Search results for: Operation stability
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 2478

Search results for: Operation stability

138 Influence of Paralleled Capacitance Effect in Well-defined Multiple Value Logical Level System with Active Load

Authors: Chih Chin Yang, Yen Chun Lin, Hsiao Hsuan Cheng

Abstract:

Three similar negative differential resistance (NDR) profiles with both high peak to valley current density ratio (PVCDR) value and high peak current density (PCD) value in unity resonant tunneling electronic circuit (RTEC) element is developed in this paper. The PCD values and valley current density (VCD) values of the three NDR curves are all about 3.5 A and 0.8 A, respectively. All PV values of NDR curves are 0.40 V, 0.82 V, and 1.35 V, respectively. The VV values are 0.61 V, 1.07 V, and 1.69 V, respectively. All PVCDR values reach about 4.4 in three NDR curves. The PCD value of 3.5 A in triple PVCDR RTEC element is better than other resonant tunneling devices (RTD) elements. The high PVCDR value is concluded the lower VCD value about 0.8 A. The low VCD value is achieved by suitable selection of resistors in triple PVCDR RTEC element. The low PV value less than 1.35 V possesses low power dispersion in triple PVCDR RTEC element. The designed multiple value logical level (MVLL) system using triple PVCDR RTEC element provides equidistant logical level. The logical levels of MVLL system are about 0.2 V, 0.8 V, 1.5 V, and 2.2 V from low voltage to high voltage and then 2.2 V, 1.3 V, 0.8 V, and 0.2 V from high voltage back to low voltage in half cycle of sinusoid wave. The output level of four levels MVLL system is represented in 0.3 V, 1.1 V, 1.7 V, and 2.6 V, which satisfies the NMP condition of traditional two-bit system. The remarkable logical characteristic of improved MVLL system with paralleled capacitor are with four significant stable logical levels about 220 mV, 223 mV, 228 mV, and 230 mV. The stability and articulation of logical levels of improved MVLL system are outstanding. The average holding time of improved MVLL system is approximately 0.14 μs. The holding time of improved MVLL system is fourfold than of basic MVLL system. The function of additional capacitor in the improved MVLL system is successfully discovered.

Keywords: Capacitance, Logical level, Constant current source

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137 Functionality and Application of Rice Bran Protein Hydrolysates in Oil in Water Emulsions: Their Stabilities to Environmental Stresses

Authors: R. Charoen, S. Tipkanon, W. Savedboworn, N. Phonsatta, A. Panya

Abstract:

Rice bran protein hydrolysates (RBPH) were prepared from defatted rice bran of two different Thai rice cultivars (Plai-Ngahm-Prachinburi; PNP and Khao Dok Mali 105; KDM105) using an enzymatic method. This research aimed to optimize enzyme-assisted protein extraction. In addition, the functional properties of RBPH and their stabilities to environmental stresses including pH (3 to 8), ionic strength (0 mM to 500 mM) and the thermal treatment (30 °C to 90 °C) were investigated. Results showed that enzymatic process for protein extraction of defatted rice bran was as follows: enzyme concentration 0.075 g/ 5 g of protein, extraction temperature 50 °C and extraction time 4 h. The obtained protein hydrolysate powders had a degree of hydrolysis (%) of 21.05% in PNP and 19.92% in KDM105. The solubility of protein hydrolysates at pH 4-6 was ranged from 27.28-38.57% and 27.60-43.00% in PNP and KDM105, respectively. In general, antioxidant activities indicated by total phenolic content, FRAP, ferrous ion-chelating (FIC), and 2,2’-azino-bis-3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS) of KDM105 had higher than PNP. In terms of functional properties, the emulsifying activity index (EAI) was was 8.78 m²/g protein in KDM105, whereas PNP was 5.05 m²/g protein. The foaming capacity at 5 minutes (%) was 47.33 and 52.98 in PNP and KDM105, respectively. Glutamine, Alanine, Valine, and Leucine are the major amino acid in protein hydrolysates where the total amino acid of KDM105 gave higher than PNP. Furthermore, we investigated environmental stresses on the stability of 5% oil in water emulsion (5% oil, 10 mM citrate buffer) stabilized by RBPH (3.5%). The droplet diameter of emulsion stabilized by KDM105 was smaller (d < 250 nm) than produced by PNP. For environmental stresses, RBPH stabilized emulsions were stable at pH around 3 and 5-6, at high salt (< 400 mM, pH 7) and at temperatures range between 30-50°C.

Keywords: Functional properties, oil in water emulsion, protein hydrolysates, rice bran protein.

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136 Numerical Investigation of Multiphase Flow in Pipelines

Authors: Gozel Judakova, Markus Bause

Abstract:

We present and analyze reliable numerical techniques for simulating complex flow and transport phenomena related to natural gas transportation in pipelines. Such kind of problems are of high interest in the field of petroleum and environmental engineering. Modeling and understanding natural gas flow and transformation processes during transportation is important for the sake of physical realism and the design and operation of pipeline systems. In our approach a two fluid flow model based on a system of coupled hyperbolic conservation laws is considered for describing natural gas flow undergoing hydratization. The accurate numerical approximation of two-phase gas flow remains subject of strong interest in the scientific community. Such hyperbolic problems are characterized by solutions with steep gradients or discontinuities, and their approximation by standard finite element techniques typically gives rise to spurious oscillations and numerical artefacts. Recently, stabilized and discontinuous Galerkin finite element techniques have attracted researchers’ interest. They are highly adapted to the hyperbolic nature of our two-phase flow model. In the presentation a streamline upwind Petrov-Galerkin approach and a discontinuous Galerkin finite element method for the numerical approximation of our flow model of two coupled systems of Euler equations are presented. Then the efficiency and reliability of stabilized continuous and discontinous finite element methods for the approximation is carefully analyzed and the potential of the either classes of numerical schemes is investigated. In particular, standard benchmark problems of two-phase flow like the shock tube problem are used for the comparative numerical study.

Keywords: Discontinuous Galerkin method, Euler system, inviscid two-fluid model, streamline upwind Petrov-Galerkin method, two-phase flow.

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135 Modeling the Fischer-Tropsch Reaction In a Slurry Bubble Column Reactor

Authors: F. Gholami, M. Torabi Angaji, Z. Gholami

Abstract:

Fischer-Tropsch synthesis is one of the most important catalytic reactions that convert the synthetic gas to light and heavy hydrocarbons. One of the main issues is selecting the type of reactor. The slurry bubble reactor is suitable choice for Fischer- Tropsch synthesis because of its good qualification to transfer heat and mass, high durability of catalyst, low cost maintenance and repair. The more common catalysts for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis are Iron-based and Cobalt-based catalysts, the advantage of these catalysts on each other depends on which type of hydrocarbons we desire to produce. In this study, Fischer-Tropsch synthesis is modeled with Iron and Cobalt catalysts in a slurry bubble reactor considering mass and momentum balance and the hydrodynamic relations effect on the reactor behavior. Profiles of reactant conversion and reactant concentration in gas and liquid phases were determined as the functions of residence time in the reactor. The effects of temperature, pressure, liquid velocity, reactor diameter, catalyst diameter, gasliquid and liquid-solid mass transfer coefficients and kinetic coefficients on the reactant conversion have been studied. With 5% increase of liquid velocity (with Iron catalyst), H2 conversions increase about 6% and CO conversion increase about 4%, With 8% increase of liquid velocity (with Cobalt catalyst), H2 conversions increase about 26% and CO conversion increase about 4%. With 20% increase of gas-liquid mass transfer coefficient (with Iron catalyst), H2 conversions increase about 12% and CO conversion increase about 10% and with Cobalt catalyst H2 conversions increase about 10% and CO conversion increase about 6%. Results show that the process is sensitive to gas-liquid mass transfer coefficient and optimum condition operation occurs in maximum possible liquid velocity. This velocity must be more than minimum fluidization velocity and less than terminal velocity in such a way that avoid catalysts particles from leaving the fluidized bed.

Keywords: Modeling, Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis, Slurry Bubble Column Reactor.

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134 Nanofluid-Based Emulsion Liquid Membrane for Selective Extraction and Separation of Dysprosium

Authors: Maliheh Raji, Hossein Abolghasemi, Jaber Safdari, Ali Kargari

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Dysprosium is a rare earth element which is essential for many growing high-technology applications. Dysprosium along with neodymium plays a significant role in different applications such as metal halide lamps, permanent magnets, and nuclear reactor control rods preparation. The purification and separation of rare earth elements are challenging because of their similar chemical and physical properties. Among the various methods, membrane processes provide many advantages over the conventional separation processes such as ion exchange and solvent extraction. In this work, selective extraction and separation of dysprosium from aqueous solutions containing an equimolar mixture of dysprosium and neodymium by emulsion liquid membrane (ELM) was investigated. The organic membrane phase of the ELM was a nanofluid consisting of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), Span80 as surfactant, Cyanex 272 as carrier, kerosene as base fluid, and nitric acid solution as internal aqueous phase. Factors affecting separation of dysprosium such as carrier concentration, MWCNT concentration, feed phase pH and stripping phase concentration were analyzed using Taguchi method. Optimal experimental condition was obtained using analysis of variance (ANOVA) after 10 min extraction. Based on the results, using MWCNT nanofluid in ELM process leads to increase the extraction due to higher stability of membrane and mass transfer enhancement and separation factor of 6 for dysprosium over neodymium can be achieved under the optimum conditions. Additionally, demulsification process was successfully performed and the membrane phase reused effectively in the optimum condition.

Keywords: Emulsion liquid membrane, MWCNT nanofluid, separation, Taguchi Method.

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133 Replicating Brain’s Resting State Functional Connectivity Network Using a Multi-Factor Hub-Based Model

Authors: B. L. Ho, L. Shi, D. F. Wang, V. C. T. Mok

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The brain’s functional connectivity while temporally non-stationary does express consistency at a macro spatial level. The study of stable resting state connectivity patterns hence provides opportunities for identification of diseases if such stability is severely perturbed. A mathematical model replicating the brain’s spatial connections will be useful for understanding brain’s representative geometry and complements the empirical model where it falls short. Empirical computations tend to involve large matrices and become infeasible with fine parcellation. However, the proposed analytical model has no such computational problems. To improve replicability, 92 subject data are obtained from two open sources. The proposed methodology, inspired by financial theory, uses multivariate regression to find relationships of every cortical region of interest (ROI) with some pre-identified hubs. These hubs acted as representatives for the entire cortical surface. A variance-covariance framework of all ROIs is then built based on these relationships to link up all the ROIs. The result is a high level of match between model and empirical correlations in the range of 0.59 to 0.66 after adjusting for sample size; an increase of almost forty percent. More significantly, the model framework provides an intuitive way to delineate between systemic drivers and idiosyncratic noise while reducing dimensions by more than 30 folds, hence, providing a way to conduct attribution analysis. Due to its analytical nature and simple structure, the model is useful as a standalone toolkit for network dependency analysis or as a module for other mathematical models.

Keywords: Functional magnetic resonance imaging, multivariate regression, network hubs, resting state functional connectivity.

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132 Towards a Framework for Embedded Weight Comparison Algorithm with Business Intelligence in the Plantation Domain

Authors: M. Pushparani, A. Sagaya

Abstract:

Embedded systems have emerged as important elements in various domains with extensive applications in automotive, commercial, consumer, healthcare and transportation markets, as there is emphasis on intelligent devices. On the other hand, Business Intelligence (BI) has also been extensively used in a range of applications, especially in the agriculture domain which is the area of this research. The aim of this research is to create a framework for Embedded Weight Comparison Algorithm with Business Intelligence (EWCA-BI). The weight comparison algorithm will be embedded within the plantation management system and the weighbridge system. This algorithm will be used to estimate the weight at the site and will be compared with the actual weight at the plantation. The algorithm will be used to build the necessary alerts when there is a discrepancy in the weight, thus enabling better decision making. In the current practice, data are collected from various locations in various forms. It is a challenge to consolidate data to obtain timely and accurate information for effective decision making. Adding to this, the unstable network connection leads to difficulty in getting timely accurate information. To overcome the challenges embedding is done on a portable device that will have the embedded weight comparison algorithm to also assist in data capture and synchronize data at various locations overcoming the network short comings at collection points. The EWCA-BI will provide real-time information at any given point of time, thus enabling non-latent BI reports that will provide crucial information to enable efficient operational decision making. This research has a high potential in bringing embedded system into the agriculture industry. EWCA-BI will provide BI reports with accurate information with uncompromised data using an embedded system and provide alerts, therefore, enabling effective operation management decision-making at the site.

Keywords: Embedded business intelligence, weight comparison algorithm, oil palm plantation, embedded systems.

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131 Non-Linear Load-Deflection Response of Shape Memory Alloys-Reinforced Composite Cylindrical Shells under Uniform Radial Load

Authors: Behrang Tavousi Tehrani, Mohammad-Zaman Kabir

Abstract:

Shape memory alloys (SMA) are often implemented in smart structures as the active components. Their ability to recover large displacements has been used in many applications, including structural stability/response enhancement and active structural acoustic control. SMA wires or fibers can be embedded with composite cylinders to increase their critical buckling load, improve their load-deflection behavior, and reduce the radial deflections under various thermo-mechanical loadings. This paper presents a semi-analytical investigation on the non-linear load-deflection response of SMA-reinforced composite circular cylindrical shells. The cylinder shells are under uniform external pressure load. Based on first-order shear deformation shell theory (FSDT), the equilibrium equations of the structure are derived. One-dimensional simplified Brinson’s model is used for determining the SMA recovery force due to its simplicity and accuracy. Airy stress function and Galerkin technique are used to obtain non-linear load-deflection curves. The results are verified by comparing them with those in the literature. Several parametric studies are conducted in order to investigate the effect of SMA volume fraction, SMA pre-strain value, and SMA activation temperature on the response of the structure. It is shown that suitable usage of SMA wires results in a considerable enhancement in the load-deflection response of the shell due to the generation of the SMA tensile recovery force.

Keywords: Airy stress function, cylindrical shell, Galerkin technique, load-deflection curve, recovery stress, shape memory alloy.

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130 The Applications of Toyota Production System to Reduce Wastes in Agricultural Products Packing Process: A Study of Onion Packing Plant

Authors: Paisarn Larpsomboonchai

Abstract:

Agro-industry is one of major industries that have strong impacts on national economic incomes, growth, stability, and sustainable development. Moreover, this industry also has strong influences on social, cultural and political issues. Furthermore, this industry, as producing primary and secondary products, is facing challenges from such diverse factors such as demand inconsistency, intense international competition, technological advancements and new competitors. In order to maintain and to improve industry’s competitiveness in both domestics and international markets, science and technology are key factors. Besides hard sciences and technologies, modern industrial engineering concepts such as Just in Time (JIT) Total Quality Management (TQM), Quick Response (QR), Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Lean can be very effective to support to increase efficiency and effectiveness of these agricultural products on world stage. Onion is one of Thailand’s major export products which bring back national incomes. But, it is also facing challenges in many ways. This paper focused its interests in onion packing process and its related activities such as storage and shipment from one of major packing plant and storage in Mae Wang District, Chiang Mai, Thailand, by applying Toyota Production System (TPS) or Lean concepts, to improve process capability throughout the entire packing and distribution process which will be profitable for the whole onion supply chain. And it will be beneficial to other related agricultural products in Thailand and other ASEAN countries.

Keywords: Lean Concepts, Lean in Agro-industries Activities, Packing Process, Toyota Production System (TPS), Waste Reduction.

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129 Evaluation of Bakery Products Made from Barley-Gelatinized Corn Flour and Wheat-Defatted Rice Bran Flour Composites

Authors: Ahmed M. S. Hussein, Sahar Y. Al-Okbi

Abstract:

In the present research, whole meal barley flour (WBF) was supplemented with gelatinized corn flour (GCF) in 0 and 30%. Whole meal wheat flour (WWF) was mixed with defatted rice bran (DRB) to produce 0, 20, 25, and 30% replacement levels. Rheological properties of dough were studied. Thermal properties and starch crystallinity of flours were evaluated. Flat bread, balady bread and pie were prepared from the different flour blends. The different bakeries were sensory evaluated. Color of raw materials and crust of bakery products were determined. Nutrients contents of raw flours and food products were assessed. Results showed that addition of GCF to WBF increased the viscosity and falling number of the produced dough. Water absorption, dough development time and dough stability increased with increasing the level of DRB in dough while, weakening and mixing tolerance index decreased. Extensibility and energy decreased, while, resistance to extension increased as DRB level increased. Gelatinized temperature of WWF, WBF, GCF, and DRB were 13.26, 35.09, 28.33, and 39.63, respectively. Starch crystallinity was affected when DRB was added to WWF. The highest protein content was present in balady bread made from 70% WWF and 30% DRB. The highest calcium, phosphorus, and potassium levels were present in products made from 100% WBF. Sensory attributes of the products were slightly affected by adding DRB and GCF. Conclusion: Addition of DRB or GCF to WWF or WBF, respectively affect the physical, chemical, rheological and sensory properties of balady bread, flat bread, and pie while improved their nutritive values.

Keywords: Bakeries, rheological properties, chemical and sensory attributes, flour thermal properties and starch crystallinity.

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128 Lamb Wave Wireless Communication in Healthy Plates Using Coherent Demodulation

Authors: Rudy Bahouth, Farouk Benmeddour, Emmanuel Moulin, Jamal Assaad

Abstract:

Guided ultrasonic waves are used in Non-Destructive Testing and Structural Health Monitoring for inspection and damage detection. Recently, wireless data transmission using ultrasonic waves in solid metallic channels has gained popularity in some industrial applications such as nuclear, aerospace and smart vehicles. The idea is to find a good substitute for electromagnetic waves since they are highly attenuated near metallic components due to Faraday shielding. The proposed solution is to use ultrasonic guided waves such as Lamb waves as an information carrier due to their capability of propagation for long distances. In addition to this, valuable information about the health of the structure could be extracted simultaneously. In this work, the reliable frequency bandwidth for communication is extracted experimentally from dispersion curves at first. Then, an experimental platform for wireless communication using Lamb waves is described and built. After this, coherent demodulation algorithm used in telecommunications is tested for Amplitude Shift Keying, On-Off Keying and Binary Phase Shift Keying modulation techniques. Signal processing parameters such as threshold choice, number of cycles per bit and Bit Rate are optimized. Experimental results are compared based on the average bit error percentage. Results has shown high sensitivity to threshold selection for Amplitude Shift Keying and On-Off Keying techniques resulting a Bit Rate decrease. Binary Phase Shift Keying technique shows the highest stability and data rate between all tested modulation techniques.

Keywords: Lamb Wave Communication, wireless communication, coherent demodulation, bit error percentage.

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127 Field Study on Thermal Performance of a Green Office in Bangkok, Thailand: A Possibility of Increasing Temperature Set-Points

Authors: T. Sikram, M. Ichinose, R. Sasaki

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In the tropics, indoor thermal environment is usually provided by a cooling mode to maintain comfort all year. Indoor thermal environment performance is sometimes different from the standard or from the first design process because of operation, maintenance, and utilization. The field study of thermal environment in the green building is still limited in this region, while the green building continues to increase. This study aims to clarify thermal performance and subjective perception in the green building by testing the temperature set-points. A Thai green office was investigated twice in October 2018 and in May 2019. Indoor environment variables (temperature, relative humidity, and wind velocity) were collected continuously. The temperature set-point was normally set as 23 °C, and it was changed into 24 °C and 25 °C. The study found that this gap of temperature set-point produced average room temperature from 22.7 to 24.6 °C and average relative humidity from 55% to 62%. Thermal environments slight shifted out of the ASHRAE comfort zone when the set-point was increased. Based on the thermal sensation vote, the feeling-colder vote decreased by 30% and 18% when changing +1 °C and +2 °C, respectively. Predicted mean vote (PMV) shows that most of the calculated median values were negative. The values went close to the optimal neutral value (0) when the set-point was set at 25 °C. The neutral temperature was slightly decreased when changing warmer temperature set-points. Building-related symptom reports were found in this study that the number of votes reduced continuously when the temperature was warmer. The symptoms that occurred by a cooler condition had the number of votes more than ones that occurred by a warmer condition. In sum, for this green office, there is a possibility to adjust a higher temperature set-point to +1 °C (24 °C) in terms of reducing cold sensitivity, discomfort, and symptoms. All results could support the policy of changing a warmer temperature of this office to become “a better green building”.

Keywords: Thermal environment, green office, temperature set-point, comfort.

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126 Three-Phase High Frequency AC Conversion Circuit with Dual Mode PWM/PDM Control Strategy for High Power IH Applications

Authors: Nabil A. Ahmed

Abstract:

This paper presents a novel three-phase utility frequency to high frequency soft switching power conversion circuit with dual mode pulse width modulation and pulse density modulation for high power induction heating applications as melting of steel and non ferrous metals, annealing of metals, surface hardening of steel and cast iron work pieces and hot water producers, steamers and super heated steamers. This high frequency power conversion circuit can operate from three-phase systems to produce high current for high power induction heating applications under the principles of ZVS and it can regulate its ac output power from the rated value to a low power level. A dual mode modulation control scheme based on high frequency PWM in synchronization with the utility frequency positive and negative half cycles for the proposed high frequency conversion circuit and utility frequency pulse density modulation is produced to extend its soft switching operating range for wide ac output power regulation. A dual packs heat exchanger assembly is designed to be used in consumer and industrial fluid pipeline systems and it is proved to be suitable for the hot water, steam and super heated steam producers. Experiment and simulation results are given in this paper to verify the operation principles of the proposed ac conversion circuit and to evaluate its power regulation and conversion efficiency. Also, the paper presents a mutual coupling model of the induction heating load instead of equivalent transformer circuit model.

Keywords: Induction heating, three-phase, conversion circuit, pulse width modulation, pulse density modulation, high frequency, soft switching.

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125 Synthesis and Properties of Chitosan-Graft Polyacrylamide/Gelatin Superabsorbent Composites for Wastewater Purification

Authors: H. Ferfera-Harrar, N. Aiouaz, N. Dairi

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Superabsorbent polymers received much attention and are used in many fields because of their superior characters to traditional absorbents, e.g., sponge and cotton. So, it is very important but challenging to prepare highly and fast-swelling superabsorbents. A reliable, efficient and low-cost technique for removing heavy metal ions from wastewater is the adsorption using bio-adsorbents obtained from biological materials, such as polysaccharides-based hydrogels superabsorbents. In this study, novel multi-functional superabsorbent composites type semi-interpenetrating polymer networks (Semi-IPNs) were prepared via graft polymerization of acrylamide onto chitosan backbone in presence of gelatin, CTS-g-PAAm/Ge, using potassium persulfate and N,N’-methylene bisacrylamide as initiator and crosslinker, respectively. These hydrogels were also partially hydrolyzed to achieve superabsorbents with ampholytic properties and uppermost swelling capacity. The formation of the grafted network was evidenced by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA). The porous structures were observed by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). From TGA analysis, it was concluded that the incorporation of the Ge in the CTS-g-PAAm network has marginally affected its thermal stability. The effect of gelatin content on the swelling capacities of these superabsorbent composites was examined in various media (distilled water, saline and pH-solutions). The water absorbency was enhanced by adding Ge in the network, where the optimum value was reached at 2 wt. % of Ge. Their hydrolysis has not only greatly optimized their absorption capacity but also improved the swelling kinetic.These materials have also showed reswelling ability. We believe that these super-absorbing materials would be very effective for the adsorption of harmful metal ions from wastewater.

Keywords: Chitosan, gelatin, superabsorbent, water absorbency.

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124 Military Attack Helicopter Selection Using Distance Function Measures in Multiple Criteria Decision Making Analysis

Authors: C. Ardil

Abstract:

This paper aims to select the best military attack helicopter to purchase by the Armed Forces and provide greater reconnaissance and offensive combat capability in military operations. For this purpose, a multiple criteria decision analysis method integrated with the variance weight procedure was applied to the military attack helicopter selection problem. A real military aviation case problem is conducted to support the Armed Forces decision-making process and contributes to the better performance of the Armed Forces. Application of the methodology resulted in ranking lists for ordering and prioritizing attack helicopters, providing transparency and simplicity to the decision-making process. Nine military attack helicopter models were analyzed in the light of strategic, tactical, and operational criteria, considering attack helicopters. The selected military attack helicopter would be used for fire support and reconnaissance activities required by the Armed Forces operation. This study makes a valuable contribution to the problem of military attack helicopter selection, as it represents a state-of-the-art application of the MCDMA method to contribute to the solution of a real problem of the Armed Forces. The methodology presented in this paper can be used to solve real problems of a wide variety, especially strategic, tactical and operational, and is, therefore, a very useful method for decision making.

Keywords: aircraft selection, military attack helicopter selection, attack helicopter fleet planning, MCDMA, multiple criteria analysis, multiple criteria decision making analysis, distance function measure

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123 Lateral Torsional Buckling Resistance of Trapezoidally Corrugated Web Girders

Authors: Annamária Käferné Rácz, Bence Jáger, Balázs Kövesdi, László Dunai

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Due to the numerous advantages of steel corrugated web girders, its application field is growing for bridges as well as for buildings. The global stability behavior of such girders is significantly larger than those of conventional I-girders with flat web, thus the application of the structural steel material can be significantly reduced. Design codes and specifications do not provide clear and complete rules or recommendations for the determination of the lateral torsional buckling (LTB) resistance of corrugated web girders. Therefore, the authors made a thorough investigation regarding the LTB resistance of the corrugated web girders. Finite element (FE) simulations have been performed to develop new design formulas for the determination of the LTB resistance of trapezoidally corrugated web girders. FE model is developed considering geometrical and material nonlinear analysis using equivalent geometric imperfections (GMNI analysis). The equivalent geometric imperfections involve the initial geometric imperfections and residual stresses coming from rolling, welding and flame cutting. Imperfection sensitivity analysis was performed to determine the necessary magnitudes regarding only the first eigenmodes shape imperfections. By the help of the validated FE model, an extended parametric study is carried out to investigate the LTB resistance for different trapezoidal corrugation profiles. First, the critical moment of a specific girder was calculated by FE model. The critical moments from the FE calculations are compared to the previous analytical calculation proposals. Then, nonlinear analysis was carried out to determine the ultimate resistance. Due to the numerical investigations, new proposals are developed for the determination of the LTB resistance of trapezoidally corrugated web girders through a modification factor on the design method related to the conventional flat web girders.

Keywords: Critical moment, FE modeling, lateral torsional buckling, trapezoidally corrugated web girders.

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122 Multi-Sensor Image Fusion for Visible and Infrared Thermal Images

Authors: Amit Kr. Happy

Abstract:

This paper is motivated by the importance of multi-sensor image fusion with specific focus on Infrared (IR) and Visible image (VI) fusion for various applications including military reconnaissance. Image fusion can be defined as the process of combining two or more source images into a single composite image with extended information content that improves visual perception or feature extraction. These images can be from different modalities like Visible camera & IR Thermal Imager. While visible images are captured by reflected radiations in the visible spectrum, the thermal images are formed from thermal radiation (IR) that may be reflected or self-emitted. A digital color camera captures the visible source image and a thermal IR camera acquires the thermal source image. In this paper, some image fusion algorithms based upon Multi-Scale Transform (MST) and region-based selection rule with consistency verification have been proposed and presented. This research includes implementation of the proposed image fusion algorithm in MATLAB along with a comparative analysis to decide the optimum number of levels for MST and the coefficient fusion rule. The results are presented, and several commonly used evaluation metrics are used to assess the suggested method's validity. Experiments show that the proposed approach is capable of producing good fusion results. While deploying our image fusion algorithm approaches, we observe several challenges from the popular image fusion methods. While high computational cost and complex processing steps of image fusion algorithms provide accurate fused results, but they also make it hard to become deployed in system and applications that require real-time operation, high flexibility and low computation ability. So, the methods presented in this paper offer good results with minimum time complexity.

Keywords: Image fusion, IR thermal imager, multi-sensor, Multi-Scale Transform.

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121 Partnering with Stakeholders to Secure Digitization of Water

Authors: Sindhu Govardhan, Kenneth G. Crowther

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Modernisation of the water sector is leading to increased connectivity and integration of emerging technologies with traditional ones, leading to new security risks. The convergence of Information Technology (IT) with Operation Technology (OT) results in solutions that are spread across larger geographic areas, increasingly consist of interconnected Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT) devices and software, rely on the integration of legacy with modern technologies, use of complex supply chain components leading to complex architectures and communication paths. The result is that multiple parties collectively own and operate these emergent technologies, threat actors find new paths to exploit, and traditional cybersecurity controls are inadequate. Our approach is to explicitly identify and draw data flows that cross trust boundaries between owners and operators of various aspects of these emerging and interconnected technologies. On these data flows, we layer potential attack vectors to create a frame of reference for evaluating possible risks against connected technologies. Finally, we identify where existing controls, mitigations, and other remediations exist across industry partners (e.g., suppliers, product vendors, integrators, water utilities, and regulators). From these, we are able to understand potential gaps in security, the roles in the supply chain that are most likely to effectively remediate those security gaps, and test cases to evaluate and strengthen security across these partners. This informs a “shared responsibility” solution that recognises that security is multi-layered and requires collaboration to be successful. This shared responsibility security framework improves visibility, understanding, and control across the entire supply chain, and particularly for those water utilities that are accountable for safe and continuous operations.

Keywords: Cyber security, shared responsibility, IIOT, threat modelling.

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120 Water Management Scheme: Panacea to Development Using Nigeria’s University of Ibadan Water Supply Scheme as a Case Study

Authors: Sunday Olufemi Adesogan

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The supply of potable water at least is a very important index in national development. Water tariffs depend on the treatment cost which carries the highest percentage of the total operation cost in any water supply scheme. In order to keep water tariffs as low as possible, treatment costs have to be minimized. The University of Ibadan, Nigeria, water supply scheme consists of a treatment plant with three distribution stations (Amina way, Kurumi and Lander) and two raw water supply sources (Awba dam and Eleyele dam). An operational study of the scheme was carried out to ascertain the efficiency of the supply of potable water on the campus to justify the need for water supply schemes in tertiary institutions. The study involved regular collection, processing and analysis of periodic operational data. Data collected include supply reading (water production on daily basis) and consumers metered reading for a period of 22 months (October 2013 - July 2015), and also collected, were the operating hours of both plants and human beings. Applying the required mathematical equations, total loss was determined for the distribution system, which was translated into monetary terms. Adequacies of the operational functions were also determined. The study revealed that water supply scheme is justified in tertiary institutions. It was also found that approximately 10.7 million Nigerian naira (N) is lost to leakages during the 22-month study period; the system’s storage capacity is no longer adequate, especially for peak water production. The capacity of the system as a whole is insufficient for the present university population and that the existing water supply system is not being operated in an optimal manner especially due to personnel, power and system ageing constraints.

Keywords: Operational, efficiency, production, supply, water treatment plant, water loss.

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119 Machinability Analysis in Drilling Flax Fiber-Reinforced Polylactic Acid Bio-Composite Laminates

Authors: Amirhossein Lotfi, Huaizhong Li, Dzung Viet Dao

Abstract:

Interest in natural fiber-reinforced composites (NFRC) is progressively growing both in terms of academia research and industrial applications thanks to their abundant advantages such as low cost, biodegradability, eco-friendly nature and relatively good mechanical properties. However, their widespread use is still presumed as challenging because of the specificity of their non-homogeneous structure, limited knowledge on their machinability characteristics and parameter settings, to avoid defects associated with the machining process. The present work is aimed to investigate the effect of the cutting tool geometry and material on the drilling-induced delamination, thrust force and hole quality produced when drilling a fully biodegradable flax/poly (lactic acid) composite laminate. Three drills with different geometries and material were used at different drilling conditions to evaluate the machinability of the fabricated composites. The experimental results indicated that the choice of cutting tool, in terms of material and geometry, has a noticeable influence on the cutting thrust force and subsequently drilling-induced damages. The lower value of thrust force and better hole quality was observed using high-speed steel (HSS) drill, whereas Carbide drill (with point angle of 130o) resulted in the highest value of thrust force. Carbide drill presented higher wear resistance and stability in variation of thrust force with a number of holes drilled, while HSS drill showed the lower value of thrust force during the drilling process. Finally, within the selected cutting range, the delamination damage increased noticeably with feed rate and moderately with spindle speed.

Keywords: Natural fiber-reinforced composites, machinability, thrust force, delamination.

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118 Energy Efficient Autonomous Lower Limb Exoskeleton for Human Motion Enhancement

Authors: Nazim Mir-Nasiri, Hudyjaya Siswoyo Jo

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The paper describes conceptual design, control strategies, and partial simulation for a new fully autonomous lower limb wearable exoskeleton system for human motion enhancement that can support its weight and increase strength and endurance. Various problems still remain to be solved where the most important is the creation of a power and cost efficient system that will allow an exoskeleton to operate for extended period without batteries being frequently recharged. The designed exoskeleton is enabling to decouple the weight/mass carrying function of the system from the forward motion function which reduces the power and size of propulsion motors and thus the overall weight, cost of the system. The decoupling takes place by blocking the motion at knee joint by placing passive air cylinder across the joint. The cylinder is actuated when the knee angle has reached the minimum allowed value to bend. The value of the minimum bending angle depends on usual walk style of the subject. The mechanism of the exoskeleton features a seat to rest the subject’s body weight at the moment of blocking the knee joint motion. The mechanical structure of each leg has six degrees of freedom: four at the hip, one at the knee, and one at the ankle. Exoskeleton legs are attached to subject legs by using flexible cuffs. The operation of all actuators depends on the amount of pressure felt by the feet pressure sensors and knee angle sensor. The sensor readings depend on actual posture of the subject and can be classified in three distinct cases: subject stands on one leg, subject stands still on both legs and subject stands on both legs but transit its weight from one leg to other. This exoskeleton is power efficient because electrical motors are smaller in size and did not participate in supporting the weight like in all other existing exoskeleton designs.

Keywords: Energy efficient system, exoskeleton, motion enhancement, robotics.

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117 Analysis and Design of Inductive Power Transfer Systems for Automotive Battery Charging Applications

Authors: Wahab Ali Shah, Junjia He

Abstract:

Transferring electrical power without any wiring has been a dream since late 19th century. There were some advances in this area as to know more about microwave systems. However, this subject has recently become very attractive due to their practiScal systems. There are low power applications such as charging the batteries of contactless tooth brushes or implanted devices, and higher power applications such as charging the batteries of electrical automobiles or buses. In the first group of applications operating frequencies are in microwave range while the frequency is lower in high power applications. In the latter, the concept is also called inductive power transfer. The aim of the paper is to have an overview of the inductive power transfer for electrical vehicles with a special concentration on coil design and power converter simulation for static charging. Coil design is very important for an efficient and safe power transfer. Coil design is one of the most critical tasks. Power converters are used in both side of the system. The converter on the primary side is used to generate a high frequency voltage to excite the primary coil. The purpose of the converter in the secondary is to rectify the voltage transferred from the primary to charge the battery. In this paper, an inductive power transfer system is studied. Inductive power transfer is a promising technology with several possible applications. Operation principles of these systems are explained, and components of the system are described. Finally, a single phase 2 kW system was simulated and results were presented. The work presented in this paper is just an introduction to the concept. A reformed compensation network based on traditional inductor-capacitor-inductor (LCL) topology is proposed to realize robust reaction to large coupling variation that is common in dynamic wireless charging application. In the future, this type compensation should be studied. Also, comparison of different compensation topologies should be done for the same power level.

Keywords: Coil design, contactless charging, electrical automobiles, inductive power transfer, operating frequency.

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116 Fuzzy Power Controller Design for Purdue University Research Reactor-1

Authors: Oktavian Muhammad Rizki, Appiah Rita, Lastres Oscar, Miller True, Chapman Alec, Tsoukalas Lefteri H.

Abstract:

The Purdue University Research Reactor-1 (PUR-1) is a 10 kWth pool-type research reactor located at Purdue University’s West Lafayette campus. The reactor was recently upgraded to use entirely digital instrumentation and control systems. However, currently, there is no automated control system to regulate the power in the reactor. We propose a fuzzy logic controller as a form of digital twin to complement the existing digital instrumentation system to monitor and stabilize power control using existing experimental data. This work assesses the feasibility of a power controller based on a Fuzzy Rule-Based System (FRBS) by modelling and simulation with a MATLAB algorithm. The controller uses power error and reactor period as inputs and generates reactivity insertion as output. The reactivity insertion is then converted to control rod height using a logistic function based on information from the recorded experimental reactor control rod data. To test the capability of the proposed fuzzy controller, a point-kinetic reactor model is utilized based on the actual PUR-1 operation conditions and a Monte Carlo N-Particle simulation result of the core to numerically compute the neutronics parameters of reactor behavior. The Point Kinetic Equation (PKE) was employed to model dynamic characteristics of the research reactor since it explains the interactions between the spatial and time varying input and output variables efficiently. The controller is demonstrated computationally using various cases: startup, power maneuver, and shutdown. From the test results, it can be proved that the implemented fuzzy controller can satisfactorily regulate the reactor power to follow demand power without compromising nuclear safety measures.

Keywords: Fuzzy logic controller, power controller, reactivity, research reactor.

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115 Exchange Rate Volatility, Its Determinants and Effects on the Manufacturing Sector in Nigeria

Authors: Chimaobi V. Okolo, Onyinye S. Ugwuanyi, Kenneth A. Okpala

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This study evaluated the effect of exchange rate volatility on the manufacturing sector of Nigeria. The flow and stock market theories of exchange rate determination was adopted considering macroeconomic determinants such as balance of trade, trade openness, and net international investment. Furthermore, the influence of changes in parallel exchange rate, official exchange rate and real effective exchange rate was modeled on the manufacturing sector output. Vector autoregression techniques and vector error correction mechanism were adopted to explore the macroeconomic determinants of exchange rate fluctuation in Nigeria and to examine the influence of exchange rate volatility on the manufacturing sector output in Nigeria. The exchange rate showed an unstable and volatile movement in Nigeria. Official exchange rate significantly impacted on the manufacturing sector of Nigeria and shock to previous manufacturing sector output caused 60.76% of the fluctuation in the manufacturing sector output in Nigeria. Trade balance, trade openness and net international investments did not significantly determine exchange rate in Nigeria. However, own shock accounted for about 95% of the variation of exchange rate fluctuation in the short-run and long-run. Among other macroeconomic variables, net international investment accounted for about 2.85% variation of the real effective exchange rate fluctuation in the short-run and in the long-run. Monetary authorities should maintain stability of the exchange rates through proper management so as to encourage local production and government should formulate and implement policies that will develop other sectors of the economy as this will widen the country’s revenue base, reduce our over reliance on oil sector for our foreign exchange earnings and in turn reduce the shocks on our domestic economy.

Keywords: Exchange rate volatility, exchange rate determinants, manufacturing sector, official exchange rate, parallel exchange rate, real effective exchange rate.

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114 The Growth of E-Commerce and Online Dispute Resolution in Developing Nations: An Analysis

Authors: Robin V. Cupido

Abstract:

Online dispute resolution has been identified in many countries as a viable alternative for resolving conflicts which have arisen in the so-called digital age. This system of dispute resolution is developing alongside the Internet, and as new types of transactions are made possible by our increased connectivity, new ways of resolving disputes must be explored. Developed nations, such as the United States of America and the European Union, have been involved in creating these online dispute resolution mechanisms from the outset, and currently have sophisticated systems in place to deal with conflicts arising in a number of different fields, such as e-commerce, domain name disputes, labour disputes and conflicts arising from family law. Specifically, in the field of e-commerce, the Internet’s borderless nature has served as a way to promote cross-border trade, and has created a global marketplace. Participation in this marketplace boosts a country’s economy, as new markets are now available, and consumers can transact from anywhere in the world. It would be especially advantageous for developing nations to be a part of this global marketplace, as it could stimulate much-needed investment in these nations, and encourage international co-operation and trade. However, for these types of transactions to proliferate, an effective system for resolving the inevitable disputes arising from such an increase in e-commerce is needed. Online dispute resolution scholarship and practice is flourishing in developed nations, and it is clear that the gap is widening between developed and developing nations in this regard. The potential for implementing online dispute resolution in developing countries has been discussed, but there are a number of obstacles that have thus far prevented its continued development. This paper aims to evaluate the various political, infrastructural and socio-economic challenges faced in developing nations, and to question how these have impacted the acceptance and development of online dispute resolution, scholarship and training of online dispute resolution practitioners and, ultimately, developing nations’ readiness to participate in cross-border e-commerce.

Keywords: Developing countries, feasibility, online dispute resolution, progress.

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113 Analytical Investigation of Sediment Formation and Transport in the Vicinity of the Water Intake Structures - A Case Study of the Dez Diversion Weir in Greater Dezful

Authors: M.karavanmasjedi, N.Hedayat , A.Rohani, H.Shirin

Abstract:

Sedimentation process resulting from soil erosion in the water basin especially in arid and semi-arid where poor vegetation cover in the slope of the mountains upstream could contribute to sediment formation. The consequence of sedimentation not only makes considerable change in the morphology of the river and the hydraulic characteristics but would also have a major challenge for the operation and maintenance of the canal network which depend on water flow to meet the stakeholder-s requirements. For this reason mathematical modeling can be used to simulate the effective factors on scouring, sediment transport and their settling along the waterways. This is particularly important behind the reservoirs which enable the operators to estimate the useful life of these hydraulic structures. The aim of this paper is to simulate the sedimentation and erosion in the eastern and western water intake structures of the Dez Diversion weir using GSTARS-3 software. This is done to estimate the sedimentation and investigate the ways in which to optimize the process and minimize the operational problems. Results indicated that the at the furthest point upstream of the diversion weir, the coarser sediment grains tended to settle. The reason for this is the construction of the phantom bridge and the outstanding rocks just upstream of the structure. The construction of these along the river course has reduced the momentum energy require to push the sediment loads and make it possible for them to settle wherever the river regime allows it. Results further indicated a trend for the sediment size in such a way that as the focus of study shifts downstream the size of grains get smaller and vice versa. It was also found that the finding of the GSTARS-3 had a close proximity with the sets of the observed data. This suggests that the software is a powerful analytical tool which can be applied in the river engineering project with a minimum of costs and relatively accurate results.

Keywords: Erosion, sedimentation, Dez Diversion weir, GSTARS-3

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112 Stabilization of γ-Sterilized Food-Packaging Materials by Synergistic Mixtures of Food-Contact Approval Stabilizers

Authors: Sameh A. S. Alariqi

Abstract:

Food is widely packaged with plastic materials to prevent microbial contamination and spoilage. Ionizing radiation is widely used to sterilize the food-packaging materials. Sterilization by γ-radiation causes degradation such as embrittlement, stiffening, softening, discoloration, odour generation, and decrease in molecular weight. Many antioxidants can prevent γ-degradation but most of them are toxic. The migration of antioxidants to its environment gives rise to major concerns in case of food packaging plastics. In this attempt, we have aimed to utilize synergistic mixtures of stabilizers which are approved for food-contact applications. Ethylene-propylene-diene terpolymer has been melt-mixed with hindered amine stabilizers (HAS), phenolic antioxidants and organophosphites (hydroperoxide decomposer). Results were discussed by comparing the stabilizing efficiency of mixtures with and without phenol system. Among phenol containing systems where we mostly observed discoloration due to the oxidation of hindered phenol, the combination of secondary HAS, tertiary HAS, organo-phosphite and hindered phenol exhibited improved stabilization efficiency than single or binary additive systems. The mixture of secondary HAS and tertiary HAS, has shown antagonistic effect of stabilization. However, the combination of organo-phosphite with secondary HAS, tertiary HAS and phenol antioxidants have been found to give synergistic even at higher doses of Gamma-irradiation. The effects have been explained through the interaction between the stabilizers. After γ-irradiation, the consumption of oligomeric stabilizer significantly depends on the components of stabilization mixture. The effect of the organo-phosphite antioxidant on the overall stability has been discussed.

Keywords: Ethylene-propylene-diene terpolymer, Synergistic mixtures, Gamma-sterilization and stabilization.

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111 Physicochemical Properties of Microemulsions and their uses in Enhanced Oil Recovery

Authors: T. Kumar, Achinta Bera, Ajay Mandal

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Use of microemulsion in enhanced oil recovery has become more attractive in recent years because of its high level of extraction efficiency. Experimental investigations have been made on characterization of microemulsions of oil-brinesurfactant/ cosurfactant system for its use in enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Sodium dodecyl sulfate, propan-1-ol and heptane were selected as surfactant, cosurfactant and oil respectively for preparation of microemulsion. The effects of salinity on the relative phase volumes and solubilization parameters have also been studied. As salinity changes from low to high value, phase transition takes place from Winsor I to Winsor II via Winsor III. Suitable microemulsion composition has been selected based on its stability and ability to reduce interfacial tension. A series of flooding experiments have been performed using the selected microemulsion. The flooding experiments were performed in a core flooding apparatus using uniform sand pack. The core holder was tightly packed with uniform sands (60-100 mesh) and saturated with brines of different salinities. It was flooded with the brine at 25 psig and the absolute permeability was calculated from the flow rate of the through sand pack. The sand pack was then flooded with the crude oil at 800 psig to irreducible water saturation. The initial water saturation was determined on the basis of mass balance. Waterflooding was conducted by placing the coreholder horizontally at a constant injection pressure at 200 pisg. After water flooding, when water-cut reached above 95%, around 0.5 pore volume (PV) of the above microemulsion slug was injected followed by chasing water. The experiments were repeated using different composition of microemulsion slug. The additional recoveries were calculated by material balance. Encouraging results with additional recovery more than 20% of original oil in place above the conventional water flooding have been observed.

Keywords: Microemulsion Flooding, Enhanced Oil Recovery, Phase Behavior, Optimal salinity

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110 Combination of Different Classifiers for Cardiac Arrhythmia Recognition

Authors: M. R. Homaeinezhad, E. Tavakkoli, M. Habibi, S. A. Atyabi, A. Ghaffari

Abstract:

This paper describes a new supervised fusion (hybrid) electrocardiogram (ECG) classification solution consisting of a new QRS complex geometrical feature extraction as well as a new version of the learning vector quantization (LVQ) classification algorithm aimed for overcoming the stability-plasticity dilemma. Toward this objective, after detection and delineation of the major events of ECG signal via an appropriate algorithm, each QRS region and also its corresponding discrete wavelet transform (DWT) are supposed as virtual images and each of them is divided into eight polar sectors. Then, the curve length of each excerpted segment is calculated and is used as the element of the feature space. To increase the robustness of the proposed classification algorithm versus noise, artifacts and arrhythmic outliers, a fusion structure consisting of five different classifiers namely as Support Vector Machine (SVM), Modified Learning Vector Quantization (MLVQ) and three Multi Layer Perceptron-Back Propagation (MLP–BP) neural networks with different topologies were designed and implemented. The new proposed algorithm was applied to all 48 MIT–BIH Arrhythmia Database records (within–record analysis) and the discrimination power of the classifier in isolation of different beat types of each record was assessed and as the result, the average accuracy value Acc=98.51% was obtained. Also, the proposed method was applied to 6 number of arrhythmias (Normal, LBBB, RBBB, PVC, APB, PB) belonging to 20 different records of the aforementioned database (between– record analysis) and the average value of Acc=95.6% was achieved. To evaluate performance quality of the new proposed hybrid learning machine, the obtained results were compared with similar peer– reviewed studies in this area.

Keywords: Feature Extraction, Curve Length Method, SupportVector Machine, Learning Vector Quantization, Multi Layer Perceptron, Fusion (Hybrid) Classification, Arrhythmia Classification, Supervised Learning Machine.

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109 Contract Design: A Key for Adopting Discontinuous Innovations in Socio-Technical Sustainability Transitions

Authors: Rami Darwish

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The transport industry is transitioning to sustainable industrial systems to meet its environmental targets. At the heart of this transition lies the electrification of bus systems, which involves the introduction and testing of sustainable technologies in protected environments for customer evaluation. While the transition necessitates business-model innovation, practical implementation has proven to be complex. This article delves into efforts to present the business model of a bus operator engaged in public procurement with the goal of facilitating the industry's shift towards electrification. Through an in-depth case study, the influence of public contracts’ design on the evolution of a technology and the operator's business model for electrification is explored. While the extant literature suggests that public procurement can facilitate business-model innovation and sustainable development, the findings reveal that public-contract design can limit value creation and value capture in potential business models, locking organizations into existing business models and hindering the socio-technical transition to sustainability. Interestingly, public-procurement contract design can play a pivotal role in preventing sustainable innovations from breaking through. This highlights the importance of contract design as a vehicle for dialogue between businesses and authorities that can enable systemic change. The case study also illuminates a paradoxical scenario in which the transport authority was required to reconcile the efficiency and stability required for bus transport with the potential benefits of electrification technologies promising sustainability. Finally, recommendations for navigating and addressing this tension are provided. The implications of these findings extend to the literature on discontinuous innovation and business-model innovation.

Keywords: Sustainable transition, public procurement, business-model innovation, discontinuous innovation, lock-in.

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