Search results for: Applied stress
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 4226

Search results for: Applied stress

1616 Traffic Congestion on Highways in Nigeria Causes, Effects and Remedies

Authors: Popoola M. O., Abiola S. O., Adeniji W. A.

Abstract:

This study investigates the causes, effects and remedies of traffic congestion which has become a common sight in most highways in Nigeria; Mowe/Ibafo section of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway was used as the case-study. 300 Structured questionnaires were distributed among the road users comprising drivers (Private and Commercial), passengers, pedestrians, traffic officers, church congregations, community leaders, Mowe/Ibafo residents, and other users of the road.

300 questionnaires were given out; the average of 276 well completed returned questionnaires formed the basis of the study and was analyzed by the Relative Importance Index (R.I.I.). The result from the study showed the causes of traffic congestion as inadequate road capacity, poor road pavement, poor traffic management, poor drainage system poor driving habit, poor parking habit, poor design junctions/round-about, presence of heavy trucks, lack of pedestrian facilities, lack of road furniture, lack of parking facilities and others. Effects of road congestion from the study are waste of time, delay movement, stress, accident, inability to forecast travel of time, fuel consumption, road rage, relocation, night driving, and environmental pollution. To drastically reduce these negative effects; there must be provision for adequate parking space, construction of proper drainage, enlarging the width of the road, rehabilitate all roads needing attention, public enlightenment, traffic education, hack down all illegal buildings/shops built on the right of way (ROW), create a separate/alternative root for trucks and heavy vehicles, provision of pedestrian facilities, In-depth training of transport/traffic personnel, ban all form of road trading/hawking, and reduce the number of bus-stop where necessary. It is hoped that this study will become the foundation of further research in the area of improve road traffic management on our major highway.

Keywords: Highways, Congestion, Traffic, Traffic congestion, traffic management, Nigeria.

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1615 Concept for a Multidisciplinary Design Process–An Application on High Lift Systems

Authors: P. Zamov, H. Spangenberg

Abstract:

Presents a concept for a multidisciplinary process supporting effective task transitions between different technical domains during the architectural design stage. A system configuration challenge is the multifunctional driven increased solution space. As a consequence, more iteration is needed to find a global optimum, i.e. a compromise between involved disciplines without negative impact on development time. Since state of the art standards like ISO 15288 and VDI 2206 do not provide a detailed methodology on multidisciplinary design process, higher uncertainties regarding final specifications arise. This leads to the need of more detailed and standardized concepts or processes which could mitigate risks. The performed work is based on analysis of multidisciplinary interaction, of modeling and simulation techniques. To demonstrate and prove the applicability of the presented concept, it is applied to the design of aircraft high lift systems, in the context of the engineering disciplines kinematics, actuation, monitoring, installation and structure design.

Keywords: Systems engineering, multidisciplinary, architectural design, high lift system.

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1614 A Reproduction of Boundary Conditions in Three-Dimensional Continuous Casting Problem

Authors: Iwona Nowak, Jacek Smolka, Andrzej J. Nowak

Abstract:

The paper discusses a 3D numerical solution of the inverse boundary problem for a continuous casting process of alloy. The main goal of the analysis presented within the paper was to estimate heat fluxes along the external surface of the ingot. The verified information on these fluxes was crucial for a good design of a mould, effective cooling system and generally the whole caster. In the study an enthalpy-porosity technique implemented in Fluent package was used for modeling the solidification process. In this method, the phase change interface was determined on the basis of the liquid fraction approach. In inverse procedure the sensitivity analysis was applied for retrieving boundary conditions. A comparison of the measured and retrieved values showed a high accuracy of the computations. Additionally, the influence of the accuracy of measurements on the estimated heat fluxes was also investigated.

Keywords: Boundary inverse problem, sensitivity analysis, continuous casting, numerical simulation.

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1613 Experimental Study on the Hysteresis Properties in Operation of Vertical Axis Wind Turbines

Authors: Ching-Huei Lin, Yao-Pang Hsu, M. Z. Dosaev, Yu. D. Selyutskii, L. A. Klimina

Abstract:

Hysteresis phenomenon has been observed in the operations of both horizontal-axis and vertical-axis wind turbines (HAWTs and VAWTs). In this study, wind tunnel experiments were applied to investigate the characters of hysteresis phenomena between the angular speed and the external resistance of electrical loading during the operation of a Darrieus type VAWT. Data of output voltage, output current, angular speed of wind turbine under different wind speeds are measured and analyzed. Results show that the range of external resistance changes with the wind speed. The range decreases as the wind speed increases following an exponential decay form. Experiments also indicate that the maximum output power of wind turbines is always inside the range where hysteresis happened. These results provide an important reference to the design of output control system of wind turbines.

Keywords: Hysteresis phenomenon, Angular speed, Range ofexternal resistance

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1612 Portable Hands-Free Process Assistant for Gas Turbine Maintenance

Authors: Elisabeth Brandenburg, Robert Woll, Rainer Stark

Abstract:

This paper presents how smart glasses and voice commands can be used for improving the maintenance process of industrial gas turbines. It presents the process of inspecting a gas turbine’s combustion chamber and how it is currently performed using a set of paper-based documents. In order to improve this process, a portable hands-free process assistance system has been conceived. In the following, it will be presented how the approach of user-centered design and the method of paper prototyping have been successfully applied in order to design a user interface and a corresponding workflow model that describes the possible interaction patterns between the user and the interface. The presented evaluation of these results suggests that the assistance system could help the user by rendering multiple manual activities obsolete, thus allowing him to work hands-free and to save time for generating protocols.

Keywords: Paper prototyping, smart glasses, turbine maintenance, user centered design.

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1611 Robust Coordinated Design of Multiple Power System Stabilizers Using Particle Swarm Optimization Technique

Authors: Sidhartha Panda, C. Ardil

Abstract:

Power system stabilizers (PSS) are now routinely used in the industry to damp out power system oscillations. In this paper, particle swarm optimization (PSO) technique is applied to coordinately design multiple power system stabilizers (PSS) in a multi-machine power system. The design problem of the proposed controllers is formulated as an optimization problem and PSO is employed to search for optimal controller parameters. By minimizing the time-domain based objective function, in which the deviation in the oscillatory rotor speed of the generator is involved; stability performance of the system is improved. The non-linear simulation results are presented for various severe disturbances and small disturbance at different locations as well as for various fault clearing sequences to show the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed controller and their ability to provide efficient damping of low frequency oscillations.

Keywords: Low frequency oscillations, Particle swarm optimization, power system stability, power system stabilizer, multimachine power system.

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1610 A Study of Flow and Sedimentation at the Basins of Khoozestan Province Rivers: A Case Study of Boneh Basht Pumping Station

Authors: Emad Hazbkhah. Abdolreza zahiri, Hossein ghorbanizade kharazi

Abstract:

The present paper is a case study about exploitation of Kheir Abad river (Khoozestan, Iran) water resources and the problems caused by river sediments around the pumping stations. The weak points and strong points of Boneh Basht pumping station have been studied by experienced experts, work teams, and consulting engineers and technical and executive solutions have been suggested. Therefore, the suggestions of this article are based on the performed studies and are proposed in order to evaluate the logical solutions. Rather complicated processes resulting from the interaction of water flows and sediments observed at Boneh Basht pumping station occur at other pumping stations in almost the same way. Therefore, Boneh Basht pumping station can be selected as a sample (pilot) and up-to-date theories and experiences can be applied to this station and the results can be offered to other stations.

Keywords: Boneh Basht , Iran , Pumping Station, Sedimentation

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1609 Internal Loading Distribution in Statically Loaded Ball Bearings Subjected to a Centric Thrust Load: Alternative Approach

Authors: Mário C. Ricci

Abstract:

An alternative iterative computational procedure is proposed for internal normal ball loads calculation in statically loaded single-row, angular-contact ball bearings, subjected to a known thrust load, which is applied in the inner ring at the geometric bearing center line. An accurate method for curvature radii at contacts with inner and outer raceways in the direction of the motion is used. Numerical aspects of the iterative procedure are discussed. Numerical examples results for a 218 angular-contact ball bearing have been compared with those from the literature. Twenty figures are presented showing the geometrical features, the behavior of the convergence variables and the following parameters as functions of the thrust load: normal ball loads, contact angle, distance between curvature centers, and normal ball and axial deflections.

Keywords: Ball, Bearing, Static, Load, Iterative, Numerical, Method.

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1608 Generalized Rough Sets Applied to Graphs Related to Urban Problems

Authors: Mihai Rebenciuc, Simona Mihaela Bibic

Abstract:

Branch of modern mathematics, graphs represent instruments for optimization and solving practical applications in various fields such as economic networks, engineering, network optimization, the geometry of social action, generally, complex systems including contemporary urban problems (path or transport efficiencies, biourbanism, & c.). In this paper is studied the interconnection of some urban network, which can lead to a simulation problem of a digraph through another digraph. The simulation is made univoc or more general multivoc. The concepts of fragment and atom are very useful in the study of connectivity in the digraph that is simulation - including an alternative evaluation of k- connectivity. Rough set approach in (bi)digraph which is proposed in premier in this paper contribute to improved significantly the evaluation of k-connectivity. This rough set approach is based on generalized rough sets - basic facts are presented in this paper.

Keywords: (Bi)digraphs, rough set theory, systems of interacting agents, complex systems.

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1607 Fusing Local Binary Patterns with Wavelet Features for Ethnicity Identification

Authors: S. Hma Salah, H. Du, N. Al-Jawad

Abstract:

Ethnicity identification of face images is of interest in many areas of application, but existing methods are few and limited. This paper presents a fusion scheme that uses block-based uniform local binary patterns and Haar wavelet transform to combine local and global features. In particular, the LL subband coefficients of the whole face are fused with the histograms of uniform local binary patterns from block partitions of the face. We applied the principal component analysis on the fused features and managed to reduce the dimensionality of the feature space from 536 down to around 15 without sacrificing too much accuracy. We have conducted a number of preliminary experiments using a collection of 746 subject face images. The test results show good accuracy and demonstrate the potential of fusing global and local features. The fusion approach is robust, making it easy to further improve the identification at both feature and score levels.

Keywords: Ethnicity identification, fusion, local binary patterns, wavelet.

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1606 miR-200c as a Biomarker for 5-FU Chemosensitivity in Colorectal Cancer

Authors: Rezvan Najafi, Korosh Heydari, Massoud Saidijam

Abstract:

5-FU is a chemotherapeutic agent that has been used in colorectal cancer (CRC) treatment. However, it is usually associated with the acquired resistance, which decreases the therapeutic effects of 5-FU. miR-200c is involved in chemotherapeutic drug resistance, but its mechanism is not fully understood. In this study, the effect of inhibition of miR-200c in sensitivity of HCT-116 CRC cells to 5-FU was evaluated. HCT-116 cells were transfected with LNA-anti- miR-200c for 48 h. mRNA expression of miR-200c was evaluated using quantitative real- time PCR. The protein expression of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) and E-cadherin were analyzed by western blotting. Annexin V and propidium iodide staining assay were applied for apoptosis detection. The caspase-3 activation was evaluated by an enzymatic assay. The results showed LNA-anti-miR-200c inhibited the expression of PTEN and E-cadherin protein, apoptosis and activation of caspase 3 compared with control cells. In conclusion, these results suggest that miR-200c as a prognostic marker can overcome to 5-FU chemoresistance in CRC.

Keywords: Colorectal cancer, miR-200c, 5-FU resistance, E-cadherin, PTEN.

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1605 Contact Temperature of Sliding Surfaces in AISI 316 Austenitic Stainless Steel during Pin on Disk Dry Wear Testing

Authors: Dler Abdullah Ahmed, Zozan Ahmed Mohammed

Abstract:

This study looked into contact surface temperature during a pin-on-disk test. Friction and wear between sliding surfaces raised the temperature differential between contact surface and ambient temperatures Tdiff. Tdiff was significantly influenced by wear test variables. Tdiff rose with the increase of sliding speed and applied load, while dropped with the increase in ambient temperature. The highest Tdiff was 289 °C during the tests at room temperature and 2.5 m/s sliding speed, while the minimum was only 24 °C during the tests at 400 °C and 0.5 m/s. However, the maximum contact temperature Tmax was found during tests conducted at high ambient temperatures. The Tmax was estimated based on the theoretical equation. The comparison of experimental and theoretical Tmax data was revealed good agreement.

Keywords: Pin-on-disk test, contact temperature, wear, sliding surface, friction, ambient temperature.

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1604 Vr-GIS and Ar-GIS In Education: A Case Study

Authors: Ilario Gabriele Gerloni, Vincenza Carchiolo, Alessandro Longheu, Ugo Becciani, Eva Sciacca, Fabio Vitello

Abstract:

ICT tools and platforms endorse more and more educational process. Many models and techniques for people to be educated and trained about specific topics and skills do exist, as classroom lectures with textbooks, computers, handheld devices and others. The choice to what extent ICT is applied within learning contexts is related to personal access to technologies as well as to the infrastructure surrounding environment. Among recent techniques, the adoption of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) provides significant impulse in fully engaging users senses. In this paper, an application of AR/VR within Geographic Information Systems (GIS) context is presented. It aims to provide immersive environment experiences for educational and training purposes (e.g. for civil protection personnel), useful especially for situations where real scenarios are not easily accessible by humans. First acknowledgments are promising for building an effective tool that helps civil protection personnel training with risk reduction.

Keywords: Education, virtual reality, augmented reality, civil protection.

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1603 The Design of Picture Books for Children from Tales of Amphawa Fireflies

Authors: Marut Pichetvit

Abstract:

The research objective aims to search information about storytelling and fable associated with fireflies in Amphawa community, in order to design and create a story book which is appropriate for the interests of children in early childhood. This book should help building the development of learning about the natural environment, imagination, and creativity among children, which then, brings about the promotion of the development, conservation and dissemination of cultural values and uniqueness of the Amphawa community. The population used in this study were 30 students in early childhood aged between 6-8 years-old, grade 1-3 from the Demonstration School of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. The method used for this study was purposive sampling and the research conducted by the query and analysis of data from both the document and the narrative field tales and fable associated with the fireflies of Amphawa community. Then, using the results to synthesize and create a conceptual design in a form of 8 visual images which were later applied to 1 illustrated children’s book and presented to the experts to evaluate and test this media.

Keywords: Children’s illustrated book, Fireflies, Amphawa.

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1602 Employees- Perceptions and Expectations toward Corporate Social Responsibility: A Case Study of Private Company Employees in Bangkok Metropolitan Area

Authors: Natta Changchutoe

Abstract:

This research aimed to study employees- perceptions and expectations toward their organization-s corporate social responsibility (CSR), to study the differences between employees- personal factors and level of perceptions and expectations toward CSR, and to study the relationship between employees- perceptions and expectations toward CSR. Purposive sampling and questionnaire were applied to collect information from 400 private company employees in Bangkok metropolitan area. The results revealed that employees had “high" level of perceptions and expectations toward CSR, of which the highest level were given on the area of “corporate governance and transparency". It was found that there was different level of expectations of employees with different period of employment, position and employment (by listed and non-listed companies). Employees of different age and period of employment also had different level of expectations. Employees- perceptions were correlated with their expectations toward CSR.

Keywords: Employees, Perceptions, Expectations, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

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1601 Evolutionary Eigenspace Learning using CCIPCA and IPCA for Face Recognition

Authors: Ghazy M.R. Assassa, Mona F. M. Mursi, Hatim A. Aboalsamh

Abstract:

Traditional principal components analysis (PCA) techniques for face recognition are based on batch-mode training using a pre-available image set. Real world applications require that the training set be dynamic of evolving nature where within the framework of continuous learning, new training images are continuously added to the original set; this would trigger a costly continuous re-computation of the eigen space representation via repeating an entire batch-based training that includes the old and new images. Incremental PCA methods allow adding new images and updating the PCA representation. In this paper, two incremental PCA approaches, CCIPCA and IPCA, are examined and compared. Besides, different learning and testing strategies are proposed and applied to the two algorithms. The results suggest that batch PCA is inferior to both incremental approaches, and that all CCIPCAs are practically equivalent.

Keywords: Candid covariance-free incremental principal components analysis (CCIPCA), face recognition, incremental principal components analysis (IPCA).

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1600 Spatial Time Series Models for Rice and Cassava Yields Based On Bayesian Linear Mixed Models

Authors: Panudet Saengseedam, Nanthachai Kantanantha

Abstract:

This paper proposes a linear mixed model (LMM) with spatial effects to forecast rice and cassava yields in Thailand at the same time. A multivariate conditional autoregressive (MCAR) model is assumed to present the spatial effects. A Bayesian method is used for parameter estimation via Gibbs sampling Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC). The model is applied to the rice and cassava yields monthly data which have been extracted from the Office of Agricultural Economics, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives of Thailand. The results show that the proposed model has better performance in most provinces in both fitting part and validation part compared to the simple exponential smoothing and conditional auto regressive models (CAR) from our previous study.

Keywords: Bayesian method, Linear mixed model, Multivariate conditional autoregressive model, Spatial time series.

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1599 Assessment of the Influence of External Earth Terrain at Construction of the Physicmathematical Models or Finding the Dynamics of Pollutants' Distribution in Urban Atmosphere

Authors: Stanislav Aryeh V. Fradkin, Sharif E.Guseynov

Abstract:

There is a complex situation on the transport environment in the cities of the world. For the analysis and prevention of environmental problems an accurate calculation hazardous substances concentrations at each point of the investigated area is required. In the turbulent atmosphere of the city the wellknown methods of mathematical statistics for these tasks cannot be applied with a satisfactory level of accuracy. Therefore, to solve this class of problems apparatus of mathematical physics is more appropriate. In such models, because of the difficulty as a rule the influence of uneven land surface on streams of air masses in the turbulent atmosphere of the city are not taken into account. In this paper the influence of the surface roughness, which can be quite large, is mathematically shown. The analysis of this problem under certain conditions identified the possibility of areas appearing in the atmosphere with pressure tending to infinity, i.e. so-called "wall effect".

Keywords: Air pollution, concentration of harmful substances, physical-mathematical model, urban area.

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1598 A Quality-Oriented Approach toward Strategic Positioning in Higher Education Institutions

Authors: M. M. Mashhadi, K. Mohajeri, M. D. Nayeri

Abstract:

Positioning the organization in the strategic environment of its industry is one of the first and most important phases of the organizational strategic planning and in today knowledge-based economy has its importance been duplicated for higher education institutes as the centers of education, knowledge creation and knowledge worker training. Up to now, various models with diverse approaches have been applied to investigate organizations- strategic position in different industries. Regarding the essential importance and strategic role of quality in higher education institutes, in this study, a quality-oriented approach has been suggested to positioning them in their strategic environment. Then the European Foundation of Quality Management (EFQM) model has been adopted to position the top Iranian business schools in their strategic environment. The result of this study can be used in strategic planning of these institutes as well as the other Iranian business schools.

Keywords: Strategic planning, Strategic positioning, Quality, EFQM model, Higher education institutions.

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1597 Wavelet based Image Registration Technique for Matching Dental x-rays

Authors: P. Ramprasad, H. C. Nagaraj, M. K. Parasuram

Abstract:

Image registration plays an important role in the diagnosis of dental pathologies such as dental caries, alveolar bone loss and periapical lesions etc. This paper presents a new wavelet based algorithm for registering noisy and poor contrast dental x-rays. Proposed algorithm has two stages. First stage is a preprocessing stage, removes the noise from the x-ray images. Gaussian filter has been used. Second stage is a geometric transformation stage. Proposed work uses two levels of affine transformation. Wavelet coefficients are correlated instead of gray values. Algorithm has been applied on number of pre and post RCT (Root canal treatment) periapical radiographs. Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and Correlation coefficients (CC) are used for quantitative evaluation. Proposed technique outperforms conventional Multiresolution strategy based image registration technique and manual registration technique.

Keywords: Diagnostic imaging, geometric transformation, image registration, multiresolution.

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1596 Local Mesh Co-Occurrence Pattern for Content Based Image Retrieval

Authors: C. Yesubai Rubavathi, R. Ravi

Abstract:

This paper presents the local mesh co-occurrence patterns (LMCoP) using HSV color space for image retrieval system. HSV color space is used in this method to utilize color, intensity and brightness of images. Local mesh patterns are applied to define the local information of image and gray level co-occurrence is used to obtain the co-occurrence of LMeP pixels. Local mesh co-occurrence pattern extracts the local directional information from local mesh pattern and converts it into a well-mannered feature vector using gray level co-occurrence matrix. The proposed method is tested on three different databases called MIT VisTex, Corel, and STex. Also, this algorithm is compared with existing methods, and results in terms of precision and recall are shown in this paper.

Keywords: Content-based image retrieval system, HSV color space, gray level co-occurrence matrix, local mesh pattern.

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1595 Evaluation of the MCFLIRT Correction Algorithm in Head Motion from Resting State fMRI Data

Authors: V. Sacca, A. Sarica, F. Novellino, S. Barone, T. Tallarico, E. Filippelli, A. Granata, P. Valentino, A. Quattrone

Abstract:

In the last few years, resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) was widely used to investigate the architecture of brain networks by investigating the Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent response. This technique represented an interesting, robust and reliable approach to compare pathologic and healthy subjects in order to investigate neurodegenerative diseases evolution. On the other hand, the elaboration of rs-fMRI data resulted to be very prone to noise due to confounding factors especially the head motion. Head motion has long been known to be a source of artefacts in task-based functional MRI studies, but it has become a particularly challenging problem in recent studies using rs-fMRI. The aim of this work was to evaluate in MS patients a well-known motion correction algorithm from the FMRIB's Software Library - MCFLIRT - that could be applied to minimize the head motion distortions, allowing to correctly interpret rs-fMRI results.

Keywords: Head motion correction, MCFLIRT algorithm, multiple sclerosis, resting state fMRI.

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1594 Assessing Traffic Calming Measures for Safe and Accessible Emergency Routes in Norrkoping City in Sweden

Authors: Ghazwan Al-Haji

Abstract:

Most accidents occur in urban areas, and the most related casualties are vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists). The traffic calming measures (TCMs) are widely used and considered to be successful in reducing speed and traffic volume. However, TCMs create unwanted effects include: noise, emissions, energy consumption, vehicle delays and emergency response time (ERT). Different vertical and horizontal TCMs have been already applied nationally (Sweden) and internationally with different impacts. It is a big challenge among traffic engineers, planners, and policy-makers to choose and priorities the best TCMs to be implemented. This study will assess the existing guidelines for TCMs in relation to safety and ERT with focus on data from Norrkoping city in Sweden. The expected results will save lives, time, and money on particularly Swedish Roads. The study will also review newly technologies and how they can improve safety and reduce ERT.

Keywords: Traffic safety, traffic calming measures, speeding, emergency response time.

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1593 Lagrange-s Inversion Theorem and Infiltration

Authors: Pushpa N. Rathie, Prabhata K. Swamee, André L. B. Cavalcante, Luan Carlos de S. M. Ozelim

Abstract:

Implicit equations play a crucial role in Engineering. Based on this importance, several techniques have been applied to solve this particular class of equations. When it comes to practical applications, in general, iterative procedures are taken into account. On the other hand, with the improvement of computers, other numerical methods have been developed to provide a more straightforward methodology of solution. Analytical exact approaches seem to have been continuously neglected due to the difficulty inherent in their application; notwithstanding, they are indispensable to validate numerical routines. Lagrange-s Inversion Theorem is a simple mathematical tool which has proved to be widely applicable to engineering problems. In short, it provides the solution to implicit equations by means of an infinite series. To show the validity of this method, the tree-parameter infiltration equation is, for the first time, analytically and exactly solved. After manipulating these series, closed-form solutions are presented as H-functions.

Keywords: Green-Ampt Equation, Lagrange's Inversion Theorem, Talsma-Parlange Equation, Three-Parameter Infiltration Equation

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1592 Lattice Boltzmann Method for Turbulent Heat Transfer in Wavy Channel Flows

Authors: H.Y. Lai, S. C. Chang, W. L. Chen

Abstract:

The hydrodynamic and thermal lattice Boltzmann methods are applied to investigate the turbulent convective heat transfer in the wavy channel flows. In this study, the turbulent phenomena are modeling by large-eddy simulations with the Smagorinsky model. As a benchmark, the laminar and turbulent backward-facing step flows are simulated first. The results give good agreement with other numerical and experimental data. For wavy channel flows, the distribution of Nusselt number and the skin-friction coefficients are calculated to evaluate the heat transfer effect and the drag force. It indicates that the vortices at the trough would affect the magnitude of drag and weaken the heat convection effects on the wavy surface. In turbulent cases, if the amplitude of the wavy boundary is large enough, the secondary vortices would be generated at troughs and contribute to the heat convection. Finally, the effects of different Re on the turbulent transport phenomena are discussed.

Keywords: Heat transfer, lattice Boltzmann method, turbulence, wavy channel.

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1591 Two-Dimensional Modeling of Seasonal Freeze and Thaw in an Idealized River Bank

Authors: Jiajia Pan, Hung Tao Shen

Abstract:

Freeze and thaw occurs seasonally in river banks in northern countries. Little is known on how the riverbank soil temperature responds to air temperature changes and how freeze and thaw develops in a river bank seasonally. This study presents a two-dimensional heat conduction model for numerical investigations of seasonal freeze and thaw processes in an idealized river bank. The model uses the finite difference method and it is convenient for applications. The model is validated with an analytical solution and a field case with soil temperature distributions. It is then applied to the idealized river bank in terms of partially and fully saturated conditions with or without ice cover influence. Simulated results illustrate the response processes of the river bank to seasonal air temperature variations. It promotes the understanding of freeze and thaw processes in river banks and prepares for further investigation of frost and thaw impacts on riverbank stability.

Keywords: Freeze and thaw, river banks, 2D model, heat conduction.

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1590 Bio-inspired Audio Content-Based Retrieval Framework (B-ACRF)

Authors: Noor A. Draman, Campbell Wilson, Sea Ling

Abstract:

Content-based music retrieval generally involves analyzing, searching and retrieving music based on low or high level features of a song which normally used to represent artists, songs or music genre. Identifying them would normally involve feature extraction and classification tasks. Theoretically the greater features analyzed, the better the classification accuracy can be achieved but with longer execution time. Technique to select significant features is important as it will reduce dimensions of feature used in classification and contributes to the accuracy. Artificial Immune System (AIS) approach will be investigated and applied in the classification task. Bio-inspired audio content-based retrieval framework (B-ACRF) is proposed at the end of this paper where it embraces issues that need further consideration in music retrieval performances.

Keywords: Bio-inspired audio content-based retrieval framework, features selection technique, low/high level features, artificial immune system

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1589 An Introduction to Methods and Technologies Applied for Reduction of Energy Consumption in Transportation Sector and Air Pollution in Iran

Authors: Eshagh Rasouli Sarabi, Mir Saeed Moosavi

Abstract:

In Iran, due to abundance of energy resources, energy consumption is extraordinarily higher than international standards and transportation sector is considered to be one of the major consumers of energy. Moreover, air pollution in urban areas as a result of high dependence on private vehicle and lower standards of vehicles, high subsidies spent on fuel and time waste due to traffic congestion in urban areas all have led to speculations on new strategies and policies in order to control energy consumption in transportation sector. These strategies and policies will be introduced in this paper and their consequences will be analyzed with consideration to socio-economic factors affecting the urban society of Iran. Besides, the intention is to suggest and analyze new approaches such as broader application of public transportation system, demand management in transport sector, replacement of deteriorated vehicles, quality improvement in car manufacture and introduction of substitute fuels.

Keywords: Consumption, energy, fuel, transportation.

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1588 A Study on Finding Similar Document with Multiple Categories

Authors: R. Saraçoğlu, N. Allahverdi

Abstract:

Searching similar documents and document management subjects have important place in text mining. One of the most important parts of similar document research studies is the process of classifying or clustering the documents. In this study, a similar document search approach that includes discussion of out the case of belonging to multiple categories (multiple categories problem) has been carried. The proposed method that based on Fuzzy Similarity Classification (FSC) has been compared with Rocchio algorithm and naive Bayes method which are widely used in text mining. Empirical results show that the proposed method is quite successful and can be applied effectively. For the second stage, multiple categories vector method based on information of categories regarding to frequency of being seen together has been used. Empirical results show that achievement is increased almost two times, when proposed method is compared with classical approach.

Keywords: Document similarity, Fuzzy classification, Multiple categories, Text mining.

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1587 Verified Experiment: Intelligent Fuzzy Weighted Input Estimation Method to Inverse Heat Conduction Problem

Authors: Chen-Yu Wang, Tsung-Chien Chen, Ming-Hui Lee, Jen-Feng Huang

Abstract:

In this paper, the innovative intelligent fuzzy weighted input estimation method (FWIEM) can be applied to the inverse heat transfer conduction problem (IHCP) to estimate the unknown time-varying heat flux efficiently as presented. The feasibility of this method can be verified by adopting the temperature measurement experiment. We would like to focus attention on the heat flux estimation to three kinds of samples (Copper, Iron and Steel/AISI 304) with the same 3mm thickness. The temperature measurements are then regarded as the inputs into the FWIEM to estimate the heat flux. The experiment results show that the proposed algorithm can estimate the unknown time-varying heat flux on-line.

Keywords: Fuzzy Weighted Input Estimation Method, IHCP andHeat Flux.

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