analysis, and communication systems. In this paper, SVM was applied to the detection of medical ultrasound images in the presence of partially developed speckle noise. The simulation was done for single look and multi-look speckle models to give a complete overlook and insight to the new proposed model of the SVM-based detector. The structure of the SVM was derived and applied to clinical ultrasound images and its performance in terms of the mean square error (MSE) metric was calculated. We showed that the SVM-detected ultrasound images have a very low MSE and are of good quality. The quality of the processed speckled images improved for the multi-look model. Furthermore, the contrast of the SVM detected images was higher than that of the original non-noisy images, indicating that the SVM approach increased the distance between the pixel reflectivity levels (detection hypotheses) in the original images.

Keywords: LS-SVM, medical ultrasound imaging, partially developed speckle, multi-look model.

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Authors: J. P. Dubois, O. M. Abdul-Latif

Abstract:

Support Vector Machine (SVM) is a statistical learning tool that was initially developed by Vapnik in 1979 and later developed to a more complex concept of structural risk minimization (SRM). SVM is playing an increasing role in applications to detection problems in various engineering problems, notably in statistical signal processing, pattern recognition, image analysis, and communication systems. In this paper, SVM was applied to the detection of SAR (synthetic aperture radar) images in the presence of partially developed speckle noise. The simulation was done for single look and multi-look speckle models to give a complete overlook and insight to the new proposed model of the SVM-based detector. The structure of the SVM was derived and applied to real SAR images and its performance in terms of the mean square error (MSE) metric was calculated. We showed that the SVM-detected SAR images have a very low MSE and are of good quality. The quality of the processed speckled images improved for the multi-look model. Furthermore, the contrast of the SVM detected images was higher than that of the original non-noisy images, indicating that the SVM approach increased the distance between the pixel reflectivity levels (the detection hypotheses) in the original images.

Keywords: Least Square-Support Vector Machine, SyntheticAperture Radar. Partially Developed Speckle, Multi-Look Model.

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Authors: Daniele Losanno, H. A. Hadad, Giorgio Serino

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This paper presents a numerical investigation on the seismic performance of a benchmark bridge with different optimal isolation systems under near fault ground motion. Usually, very large displacements make seismic isolation an unfeasible solution due to boundary conditions, especially in case of existing bridges or high risk seismic regions. Hence, near-fault ground motions are most likely to affect either structures with long natural period range like isolated structures or structures sensitive to velocity content such as viscously damped structures. The work is aimed at analyzing the seismic performance of a three-span continuous bridge designed with different isolation systems having different levels of damping. The case study was analyzed in different configurations including: (a) simply supported, (b) isolated with lead rubber bearings (LRBs), (c) isolated with rubber isolators and 10% classical damping (HDLRBs), and (d) isolated with rubber isolators and 70% supplemental damping ratio. Case (d) represents an alternative control strategy that combines the effect of seismic isolation with additional supplemental damping trying to take advantages from both solutions. The bridge is modeled in SAP2000 and solved by time history direct-integration analyses under a set of six recorded near-fault ground motions. In addition to this, a set of analysis under Italian code provided seismic action is also conducted, in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the suggested optimal control strategies under far field seismic action. Results of the analysis demonstrated that an isolated bridge equipped with HDLRBs and a total equivalent damping ratio of 70% represents a very effective design solution for both mitigation of displacement demand at the isolation level and base shear reduction in the piers also in case of near fault ground motion.

Keywords: Isolated bridges, optimal design, near-fault motion, supplemental damping.

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Authors: A.H. Sajedipoor, N. Hedayat , M. Mashal, R. Nazarzadeh

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Sedimentation formation is a complex hydraulic phenomenon that has emerged as a major operational and maintenance consideration in modern hydraulic engineering in general and river engineering in particular. Sediments accumulation along the river course and their eventual storage in a form of islands affect water intake in the canal systems that are fed by the storage reservoirs. Without proper management, sediment transport can lead to major operational challenges in water distribution system of arid regions like the Dez and Hamidieh command areas. The paper aims to investigate sedimentation in the Western Canal of Dez Diversion Weir using the SHARC model and compare the results with the two intake structures of the Hamidieh dam in Iran using SSIIM model. The objective was to identify the factors which influence the process, check reliability of outcome and provide ways in which to mitigate the implications on operation and maintenance of the structures. Results estimated sand and silt bed loads concentrations to be 193 ppm and 827ppm respectively. This followed ,ore or less similar pattern in Hamidieh where the sediment formation impeded water intake in the canal system. Given the available data on average annual bed loads and average suspended sediment loads of 165ppm and 837ppm in the Dez, there was a significant statistical difference (16%) between the sand grains, whereas no significant difference (1.2%) was find in the silt grain sizes. One explanation for such finding being that along the 6 Km river course there was considerable meandering effects which explains recent shift in the hydraulic behavior along the stream course under investigation. The sand concentration in downstream relative to present state of the canal showed a steep descending curve. Sediment trapping on the other hand indicated a steep ascending curve. These occurred because the diversion weir was not considered in the simulation model. The comparative study showed very close similarities in the results which explains the fact that both software can be used as accurate and reliable analytical tools for simulation of the sedimentation in hydraulic engineering.

Keywords: SHARC, SSIIM, sedimentation, Dez diversion weir, Hamidieh dam, Intake structures

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Authors: D. Dannehl, Z. Taylor, J. Suhl, L. Miranda, R., Ulrichs, C., Salazar, E. Fitz-Rodriguez, I. Lopez-Cruz, A. Rojano-Aguilar, G. Navas-Gomez, U. Schmidt

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Growing environmental and sustainability concerns have driven continual modernization of horticultural practices, especially for urban farming. Controlled environment and soilless production methods are increasing in popularity because of their efficient resource use and intensive cropping capabilities. However, some popular substrates used for hydroponic cultivation, particularly rock wool, represent a large environmental burden in regard to their manufacture and disposal. Substrate-less hydroponic systems are effective in producing short cropping cycle plants such as lettuce or herbs, but less information is available for the production of plants with larger root-systems and longer cropping times. Here, we investigated the viability of a hybrid aeroponic/nutrient film technique (AP/NFT) system for the cultivation of greenhouse tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum ‘Panovy’). The plants grown in the AP/NFT system had a more compact phenotype, accumulated more Na⁺ and less P and S than the rock wool grown counterparts. Due to forced irrigation interruptions, we propose that the differences observed were cofounded by the differing severity of water-stress for plants with and without substrate. They may also be caused by a higher root zone temperature predominant in plants exposed to AP/NFT. However, leaf area, stem diameter, and number of trusses did not differ significantly. The same was found for leaf pigments and plant photosynthetic efficiency. Overall, the AP/NFT system appears to be viable for the production of greenhouse tomato, enabling the environment to be relieved by way of lessening rock wool usage.

Keywords: Aeroponic/nutrient film technique, greenhouse, nutrient dynamic, soilless culture, urban farming, waste reduction.

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Authors: Vilas P. Mahatme, K. K. Bhoyar

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Nowadays, education cannot be imagined without digital technologies. It broadens the horizons of teaching learning processes. Several universities are offering online courses. For evaluation purpose, e-examination systems are being widely adopted in academic environments. Multiple-choice tests are extremely popular. Moving away from traditional examinations to e-examination, Moodle as Learning Management Systems (LMS) is being used. Moodle logs every click that students make for attempting and navigational purposes in e-examination. Data mining has been applied in various domains including retail sales, bioinformatics. In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the use of data mining in e-learning environment. It has been applied to discover, extract, and evaluate parameters related to student’s learning performance. The combination of data mining and e-learning is still in its babyhood. Log data generated by the students during online examination can be used to discover knowledge with the help of data mining techniques. In web based applications, number of right and wrong answers of the test result is not sufficient to assess and evaluate the student’s performance. So, assessment techniques must be intelligent enough. If student cannot answer the question asked by the instructor then some easier question can be asked. Otherwise, more difficult question can be post on similar topic. To do so, it is necessary to identify difficulty level of the questions. Proposed work concentrate on the same issue. Data mining techniques in specific clustering is used in this work. This method decide difficulty levels of the question and categories them as tough, easy or moderate and later this will be served to the desire students based on their performance. Proposed experiment categories the question set and also group the students based on their performance in examination. This will help the instructor to guide the students more specifically. In short mined knowledge helps to support, guide, facilitate and enhance learning as a whole.

Keywords: Data mining, e-examination, e-learning, moodle.

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Authors: Modreck Gomo

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The evolution of groundwater chemistry and its quality is largely controlled by hydrogeochemical processes and their understanding is therefore important for groundwater quality assessments and protection of the water resources. A study was conducted in Bloemfontein town of South Africa to assess and compare the groundwater chemistry and quality characteristics in an alluvial aquifer and single-plane fractured-rock aquifers. 9 groundwater samples were collected from monitoring boreholes drilled into the two aquifer systems during a once-off sampling exercise. Samples were collected through low-flow purging technique and analysed for major ions and trace elements. In order to describe the hydrochemical facies and identify dominant hydrogeochemical processes, the groundwater chemistry data are interpreted using stiff diagrams and principal component analysis (PCA), as complimentary tools. The fitness of the groundwater quality for domestic and irrigation uses is also assessed. Results show that the alluvial aquifer is characterised by a Na-HCO₃ hydrochemical facie while fractured-rock aquifer has a Ca-HCO₃ facie. The groundwater in both aquifers originally evolved from the dissolution of calcite rocks that are common on land surface environments. However the groundwater in the alluvial aquifer further goes through another evolution as driven by cation exchange process in which Na in the sediments exchanges with Ca²⁺ in the Ca-HCO₃ hydrochemical type to result in the Na-HCO₃ hydrochemical type. Despite the difference in the hydrogeochemical processes between the alluvial aquifer and single-plane fractured-rock aquifer, this did not influence the groundwater quality. The groundwater in the two aquifers is very hard as influenced by the elevated magnesium and calcium ions that evolve from dissolution of carbonate minerals which typically occurs in surface environments. Based on total dissolved levels (600-900 mg/L), groundwater quality of the two aquifer systems is classified to be of fair quality. The negative potential impacts of the groundwater quality for domestic uses are highlighted.

Keywords: Alluvial aquifer, fractured-rock aquifer, groundwater quality, hydrogeochemical processes.

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Authors: Kaziyev G. Z., Nabiyeva G. S., Kalizhanova A.U.

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We consider herein a concise view of discreet programming models and methods. There has been conducted the models and methods analysis. On the basis of discreet programming models there has been elaborated and offered a new class of problems, i.e. block-symmetry models and methods of applied tasks statements and solutions.

Keywords: Discreet programming, block-symmetry, analysis methods, information systems development.

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Authors: Irina Astrova, Nahum Korda, Ahto Kalja

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Relational databases are often used as a basis for persistent storage of ontologies to facilitate rapid operations such as search and retrieval, and to utilize the benefits of relational databases management systems such as transaction management, security and integrity control. On the other hand, there appear more and more OWL files that contain ontologies. Therefore, this paper proposes to extract ontologies from OWL files and then store them in relational databases. A prerequisite for this storing is transformation of ontologies to relational databases, which is the purpose of this paper.

Keywords: Ontologies, relational databases, SQL, and OWL.

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Authors: Fares Laouacheria, Said Kechida, Moncef Chabi

Abstract:

The objective of the study was based on the hydrological routing modelling for the continuous monitoring of the hydrological situation in the Moudjar river catchment, especially during floods with Hydrologic Engineering Center–Hydrologic Modelling Systems (HEC-HMS). The HEC-GeoHMS was used to transform data from geographic information system (GIS) to HEC-HMS for delineating and modelling the catchment river in order to estimate the runoff volume, which is used as inputs to the hydrological routing model. Two hydrological routing models were used, namely Muskingum and Muskingum routing models, for conducting this study. In this study, a comparison between the parameters of the Muskingum and Muskingum-Cunge routing models in HEC-HMS was used for modelling flood routing in the Moudjar river catchment and determining the relationship between these parameters and the physical characteristics of the river. The results indicate that the effects of input parameters such as the weighting factor "X" and travel time "K" on the output results are more significant, where the Muskingum routing model was more sensitive to input parameters than the Muskingum-Cunge routing model. This study can contribute to understand and improve the knowledge of the mechanisms of river floods, especially in ungauged river catchments.

Keywords: HEC-HMS, hydrological modelling, Muskingum routing model, Muskingum-Cunge routing model.

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Authors: Akim Borbuev, Francisco de León

Abstract:

Economic and population growth in densely-populated urban areas introduce major challenges to distribution system operators, planers, and designers. To supply added loads, utilities are frequently forced to invest in new distribution feeders. However, this is becoming increasingly more challenging due to space limitations and rising installation costs in urban settings. This paper proposes the conversion of critical alternating current (ac) distribution feeders into direct current (dc) feeders to increase the power transfer capacity by a factor as high as four. Current trends suggest that the return of dc transmission, distribution, and utilization are inevitable. Since a total system-level transformation to dc operation is not possible in a short period of time due to the needed huge investments and utility unreadiness, this paper recommends that feeders that are expected to exceed their limits in near future are converted to dc. The increase in power transfer capacity is achieved through several key differences between ac and dc power transmission systems. First, it is shown that underground cables can be operated at higher dc voltage than the ac voltage for the same dielectric stress in the insulation. Second, cable sheath losses, due to induced voltages yielding circulation currents, that can be as high as phase conductor losses under ac operation, are not present under dc. Finally, skin and proximity effects in conductors and sheaths do not exist in dc cables. The paper demonstrates that in addition to the increased power transfer capacity utilities substituting ac feeders by dc feeders could benefit from significant lower costs and reduced losses. Installing dc feeders is less expensive than installing new ac feeders even when new trenches are not needed. Case studies using the IEEE 342-Node Low Voltage Networked Test System quantify the technical and economic benefits of dc feeders.

Keywords: Dc power systems, distribution feeders, distribution networks, energy efficiency, power transfer capacity.

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Authors: M. F. Patricio, P. M. Rosa

Abstract:

In this paper a class of numerical methods to solve linear and nonlinear PDEs and also systems of PDEs is developed. The Differential Transform method associated with the Method of Lines (MoL) is used. The theory for linear problems is extended to the nonlinear case, and a recurrence relation is established. This method can achieve an arbitrary high-order accuracy in time. A variable stepsize algorithm and some numerical results are also presented.

Keywords: Method of Lines, Differential Transform Method.

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Authors: Alireza Azimi Sani , Shahram Chaharmahalie

Abstract:

Internal controls of accounting are an essential business function for a growth-oriented organization, and include the elements of risk assessment, information communications and even employees' roles and responsibilities. Internal controls of accounting systems are designed to protect a company from fraud, abuse and inaccurate data recording and help organizations keep track of essential financial activities. Internal controls of accounting provide a streamlined solution for organizing all accounting procedures and ensuring that the accounting cycle is completed consistently and successfully. Implementing a formal Accounting Procedures Manual for the organization allows the financial department to facilitate several processes and maintain rigorous standards. Internal controls also allow organizations to keep detailed records, manage and organize important financial transactions and set a high standard for the organization's financial management structure and protocols. A well-implemented system also reduces the risk of accounting errors and abuse. A well-implemented controls system allows a company's financial managers to regulate and streamline all functions of the accounting department. Internal controls of accounting can be set up for every area to track deposits, monitor check handling, keep track of creditor accounts, and even assess budgets and financial statements on an ongoing basis. Setting up an effective accounting system to monitor accounting reports, analyze records and protect sensitive financial information also can help a company set clear goals and make accurate projections. Creating efficient accounting processes allows an organization to set specific policies and protocols on accounting procedures, and reach its financial objectives on a regular basis. Internal accounting controls can help keep track of such areas as cash-receipt recording, payroll management, appropriate recording of grants and gifts, cash disbursements by authorized personnel, and the recording of assets. These systems also can take into account any government regulations and requirements for financial reporting.

Keywords: Internal controls, risk assessment, financial management.

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