Search results for: Organizational efficiency.

Authors: R. Suresh, Pavan Kumar Nimmagadda, Ming Zo Tan, Shane Hart, Sharp Ugwuocha

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Polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) drill bits are extensively used in the oil and gas industry as well as the mining industry. Industry engineers continually improve upon PDC drill bit designs and hydraulic conditions. Optimized injection nozzles play a key role in improving the drilling performance and efficiency of these ever changing PDC drill bits. In the first part of this study, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling is performed to investigate the hydrodynamic characteristics of drilling fluid flow around the PDC drill bit. An Open-source CFD software – OpenFOAM simulates the flow around the drill bit, based on the field input data. A specifically developed console application integrates the entire CFD process including, domain extraction, meshing, and solving governing equations and post-processing. The results from the OpenFOAM solver are then compared with that of the ANSYS Fluent software. The data from both software programs agree. The second part of the paper describes the parametric study of the PDC drill bit nozzle to determine the effect of parameters such as number of nozzles, nozzle velocity, nozzle radial position and orientations on the flow field characteristics and bit washing patterns. After analyzing a series of nozzle configurations, the best configuration is identified and recommendations are made for modifying the PDC bit design.

Keywords: ANSYS Fluent, computational fluid dynamics, nozzle configuration, OpenFOAM, PDC dill bit.

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Authors: N. Muthukumaran, R. Ravi

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The Simulation based VLSI Implementation of FELICS (Fast Efficient Lossless Image Compression System) Algorithm is proposed to provide the lossless image compression and is implemented in simulation oriented VLSI (Very Large Scale Integrated). To analysis the performance of Lossless image compression and to reduce the image without losing image quality and then implemented in VLSI based FELICS algorithm. In FELICS algorithm, which consists of simplified adjusted binary code for Image compression and these compression image is converted in pixel and then implemented in VLSI domain. This parameter is used to achieve high processing speed and minimize the area and power. The simplified adjusted binary code reduces the number of arithmetic operation and achieved high processing speed. The color difference preprocessing is also proposed to improve coding efficiency with simple arithmetic operation. Although VLSI based FELICS Algorithm provides effective solution for hardware architecture design for regular pipelining data flow parallelism with four stages. With two level parallelisms, consecutive pixels can be classified into even and odd samples and the individual hardware engine is dedicated for each one. This method can be further enhanced by multilevel parallelisms.

Keywords: Image compression, Pixel, Compression Ratio, Adjusted Binary code, Golumb Rice code, High Definition display, VLSI Implementation.

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Authors: M. Bortolini, E. Ferrari, F. G. Galizia, C. Mora

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In the last decades, an increasing set of companies adopted lean philosophy to improve their productivity and efficiency promoting the so-called continuous improvement concept, reducing waste of time and cutting off no-value added activities. In parallel, increasing attention rises toward green practice and management through the spread of the green supply chain pattern, to minimise landfilled waste, drained wastewater and pollutant emissions. Starting from a review on contributions deepening lean and green principles applied to supply chain management, the most relevant drivers to measure the performance of industrial processes are pointed out. Specific attention is paid on the role of cost because it is of key importance and it crosses both lean and green principles. This analysis leads to figure out an original reference framework for integrating lean and green principles in designing and managing supply chains. The proposed framework supports the application, to the whole value chain or to parts of it, e.g. distribution network, assembly system, job-shop, storage system etc., of the lean-green integrated perspective. Evidences show that the combination of the lean and green practices lead to great results, higher than the sum of the performances from their separate application. Lean thinking has beneficial effects on green practices and, at the same time, methods allowing environmental savings generate positive effects on time reduction and process quality increase.

Keywords: Environmental sustainability, green supply chain, integrated framework, lean thinking, supply chain management.

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Authors: J. C. Cabanillas-Noris, M. I. Martínez-Hernández, I. León-Monzón

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The selection of diffractive events in the ALICE experiment during the first data taking period (RUN-I) of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was limited by the range over which rapidity gaps occur. It would be possible to achieve better measurements by expanding the range in which the production of particles can be detected. For this purpose, the ALICE Diffractive (AD0) detector has been installed and commissioned for the second phase (RUN-II). Any new detector should be able to take the data synchronously with all other detectors and be operated through the ALICE central systems. One of the key elements that must be developed for the AD0 detector is the Detector Control System (DCS). The DCS must be designed to operate safely and correctly this detector. Furthermore, the DCS must also provide optimum operating conditions for the acquisition and storage of physics data and ensure these are of the highest quality. The operation of AD0 implies the configuration of about 200 parameters, from electronics settings and power supply levels to the archiving of operating conditions data and the generation of safety alerts. It also includes the automation of procedures to get the AD0 detector ready for taking data in the appropriate conditions for the different run types in ALICE. The performance of AD0 detector depends on a certain number of parameters such as the nominal voltages for each photomultiplier tube (PMT), their threshold levels to accept or reject the incoming pulses, the definition of triggers, etc. All these parameters define the efficiency of AD0 and they have to be monitored and controlled through AD0 DCS. Finally, AD0 DCS provides the operator with multiple interfaces to execute these tasks. They are realized as operating panels and scripts running in the background. These features are implemented on a SCADA software platform as a distributed control system which integrates to the global control system of the ALICE experiment.

Keywords: AD0, ALICE, DCS, LHC.

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Authors: Robert O. Abolade, Olumide O. Ajayi, Zacheaus K. Adeyemo, Solomon A. Adeniran

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Link adaptation is an important strategy for achieving robust wireless multimedia communications based on quality of service (QoS) demand. Scheme switching in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems is an aspect of link adaptation, and it involves selecting among different MIMO transmission schemes or modes so as to adapt to the varying radio channel conditions for the purpose of achieving QoS delivery. However, finding the most appropriate switching method in MIMO links is still a challenge as existing methods are either computationally complex or not always accurate. This paper presents an intelligent switching method for the MIMO system consisting of two schemes - transmit diversity (TD) and spatial multiplexing (SM) - using fuzzy logic technique. In this method, two channel quality indicators (CQI) namely average received signal-to-noise ratio (RSNR) and received signal strength indicator (RSSI) are measured and are passed as inputs to the fuzzy logic system which then gives a decision – an inference. The switching decision of the fuzzy logic system is fed back to the transmitter to switch between the TD and SM schemes. Simulation results show that the proposed fuzzy logic – based switching technique outperforms conventional static switching technique in terms of bit error rate and spectral efficiency.

Keywords: Channel quality indicator, fuzzy logic, link adaptation, MIMO, spatial multiplexing, transmit diversity.

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Authors: Van Chung Nguyen

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The purpose of this research is to study the current status of the value chain for fish distribution at Quang Binh Fishing Port with 360 research samples, in which the research subjects are fishermen, traders, retailers, and businesses. The research uses the approach of applying the value chain theoretical framework of Kaplinsky and Morris to quantify and describe market channels and actors participating in the value chain and analyze the value-added process of these companies according to market channels. The analysis results show that fishermen directly catch fish with high economic efficiency, but processing enterprises and, especially retailers, are the agents to obtain higher added value. Processing enterprises play a role that is not really clear due to outdated processing technology; in contrast, retailers have the highest added value. This shows that the added value of the fish supply chain at Quang Binh fishing port is still limited, leading to low output quality. Therefore, the selling price of fish to the market is still high compared to the abundant fish resources, leading to low consumption and limiting exports due to the quality of processing enterprises. This reduces demand and fishing capacity, and productivity is lower than potential. To improve the fish value chain at fishing ports, it is necessary to focus on improving product quality, strengthening linkages between actors, building brands and product consumption markets at the same time, improving the capacity of export processing enterprises.

Keywords: Quang Binh fishing port, value chain, fish market, distributions channel.

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Authors: Hossam el-ddin Mostafa, Pavel Čičak

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IETF RFC 2002 originally introduced the wireless Mobile-IP protocol to support portable IP addresses for mobile devices that often change their network access points to the Internet. The inefficiency of this protocol mainly within the handoff management produces large end-to-end packet delays, during registration process, and further degrades the system efficiency due to packet losses between subnets. The criterion to initiate a simple and fast full-duplex connection between the home agent and foreign agent, to reduce the roaming duration, is a very important issue to be considered by a work in this paper. State-transition Petri-Nets of the modeling scenario-based CIA: communication inter-agents procedure as an extension to the basic Mobile-IP registration process was designed and manipulated. The heuristic of configuration file during practical Setup session for registration parameters, on Cisco platform Router-1760 using IOS 12.3 (15)T is created. Finally, stand-alone performance simulations results from Simulink Matlab, within each subnet and also between subnets, are illustrated for reporting better end-to-end packet delays. Results verified the effectiveness of our Mathcad analytical manipulation and experimental implementation. It showed lower values of end-to-end packet delay for Mobile-IP using CIA procedure. Furthermore, it reported packets flow between subnets to improve packet losses between subnets.

Keywords: Cisco configuration, handoff, packet delay, Petri-Nets, registration process, Simulink.

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Authors: Gabi N. Nehme

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Below-knee amputees commonly experience asymmetrical gait patterns. It is generally believed that ischemia is related to the formation of pressure sores due to uneven distribution of forces. Micro-vascular responses can reveal local malnutrition. Changes in local skin blood supply under various external loading conditions have been studied for a number of years. Radionuclide clearance, photo-plethysmography, trans-cutaneous oxygen tension along with other studies showed that the blood supply would be influenced by the epidermal forces, and the rate and the amount of blood supply would decrease with increased epidermal loads being shear forces or normal forces. Several cases of socket designs were investigated using Finite Element Model (FEM) and Design of Experiment (DOE) to increase flexibility and minimize the pressure at the limb/socket interface using ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) and polyamide 6 (PA6) or Duraform. The pressure reliefs at designated areas where reducing thickness is involved are seen to be critical in determination of amputees’ comfort and are very important to clinical applications. Implementing a hole between the Patellar Tendon (PT) and Distal Tibia (DT) would decrease stiffness and increase prosthesis range of motion where flexibility is needed. In addition, displacement and prosthetic energy storage increased without compromising mechanical efficiency and prosthetic design integrity.

Keywords: Patellar tendon, distal tibia, prosthetic socket, relief areas, hole implementation.

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Authors: Lucian Pîslaru-Dănescu, George-Claudiu Zărnescu, Laurențiu Constantin Lipan, Rareș-Andrei Chihaia

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In recent years, the utilization of supercapacitors for energy storage (ES) devices that are designed for energy harvesting (EH) applications has increased substantially. The use of supercapacitors as energy storage devices in hybrid energy harvesting systems allows the miniaturization of electronic structures for energy storage. This study is concerned with the concept of energy management capacitors – supercapacitors and the new electronic structures for energy storage used for energy harvesting devices. Supercapacitors are low-voltage devices, and electronic overvoltage protection is needed for powering the source. The power management device that uses these proposed new electronic structures for energy storage is better than conventional electronic structures used for this purpose, like rechargeable batteries, supercapacitors, and hybrid systems. A hybrid energy harvesting system with energy storage management is able to simultaneously use several energy sources with recovery from the environment. The power management device uses a summing electronic block to combine the electric power obtained from piezoelectric composite plates and from a photovoltaic conversion system. Also, an overvoltage protection circuit used as a voltage detector and an improved concept of charging supercapacitors is presented. The piezoelectric composite plates are realized only by pressing two printed circuit boards together without damaging or prestressing the piezoceramic elements. The photovoltaic conversion system has the advantage that the modules are covered with glass plates with nanostructured film of ZnO with the role of anti-reflective coating and to improve the overall efficiency of the solar panels.

Keywords: Supercapacitors, energy storage, electronic overvoltage protection, energy harvesting.

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Authors: Adeniyi G. Adeogun, Bolaji F. Sule, Adebayo W. Salami, Michael O. Daramola

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Estimation of water yield and water balance in a river catchment is critical to the sustainable management of water resources at watershed level in any country. Therefore, in the present study, Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) interfaced with Geographical Information System (GIS) was applied as a tool to predict water balance and water yield of a catchment area in Nigeria. The catchment area, which was 12,992km², is located upstream Jebba hydropower dam in North central part of Nigeria. In this study, data on the observed flow were collected and compared with simulated flow using SWAT. The correlation between the two data sets was evaluated using statistical measures, such as, Nasch-Sucliffe Efficiency (NSE) and coefficient of determination (R²). The model output shows a good agreement between the observed flow and simulated flow as indicated by NSE and R², which were greater than 0.7 for both calibration and validation period. A total of 42,733 mm of water was predicted by the calibrated model as the water yield potential of the basin for a simulation period between 1985 to 2010. This interesting performance obtained with SWAT model suggests that SWAT model could be a promising tool to predict water balance and water yield in sustainable management of water resources. In addition, SWAT could be applied to other water resources in other basins in Nigeria as a decision support tool for sustainable water management in Nigeria.

Keywords: GIS, Modeling, Sensitivity Analysis, SWAT, Water Yield, Watershed level.

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Authors: Mohd Iz'aan Paiz Bin Zamri, Anis Salwa Mohd Khairuddin, Norrima Mokhtar, Rubiyah Yusof

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Effective statistical feature extraction and classification are important in image-based automatic inspection and analysis. An automatic wood species recognition system is designed to perform wood inspection at custom checkpoints to avoid mislabeling of timber which will results to loss of income to the timber industry. The system focuses on analyzing the statistical pores properties of the wood images. This paper proposed a fuzzy-based feature extractor which mimics the experts’ knowledge on wood texture to extract the properties of pores distribution from the wood surface texture. The proposed feature extractor consists of two steps namely pores extraction and fuzzy pores management. The total number of statistical features extracted from each wood image is 38 features. Then, a backpropagation neural network is used to classify the wood species based on the statistical features. A comprehensive set of experiments on a database composed of 5200 macroscopic images from 52 tropical wood species was used to evaluate the performance of the proposed feature extractor. The advantage of the proposed feature extraction technique is that it mimics the experts’ interpretation on wood texture which allows human involvement when analyzing the wood texture. Experimental results show the efficiency of the proposed method.

Keywords: Classification, fuzzy, inspection system, image analysis.

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Authors: S. Zith Dey Babu, S. Kour, S. Verma, C. Verma, V. Pathania, A. Agrawal, V. Chaudhary, A. Manoj Puthur, R. Goyal, A. Pal, T. Danti Dey, A. Kumar, K. Wadhwa, O. Ved

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Background: Skin cancer is now is the buzzing button in the field of medical science. The cyst's pandemic is drastically calibrating the body and well-being of the global village. Methods: The extracted image of the skin tumor cannot be used in one way for diagnosis. The stored image contains anarchies like the center. This approach will locate the forepart of an extracted appearance of skin. Partitioning image models has been presented to sort out the disturbance in the picture. Results: After completing partitioning, feature extraction has been formed by using genetic algorithm and finally, classification can be performed between the trained and test data to evaluate a large scale of an image that helps the doctors for the right prediction. To bring the improvisation of the existing system, we have set our objectives with an analysis. The efficiency of the natural selection process and the enriching histogram is essential in that respect. To reduce the false-positive rate or output, GA is performed with its accuracy. Conclusions: The objective of this task is to bring improvisation of effectiveness. GA is accomplishing its task with perfection to bring down the invalid-positive rate or outcome. The paper's mergeable portion conflicts with the composition of deep learning and medical image processing, which provides superior accuracy. Proportional types of handling create the reusability without any errors.

Keywords: Computer-aided system, detection, image segmentation, morphology.

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Authors: Ashok Kumar, Vinod Kumar

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Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are used to monitor/observe vast inaccessible regions through deployment of large number of sensor nodes in the sensing area. For majority of WSN applications, the collected data needs to be combined with geographic information of its origin to make it useful for the user; information received from remote Sensor Nodes (SNs) that are several hops away from base station/sink is meaningless without knowledge of its source. In addition to this, location information of SNs can also be used to propose/develop new network protocols for WSNs to improve their energy efficiency and lifetime. In this paper, range free localization protocols for WSNs have been proposed. The proposed protocols are based on weighted centroid localization technique, where the edge weights of SNs are decided by utilizing fuzzy logic inference for received signal strength and link quality between the nodes. The fuzzification is carried out using (i) Mamdani, (ii) Sugeno, and (iii) Combined Mamdani Sugeno fuzzy logic inference. Simulation results demonstrate that proposed protocols provide better accuracy in node localization compared to conventional centroid based localization protocols despite presence of unintentional radio frequency interference from radio frequency (RF) sources operating in same frequency band.

Keywords: localization, range free, received signal strength, link quality indicator, Mamdani fuzzy logic inference, Sugeno fuzzy logic inference.

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Authors: Mohamad Reza. Mohaghegh, Majid. Malek Jafarian

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This research proposes an algorithm for the simulation of time-periodic unsteady problems via the solution unsteady Euler and Navier-Stokes equations. This algorithm which is called Time Spectral method uses a Fourier representation in time and hence solve for the periodic state directly without resolving transients (which consume most of the resources in a time-accurate scheme). Mathematical tools used here are discrete Fourier transformations. It has shown tremendous potential for reducing the computational cost compared to conventional time-accurate methods, by enforcing periodicity and using Fourier representation in time, leading to spectral accuracy. The accuracy and efficiency of this technique is verified by Euler and Navier-Stokes calculations for pitching airfoils. Because of flow turbulence nature, Baldwin-Lomax turbulence model has been used at viscous flow analysis. The results presented by the Time Spectral method are compared with experimental data. It has shown tremendous potential for reducing the computational cost compared to the conventional time-accurate methods, by enforcing periodicity and using Fourier representation in time, leading to spectral accuracy, because results verify the small number of time intervals per pitching cycle required to capture the flow physics.

Keywords: Time Spectral Method, Time-periodic unsteadyflow, Discrete Fourier transform, Pitching airfoil, Turbulence flow

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Authors: Ana Paula P. dos Santos, Claudia R. Andrade, Edson L. Zaparoli

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Gas turbine air inlet cooling is a useful method for increasing output for regions where significant power demand and highest electricity prices occur during the warm months. Inlet air cooling increases the power output by taking advantage of the gas turbine-s feature of higher mass flow rate when the compressor inlet temperature decreases. Different methods are available for reducing gas turbine inlet temperature. There are two basic systems currently available for inlet cooling. The first and most cost-effective system is evaporative cooling. Evaporative coolers make use of the evaporation of water to reduce the gas turbine-s inlet air temperature. The second system employs various ways to chill the inlet air. In this method, the cooling medium flows through a heat exchanger located in the inlet duct to remove heat from the inlet air. However, the evaporative cooling is limited by wet-bulb temperature while the chilling can cool the inlet air to temperatures that are lower than the wet bulb temperature. In the present work, a thermodynamic model of a gas turbine is built to calculate heat rate, power output and thermal efficiency at different inlet air temperature conditions. Computational results are compared with ISO conditions herein called "base-case". Therefore, the two cooling methods are implemented and solved for different inlet conditions (inlet temperature and relative humidity). Evaporative cooler and absorption chiller systems results show that when the ambient temperature is extremely high with low relative humidity (requiring a large temperature reduction) the chiller is the more suitable cooling solution. The net increment in the power output as a function of the temperature decrease for each cooling method is also obtained.

Keywords: Absorption chiller, evaporative cooling, gas turbine, turbine inlet cooling.

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Authors: Omid A. Zargar

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Cavitation is one of the most well-known process faults that may occur in different industrial equipment especially centrifugal pumps. Cavitation also may happen in water pumps and turbines. Sometimes cavitation has been severe enough to wear holes in the impeller and damage the vanes to such a degree that the impeller becomes very ineffective. More commonly, the pump efficiency will decrease significantly during cavitation and continue to decrease as damage to the impeller increases. Typically, when cavitation occurs, an audible sound similar to ‘marbles’ or ‘crackling’ is reported to be emitted from the pump. In this paper, the most effective monitoring items and techniques in detecting cavitation discussed in details. Besides, some successful solutions for solving this problem for sea water vertical Centrifugal lift Pump discussed through a case history related to Iran oil industry. Furthermore, balance line modification, strainer choking and random resonance in sea water pumps discussed. In addition, a new Method for diagnosing mechanical conditions of sea water vertical Centrifugal lift Pumps introduced. This method involves disaggregating bus current by device into disaggregated currents having correspondences with operating currents in response to measured bus current. Moreover, some new patents and innovations in mechanical sea water pumping and cooling systems discussed in this paper.

Keywords: Cavitation, Vibration Analysis, Centrifugal Pump, Vertical Pump, Sea Water Pump, Balance Line, Strainer, Time Wave Form (TWF), Fast Fourier Transform (FFT)

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Authors: M. Jayekumar, V. Nagarajan

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Wireless sensor network finds role in environmental monitoring, industrial applications, surveillance applications, health monitoring and other supervisory applications. Sensing devices form the basic operational unit of the network that is self-battery powered with limited life time. Sensor node spends its limited energy for transmission, reception, routing and sensing information. Frequent energy utilization for the above mentioned process leads to network lifetime degradation. To enhance energy efficiency and network lifetime, we propose a modified energy optimization and node recovery post failure method, Energy-Link Failure Recovery Routing (E-LFRR) algorithm. In our E-LFRR algorithm, two phases namely, Monitored Transmission phase and Replaced Transmission phase are devised to combat worst case link failure conditions. In Monitored Transmission phase, the Actuator Node monitors and identifies suitable nodes for shortest path transmission. The Replaced Transmission phase dispatches the energy draining node at early stage from the active link and replaces it with the new node that has sufficient energy. Simulation results illustrate that this combined methodology reduces overhead, energy consumption, delay and maintains considerable amount of alive nodes thereby enhancing the network performance.

Keywords: Actuator node, energy efficient routing, energy hole, link failure recovery, link utilization, wireless sensor network.

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Authors: Zeeshan Ahmed, Ajinkya Sarode, Pratik Basarkar, Atul Bhargav, Debjyoti Banerjee

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The use of CO₂ in oil recovery and in CO₂ capture and storage is gaining traction in recent years. These applications involve heat transfer between CO₂ and the base fluid, and hence, there arises a need to improve the thermal conductivity of CO₂ to increase the process efficiency and reduce cost. One way to improve the thermal conductivity is through nanoparticle addition in the base fluid. The nanofluid model in this study consisted of copper (Cu) nanoparticles in varying concentrations with CO₂ as a base fluid. No experimental data are available on thermal conductivity of CO₂ based nanofluid. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are an increasingly adopted tool to perform preliminary assessments of nanoparticle (NP) fluid interactions. In this study, the effect of the formation of a nanolayer (or molecular layering) at the gas-solid interface on thermal conductivity is investigated using equilibrium MD simulations by varying NP diameter and keeping the volume fraction (1.413%) of nanofluid constant to check the diameter effect of NP on the nanolayer and thermal conductivity. A dense semi-solid fluid layer was seen to be formed at the NP-gas interface, and the thickness increases with increase in particle diameter, which also moves with the NP Brownian motion. Density distribution has been done to see the effect of nanolayer, and its thickness around the NP. These findings are extremely beneficial, especially to industries employed in oil recovery as increased thermal conductivity of CO₂ will lead to enhanced oil recovery and thermal energy storage.

Keywords: Copper-CO2 nanofluid, molecular interfacial layer, thermal conductivity, molecular dynamic simulation.

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Authors: Ji-il Park, Hyungtae Seo, Jihyuk Park, Kwang jin Choi, Kyung-Soo Kim, Soohyun Kim

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The purpose of the research is to investigate the energetic feature of the backpack load on soldier’s gait with variation of the trunk flexion angle. It is believed that the trunk flexion variation of the loaded gait may cause a significant difference in the energy cost which is often in practice in daily life. To this end, seven healthy Korea military personnel participated in the experiment and are tested under three different walking postures comprised of the small, natural and large trunk flexion. There are around 5 degree differences of waist angle between each trunk flexion. The ground reaction forces were collected from the force plates and motion kinematic data are measured by the motion capture system. Based on these data, the impulses, momentums and mechanical works done on the center of body mass (COM) during the double support phase were computed. The result shows that the push-off and heel strike impulse are not relevant to the trunk flexion change, however the mechanical work by the push-off and heel strike were changed by the trunk flexion variation. It is because the vertical velocity of the COM during the double support phase is increased significantly with an increase in the trunk flexion. Therefore, we can know that the gait efficiency of the loaded gait depends on the trunk flexion angle. Also, even though the gravitational impulse and pre-collision momentum are changed by the trunk flexion variation, the after-collision momentum is almost constant regardless of the trunk flexion variation.

Keywords: Loaded gait, collision, impulse, gravity, heel strike, push-off, gait analysis.

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Authors: Jin Fan, M. Ala Saadeghvaziri

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Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also referred to as drones, equipped with various kinds of advanced detecting or surveying systems, are effective and low-cost in data acquisition, data delivery and sharing, which can benefit the building of infrastructures. This paper will give an overview of applications of drones in planning, designing, construction and maintenance of infrastructures. The drone platform, detecting and surveying systems, and post-data processing systems will be introduced, followed by cases with details of the applications. Challenges from different aspects will be addressed. Opportunities of drones in infrastructure include but not limited to the following. Firstly, UAVs equipped with high definition cameras or other detecting equipment are capable of inspecting the hard to reach infrastructure assets. Secondly, UAVs can be used as effective tools to survey and map the landscape to collect necessary information before infrastructure construction. Furthermore, an UAV or multi-UVAs are useful in construction management. UVAs can also be used in collecting roads and building information by taking high-resolution photos for future infrastructure planning. UAVs can be used to provide reliable and dynamic traffic information, which is potentially helpful in building smart cities. The main challenges are: limited flight time, the robustness of signal, post data analyze, multi-drone collaboration, weather condition, distractions to the traffic caused by drones. This paper aims to help owners, designers, engineers and architects to improve the building process of infrastructures for higher efficiency and better performance.

Keywords: Bridge, construction, drones, infrastructure, information.

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Authors: Wilson Handoko, Farshid Pahlevani, Isha Singla, Himanish Kumar, Veena Sahajwalla

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Aluminium bronze alloys are well known for their superior abrasion, tensile strength and non-magnetic properties, due to the co-presence of iron (Fe) and aluminium (Al) as alloying elements and have been commonly used in many industrial applications. However, continuous exposure to the marine environment will accelerate the risk of a tendency to Al bronze alloys parts failures. Although a higher level of corrosion resistance properties can be achieved by modifying its elemental composition, it will come at a price through the complex manufacturing process and increases the risk of reducing the ductility of Al bronze alloy. In this research, the use of ironmaking slag and waste plastic as the input source for surface modification of Al bronze alloy was implemented. Microstructural analysis conducted using polarised light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) that is equipped with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). An electrochemical corrosion test was carried out through Tafel polarisation method and calculation of protection efficiency against the base-material was determined. Results have indicated that uniform modified surface which is as the result of selective diffusion process, has enhanced corrosion resistance properties up to 12.67%. This approach has opened a new opportunity to access various industrial utilisations in commercial scale through minimising the dependency on natural resources by transforming waste sources into the protective coating in environmentally friendly and cost-effective ways.

Keywords: Aluminium bronze, waste-based surface modification, Tafel polarisation, corrosion resistance.

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Authors: Zhaoan Wang

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Research in predictive maintenance modeling has improved in the recent years to predict failures and needed maintenance with high accuracy, saving cost and improving manufacturing efficiency. However, classic prediction models provide little valuable insight towards the most important features contributing to the failure. By analyzing and quantifying feature importance in predictive maintenance models, cost saving can be optimized based on business goals. First, multiple classifiers are evaluated with cross-validation to predict the multi-class of failures. Second, predictive performance with features provided by different feature selection algorithms are further analyzed. Third, features selected by different algorithms are ranked and combined based on their predictive power. Finally, linear explainer SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanations) is applied to interpret classifier behavior and provide further insight towards the specific roles of features in both local predictions and global model behavior. The results of the experiments suggest that certain features play dominant roles in predictive models while others have significantly less impact on the overall performance. Moreover, for multi-class prediction of machine failures, the most important features vary with type of machine failures. The results may lead to improved productivity and cost saving by prioritizing sensor deployment, data collection, and data processing of more important features over less importance features.

Keywords: Automated supply chain, intelligent manufacturing, predictive maintenance machine learning, feature engineering, model interpretation.

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Authors: See Zi Siang, Khairul Hazrin Hashim, Harold Thwaites, Lee Xia Sheng, Ooi Wooi Har

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The paper explores the development of an optimization of method and apparatus for retrieving extended high dynamic range from digital negative image. Architectural photo imaging can benefit from high dynamic range imaging (HDRI) technique for preserving and presenting sufficient luminance in the shadow and highlight clipping image areas. The HDRI technique that requires multiple exposure images as the source of HDRI rendering may not be effective in terms of time efficiency during the acquisition process and post-processing stage, considering it has numerous potential imaging variables and technical limitations during the multiple exposure process. This paper explores an experimental method and apparatus that aims to expand the dynamic range from digital negative image in HDRI environment. The method and apparatus explored is based on a single source of RAW image acquisition for the use of HDRI post-processing. It will cater the optimization in order to avoid and minimize the conventional HDRI photographic errors caused by different physical conditions during the photographing process and the misalignment of multiple exposed image sequences. The study observes the characteristics and capabilities of RAW image format as digital negative used for the retrieval of extended high dynamic range process in HDRI environment.

Keywords: High Dynamic Range Image, Photography Workflow Optimization, Digital Negative Image, Architectural Image

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Authors: Ahmed Noor Al-Qayyim, Barlas Ozden Caglayan

Abstract:

Structural failure is caused mainly by damage that often occurs on structures. Many researchers focus on to obtain very efficient tools to detect the damage in structures in the early state. In the past decades, a subject that has received considerable attention in literature is the damage detection as determined by variations in the dynamic characteristics or response of structures. The study presents a new damage identification technique. The technique detects the damage location for the incomplete structure system using output data only. The method indicates the damage based on the free vibration test data by using ‘Two Points Condensation (TPC) technique’. This method creates a set of matrices by reducing the structural system to two degrees of freedom systems. The current stiffness matrices obtain from optimization the equation of motion using the measured test data. The current stiffness matrices compare with original (undamaged) stiffness matrices. The large percentage changes in matrices’ coefficients lead to the location of the damage. TPC technique is applied to the experimental data of a simply supported steel beam model structure after inducing thickness change in one element, where two cases consider. The method detects the damage and determines its location accurately in both cases. In addition, the results illustrate these changes in stiffness matrix can be a useful tool for continuous monitoring of structural safety using ambient vibration data. Furthermore, its efficiency proves that this technique can be used also for big structures.

Keywords: Damage detection, two points–condensation, structural health monitoring, signals processing, optimization.

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Authors: Jemai Rabeb, Benhmidene Ali, Hidouri Khaoula, Chaouachi Bechir

Abstract:

The diffusion-absorption refrigeration cycle consists of a generator bubble pump, an absorber, an evaporator and a condenser, and usually operates with ammonia/water/ hydrogen or helium as the working fluid. The aim of this paper is to study the stability problem a bubble pump. In fact instability can caused a reduction of bubble pump efficiency. To achieve this goal, we have simulated the behaviour of two-phase flow in a bubble pump by using a drift flow model. Equations of a drift flow model are formulated in the transitional regime, non-adiabatic condition and thermodynamic equilibrium between the liquid and vapour phases. Equations resolution allowed to define void fraction, and liquid and vapour velocities, as well as pressure and mixing enthalpy. Ammonia-water mixing is used as working fluid, where ammonia mass fraction in the inlet is 0.6. Present simulation is conducted out for a heating flux of 2 kW/m² to 5 kW/m² and bubble pump tube length of 1 m and 2.5 mm of inner diameter. Simulation results reveal oscillations of vapour and liquid velocities along time. Oscillations decrease with time and with heat flux. For sufficient time the steady state is established, it is characterised by constant liquid velocity and void fraction values. However, vapour velocity does not have the same behaviour, it increases for steady state too. On the other hand, pressure drop oscillations are studied.

Keywords: Bubble pump, drift flow model, instability, simulation.

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Authors: SP. Chokkalingam, K. Komathy

Abstract:

Advances in the field of image processing envision a new era of evaluation techniques and application of procedures in various different fields. One such field being considered is the biomedical field for prognosis as well as diagnosis of diseases. This plethora of methods though provides a wide range of options to select from, it also proves confusion in selecting the apt process and also in finding which one is more suitable. Our objective is to use a series of techniques on bone scans, so as to detect the occurrence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) as accurately as possible. Amongst other techniques existing in the field our proposed system tends to be more effective as it depends on new methodologies that have been proved to be better and more consistent than others. Computer aided diagnosis will provide more accurate and infallible rate of consistency that will help to improve the efficiency of the system. The image first undergoes histogram smoothing and specification, morphing operation, boundary detection by edge following algorithm and finally image subtraction to determine the presence of rheumatoid arthritis in a more efficient and effective way. Using preprocessing noises are removed from images and using segmentation, region of interest is found and Histogram smoothing is applied for a specific portion of the images. Gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) features like Mean, Median, Energy, Correlation, Bone Mineral Density (BMD) and etc. After finding all the features it stores in the database. This dataset is trained with inflamed and noninflamed values and with the help of neural network all the new images are checked properly for their status and Rough set is implemented for further reduction.

Keywords: Computer Aided Diagnosis, Edge Detection, Histogram Smoothing, Rheumatoid Arthritis.

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Authors: N. Matveev, A. Pervov

Abstract:

Local utilities often face problems of local industrial wastes, storm water disposal due to existing strict regulations. For many local industries, the problem of wastewater treatment and discharge into surface reservoirs can’t be solved through the use of conventional biological treatment techniques. Current discharge standards require very strict removal of a number of impurities such as ammonia, nitrates, phosphate, etc. To reach this level of removal, expensive reagents and sorbents are used. The modern concept of rational water resources management requires the development of new efficient techniques that provide wastewater treatment and reuse. As RO membranes simultaneously reject all dissolved impurities such as BOD, TDS, ammonia, phosphates etc., they become very attractive for the direct treatment of wastewater without biological stage. To treat wastewater, specially designed membrane "open channel" modules are used that do not possess "dead areas" that cause fouling or require pretreatment. A solution to RO concentrate disposal problem is presented that consists of reducing of initial wastewater volume by 100 times. Concentrate is withdrawn from membrane unit as sludge moisture. The efficient use of membrane RO techniques is connected with a salt balance in water system. Thus, to provide high ecological efficiency of developed techniques, all components of water supply and wastewater discharge systems should be accounted for.

Keywords: Reverse osmosis, stormwater treatment, openchannel module, wastewater reuse.

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Authors: Wann-Ming Wey

Abstract:

In recent years, the problems of global climate change and natural disasters have induced the concerns and attentions of environmental sustainability issues for the public. Aside from the environmental planning efforts done for human environment, Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) has been widely used as one of the future solutions for the sustainable city development. In order to be more consistent with the urban sustainable development, the development of the built environment planning based on the concept of Green TOD which combines both TOD and Green Urbanism is adapted here. The connotation of the urban development under the green TOD including the design toward environment protect, the maximum enhancement resources and the efficiency of energy use, use technology to construct green buildings and protected areas, natural ecosystems and communities linked, etc. Green TOD is not only to provide the solution to urban traffic problems, but to direct more sustainable and greener consideration for future urban development planning and design. In this study, we use both the TOD and Green Urbanism concepts to proceed to the study of the built environment planning and design. Fuzzy Delphi Technique (FDT) is utilized to screen suitable criteria of the green TOD. Furthermore, Fuzzy Analytic Network Process (FANP) and Quality Function Deployment (QFD) were then developed to evaluate the criteria and prioritize the alternatives. The study results can be regarded as the future guidelines of the built environment planning and designing under green TOD development in Taiwan.

Keywords: Green transit-oriented development, built environment, fuzzy Delphi technique, quality function deployment, fuzzy analytic network process.

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Authors: M. Farzadkia, S. Jorfi

Abstract:

Hospital waste is a category of waste consisting of infectious and non-infectious waste, which pose environmental and health risks. Therefore, special planning and management is required, due to the potential hazards of them. The lack of valid and comprehensive information regarding the generation and management of hospital waste in Iran is one of the most important problems in this field. This research aimed to evaluate hospital waste management efficiency in Karaj city, Iran. The four greatest hospitals in Karaj city had been selected in this cross-sectional study. Site observations and interviews with employees were implemented. The data was gathered based on the hospital waste management questionnaire which was designed by World Health Organization for developing countries. Collected Data had been analyzed using SPSS software. The average of solid waste which was generated per bed was 2.78 kg, which included 90% of domestic waste and 10% of infectious waste. Based on the quantitative analysis of general and infectious waste in these hospitals, the highest contributors of general waste were consisting of food waste (37.39%), while textile (28.06%) were the highest contributors of the infectious waste. According to the information contained in the questionnaires, the main defects of waste management in these hospitals were; inadequate staff in waste management sector, poorly disinfection of solid waste containers and temporary storage locations, and a lack of proper infectious waste treatment. According to the results of this research, waste management in these hospitals were far from optimum conditions. In order to improve the existing conditions, mentioned problems must be solved quickly, and planning for continuous monitoring in the waste management field in these hospitals should be established.

Keywords: Waste management, hospital wastes, solid wastes, Iran.

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Authors: Brian H. Marsh

Abstract:

Nitrogen fertilizer is the most used and often the most mismanaged nutrient input. Nitrogen management has tremendous implications on crop productivity, quality and environmental stewardship. Sufficient nitrogen is needed to optimum yield and quality. Soil and in-season plant tissue testing for nitrogen status are a time consuming and expensive process. Real time sensing of plant nitrogen status can be a useful tool in managing nitrogen inputs. The objectives of this project were to assess the reliability of remotely sensed non-destructive plant nitrogen measurements compared to wet chemistry data from sampled plant tissue, develop in-season nitrogen recommendations based on remotely sensed data for improved nitrogen use efficiency and assess the potential for determining yield and quality from remotely sensed data. Very good correlations were observed between early-season remotely sensed crop nitrogen status and plant nitrogen concentrations and subsequent in-season fertilizer recommendations. The transmittance/absorbance type meters gave the most accurate readings. Early in-season fertilizer recommendation would be to apply 40 kg nitrogen per hectare plus 15 kg nitrogen per hectare for each unit difference measured with the SPAD meter between the crop and reference area or 25 kg plus 13 kg per hectare for each unit difference measured with the CCM 200. Once the crop was sufficiently fertilized meter readings became inconclusive and were of no benefit for determining nitrogen status, silage yield and quality and grain yield and protein.

Keywords: Wheat, nitrogen fertilization, chlorophyll meter.

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