Search results for: power density
1493 Traction Behavior of Linear Piezo-Viscous Lubricants in Rough Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication Contacts
Authors: Punit Kumar, Niraj Kumar
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The traction behavior of lubricants with the linear pressure-viscosity response in EHL line contacts is investigated numerically for smooth as well as rough surfaces. The analysis involves the simultaneous solution of Reynolds, elasticity and energy equations along with the computation of lubricant properties and surface temperatures. The temperature modified Doolittle-Tait equations are used to calculate viscosity and density as functions of fluid pressure and temperature, while Carreau model is used to describe the lubricant rheology. The surface roughness is assumed to be sinusoidal and it is present on the nearly stationary surface in near-pure sliding EHL conjunction. The linear P-V oil is found to yield much lower traction coefficients and slightly thicker EHL films as compared to the synthetic oil for a given set of dimensionless speed and load parameters. Besides, the increase in traction coefficient attributed to surface roughness is much lower for the former case. The present analysis emphasizes the importance of employing realistic pressure-viscosity response for accurate prediction of EHL traction.Keywords: EHL, linear pressure-viscosity, surface roughness, traction, water/glycol.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 12581492 Central Asia and Kazakhstan: In Search of Civic Identity
Authors: Elnura Assyltayeva, Zhanar Aldubasheva, Zhengisbek Tolen, Ziyakul Assyltayeva, Aliya Alimzhanova
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Mankind has entered into an extremely complex and controversial stage of its development: the world is simultaneously organized and chaoticized, globalized and localized, combined and split. Analysts point out that globalization as a process of strengthening economic, cultural, financial and other ties of states cause many problems. In the economic sphere, it creates the danger of growing gap between the states, in the sphere of politics it leads to the weakening of political power and influence of nation-states.Keywords: Civic identity, globalization, identity crisis, culture identity
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17841491 Waste to Biofuel by Torrefaction Technology
Authors: Jyh-Cherng Chen, Yu-Zen Lin, Wei-Zhi Chen
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Torrefaction is one of waste to energy (WTE) technologies developing in Taiwan recently, which can reduce the moisture and impuritiesand increase the energy density of biowaste effectively.To understand the torrefaction characteristics of different biowaste and the influences of different torrefaction conditions, four typical biowaste were selected to carry out the torrefaction experiments. The physical and chemical properties of different biowaste prior to and after torrefaction were analyzed and compared. Experimental results show that the contents of elemental carbon and caloric value of the four biowaste were significantly increased after torrefaction. The increase of combustible and caloric value in bamboo was the greatest among the four biowaste. The caloric value of bamboo can be increased from 1526 kcal/kg to 6104 kcal/kg after 300oC and 1 hour torrefaction. The caloric valueof torrefied bamboo was almost four times as the original. The increase of elemental carbon content in wood was the greatest (from 41.03% to 75.24%), and the next was bamboo (from 47.07% to 74.63%). The major parameters which affected the caloric value of torrefied biowaste followed the sequence of biowaste kinds, torrefaction time, and torrefaction temperature. The optimal torrefaction conditions of the experiments were bamboo torrefied at 300oC for 3 hours, and the corresponding caloric value of torrefied bamboo was 5953 kcal/kg. This caloric value is similar to that of brown coal or bituminous coal.
Keywords: Torrefaction, waste to energy, calorie, biofuel.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20371490 Fuel Cell/DC-DC Convertor Control by Sliding Mode Method
Authors: Farzad Abdous
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Fuel cell's system requires regulating circuit for voltage and current in order to control power in case of connecting to other generative devices or load. In this paper Fuel cell system and convertor, which is a multi-variable system, are controlled using sliding mode method. Use of weighting matrix in design procedure made it possible to regulate speed of control. Simulation results show the robustness and accuracy of proposed controller for controlling desired of outputs.Keywords: DC-DC converter, Fuel cell, PEM, Slides mode control.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16131489 Laboratory Investigation of Expansive Soil Stabilized with Calcium Chloride
Authors: Magdi M. E. Zumrawi, Khalid A. Eltayeb
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Chemical stabilization is a technique commonly used to improve the expansive soil properties. In this regard, an attempt has been made to evaluate the influence of Calcium Chloride (CaCl2) stabilizer on the engineering properties of expansive soil. A series of laboratory experiments including consistency limits, free swell, compaction, and shear strength tests were performed to investigate the effect of CaCl2 additive with various percentages 0%, 2%, 5%, 10% and 15% for improving expansive soil. The results obtained shows that the increase in the percentage of CaCl2decreased the liquid limit and plasticity index leading to significant reduction in the free swell index. This, in turn, increased the maximum dry density and decreased the optimum moisture content which results in greater strength. The unconfined compressive strength of soil stabilized with 5% CaCl2 increased approximately by 50% as compared to virgin soil. It can be concluded that CaCl2 had shown promising influence on the strength and swelling properties of expansive soil, thereby giving an advantage in improving problematic expansive soil.Keywords: Calcium chloride, chemical stabilization, expansive soil, improving.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 30261488 Effect of Distributed Generators on the Optimal Operation of Distribution Networks
Authors: J. Olamaei , T. Niknam, M. Nayeripour
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This paper presents an approach for daily optimal operation of distribution networks considering Distributed Generators (DGs). Due to private ownership of DGs, a cost based compensation method is used to encourage DGs in active and reactive power generation. The objective function is summation of electrical energy generated by DGs and substation bus (main bus) in the next day. A genetic algorithm is used to solve the optimal operation problem. The approach is tested on an IEEE34 buses distribution feeder.
Keywords: Distributed Generator, Daily Optimal Operation, Genetic Algorithm.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16301487 Modernization of the People's Republic of China: History and Complexities
Authors: N.A. Aldabek, M.B. Assyl, D.B. Dauyen, A.E. Serikkaliyeva
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The aim of this paper is to investigate a process of modernization of the People-s Republic of China. The theme of scientific research is interesting, first, because the Chinese model of development is recognized as successful and most dynamically developing. They are obliged by these successes of the modernization spent in the country. Economy modernization as the basic motive power of progress of the country is a priority direction of development in the Republic of Kazakhstan. So the example of successful development modernization processes in China can be rather useful to use in working out of the Kazakhstan national reforms.
Keywords: Modernization, the People's Republic of China, social and economic development.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 31721486 Energy-Efficient Clustering Protocol in Wireless Sensor Networks for Healthcare Monitoring
Authors: Ebrahim Farahmand, Ali Mahani
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Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) can facilitate continuous monitoring of patients and increase early detection of emergency conditions and diseases. High density WSNs helps us to accurately monitor a remote environment by intelligently combining the data from the individual nodes. Due to energy capacity limitation of sensors, enhancing the lifetime and the reliability of WSNs are important factors in designing of these networks. The clustering strategies are verified as effective and practical algorithms for reducing energy consumption in WSNs and can tackle WSNs limitations. In this paper, an Energy-efficient weight-based Clustering Protocol (EWCP) is presented. Artificial retina is selected as a case study of WSNs applied in body sensors. Cluster heads’ (CHs) selection is equipped with energy efficient parameters. Moreover, cluster members are selected based on their distance to the selected CHs. Comparing with the other benchmark protocols, the lifetime of EWCP is improved significantly.Keywords: Clustering of WSNs, healthcare monitoring, weight-based clustering, wireless sensor networks.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15541485 Stakeholder Analysis: Who are the Key Actorsin Establishing and Developing Thai Independent Consumer Organizations?
Authors: P. Ondee, S. Pannarunothai
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In Thailand, both the 1997 and the current 2007 Thai Constitutions have mentioned the establishment of independent organizations as a new mechanism to play a key role in proposing policy recommendations to national decision-makers in the interest of collective consumers. Over the last ten years, no independent organizations have yet been set up. Evidently, nobody could point out who should be key players in establishing provincial independent consumer bodies. The purpose of this study was to find definitive stakeholders in establishing and developing independent consumer bodies in a Thai context. This was a cross-sectional study between August and September 2007, using a postal questionnaire with telephone follow-up. The questionnaire was designed and used to obtain multiple stakeholder assessment of three key attributes (power, interest and influence). Study population was 153 stakeholders associated with policy decision-making, formulation and implementation processes of civil-based consumer protection in pilot provinces. The population covered key representatives from five sectors (academics, government officers, business traders, mass media and consumer networks) who participated in the deliberative forums at 10 provinces. A 49.7% response rate was achieved. Data were analyzed, comparing means of three stakeholder attributes and classification of stakeholder typology. The results showed that the provincial health officers were the definitive stakeholders as they had legal power, influence and interest in establishing and sustaining the independent consumer bodies. However, only a few key representatives of the provincial health officers expressed their own paradigm on the civil-based consumer protection. Most provincial health officers put their own standpoint of building civic participation at only a plan-implementation level. For effective policy implementation by the independent consumer bodies, the Thai government should provide budgetary support for the operation of the provincial health officers with their paradigm shift as well as their own clarified standpoint on corporate governance.
Keywords: Civic participation, civil society, consumerprotection, independent organization, policy decision-making, stakeholder analysis.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19411484 ABURAS Index: A Statistically Developed Index for Dengue-Transmitting Vector Population Prediction
Authors: Hani M. Aburas
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“Dengue" is an African word meaning “bone breaking" because it causes severe joint and muscle pain that feels like bones are breaking. It is an infectious disease mainly transmitted by female mosquito, Aedes aegypti, and causes four serotypes of dengue viruses. In recent years, a dramatic increase in the dengue fever confirmed cases around the equator-s belt has been reported. Several conventional indices have been designed so far to monitor the transmitting vector populations known as House Index (HI), Container Index (CI), Breteau Index (BI). However, none of them describes the adult mosquito population size which is important to direct and guide comprehensive control strategy operations since number of infected people has a direct relationship with the vector density. Therefore, it is crucial to know the population size of the transmitting vector in order to design a suitable and effective control program. In this context, a study is carried out to report a new statistical index, ABURAS Index, using Poisson distribution based on the collection of vector population in Jeddah Governorate, Saudi Arabia.Keywords: Poisson distribution, statistical index, prediction, Aedes aegypti.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19161483 Image Contrast Enhancement based Sub-histogram Equalization Technique without Over-equalization Noise
Authors: Hyunsup Yoon, Youngjoon Han, Hernsoo Hahn
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In order to enhance the contrast in the regions where the pixels have similar intensities, this paper presents a new histogram equalization scheme. Conventional global equalization schemes over-equalizes these regions so that too bright or dark pixels are resulted and local equalization schemes produce unexpected discontinuities at the boundaries of the blocks. The proposed algorithm segments the original histogram into sub-histograms with reference to brightness level and equalizes each sub-histogram with the limited extents of equalization considering its mean and variance. The final image is determined as the weighted sum of the equalized images obtained by using the sub-histogram equalizations. By limiting the maximum and minimum ranges of equalization operations on individual sub-histograms, the over-equalization effect is eliminated. Also the result image does not miss feature information in low density histogram region since the remaining these area is applied separating equalization. This paper includes how to determine the segmentation points in the histogram. The proposed algorithm has been tested with more than 100 images having various contrasts in the images and the results are compared to the conventional approaches to show its superiority.
Keywords: Contrast Enhancement, Histogram Equalization, Histogram Region Equalization, Equalization Noise
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 34181482 Modeling and Simulation of Acoustic Link Using Mackenize Propagation Speed Equation
Authors: Christhu Raj M. R., Rajeev Sukumaran
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Underwater acoustic networks have attracted great attention in the last few years because of its numerous applications. High data rate can be achieved by efficiently modeling the physical layer in the network protocol stack. In Acoustic medium, propagation speed of the acoustic waves is dependent on many parameters such as temperature, salinity, density, and depth. Acoustic propagation speed cannot be modeled using standard empirical formulas such as Urick and Thorp descriptions. In this paper, we have modeled the acoustic channel using real time data of temperature, salinity, and speed of Bay of Bengal (Indian Coastal Region). We have modeled the acoustic channel by using Mackenzie speed equation and real time data obtained from National Institute of Oceanography and Technology. It is found that acoustic propagation speed varies between 1503 m/s to 1544 m/s as temperature and depth differs. The simulation results show that temperature, salinity, depth plays major role in acoustic propagation and data rate increases with appropriate data sets substituted in the simulated model.Keywords: Underwater Acoustics, Mackenzie Speed Equation, Temperature, Salinity.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21971481 Photodegradation of Optically Trapped Polystyrene Beads at 442 nm
Authors: V. Subramanyan Namboodiri, Sajan. D. George, Steffen Hardt
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Polystyrene particles of different sizes are optically trapped with a gaussian beam from a He-Cd laser operating at 442 nm. The particles are observed to exhibit luminescence after a certain trapping time followed by an escape from the optical trap. The observed luminescence is explained in terms of the photodegradation of the polystyrene backbone. It is speculated that these chemical modifications also play a role for the escape of the particles from the trap. Variations of the particle size and the laser power show that these parameters have a great influence on the observed phenomena.Keywords: Photodegradation, Polystyrene particles, Opticaltrapping
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14981480 An Experimental Investigation of Petrodiesel and Cotton Seed Biodiesel (CSOME) in Diesel Engine
Authors: P. V. Rao, Jaedaa Abdulhamid
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Biodiesel is widely investigated to solve the twin problem of depletion of fossil fuel and environmental degradation. The main objective of the present work is to compare performance, emissions, and combustion characteristics of biodiesel derived from cotton seed oil in a diesel engine with the baseline results of petrodiesel fuel. Tests have been conducted on a single cylinder, four stroke CIDI diesel engine with a speed of 1500 rpm and a fixed compression ratio of 17.5 at different load conditions. The performance parameters evaluated include brake thermal efficiency, brake specific fuel consumption, brake power, indicated mean effective pressure, mechanical efficiency, and exhaust gas temperature. Regarding combustion study, cylinder pressure, rate of pressure rise, net heat release rate, cumulative heat release, mean gas temperature, mass fraction burned, and fuel line pressure were evaluated. The emission parameters such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, un-burnt hydrocarbon, oxides of nitrogen, and smoke opacity were also measured by a smoke meter and an exhaust gas analyzer and compared with baseline results. The brake thermal efficiency of cotton seed oil methyl ester (CSOME) was lower than that of petrodiesel and brake specific fuel consumption was found to be higher. However, biodiesel resulted in the reduction of carbon dioxide, un-burnt hydrocarbon, and smoke opacity at the expense of nitrogen oxides. Carbon monoxide emissions for biodiesel was higher at maximum output power. It has been found that the combustion characteristics of cotton seed oil methyl ester closely followed those of standard petrodiesel. The experimental results suggested that biodiesel derived from cotton seed oil could be used as a good substitute to petrodiesel fuel in a conventional diesel without any modification.Keywords: Diesel engine, Cotton seed, Biodiesel, performance, combustion, emissions.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 13391479 Analysis of the Effect of HV Transmission Lines on the Control Room and its Proposed Shielding
Authors: Diako Azizi, Hosein Heydari, Ahmad Gholami
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Today with the rapid growth of telecommunications equipment, electronic and developing more and more networks of power, influence of electromagnetic waves on one another has become hot topic discussions. So in this article, this issue and appropriate mechanisms for EMC operations have been presented. First, impact of high voltage lines on the surrounding environment especially on the control room has been investigated, then to reduce electromagnetic radiation, various methods of shielding are provided and shielding effectiveness of them has been compared. It should be expressed that simulations have been done by the finite element method (FEM).
Keywords: Electrical field, EMC, field distribution, finite element method
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 14071478 Evaluation of Fuel Properties of Six Tropical Hardwood Timber Species for Briquettes
Authors: S. J. Mitchual, K. Frimpong-Mensah, N. A. Darkwa
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The fuel potential of six tropical hardwood species namely: Triplochiton scleroxylon, Ceiba pentandra, Aningeria robusta, Terminalia superba, Celtis mildbreadii and Piptadenia africana were studied. Properties studied included species density, gross calorific value, volatile matter, ash content, organic carbon and elemental composition. Fuel properties were determined using standard laboratory methods. The result indicates that the gross calorific value (GCV) of the species ranged from 20.16 to 22.22 MJ/kg and they slightly varied from each other. Additionally, the GCV of the biomass materials were higher than that of other biomass materials like; wheat straw, rice straw, maize straw and sugar cane. The ash and volatile matter content varied from 0.6075 to 5.0407%, and 75.23% to 83.70% respectively. The overall rating of the properties of the six biomass materials suggested that Piptadenia africana has the best fuel property to be used as briquettes and Aningeria robusta the worse. This study therefore suggests that a holistic assessment of a biomass material needs to be done before selecting it for fuel purpose.Keywords: Ash content, Briquette, Calorific value, Elemental composition, Species, Volatile matter.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 17251477 Rapid Discharge of Solid-State Hydrogen Storage Using Porous Silicon and Metal Foam
Authors: Loralee P. Potter, Peter J. Schubert
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Solid-state hydrogen storage using catalytically-modified porous silicon can be rapidly charged at moderate pressures (8 bar) without exothermic runaway. Discharge requires temperatures of approximately 110oC, so for larger storage vessels a means is required for thermal energy to penetrate bulk storage media. This can be realized with low-density metal foams, such as Celmet™. This study explores several material and dimensional choices of the metal foam to produce rapid heating of bulk silicon particulates. Experiments run under vacuum and in a pressurized hydrogen environment bracket conditions of empty and full hydrogen storage vessels, respectively. Curve-fitting of the heating profiles at various distances from an external heat source is used to derive both a time delay and a characteristic time constant. System performance metrics of a hydrogen storage subsystem are derived from the experimental results. A techno-economic analysis of the silicon and metal foam provides comparison with other methods of storing hydrogen for mobile and portable applications.
Keywords: conduction, convection, kinetics, fuel cell
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 6921476 Effects of Data Correlation in a Sparse-View Compressive Sensing Based Image Reconstruction
Authors: Sajid Abbas, Joon Pyo Hong, Jung-Ryun Lee, Seungryong Cho
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Computed tomography and laminography are heavily investigated in a compressive sensing based image reconstruction framework to reduce the dose to the patients as well as to the radiosensitive devices such as multilayer microelectronic circuit boards. Nowadays researchers are actively working on optimizing the compressive sensing based iterative image reconstruction algorithm to obtain better quality images. However, the effects of the sampled data’s properties on reconstructed the image’s quality, particularly in an insufficient sampled data conditions have not been explored in computed laminography. In this paper, we investigated the effects of two data properties i.e. sampling density and data incoherence on the reconstructed image obtained by conventional computed laminography and a recently proposed method called spherical sinusoidal scanning scheme. We have found that in a compressive sensing based image reconstruction framework, the image quality mainly depends upon the data incoherence when the data is uniformly sampled.
Keywords: Computed tomography, Computed laminography, Compressive sending, Low-dose.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 16711475 Formation of (Ga,Mn)N Dilute Magnetic Semiconductor by Manganese Ion Implantation
Authors: N.S. Pradhan, S.K. Dubey, A. D.Yadav, Arvind Singh, D.C. Kothari
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Un-doped GaN film of thickness 1.90 mm, grown on sapphire substrate were uniformly implanted with 325 keV Mn+ ions for various fluences varying from 1.75 x 1015 - 2.0 x 1016 ions cm-2 at 3500 C substrate temperature. The structural, morphological and magnetic properties of Mn ion implanted gallium nitride samples were studied using XRD, AFM and SQUID techniques. XRD of the sample implanted with various ion fluences showed the presence of different magnetic phases of Ga3Mn, Ga0.6Mn0.4 and Mn4N. However, the compositions of these phases were found to be depended on the ion fluence. AFM images of non-implanted sample showed micrograph with rms surface roughness 2.17 nm. Whereas samples implanted with the various fluences showed the presence of nano clusters on the surface of GaN. The shape, size and density of the clusters were found to vary with respect to ion fluence. Magnetic moment versus applied field curves of the samples implanted with various fluences exhibit the hysteresis loops. The Curie temperature estimated from zero field cooled and field cooled curves for the samples implanted with the fluence of 1.75 x 1015, 1.5 x 1016 and 2.0 x 1016 ions cm-2 was found to be 309 K, 342 K and 350 K respectively.Keywords: GaN, Ion implantation, XRD, AFM, SQUID
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19441474 Experimental Investigations on the Influence of Properties of Jatropha Biodiesel on Performance, Combustion, and Emission Characteristics of a DI-CI Engine
Authors: P. V. Rao
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The aim of the present research work is to investigate the influence of Jatropha biodiesel properties on various characteristics of a direct injection compression ignition engine. The experiments were performed at different engine operating regimes with the injection timing prescribed by the engine manufacturer for diesel fuel. The engine characteristics with Jatropha biodiesel were compared against those obtained using diesel fuel. From the results, it is observed that the biodiesel performance and emissions are lower than that of diesel fuel. However, the NOx emission of Jatropha biodiesel is more than that of diesel fuel. These high NOx emissions are due to the presence of unsaturated fatty acids and the advanced injection caused by the higher bulk modulus (or density) of Jatropha biodiesel Furthermore, the possibility for reduction of NOx emissions without expensive engine modifications (hardware) was investigated. Keeping this in mind, the Jatropha biodiesel was preheated. The experimental results show that the retarded injection timing is necessary when using Jatropha biodiesel in order to reduce NOx emission without worsening other engine characteristics. Results also indicate improved performance with the application of preheated biodiesel. The only penalty for using preheated biodiesel is the increase of smoke (soot).Keywords: chemical properties, combustion, exhaust emissions, Jatropha biodiesel
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 33361473 The Effects of Four Organic Cropping Sequences on Soil Phosphorous Cycling and Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi
Authors: R. J. Parham, J. D. Knight
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Organic farmers across Saskatchewan face soil phosphorus (P) shortages. Due to the restriction on inputs in organic systems, farmers rely on crop rotation and naturally-occurring arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) for plant P supply. Crop rotation is important for disease, pest, and weed management. Crops that are not colonized by AMF (non-mycorrhizal) can decrease colonization of a following crop. An experiment was performed to quantify soil P cycling in four cropping sequences under organic management and determine if mustard (non-mycorrhizal) was delaying the colonization of subsequent wheat. Soils from the four cropping sequences were measured for inorganic soil P (Pi), AMF spore density (SD), phospholipid fatty acid analysis (PLFA, for AMF biomarker counts), and alkaline phosphatase activity (ALPase, related to AMF metabolic activity). Plants were measured for AMF colonization and P content and uptake of above-ground biomass. A lack of difference in AMF activity indicated that mustard was not depressing colonization. Instead, AMF colonization was largely determined by crop type and crop rotation.
Keywords: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, crop rotation, organic farming, phosphorous, soil microbiology.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 21081472 Methods for Manufacture of Corrugated Wire Mesh Laminates
Authors: Jeongho Choi, Krishna Shankar, Alan Fien, Andrew Neely
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Corrugated wire mesh laminates (CWML) are a class of engineered open cell structures that have potential for applications in many areas including aerospace and biomedical engineering. Two different methods of fabricating corrugated wire mesh laminates from stainless steel, one using a high temperature Lithobraze alloy and the other using a low temperature Eutectic solder for joining the corrugated wire meshes are described herein. Their implementation is demonstrated by manufacturing CWML samples of 304 and 316 stainless steel (SST). It is seen that due to the facility of employing wire meshes of different densities and wire diameters, it is possible to create CWML laminates with a wide range of effective densities. The fabricated laminates are tested under uniaxial compression. The variation of the compressive yield strength with relative density of the CWML is compared to the theory developed by Gibson and Ashby for open cell structures [22]. It is shown that the compressive strength of the corrugated wire mesh laminates can be described using the same equations by using an appropriate value for the linear coefficient in the Gibson-Ashby model.Keywords: cellular solids, corrugation, foam, open-cell, metal mesh, laminate, stainless steel
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 22071471 Detecting and Locating Wormhole Attacks in Wireless Sensor Networks Using Beacon Nodes
Authors: He Ronghui, Ma Guoqing, Wang Chunlei, Fang Lan
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This paper focuses on wormhole attacks detection in wireless sensor networks. The wormhole attack is particularly challenging to deal with since the adversary does not need to compromise any nodes and can use laptops or other wireless devices to send the packets on a low latency channel. This paper introduces an easy and effective method to detect and locate the wormholes: Since beacon nodes are assumed to know their coordinates, the straight line distance between each pair of them can be calculated and then compared with the corresponding hop distance, which in this paper equals hop counts × node-s transmission range R. Dramatic difference may emerge because of an existing wormhole. Our detection mechanism is based on this. The approximate location of the wormhole can also be derived in further steps based on this information. To the best of our knowledge, our method is much easier than other wormhole detecting schemes which also use beacon nodes, and to those have special requirements on each nodes (e.g., GPS receivers or tightly synchronized clocks or directional antennas), ours is more economical. Simulation results show that the algorithm is successful in detecting and locating wormholes when the density of beacon nodes reaches 0.008 per m2.
Keywords: Beacon node, wireless sensor network, worm hole attack.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18781470 A Low-cost Reconfigurable Architecture for AES Algorithm
Authors: Yibo Fan, Takeshi Ikenaga, Yukiyasu Tsunoo, Satoshi Goto
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This paper proposes a low-cost reconfigurable architecture for AES algorithm. The proposed architecture separates SubBytes and MixColumns into two parallel data path, and supports different bit-width operation for this two data path. As a result, different number of S-box can be supported in this architecture. The throughput and power consumption can be adjusted by changing the number of S-box running in this design. Using the TSMC 0.18μm CMOS standard cell library, a very low-cost implementation of 7K Gates is obtained under 182MHz frequency. The maximum throughput is 360Mbps while using 4 S-Box simultaneously, and the minimum throughput is 114Mbps while only using 1 S-BoxKeywords: AES, Reconfigurable architecture, low cost
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 20661469 Segmentation of Lungs from CT Scan Images for Early Diagnosis of Lung Cancer
Authors: Nisar Ahmed Memon, Anwar Majid Mirza, S.A.M. Gilani
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Segmentation is an important step in medical image analysis and classification for radiological evaluation or computer aided diagnosis. The CAD (Computer Aided Diagnosis ) of lung CT generally first segment the area of interest (lung) and then analyze the separately obtained area for nodule detection in order to diagnosis the disease. For normal lung, segmentation can be performed by making use of excellent contrast between air and surrounding tissues. However this approach fails when lung is affected by high density pathology. Dense pathologies are present in approximately a fifth of clinical scans, and for computer analysis such as detection and quantification of abnormal areas it is vital that the entire and perfectly lung part of the image is provided and no part, as present in the original image be eradicated. In this paper we have proposed a lung segmentation technique which accurately segment the lung parenchyma from lung CT Scan images. The algorithm was tested against the 25 datasets of different patients received from Ackron Univeristy, USA and AGA Khan Medical University, Karachi, Pakistan.Keywords: Computer Aided Diagnosis, Medical ImageProcessing, Region Growing, Segmentation, Thresholding,
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 25971468 Performance Comparison of Particle Swarm Optimization with Traditional Clustering Algorithms used in Self-Organizing Map
Authors: Anurag Sharma, Christian W. Omlin
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Self-organizing map (SOM) is a well known data reduction technique used in data mining. It can reveal structure in data sets through data visualization that is otherwise hard to detect from raw data alone. However, interpretation through visual inspection is prone to errors and can be very tedious. There are several techniques for the automatic detection of clusters of code vectors found by SOM, but they generally do not take into account the distribution of code vectors; this may lead to unsatisfactory clustering and poor definition of cluster boundaries, particularly where the density of data points is low. In this paper, we propose the use of an adaptive heuristic particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm for finding cluster boundaries directly from the code vectors obtained from SOM. The application of our method to several standard data sets demonstrates its feasibility. PSO algorithm utilizes a so-called U-matrix of SOM to determine cluster boundaries; the results of this novel automatic method compare very favorably to boundary detection through traditional algorithms namely k-means and hierarchical based approach which are normally used to interpret the output of SOM.Keywords: cluster boundaries, clustering, code vectors, data mining, particle swarm optimization, self-organizing maps, U-matrix.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 19081467 The Effects of RCA Clean Variables on Particle Removal Efficiency
Authors: Siti Kudnie Sahari, Jane Chai Hai Sing, Khairuddin Ab. Hamid
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Shrunken patterning for integrated device manufacturing requires surface cleanliness and surface smoothness in wet chemical processing [1]. It is necessary to control all process parameters perfectly especially for the common cleaning technique RCA clean (SC-1 and SC-2) [2]. In this paper the characteristic and effect of surface preparation parameters are discussed. The properties of RCA wet chemical processing in silicon technology is based on processing time, temperature, concentration and megasonic power of SC-1 and QDR. An improvement of wafer surface preparation by the enhanced variables of the wet cleaning chemical process is proposed.Keywords: RCA, SC-1, SC-2, QDR
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 32401466 Faster FPGA Routing Solution using DNA Computing
Authors: Manpreet Singh, Parvinder Singh Sandhu, Manjinder Singh Kahlon
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There are many classical algorithms for finding routing in FPGA. But Using DNA computing we can solve the routes efficiently and fast. The run time complexity of DNA algorithms is much less than other classical algorithms which are used for solving routing in FPGA. The research in DNA computing is in a primary level. High information density of DNA molecules and massive parallelism involved in the DNA reactions make DNA computing a powerful tool. It has been proved by many research accomplishments that any procedure that can be programmed in a silicon computer can be realized as a DNA computing procedure. In this paper we have proposed two tier approaches for the FPGA routing solution. First, geometric FPGA detailed routing task is solved by transforming it into a Boolean satisfiability equation with the property that any assignment of input variables that satisfies the equation specifies a valid routing. Satisfying assignment for particular route will result in a valid routing and absence of a satisfying assignment implies that the layout is un-routable. In second step, DNA search algorithm is applied on this Boolean equation for solving routing alternatives utilizing the properties of DNA computation. The simulated results are satisfactory and give the indication of applicability of DNA computing for solving the FPGA Routing problem.Keywords: FPGA, Routing, DNA Computing.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 15911465 Water Demand Prediction for Touristic Mecca City in Saudi Arabia using Neural Networks
Authors: Abdel Hamid Ajbar, Emad Ali
Abstract:
Saudi Arabia is an arid country which depends on costly desalination plants to satisfy the growing residential water demand. Prediction of water demand is usually a challenging task because the forecast model should consider variations in economic progress, climate conditions and population growth. The task is further complicated knowing that Mecca city is visited regularly by large numbers during specific months in the year due to religious occasions. In this paper, a neural networks model is proposed to handle the prediction of the monthly and yearly water demand for Mecca city, Saudi Arabia. The proposed model will be developed based on historic records of water production and estimated visitors- distribution. The driving variables for the model include annuallyvarying variables such as household income, household density, and city population, and monthly-varying variables such as expected number of visitors each month and maximum monthly temperature.Keywords: Water demand forecast; Neural Networks model; water resources management; Saudi Arabia.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 18121464 Comparison of the DC/DC-Converters for Fuel Cell Applications
Authors: Oleksandr Krykunov
Abstract:
The source voltage of high-power fuel cell shows strong load dependence at comparatively low voltage levels. In order to provide the voltage of 750V on the DC-link for feeding electrical energy into the mains via a three phase inverter a step-up converter with a large step-up ratio is required. The output voltage of this DC/DC-converter must be stabile during variations of the load current and the voltage of the fuel cell. This paper presents the methods and results of the calculation of the efficiency and the expense for the realization for the circuits of the DC/DC-converter that meet these requirements.Keywords: DC/DC-converter, calculation, efficiency, fuel cell.
Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2582