Search results for: reduction capacity

Authors: Osuagwu Justine Ugochukwu, Sazali Abd Wahab, Sunday Sunday Akpan

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Investigating the effects of transformational and transactional leadership styles on the performance of healthcare employees at the University Teaching Hospital (UNTH) in Enugu, Nigeria, was the goal of the research. The respondents were asked to fill out a structured questionnaire. The respondents were chosen using a straightforward random sampling technique and consisted of 370 health workers at the hospital. The result of the analysis revealed that transactional and transformational leadership style has a positive while ambidextrous leadership has a negative effect on healthcare workers' performance in UNTH, Enugu. Therefore, the management of public hospitals that have the capacity to change their top management approach to leadership styles will gain substantial support from their employees’ thereby increasing organizational commitment and performance among health workers. This will have remarkable social implications, one of which is a change in the work culture and attitude of medical personnel from the seemingly anti-community of patients to friendly engagement and treatment of patients leading to a harmonious coexistence among these individuals in society. Investigating ambidextrous leadership and the use of nonparametric analysis is unique and has brought knowledge to leadership literature.

Keywords: Workers’ performance, transformational leadership, transactional leadership, governance quality, ambidextrous leadership.

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Authors: Wann-Ming Wey

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In today's popularity and progress of information technology, the big data set and its analysis are no longer a major conundrum. Now, we could not only use the relevant big data to analysis and emulate the possible status of urban development in the near future, but also provide more comprehensive and reasonable policy implementation basis for government units or decision-makers via the analysis and emulation results as mentioned above. In this research, we set Taipei City as the research scope, and use the relevant big data variables (e.g., population, facility utilization and related social policy ratings) and Analytic Network Process (ANP) approach to implement in-depth research and discussion for the possible reduction of land use in primary and secondary schools of Taipei City. In addition to enhance the prosperous urban activities for the urban public facility utilization, the final results of this research could help improve the efficiency of urban land use in the future. Furthermore, the assessment model and research framework established in this research also provide a good reference for schools or other public facilities land use and adaptive reuse strategies in the future.

Keywords: Adaptive reuse, analytic network process, big data, land use strategy.

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Authors: A. Ben Abdallah, H. Essabbah, M. H. Bedoui

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The myocardial sintigraphy is an imaging modality which provides functional informations. Whereas, coronarography modality gives useful informations about coronary arteries anatomy. In case of coronary artery disease (CAD), the coronarography can not determine precisely which moderate lesions (artery reduction between 50% and 70%), known as the “gray zone", are haemodynamicaly significant. In this paper, we aim to define the relationship between the location and the degree of the stenosis in coronary arteries and the observed perfusion on the myocardial scintigraphy. This allows us to model the impact evolution of these stenoses in order to justify a coronarography or to avoid it for patients suspected being in the gray zone. Our approach is decomposed in two steps. The first step consists in modelling a coronary artery bed and stenoses of different location and degree. The second step consists in modelling the left ventricle at stress and at rest using the sphercical harmonics model and myocardial scintigraphic data. We use the spherical harmonics descriptors to analyse left ventricle model deformation between stress and rest which permits us to conclude if ever an ischemia exists and to quantify it.

Keywords: Spherical harmonics model, vascular bed, 3D reconstruction, left ventricle, myocardial scintigraphy.

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Authors: Doaa M. Atia, Faten H. Fahmy, Ninet M. Ahmed, Hassen T. Dorrah

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In this paper, the optimum design for renewable energy system powered an aquaculture pond was determined. Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewable (HOMER) software program, which is developed by U.S National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), is used for analyzing the feasibility of the stand alone and hybrid system in this study. HOMER program determines whether renewable energy resources satisfy hourly electric demand or not. The program calculates energy balance for every 8760 hours in a year to simulate operation of the system. This optimization compares the demand for the electrical energy for each hour of the year with the energy supplied by the system for that hour and calculates the relevant energy flow for each component in the model. The essential principle is to minimize the total system cost while HOMER ensures control of the system. Moreover the feasibility analysis of the energy system is also studied. Wind speed, solar irradiance, interest rate and capacity shortage are the parameters which are taken into consideration. The simulation results indicate that the hybrid system is the best choice in this study, yielding lower net present cost. Thus, it provides higher system performance than PV or wind stand alone systems.

Keywords: Wind stand-alone system, Photovoltaic stand-alone system, Hybrid system, Optimum system sizing, feasibility, Cost analysis.

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Authors: A. L. Ho, N. Ab. Aziz, F. S. Taip, M. N. Ibrahim

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The study of the fouling deposition of pink guava juice (PGJ) is relatively new research compared to milk fouling deposit. In this work, a new experimental set-up was developed to imitate the fouling formation in heat exchanger, namely a continuous flow experimental set-up heat exchanger. The new experimental setup was operated under industrial pasteurization temperature of PGJ, which was at 93°C. While the flow rate and pasteurization period were based on the experimental capacity, which were 0.5 and 1 liter/min for the flow rate and the pasteurization period was set for 1 hour. Characterization of the fouling deposit was determined by using various methods. Microstructure of the deposits was carried out using ESEM. Proximate analyses were performed to determine the composition of moisture, fat, protein, fiber, ash and carbohydrate content. A study on the hardness and stickiness of the fouling deposit was done using a texture analyzer. The presence of seedstone in pink guava juice was also analyzed using a particle analyzer. The findings shown that seedstone from pink guava juice ranging from 168 to 200μm and carbohydrate was found to be a major composition (47.7% of fouling deposit consists of carbohydrate). Comparison between the hardness and stickiness of the deposits at two different flow rates showed that fouling deposits were harder and denser at higher flow rate. Findings from this work provide basis knowledge for further study on fouling and cleaning of PGJ.

Keywords: Pink guava juice, fouling deposit, heat exchanger.

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Authors: Taha Bensiradj, Samira Moussaoui

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Hybrid Sensors and Vehicular Networks (HSVN), represent a hybrid network, which uses several generations of Ad-Hoc networks. It is used especially in Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS). The HSVN allows making collaboration between the Wireless Sensors Network (WSN) deployed on the border of the road and the Vehicular Network (VANET). This collaboration is defined by messages exchanged between the two networks for the purpose to inform the drivers about the state of the road, provide road safety information and more information about traffic on the road. Moreover, this collaboration created by HSVN, also allows the use of a network and the advantage of improving another network. For example, the dissemination of information between the sensors quickly decreases its energy, and therefore, we can use vehicles that do not have energy constraint to disseminate the information between sensors. On the other hand, to solve the disconnection problem in VANET, the sensors can be used as gateways that allow sending the messages received by one vehicle to another. However, because of the short communication range of the sensor and its low capacity of storage and processing of data, it is difficult to ensure the exchange of road messages between it and the vehicle, which can be moving at high speed at the time of exchange. This represents the time where the vehicle is in communication range with the sensor. This work is the proposition of a communication protocol between the sensors and the vehicle used in HSVN. The latter has as the purpose to ensure the exchange of road messages in the available time of exchange.

Keywords: HSVN, ITS, VANET, WSN.

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Authors: H. Meddah, M. Berediaf-Bourahla, B. El-Djouzi, N. Bourahla

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Shear walls made of cold formed steel are used as lateral force resisting components in residential and low-rise commercial and industrial constructions. The seismic design analysis of such structures is often complex due to the slenderness of members and their instability prevalence. In this context, a simplified modeling technique across the panel is proposed by using the finite element method. The approach is based on idealizing the whole panel by a nonlinear shear link element which reflects its shear behavior connected to rigid body elements which transmit the forces to the end elements (studs) that resist the tension and the compression. The numerical model of the shear wall panel was subjected to cyclic loads in order to evaluate the seismic performance of the structure in terms of lateral displacement and energy dissipation capacity. In order to validate this model, the numerical results were compared with those from literature tests. This modeling technique is particularly useful for the design of cold formed steel structures where the shear forces in each panel and the axial forces in the studs can be obtained using spectrum analysis.

Keywords: Cold-formed steel, cyclic loading, modeling technique, nonlinear analysis, shear wall panel.

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Authors: Ruxandra Barbulescu, Daniel Ioan, Gabriela Ciuprina

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The saltatory conduction is the way the action potential is transmitted along a myelinated axon. The potential diffuses along the myelinated compartments and it is regenerated in the Ranvier nodes due to the ion channels allowing the flow across the membrane. For an efficient simulation of populations of neurons, it is important to use reduced order models both for myelinated compartments and for Ranvier nodes and to have control over their accuracy and inner parameters. The paper presents a reduced order model of this neural system which allows an efficient simulation method for the saltatory conduction in myelinated axons. This model is obtained by concatenating reduced order linear models of 1D myelinated compartments and nonlinear 0D models of Ranvier nodes. The models for the myelinated compartments are selected from a series of spatially distributed models developed and hierarchized according to their modeling errors. The extracted model described by a nonlinear PDE of hyperbolic type is able to reproduce the saltatory conduction with acceptable accuracy and takes into account the finite propagation speed of potential. Finally, this model is again reduced in order to make it suitable for the inclusion in large-scale neural circuits.

Keywords: Saltatory conduction, action potential, myelinated compartments, nonlinear, Ranvier nodes, reduced order models, POD.

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Authors: M. F. Wu, F. T. Cheng

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Leather industry is the most important traditional industry to provide the leather products in the world for thousand years. The fierce global competitive environment and common awareness of global carbon reduction make livestock supply quantities falling, salt and wet blue leather material reduces and the price skyrockets significantly. Exchange rate fluctuation led sales revenue decreasing which due to the differences of export exchanges and compresses the overall profitability of leather industry. This paper applies activity-based benefit assessment approach to build up fitness fur input mixed model, fur is Wet Blue, which concerned with four key factors: the output rate of wet blue, unit cost of wet blue, yield rate and grade level of Wet Blue to achieve the low cost strategy under given unit price of leather product condition of the company. The research findings indicate that applying this model may improve the input cost structure, decrease numbers of leather product inventories and to raise the competitive advantages of the enterprise in the future.

Keywords: Activity-Based Benefit Assessment Approach, Input mixed, Output Rate, Wet Blue.

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Authors: Mustafa Sahin, İlkay Yavrucuk

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This paper presents a wind turbine envelope protection control algorithm that protects Variable Speed Variable Pitch (VSVP) wind turbines from damage during operation throughout their below and above rated regions, i.e. from cut-in to cut-out wind speed. The proposed approach uses a neural network that can adapt to turbines and their operating points. An algorithm monitors instantaneous wind and turbine states, predicts a wind speed that would push the turbine to a pre-defined envelope limit and, when necessary, realizes an avoidance action. Simulations are realized using the MS Bladed Wind Turbine Simulation Model for the NREL 5 MW wind turbine equipped with baseline controllers. In all simulations, through the proposed algorithm, it is observed that the turbine operates safely within the allowable limit throughout the below and above rated regions. Two example cases, adaptations to turbine operating points for the below and above rated regions and protections are investigated in simulations to show the capability of the proposed envelope protection system (EPS) algorithm, which reduces excessive wind turbine loads and expectedly increases the turbine service life.

Keywords: Adaptive envelope protection control, limit detection and avoidance, neural networks, ultimate load reduction, wind turbine power control.

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Authors: A. D. Chandio, P. Xiao

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In this study, nickel aluminide coatings were deposited onto CMSX-4 single crystal superalloy and pure Ni substrates by using in-situ chemical vapour deposition (CVD) technique. The microstructural evolutions and coating thickness (CT) were studied upon the variation of processing conditions i.e. time and temperature. The results demonstrated (under identical conditions) that coating formed on pure Ni contains no substrate entrapments and have lower CT in comparison to one deposited on the CMSX-4 counterpart. In addition, the interdiffusion zone (IDZ) of Ni substrate is a γ’-Ni3Al in comparison to the CMSX-4 alloy that is βNiAl phase. The higher CT on CMSX-4 superalloy is attributed to presence of γ-Ni/γ’-Ni3Al structure which contains ~ 15 at.% Al before deposition (that is already present in superalloy). Two main deposition parameters (time and temperature) of the coatings were also studied in addition to standard comparison of substrate effects. The coating formation time was found to exhibit profound effect on CT, whilst temperature was found to change coating activities. In addition, the CT showed linear trend from 800 to 1000 °C, thereafter reduction was observed. This was attributed to the change in coating activities.

Keywords: βNiAl, in-situ CVD, CT, CMSX-4, Ni, microstructure.

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Authors: Alexander Goncharenko, Andrey Denisov, Sergey Alyamkin, Evgeny Terentev

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The neural network quantization is highly desired procedure to perform before running neural networks on mobile devices. Quantization without fine-tuning leads to accuracy drop of the model, whereas commonly used training with quantization is done on the full set of the labeled data and therefore is both time- and resource-consuming. Real life applications require simplification and acceleration of quantization procedure that will maintain accuracy of full-precision neural network, especially for modern mobile neural network architectures like Mobilenet-v1, MobileNet-v2 and MNAS. Here we present a method to significantly optimize training with quantization procedure by introducing the trained scale factors for discretization thresholds that are separate for each filter. Using the proposed technique, we quantize the modern mobile architectures of neural networks with the set of train data of only ∼ 10% of the total ImageNet 2012 sample. Such reduction of train dataset size and small number of trainable parameters allow to fine-tune the network for several hours while maintaining the high accuracy of quantized model (accuracy drop was less than 0.5%). Ready-for-use models and code are available in the GitHub repository.

Keywords: Distillation, machine learning, neural networks, quantization.

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Authors: Yanli Qi, Ning Lv, Jing Li

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Sub-Nyquist sampling jamming method (SNSJ) is a well known deception jamming method for inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR). However, the anti-decoy of the SNSJ method performs easier since the amplitude of the false-target images are weaker than the real-target image; the false-target images always lag behind the real-target image, and all targets are located in the same cross-range. In order to overcome the drawbacks mentioned above, a simple modulation based on SNSJ (M-SNSJ) is presented in this paper. The method first uses amplitude modulation factor to make the amplitude of the false-target images consistent with the real-target image, then uses the down-range modulation factor and cross-range modulation factor to make the false-target images move freely in down-range and cross-range, respectively, thus the capacity of deception is improved. Finally, the simulation results on the six available combinations of three modulation factors are given to illustrate our conclusion.

Keywords: Inverse synthetic aperture radar, ISAR, deceptive jamming, Sub-Nyquist sampling jamming method, SNSJ, modulation based on Sub-Nyquist sampling jamming method, M-SNSJ.

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Authors: Masoud Mahdavi

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The structure is made using different members and combining them with each other. These members are basically based on technical and engineering principles and are combined in different ways and have their own unique effects on the building. Trusses are one of the most common and important members of the structure, accounting for a large percentage of the power transmission structure in the building. Different types of trusses are based on structural needs and evaluating and making complete comparisons between them is one of the most important engineering analyses. In the present study, four types of trusses have been studied; 1) Hawe truss, 2) Pratt truss, 3) k truss, and 4) warren truss, under cyclic loading for 80 seconds. The trusses are modeled in 3d using st₃₇ steel. The results showed that Hawe trusses had higher values ​​than all other trusses (k, Pratt and Warren) in all the studied indicators. Indicators examined in the study include; 1) von Mises stresses, 2) displacement, 3) support force, 4) velocity, 5) acceleration, 6) capacity (hysteresis curve) and 7) energy diagram. Pratt truss in indicators; Mises stress, displacement, energy have the least amount compared to other trusses. K truss in indicators; support force, speed and acceleration are the lowest compared to other trusses.

Keywords: Hawe truss, Pratt truss, K truss, Warren truss, cyclic loading, finite element method.

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Authors: Mohsen Mohammadi, Toshio Fujimi

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High population and irregular urban development in Kabul city, Afghanistan's capital, are among factors that increase its vulnerability to earthquake disasters (on top of its location in a high seismic region); this can lead to widespread economic loss and casualties. This study aims to evaluate earthquake risks in Kabul's 13th district based on scientific data. The research data, which include hazard curves of Kabul, vulnerability curves, and a questionnaire survey through sampling in district 13, have been incorporated to develop risk curves. To estimate potential casualties, we used a set of M parameters in a model developed by Coburn and Spence. The results indicate that in the worst case scenario, more than 90% of district 13, which comprises mostly residential buildings, is exposed to high risk; this may lead to nearly 1000 million USD economic loss and 120 thousand casualties (equal to 25.88% of the 13th district's population) for a nighttime earthquake. To reduce risks, we present the reconstruction of the most vulnerable buildings, which are primarily adobe and masonry buildings. A comparison of risk reduction between reconstructing adobe and masonry buildings indicates that rebuilding adobe buildings would be more effective.

Keywords: Earthquake risk evaluation, Kabul, mitigation, vulnerability.

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Authors: Samera Salimpour Abkenar

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In traditional dyeing of natural fibers with natural dyes, metal salts are commonly used to increase color stability. This method always carries the risk of environmental pollution (contamination of arable soils and fresh groundwater) due to the release of dyeing effluents containing large amounts of metal. Therefore, researchers are always looking for new methods to obtain a green dyeing system. In this research, the use of the enzymatic dyeing method to prevent environmental pollution with metals and reduce production costs has been proposed. After degumming and bleaching, raw silk fabrics were dyed with natural dyes (Madder and Sumac) by three methods (pre-mordanting with a metal salt, one-step enzymatic dyeing, and two-step enzymatic dyeing). Results show that silk dyed with natural dyes by the enzymatic method has higher color strength and colorfastness than the pretreated with a metal salt. Also, the amount of remained dyes in the dyeing wastewater is significantly reduced by the enzymatic method. It is found that the enzymatic dyeing method leads to improvement of dye absorption, color strength, soft hand, no change in color shade, low production costs (due to low dyeing temperature), and a significant reduction in environmental pollution.

Keywords: Eco-friendly, natural dyes, silk, traditional dyeing.

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Authors: Adriano Z. Zambom, Preethi Ravikumar

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One of the biggest challenges in nonparametric regression is the curse of dimensionality. Additive models are known to overcome this problem by estimating only the individual additive effects of each covariate. However, if the model is misspecified, the accuracy of the estimator compared to the fully nonparametric one is unknown. In this work the efficiency of completely nonparametric regression estimators such as the Loess is compared to the estimators that assume additivity in several situations, including additive and non-additive regression scenarios. The comparison is done by computing the oracle mean square error of the estimators with regards to the true nonparametric regression function. Then, a backward elimination selection procedure based on the Akaike Information Criteria is proposed, which is computed from either the additive or the nonparametric model. Simulations show that if the additive model is misspecified, the percentage of time it fails to select important variables can be higher than that of the fully nonparametric approach. A dimension reduction step is included when nonparametric estimator cannot be computed due to the curse of dimensionality. Finally, the Boston housing dataset is analyzed using the proposed backward elimination procedure and the selected variables are identified.

Keywords: Additive models, local polynomial regression, residuals, mean square error, variable selection.

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Authors: Christoph Speer

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Decentralized ventilation systems should combine a small and economical design with high aerodynamic and thermal efficiency. The Counter Flow Heat Recovery Fan (CHRF) provides the ability to meet these requirements by using only one cross flow fan with a large number of blades to generate both airflows and which simultaneously acts as a regenerative counter flow heat exchanger. The successful development of the first laboratory prototype has shown the potential of this ventilation system. Occurring condensate on the surfaces of the fan blades during the cold and dry season can be recovered through the characteristic mode of operation. Hence the CHRF provides the possibility to avoid the need for frost protection and condensate drain. Through the implementation of system-specific solutions for flow balancing and summer bypass the required functionality is assured. The scalability of the CHRF concept allows the use in renovation as well as in new buildings from single-room devices through to systems for office buildings. High aerodynamic and thermal efficiency and the lower number of required mechatronic components should enable a reduction in investment as well as operating costs. The rotor is the key component of the system, the requirements and possible implementation variants are presented.

Keywords: CHRF, counter flow heat recovery fan, decentralized ventilation system, renovation.

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Authors: Diana Fajardo, Sebastián Ortiz, Oscar Herrera, Angélica Santis

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Currently, in Colombia is arising a problem related to collecting used lubricant oils which are generated by the increment of the vehicle fleet. This situation does not allow a proper disposal of this type of waste, which in turn results in a negative impact on the environment. Therefore, through the comparative analysis of various heuristics, the best solution to the VRP (Vehicle Routing Problem) was selected by comparing costs and times for the collection of used lubricant oils in the city of Pereira, Colombia; since there is no presence of management companies engaged in the direct administration of the collection of this pollutant. To achieve this aim, six proposals of through methods of solution of two phases were discussed. First, the assignment of the group of generator points of the residue was made (previously identified). Proposals one and four of through methods are based on the closeness of points. The proposals two and five are using the scanning method and the proposals three and six are considering the restriction of the capacity of collection vehicle. Subsequently, the routes were developed - in the first three proposals by the Clarke and Wright's savings algorithm and in the following proposals by the Traveling Salesman optimization mathematical model. After applying techniques, a comparative analysis of the results was performed and it was determined which of the proposals presented the most optimal values in terms of the distance, cost and travel time.

Keywords: Heuristics, optimization model, savings algorithm used vehicular oil, VRP.

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Authors: Ali Heidari

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This paper presents the principles for improving flood mitigation operation in multipurpose dams and maximizing reservoir performance during flood occurrence with a focus on the real-time operation of gated spillways. The criteria of operation include the safety of dams during flood management, minimizing the downstream flood risk by decreasing the flood hazard and fulfilling water supply and other purposes of the dam operation in mid and long terms horizons. The parameters deemed to be important include flood inflow, outlet capacity restrictions, downstream flood inundation damages, economic revenue of dam operation, and environmental and sedimentation restrictions. A simulation model was used to determine the real-time release of the Dez Dam located in the Dez Rivers in southwest Iran, considering the gate regulation curves for the gated spillway. The results of the simulation model show that there is a possibility to improve the current procedures used in the real-time operation of the dams, particularly using gate regulation curves and early flood forecasting system results. The Dez Dam operation data show that in one of the best flood control records, 17% of the total active volume and flood control pool of the reservoir have not been used in decreasing the downstream flood hazard despite the availability of a flood forecasting system.

Keywords: Dam operation, flood control criteria, Dez Dam, Iran.

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Authors: Hilary J. Watsilla, Narasimha R. Vajjhala

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Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has made information access easier and affordable. Academic research has also benefited from this, with online journals and academic resource readily available by the click of a button. However, there are limited ways of assessing and controlling the quality of the academic research mostly in public institution. Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa with a significant number of universities and young population. The quality of knowledge created by academic researchers, however, needs to be evaluated due to the high number of predatory journals published by academia. The purpose of this qualitative study is to look at the knowledge creation, acquisition, and assimilation process by academic researchers in public universities in Nigeria. Qualitative research will be carried out using in-depth interviews and observations. Academic researchers will be interviewed and absorptive capacity theory will be used as the theoretical framework to guide the research. The findings from this study should help understand the impact of ICT on the knowledge creation process in academic research and to understand how ICT can affect the quality of knowledge produced by researchers. The findings from this study should help add value to the existing body of knowledge on the quality of academic research, especially in Africa where there is limited availability of quality academic research. As this study is limited to Nigerian universities, the outcome may not be generalized to other developing countries.

Keywords: Knowledge creation, academic research, knowledge management, information and communication technology, research, university.

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Authors: Mohammadjavad Mahdavinejad, Hadi Yazdi

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The greatest influence we have from the world is shaped through the visual form, thus light is an inseparable element in human life. The use of daylight in visual perception and environment readability is an important issue for users. With regard to the hazards of greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels, and in line with the attitudes on the reduction of energy consumption, the correct use of daylight results in lower levels of energy consumed by artificial lighting, heating and cooling systems. Windows are usually the starting points for analysis and simulations to achieve visual comfort and energy optimization; therefore, attention should be paid to the orientation of buildings to minimize electrical energy and maximize the use of daylight. In this paper, by using the Design Builder Software, the effect of the orientation of an 18m²(3m*6m) room with 3m height in city of Tehran has been investigated considering the design constraint limitations. In these simulations, the dimensions of the building have been changed with one degree and the window is located on the smaller face (3m*3m) of the building with 80% ratio. The results indicate that the orientation of building has a lot to do with energy efficiency to meet high-performance architecture and planning goals and objectives.

Keywords: Daylight, window, orientation, energy consumption, design builder.

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Authors: Bharathi P. T, P. Subashini

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Ice cover County has a significant impact on rivers as it affects with the ice melting capacity which results in flooding, restrict navigation, modify the ecosystem and microclimate. River ices are made up of different ice types with varying ice thickness, so surveillance of river ice plays an important role. River ice types are captured using infrared imaging camera which captures the images even during the night times. In this paper the river ice infrared texture images are analysed using first-order statistical methods and secondorder statistical methods. The second order statistical methods considered are spatial gray level dependence method, gray level run length method and gray level difference method. The performance of the feature extraction methods are evaluated by using Probabilistic Neural Network classifier and it is found that the first-order statistical method and second-order statistical method yields low accuracy. So the features extracted from the first-order statistical method and second-order statistical method are combined and it is observed that the result of these combined features (First order statistical method + gray level run length method) provides higher accuracy when compared with the features from the first-order statistical method and second-order statistical method alone.

Keywords: Gray Level Difference Method, Gray Level Run Length Method, Kurtosis, Probabilistic Neural Network, Skewness, Spatial Gray Level Dependence Method.

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Authors: Sankar Chandrasekar, Rana Niranchan V.S., Joseph Sidharth Leon

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As the demand and prices of various petroleum products have been on the rise in recent years, there is a growing need for alternative fuels. Biodiesel, which consists of alkyl monoesters of fatty acids from vegetable oils and animal fats, is considered as an alternative to petroleum diesel. Biodiesel has comparable performance with that of diesel and has lower brake specific fuel consumption than diesel with significant reduction in emissions of CO, hydrocarbons (HC) and smoke with however, a slight increase in NOx emissions. This paper analyzes the effect of cooled exhaust gas recirculation in the combustion characteristics of a direct injection compression ignition engine using biodiesel blended fuel as opposed to the conventional system. The combustion parameters such as cylinder pressure, heat release rate, delay period and peak pressure were analyzed at various loads. The maximum cylinder pressure reduces as the fraction of biodiesel increases in the blend the maximum rate of pressure rise was found to be higher for diesel at higher engine loads.

Keywords: Cylinder pressure, delay period, EGR, heat release.

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Authors: Jaimala Gambhir, Tilak Thakur, Puneet Chawla

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As per the statistical data, the Doubly-fed Induction Generator (DFIG) based wind turbine with variable speed and variable pitch control is the most common wind turbine in the growing wind market. This machine is usually used on the grid connected wind energy conversion system to satisfy grid code requirements such as grid stability, Fault Ride Through (FRT), power quality improvement, grid synchronization and power control etc. Though the requirements are not fulfilled directly by the machine, the control strategy is used in both the stator as well as rotor side along with power electronic converters to fulfil the requirements stated above. To satisfy the grid code requirements of wind turbine, usually grid side converter is playing a major role. So in order to improve the operation capacity of wind turbine under critical situation, the intensive study of both machine side converter control and grid side converter control is necessary In this paper DFIG is modeled using power components as variables and the performance of the DFIG system is analysed under grid voltage fluctuations. The voltage fluctuations are made by lowering and raising the voltage values in the utility grid intentionally for the purpose of simulation keeping in view of different grid disturbances.

Keywords: DFIG, dynamic modeling, DPC, sag, swell, voltage fluctuations, FRT.

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Authors: G. Erkomaishvili

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The paper discusses mineral water consumer market and development policy in Georgia, the tools and measures, which will contribute to production of mineral waters and increase its export. The paper studies and analyses current situation in mineral water production sector as well as the factors affecting increase and reduction of its export. It’s noted that in order to gain and maintain competitive advantage, it’s necessary to provide continuous supply of high quality goods with modern design, open new distribution channels to enter new markets, carry out broad promotional activities, organize e-commerce. Economic policy plays an important role in protecting markets from counterfeit goods. The state also plays an important role in attracting foreign direct investments. Stable business environment and export oriented strategy is the basis for the country’s economic growth. Based on the research, the paper suggests the strategy for improving competitiveness of Georgian mineral waters; relevant conclusions and recommendations are provided.

Keywords: Mineral waters, consumer market for mineral waters, export of mineral waters, mineral water development policy in Georgia.

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Authors: Daniel F. Garcia, Julio Molleda, Francisco Gonzalez, Ruben Usamentiaga

Abstract:

The development of many measurement and inspection systems of products based on real-time image processing can not be carried out totally in a laboratory due to the size or the temperature of the manufactured products. Those systems must be developed in successive phases. Firstly, the system is installed in the production line with only an operational service to acquire images of the products and other complementary signals. Next, a recording service of the image and signals must be developed and integrated in the system. Only after a large set of images of products is available, the development of the real-time image processing algorithms for measurement or inspection of the products can be accomplished under realistic conditions. Finally, the recording service is turned off or eliminated and the system operates only with the real-time services for the acquisition and processing of the images. This article presents a systematic performance evaluation of the image compression algorithms currently available to implement a real-time recording service. The results allow establishing a trade off between the reduction or compression of the image size and the CPU time required to get that compression level.

Keywords: Lossless image compression, codec performanceevaluation, grayscale codec comparison, real-time image recording.

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Authors: Guillermo Romero-Jiménez, Luis A. Jiménez-Fraustro, Mayolo Salinas-Camacho, Heriberto Avalos-Valenzuela

Abstract:

A geothermal power plant multiple simulator for operators training is presented. The simulator is designed to be installed in a wireless local area network and has a capacity to train one to six operators simultaneously, each one with an independent simulation session. The sessions must be supervised only by one instructor. The main parts of this multiple simulator are: instructor and operator-s stations. On the instructor station, the instructor controls the simulation sessions, establishes training exercises and supervises each power plant operator in individual way. This station is hosted in a Main Personal Computer (NS) and its main functions are: to set initial conditions, snapshots, malfunctions or faults, monitoring trends, and process and soft-panel diagrams. On the other hand the operators carry out their actions over the power plant simulated on the operator-s stations; each one is also hosted in a PC. The main software of instructor and operator-s stations are executed on the same NS and displayed in PCs through graphical Interactive Process Diagrams (IDP). The geothermal multiple simulator has been installed in the Geothermal Simulation Training Center (GSTC) of the Comisi├│n Federal de Electricidad, (Federal Commission of Electricity, CFE), Mexico, and is being utilized as a part of the training courses for geothermal power plant operators.

Keywords: Geothermal power plant, multiple simulator, training operator.

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Authors: Mustapha Shitu Suleiman, Francis Neshamba, Nestor Valero-Silva

Abstract:

Small businesses are considered as engine of economic growth, contributing to employment generation, wealth creation, and poverty alleviation and food security in both developed and developing countries. Nigeria is facing many socio-economic problems and it is believed that by supporting small business development, as propellers of new ideas and more effective users of resources, often driven by individual creativity and innovation, Nigeria would be able to address some of its economic and social challenges, such as unemployment and economic diversification. Using secondary literature, this paper examines the role small businesses can play in the creation of jobs in North-West Nigeria to overcome issues of unemployment, which is the most devastating economic challenge facing the region. Most studies in this area have focused on Nigeria as a whole and only a few studies provide a regional focus, hence, this study will contribute to knowledge by filling this gap by concentrating on North-West Nigeria. It is hoped that with the present administration’s determination to improve the economy, small businesses would be used as vehicles for diversification of the economy away from crude oil to create jobs that would lead to a reduction in the country’s high unemployment level.

Keywords: Job creation, North-West Nigeria, small business, unemployment.

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Authors: Lillian Gungat, Meor Othman Hamzah, Mohd Rosli Mohd Hasan, Jan Valentin

Abstract:

Utilization of a high percentage of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) requires higher production temperatures and consumes more energy. High production temperature expedites the aging of bitumen in RAP, which could affect the mixture performance. Warm mix asphalt (WMA) additive enables reduced production temperatures as a result of viscosity reduction. This paper evaluates the integration of a high percentage of RAP with a WMA additive known as RH-WMA. The optimum dosage of RH-WMA was determined from basic properties tests. A total of 0%, 30% and 50% RAP contents from two roads sources were modified with RH-WMA. The modified RAP bitumen were examined for viscosity, stiffness, rutting resistance and greenhouse gas emissions. The addition of RH-WMA improved the flow of bitumen by reducing the viscosity, and thus, decreased the construction temperature. The stiffness of the RAP modified bitumen reduced with the incorporation of RH-WMA. The positive improvement in rutting resistance was observed on bitumen with the addition of RAP and RH-WMA in comparison with control. It was estimated that the addition of RH-WMA could potentially reduce fuel usage and GHG emissions by 22 %. Hence, the synergy of RAP and WMA technology can be an alternative in green road construction.

Keywords: Reclaimed asphalt pavement, WMA additive, viscosity, stiffness, emissions.

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