Search results for: Product performance
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 6789

Search results for: Product performance

4059 The Effect of Brand Mascots on Consumers' Purchasing Behaviors

Authors: Isari Pairoa, Proud Arunrangsiwed

Abstract:

Brand mascots are the cartoon characters, which are mainly designed for advertising or other related marketing purposes. Many brand mascots are extremely popular, since they were presented in commercial advertisements and Line Stickers. Brand Line Stickers could lead the users to identify with the brand and brand mascots, where might influence users to become loyal customers, and share the identity with the brand. The objective of the current study is to examine the effect of brand mascots on consumers’ decision and consumers’ intention to purchase the product. This study involved 400 participants, using cluster sampling from 50 districts in Bangkok metropolitan area. The descriptive analysis shows that using brand mascot causes consumers' positive attitude toward the products, and also heightens the possibility to purchasing the products. The current study suggests the new type of marketing strategy, which is brand fandom. This study has also contributed the knowledge to the area of integrated marketing communication and identification theory.

Keywords: Brand mascot, consumers’ behavior, marketing communication, purchasing.

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4058 Inverse Heat Conduction Analysis of Cooling on Run Out Tables

Authors: M. S. Gadala, Khaled Ahmed, Elasadig Mahdi

Abstract:

In this paper, we introduced a gradient-based inverse solver to obtain the missing boundary conditions based on the readings of internal thermocouples. The results show that the method is very sensitive to measurement errors, and becomes unstable when small time steps are used. The artificial neural networks are shown to be capable of capturing the whole thermal history on the run-out table, but are not very effective in restoring the detailed behavior of the boundary conditions. Also, they behave poorly in nonlinear cases and where the boundary condition profile is different. GA and PSO are more effective in finding a detailed representation of the time-varying boundary conditions, as well as in nonlinear cases. However, their convergence takes longer. A variation of the basic PSO, called CRPSO, showed the best performance among the three versions. Also, PSO proved to be effective in handling noisy data, especially when its performance parameters were tuned. An increase in the self-confidence parameter was also found to be effective, as it increased the global search capabilities of the algorithm. RPSO was the most effective variation in dealing with noise, closely followed by CRPSO. The latter variation is recommended for inverse heat conduction problems, as it combines the efficiency and effectiveness required by these problems.

Keywords: Inverse Analysis, Function Specification, Neural Net Works, Particle Swarm, Run Out Table.

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4057 The Status Info Processing and Keeping System for Production Equipment

Authors: So Jeong Nam, Seung Woo Lee, Jai-Kyung Lee

Abstract:

With the globalized production and logistics environment, the need for reducing the product development interval and lead time, having a faster response to orders, conforming to quality standards, fair tracking, and boosting information exchanging activities with customers and partners, and coping with changes in the management environment, manufacturers are in dire need of an information management system in their manufacturing environments. There are lots of information systems that have been designed to manage the condition or operation of equipment in the field but existing systems have a decentralized architecture, which is not unified. Also, these systems cannot effectively handle the status data extraction process upon encountering a problem related to protocols or changes in the equipment or the setting. In this regard, this paper will introduce a system for processing and saving the status info of production equipment, which uses standard representation formats, to enable flexible responses to and support for variables in the field equipment. This system can be used for a variety of manufacturing and equipment settings and is capable of interacting with higher-tier systems such as MES.

Keywords: DAS, Equipment Status, Regular Expression

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4056 A Markov Chain Model for Load-Balancing Based and Service Based RAT Selection Algorithms in Heterogeneous Networks

Authors: Abdallah Al Sabbagh

Abstract:

Next Generation Wireless Network (NGWN) is expected to be a heterogeneous network which integrates all different Radio Access Technologies (RATs) through a common platform. A major challenge is how to allocate users to the most suitable RAT for them. An optimized solution can lead to maximize the efficient use of radio resources, achieve better performance for service providers and provide Quality of Service (QoS) with low costs to users. Currently, Radio Resource Management (RRM) is implemented efficiently for the RAT that it was developed. However, it is not suitable for a heterogeneous network. Common RRM (CRRM) was proposed to manage radio resource utilization in the heterogeneous network. This paper presents a user level Markov model for a three co-located RAT networks. The load-balancing based and service based CRRM algorithms have been studied using the presented Markov model. A comparison for the performance of load-balancing based and service based CRRM algorithms is studied in terms of traffic distribution, new call blocking probability, vertical handover (VHO) call dropping probability and throughput.

Keywords: Heterogeneous Wireless Network, Markov chain model, load-balancing based and service based algorithm, CRRM algorithms, Beyond 3G network.

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4055 Parallel-computing Approach for FFT Implementation on Digital Signal Processor (DSP)

Authors: Yi-Pin Hsu, Shin-Yu Lin

Abstract:

An efficient parallel form in digital signal processor can improve the algorithm performance. The butterfly structure is an important role in fast Fourier transform (FFT), because its symmetry form is suitable for hardware implementation. Although it can perform a symmetric structure, the performance will be reduced under the data-dependent flow characteristic. Even though recent research which call as novel memory reference reduction methods (NMRRM) for FFT focus on reduce memory reference in twiddle factor, the data-dependent property still exists. In this paper, we propose a parallel-computing approach for FFT implementation on digital signal processor (DSP) which is based on data-independent property and still hold the property of low-memory reference. The proposed method combines final two steps in NMRRM FFT to perform a novel data-independent structure, besides it is very suitable for multi-operation-unit digital signal processor and dual-core system. We have applied the proposed method of radix-2 FFT algorithm in low memory reference on TI TMSC320C64x DSP. Experimental results show the method can reduce 33.8% clock cycles comparing with the NMRRM FFT implementation and keep the low-memory reference property.

Keywords: Parallel-computing, FFT, low-memory reference, TIDSP.

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4054 Improvement on a CNC Gantry Machine Structure Design for Higher Machining Speed Capability

Authors: Ahmed A. D. Sarhan, S. R. Besharaty, Javad Akbaria, M. Hamdi

Abstract:

The capability of CNC gantry milling machines in manufacturing long components has caused the expanded use of such machines. On the other hand, the machines’ gantry rigidity can reduce under severe loads or vibration during operation. Indeed, the quality of machining is dependent on the machine’s dynamic behavior throughout the operating process. For this reason, these types of machines have always been used widely and are not efficient. Therefore, they can usually be employed for rough machining and may not produce adequate surface finishing. In this paper, a CNC gantry milling machine with the potential to produce good surface finish has been designed and analyzed. The lowest natural frequency of this machine is 202 Hz corresponding to 12000 rpm at all motion amplitudes with a full range of suitable frequency responses. Meanwhile, the maximum deformation under dead loads for the gantry machine is 0.565*m, indicating that this machine tool is capable of producing higher product quality.

Keywords: Finite element, frequency response, gantry design, gantry machine, static and dynamic analysis.

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4053 Sustainable Balanced Scorecard for Kaizen Evaluation: Comparative Study between Egypt and Japan

Authors: Ola I. S. El Dardery, Ismail Gomaa, Adel R. M. Rayan, Ghada El Khayat, Sara H. Sabry

Abstract:

Continuous improvement activities are becoming a key organizational success factor; those improvement activities include but are not limited to kaizen, six sigma, lean production, and continuous improvement projects. Kaizen is a Japanese philosophy of continuous improvement by making small incremental changes to improve an organization’s performance, reduce costs, reduce delay time, reduce waste in production, etc. This research aims at proposing a measuring system for kaizen activities from a sustainable balanced scorecard perspective. A survey was developed and disseminated among kaizen experts in both Egypt and Japan with the purpose of allocating key performance indicators for both kaizen process (critical success factors) and result (kaizen benefits) into the five sustainable balanced scorecard perspectives. This research contributes to the extant literature by presenting a kaizen measurement of both kaizen process and results that will illuminate the benefits of using kaizen. Also, the presented measurement can help in the sustainability of kaizen implementation across various sectors and industries. Thus, grasping the full benefits of kaizen implementation will contribute to the spread of kaizen understanding and practice. Also, this research provides insights on the social and cultural differences that would influence the kaizen success. Determining the combination of the proper kaizen measures could be used by any industry, whether service or manufacturing for better kaizen activities measurement. The comparison between Japanese implementation of kaizen, as the pioneers of continuous improvement, and Egyptian implementation will help recommending better practices of kaizen in Egypt and contributing to the 2030 sustainable development goals. The study results reveal that there is no significant difference in allocating kaizen benefits between Egypt and Japan. However, with regard to the critical success factors some differences appeared reflecting the social differences and understanding between both countries, a single integrated measurement was reached between the Egyptian and Japanese allocation highlighting the Japanese experts’ opinion as the ultimate criterion for selection.

Keywords: continuous improvements, kaizen, performance, sustainable balanced scorecard

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4052 Injuries Related to Kitesurfing

Authors: L. Lundgren, S. Brorsson, A-L Osvalder

Abstract:

Participation in sporting activities can lead to injury. Sport injuries have been widely studied in many sports including the more extreme categories of aquatic board sports. Kitesurfing is a relatively new water surface action sport, and has not yet been widely studied in terms of injuries and stress on the body. The aim of this study was to get information about which injuries that are most common among kitesurfing participants, where they occur, and their causes. Injuries were studied using an international open web questionnaire (n=206). The results showed that many respondents reported injuries, in total 251 injuries to knee (24%), ankle (17%), trunk (16%) and shoulders (10%), often sustained while doing jumps and tricks (40%). Among the reported injuries were joint injuries (n=101), muscle/tendon damages (n=47), wounds and cuts (n=36) and bone fractures (n=28). Also environmental factors and equipment can influence the risk of injury, or the extent of injury in a hazardous situation. Conclusively, the information from this retrospective study supports earlier studies in terms of prevalence and site of injuries. Suggestively, this information should be used for to build a foundation of knowledge about the sport for development of applications for physical training and product development.

Keywords: Kitesurfing, injuries, injury cause, questionnaire.

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4051 Biodiesel as an Alternative Fuel for Diesel Engines

Authors: F. Halek, A. Kavousi, M. Banifatemi

Abstract:

There is growing interest in biodiesel (fatty acid methyl ester or FAME) because of the similarity in its properties when compared to those of diesel fuels. Diesel engines operated on biodiesel have lower emissions of carbon monoxide, unburned hydrocarbons, particulate matter, and air toxics than when operated on petroleum-based diesel fuel. Production of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) from rapeseed (nonedible oil) fatty acid distillate having high free fatty acids (FFA) was investigated in this work. Conditions for esterification process of rapeseed oil were 1.8 % H2SO4 as catalyst, MeOH/oil of molar ratio 2 : 0.1 and reaction temperature 65 °C, for a period of 3h. The yield of methyl ester was > 90 % in 1 h. The amount of FFA was reduced from 93 wt % to less than 2 wt % at the end of the esterification process. The FAME was pureed by neutralization with 1 M sodium hydroxide in water solution at a reaction temperature of 62 °C. The final FAME product met with the biodiesel quality standard, and ASTM D 6751.

Keywords: Alternative Fuels, Biodiesel, Fatty Acid, MethylEster, Seed Oil, Transesterification.

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4050 RBF Modelling and Optimization Control for Semi-Batch Reactors

Authors: Magdi M. Nabi, Ding-Li Yu

Abstract:

This paper presents a neural network based model predictive control (MPC) strategy to control a strongly exothermic reaction with complicated nonlinear kinetics given by Chylla-Haase polymerization reactor that requires a very precise temperature control to maintain product uniformity. In the benchmark scenario, the operation of the reactor must be guaranteed under various disturbing influences, e.g., changing ambient temperatures or impurity of the monomer. Such a process usually controlled by conventional cascade control, it provides a robust operation, but often lacks accuracy concerning the required strict temperature tolerances. The predictive control strategy based on the RBF neural model is applied to solve this problem to achieve set-point tracking of the reactor temperature against disturbances. The result shows that the RBF based model predictive control gives reliable result in the presence of some disturbances and keeps the reactor temperature within a tight tolerance range around the desired reaction temperature.

Keywords: Chylla-Haase reactor, RBF neural network modelling, model predictive control.

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4049 Effect of Nitrogen and Carbon Sources on Growth and Lipid Production from Mixotrophic Growth of Chlorella sp. KKU-S2

Authors: Ratanaporn Leesing, Thidarat Papone, Mutiyaporn Puangbut

Abstract:

Mixotrophic cultivation of the isolated freshwater microalgae Chlorella sp. KKU-S2 in batch shake flask for biomass and lipid productions, different concentration of glucose as carbon substrate, different nitrogen source and concentrations were investigated. Using 1.0g/L of NaNO3 as nitrogen source, the maximum biomass yield of 10.04g/L with biomass productivity of 1.673g/L d was obtained using 40g/L glucose, while a biomass of 7.09, 8.55 and 9.45g/L with biomass productivity of 1.182, 1.425 and 1.575g/L d were found at 20, 30 and 50g/L glucose, respectively. The maximum lipid yield of 3.99g/L with lipid productivity of 0.665g/L d was obtained when 40g/L glucose was used. Lipid yield of 1.50, 3.34 and 3.66g/L with lipid productivity of 0.250, 0.557 and 0.610g/L d were found when using the initial concentration of glucose at 20, 30 and 50g/L, respectively. Process product yield (YP/S) of 0.078, 0.119, 0.158 and 0.094 were observed when glucose concentration was 20, 30, 40 and 50 g/L, respectively. The results obtained from the study shows that mixotrophic culture of Chlorella sp. KKU-S2 is a desirable cultivation process for microbial lipid and biomass production. 

Keywords: Mixotrophic cultivation, microalgal lipid, Chlorella sp. KKU-S2.

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4048 A Simulation Method to Find the Optimal Design of Photovoltaic Home System in Malaysia, Case Study: A Building Integrated Photovoltaic in Putra Jaya

Authors: Riza Muhida, Maisarah Ali, Puteri Shireen Jahn Kassim, Muhammad Abu Eusuf, Agus G.E. Sutjipto, Afzeri

Abstract:

Over recent years, the number of building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) installations for home systems have been increasing in Malaysia. The paper concerns an analysis - as part of current Research and Development (R&D) efforts - to integrate photovoltaics as an architectural feature of a detached house in the new satellite township of Putrajaya, Malaysia. The analysis was undertaken using calculation and simulation tools to optimize performance of BIPV home system. In this study, a the simulation analysis was undertaken for selected bungalow units based on a long term recorded weather data for city of Kuala Lumpur. The simulation and calculation was done with consideration of a PV panels' tilt and direction, shading effect and economical considerations. A simulation of the performance of a grid connected BIPV house in Kuala Lumpur was undertaken. This case study uses a 60 PV modules with power output of 2.7 kW giving an average of PV electricity output is 255 kWh/month..

Keywords: Building integrated photovoltaic, Malaysia, Simulation, panels' tilt and direction.

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4047 Separation of Polyphenolics and Sugar by Ultrafiltration: Effects of Operating Conditions on Fouling and Diafiltration

Authors: Diqiao S. Wei, M. Hossain, Zaid S. Saleh

Abstract:

Polyphenolics and sugar are the components of many fruit juices. In this work, the performance of ultra-filtration (UF) for separating phenolic compounds from apple juice was studied by performing batch experiments in a membrane module with an area of 0.1 m2 and fitted with a regenerated cellulose membrane of 1 kDa MWCO. The effects of various operating conditions: transmembrane pressure (3, 4, 5 bar), temperature (30, 35, 40 ºC), pH (2, 3, 4, 5), feed concentration (3, 5, 7, 10, 15 ºBrix for apple juice) and feed flow rate (1, 1.5, 1.8 L/min) on the performance were determined. The optimum operating conditions were: transmembrane pressure 4 bar, temperature 30 ºC, feed flow rate 1 – 1.8 L/min, pH 3 and 10 Brix (apple juice). After performing ultrafiltration under these conditions, the concentration of polyphenolics in retentate was increased by a factor of up to 2.7 with up to 70% recovered in the permeate and with approx. 20% of the sugar in that stream.. Application of diafiltration (addition of water to the concentrate) can regain the flux by a factor of 1.5, which has been decreased due to fouling. The material balance performed on the process has shown the amount of deposits on the membrane and the extent of fouling in the system. In conclusion, ultrafiltration has been demonstrated as a potential technology to separate the polyphenolics and sugars from their mixtures and can be applied to remove sugars from fruit juice.

Keywords: Fouling, membrane, polyphenols, ultrafiltration.

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4046 Optimized and Secured Digital Watermarking Using Entropy, Chaotic Grid Map and Its Performance Analysis

Authors: R. Rama Kishore, Sunesh

Abstract:

This paper presents an optimized, robust, and secured watermarking technique. The methodology used in this work is the combination of entropy and chaotic grid map. The proposed methodology incorporates Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) on the host image. To improve the imperceptibility of the method, the host image DCT blocks, where the watermark is to be embedded, are further optimized by considering the entropy of the blocks. Chaotic grid is used as a key to reorder the DCT blocks so that it will further increase security while selecting the watermark embedding locations and its sequence. Without a key, one cannot reveal the exact watermark from the watermarked image. The proposed method is implemented on four different images. It is concluded that the proposed method is giving better results in terms of imperceptibility measured through PSNR and found to be above 50. In order to prove the effectiveness of the method, the performance analysis is done after implementing different attacks on the watermarked images. It is found that the methodology is very strong against JPEG compression attack even with the quality parameter up to 15. The experimental results are confirming that the combination of entropy and chaotic grid map method is strong and secured to different image processing attacks.

Keywords: Digital watermarking, discrete cosine transform, chaotic grid map, entropy.

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4045 Investigating Daylight Quality in Malaysian Government Office Buildings Through Daylight Factor and Surface Luminance

Authors: Mohd Zin Kandar, Mohd Sabere Sulaiman, Yong Razidah Rashid, Dilshan Remaz Ossen, Aminatuzuhariah MAbdullah, Lim Yaik Wah, Mansour Nikpour

Abstract:

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in using daylight to save energy in buildings. In tropical regions, daylighting is always an energy saver. On the other hand, daylight provides visual comfort. According to standards, it shows that many criteria should be taken into consideration in order to have daylight utilization and visual comfort. The current standard in Malaysia, MS 1525 does not provide sufficient guideline. Hence, more research is needed on daylight performance. If architects do not consider daylight design, it not only causes inconvenience in working spaces but also causes more energy consumption as well as environmental pollution. This research had surveyed daylight performance in 5 selected office buildings from different area of Malaysian through experimental method. Several parameters of daylight quality such as daylight factor, surface luminance and surface luminance ratio were measured in different rooms in each building. The result of this research demonstrated that most of the buildings were not designed for daylight utilization. Therefore, it is very important that architects follow the daylight design recommendation to reduce consumption of electric power for artificial lighting while the sufficient quality of daylight is available.

Keywords: Daylight factor, Field measurement, Daylighting quality, Tropical

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4044 The Benefit of Green Logistics to Organization

Authors: Wijittra Srisorn

Abstract:

This research studied about green logistics and the expected benefit that organization gotten when adapted to green logistics also the organization concerned about the important activity in green logistics to apply in implementation from study was found that the benefit of green logistics that organization was gotten by logistics management which was the increased efficiency process of management the product from producer to customer all of reduce production cost, increased value added save energy and prevented environment together From study was found that the organization had green logistics to apply in logistics activities in supply chain since downstream till upstream to prevent environment as follow 1). Purchasing process, trade facilitation enhance such as linking of information technology during business to business (B2B business). 2). Productions process improved by business logistics improvement 3). Warehouse management process such as recycled packaging, moving goods in to warehouse, transportation goods and inside receiving and delivery products plan.

Keywords: Green Logistics, Trade Facilitation, Business Logistics Improvement, Double handling.

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4043 Exploratory Data Analysis of Passenger Movement on Delhi Urban Bus Route

Authors: Sourabh Jain, Sukhvir Singh Jain, Gaurav V. Jain

Abstract:

Intelligent Transportation System is an integrated application of communication, control and monitoring and display process technologies for developing a user–friendly transportation system for urban areas in developing countries. In fact, the development of a country and the progress of its transportation system are complementary to each other. Urban traffic has been growing vigorously due to population growth as well as escalation of vehicle ownership causing congestion, delays, pollution, accidents, high-energy consumption and low productivity of resources. The development and management of urban transport in developing countries like India however, is at tryout stage with very few accumulations. Under the umbrella of ITS, urban corridor management strategy have proven to be one of the most successful system in accomplishing these objectives. The present study interprets and figures out the performance of the 27.4 km long Urban Bus route having six intersections, five flyovers and 29 bus stops that covers significant area of the city by causality analysis. Performance interpretations incorporate Passenger Boarding and Alighting, Dwell time, Distance between Bus Stops and Total trip time taken by bus on selected urban route.

Keywords: Congestion, Dwell time, delay, passengers boarding alighting, travel time.

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4042 Prediction of Slump in Concrete using Artificial Neural Networks

Authors: V. Agrawal, A. Sharma

Abstract:

High Strength Concrete (HSC) is defined as concrete that meets special combination of performance and uniformity requirements that cannot be achieved routinely using conventional constituents and normal mixing, placing, and curing procedures. It is a highly complex material, which makes modeling its behavior a very difficult task. This paper aimed to show possible applicability of Neural Networks (NN) to predict the slump in High Strength Concrete (HSC). Neural Network models is constructed, trained and tested using the available test data of 349 different concrete mix designs of High Strength Concrete (HSC) gathered from a particular Ready Mix Concrete (RMC) batching plant. The most versatile Neural Network model is selected to predict the slump in concrete. The data used in the Neural Network models are arranged in a format of eight input parameters that cover the Cement, Fly Ash, Sand, Coarse Aggregate (10 mm), Coarse Aggregate (20 mm), Water, Super-Plasticizer and Water/Binder ratio. Furthermore, to test the accuracy for predicting slump in concrete, the final selected model is further used to test the data of 40 different concrete mix designs of High Strength Concrete (HSC) taken from the other batching plant. The results are compared on the basis of error function (or performance function).

Keywords: Artificial Neural Networks, Concrete, prediction ofslump, slump in concrete

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4041 Problems and Obstacles to Value Creation of Thai Monk-s Bowls: The Case Study of Ban-Baat Village, Bangkok

Authors: Pirada Techaratpong

Abstract:

This research aims to study value-creation process of producing monk-s bowls, Thai traditional handicrafts, which is facing problems in adapting to the changing society. It also aims to identify problems and obstacles to value creation. This research is based on a case study of monk-s bowl manufactures from Ban-Baat Village, Bangkok. The conceptual framework is based on the model of value chain to analyze the process. The research methodology is qualitative. This research found that the value-creation process of monk-s bowls consists of eight activities contributing to adding value to the products and increasing profits to the producers in return. Five major problems and obstacles are found. The research suggests that these problems and obstacles limit the manufacturers- potential for creating more valued product and lead to business stagnation. These problems should be addressed and solved with collaboration among the government, the private sector and the manufacturers.

Keywords: Craft manufacturing, problems and obstacles, value chain, value creation.

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4040 Simulation of Solar Assisted Absorption Cooling and Electricity Generation along with Thermal Storage

Authors: Faezeh Mosallat, Eric L. Bibeau, Tarek El Mekkawy

Abstract:

Parabolic solar trough systems have seen limited deployments in cold northern climates as they are more suitable for electricity production in southern latitudes. A numerical dynamic model is developed to simulate troughs installed in cold climates and validated using a parabolic solar trough facility in Winnipeg. The model is developed in Simulink and will be utilized to simulate a trigeneration system for heating, cooling and electricity generation in remote northern communities. The main objective of this simulation is to obtain operational data of solar troughs in cold climates and use the model to determine ways to improve the economics and address cold weather issues. In this paper the validated Simulink model is applied to simulate a solar assisted absorption cooling system along with electricity generation using Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) and thermal storage. A control strategy is employed to distribute the heated oil from solar collectors among the above three systems considering the temperature requirements. This modelling provides dynamic performance results using measured meteorological data recorded every minute at the solar facility location. The purpose of this modeling approach is to accurately predict system performance at each time step considering the solar radiation fluctuations due to passing clouds. Optimization of the controller in cold temperatures is another goal of the simulation to for example minimize heat losses in winter when energy demand is high and solar resources are low. The solar absorption cooling is modeled to use the generated heat from the solar trough system and provide cooling in summer for a greenhouse which is located next to the solar field. The results of the simulation are presented for a summer day in Winnipeg which includes comparison of performance parameters of the absorption cooling and ORC systems at different heat transfer fluid (HTF) temperatures.

Keywords: Absorption cooling, parabolic solar trough, remote community, organic Rankine cycle.

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4039 Effects of Temperature and Enzyme Concentration on Quality of Pineapple and Pawpaw Blended Juice

Authors: Ndidi F. Amulu, Calistus N. Ude, Patrick E. Amulu, Nneka N. Uchegbu

Abstract:

The effects of temperature and enzyme concentration on the quality of mixed pineapple and pawpaw blended fruits juice were studied. Extracts of the two fruit juices were separately treated at 70  for 15 min each so as to inactivate micro-organisms. They were analyzed and blended in different proportions of 70% pawpaw and 30% pineapple, 60% pawpaw and 40% pineapple, 50% pineapple and 50% pawpaw, 40% pawpaw and 60% pineapple. The characterization of the fresh pawpaw and pineapple juice before blending showed that the juices have good quality. The high water content of the product may have affected the viscosity, vitamin C content and total soluble solid of the blended juice to be low. The effects of the process parameters on the quality showed that better quality of the blended juice can be obtained within the optimum temperature range of (50-70 °C) and enzyme concentration range (0.12-0.18 w/v). The ratio of mix 60% pineapple juice: 40% pawpaw juice has better quality. This showed that pawpaw and pineapple juices can blend effectively to produce a quality juice.

Keywords: Clarification, pawpaw, pineapple, viscosity, vitamin C.

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4038 Sustainable Solutions for Municipal Solid Waste Management in Thailand

Authors: Thaniya Kaosol

Abstract:

General as well as the MSW management in Thailand is reviewed in this paper. Topics include the MSW generation, sources, composition, and trends. The review, then, moves to sustainable solutions for MSW management, sustainable alternative approaches with an emphasis on an integrated MSW management. Information of waste in Thailand is also given at the beginning of this paper for better understanding of later contents. It is clear that no one single method of MSW disposal can deal with all materials in an environmentally sustainable way. As such, a suitable approach in MSW management should be an integrated approach that could deliver both environmental and economic sustainability. With increasing environmental concerns, the integrated MSW management system has a potential to maximize the useable waste materials as well as produce energy as a by-product. In Thailand, the compositions of waste (86%) are mainly organic waste, paper, plastic, glass, and metal. As a result, the waste in Thailand is suitable for an integrated MSW management. Currently, the Thai national waste management policy starts to encourage the local administrations to gather into clusters to establish central MSW disposal facilities with suitable technologies and reducing the disposal cost based on the amount of MSW generated.

Keywords: MSW, management, sustainable, Thailand

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4037 Synthesis of Aragonite Superstructure from Steelmaking Slag via Indirect CO2 Mineral Sequestration

Authors: Weijun Bao, Huiquan Li

Abstract:

Using steelmaking slag as a raw material, aragonite superstructure product had been synthesized via an indirect CO2 mineral sequestration rout. It mainly involved two separate steps, in which the element of calcium is first selectively leached from steelmaking slag by a novel leaching media consisting of organic solvent Tributyl phosphate (TBP), acetic acid, and ultra-purity water, followed by enhanced carbonation in a separate step for aragonite superstructure production as well as efficiency recovery of leaching media. Based on the different leaching medium employed in the steelmaking slag leaching process, two typical products were collected from the enhanced carbonation step. The products were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively. It reveals that the needle-like aragonite crystals self-organized into aragonite superstructure particles including aragonite microspheres as well as dumbbell-like spherical particles, can be obtained from the steelmaking slag with the purity over 99%.

Keywords: Aragonite superstructure, Steelmaking slag, Indirect CO2 mineral sequestration, Selective leaching, Enhanced carbonation.

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4036 Factor Resistance Comparison of a Long Shaft in 955 and 1055 John Deere Grain Combine

Authors: M. Azadbakht, M. E. Shayan, H. Jafari, E. Ghajarjazi, A. Kiapei

Abstract:

Transmission shafts are affected by various forces, for example, during acceleration or sudden breaks, bending during transportation, vertical forces that lead to cuts. One of the main failures in combines is breaking shaft which repairmen refer it. Structural resistance of canal against torque is very important in the beginning of the movement. For analyzing stress, a typical sample from a type of combine was selected, called JD955 combine. Long shaft in this combine was analyzed with finite element method by Ansys13 generic package under static load. Conducted analysis showed that there is a maximum stress in contact surfaces of indentations and also in place of changing diameter. Safety factor value is low in parts of the shaft and this increases the probability of failure at these points. To improve the conditions with the least cost and an approach of product improvement, using alternative alloy is important.

Keywords: John Deere, Ansys, Shaft, Stress, Grain Combine harvester, Finite element, Failure.

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4035 Activity Recognition by Smartphone Accelerometer Data Using Ensemble Learning Methods

Authors: Eu Tteum Ha, Kwang Ryel Ryu

Abstract:

As smartphones are equipped with various sensors, there have been many studies focused on using these sensors to create valuable applications. Human activity recognition is one such application motivated by various welfare applications, such as the support for the elderly, measurement of calorie consumption, lifestyle and exercise patterns analyses, and so on. One of the challenges one faces when using smartphone sensors for activity recognition is that the number of sensors should be minimized to save battery power. In this paper, we show that a fairly accurate classifier can be built that can distinguish ten different activities by using only a single sensor data, i.e., the smartphone accelerometer data. The approach that we adopt to deal with this twelve-class problem uses various methods. The features used for classifying these activities include not only the magnitude of acceleration vector at each time point, but also the maximum, the minimum, and the standard deviation of vector magnitude within a time window. The experiments compared the performance of four kinds of basic multi-class classifiers and the performance of four kinds of ensemble learning methods based on three kinds of basic multi-class classifiers. The results show that while the method with the highest accuracy is ECOC based on Random forest.

Keywords: Ensemble learning, activity recognition, smartphone accelerometer.

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4034 Design a Fractional Order Controller for Power Control of Doubly Fed Induction Generator Based Wind Generation System

Authors: Abdellatif Kasbi, Abderrafii Rahali

Abstract:

During the recent years, much interest has been devoted to fractional order control that has appeared as a very eligible control approach for the systems experiencing parametric uncertainty and outer disturbances. The main purpose of this paper is to design and evaluate the performance of a fractional order proportional integral (FOPI) controller applied to control prototype variable speed wind generation system (WGS) that uses a doubly fed induction generator (DFIG). In this paper, the DFIG-machine is controlled according to the stator field-oriented control (FOC) strategy, which makes it possible to regulate separately the reactive and active powers exchanged between the WGS and the grid. The considered system is modeled and simulated using MATLAB-Simulink, and the performance of FOPI controller applied to the back-to-back power converter control of DFIG based grid connected variable speed wind turbine are evaluated and compared to the ones obtained with a conventional PI controller.

Keywords: Design, fractional order PI controller, wind generation system, doubly fed induction generator, wind turbine, field-oriented control.

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4033 Analysis of Performance of 3T1D Dynamic Random-Access Memory Cell

Authors: Nawang Chhunid, Gagnesh Kumar

Abstract:

On-chip memories consume a significant portion of the overall die space and power in modern microprocessors. On-chip caches depend on Static Random-Access Memory (SRAM) cells and scaling of technology occurring as per Moore’s law. Unfortunately, the scaling is affecting stability, performance, and leakage power which will become major problems for future SRAMs in aggressive nanoscale technologies due to increasing device mismatch and variations. 3T1D Dynamic Random-Access Memory (DRAM) cell is a non-destructive read DRAM cell with three transistors and a gated diode. In 3T1D DRAM cell gated diode (D1) acts as a storage device and also as an amplifier, which leads to fast read access. Due to its high tolerance to process variation, high density, and low cost of memory as compared to 6T SRAM cell, it is universally used by the advanced microprocessor for on chip data and program memory. In the present paper, it has been shown that 3T1D DRAM cell can perform better in terms of fast read access as compared to 6T, 4T, 3T SRAM cells, respectively.

Keywords: DRAM cell, read access time, tanner EDA tool write access time and retention time, average power dissipation.

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4032 Influence of Environmental Temperature on Dairy Herd Performance and Behaviour

Authors: L. Krpalkova, N. O' Mahony, A. Carvalho, S. Campbell, S. Harapanahalli, J. Walsh

Abstract:

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of environmental stressors on the performance of lactating dairy cows and discuss some future trends. There exists a relationship between the meteorological data and milk yield prediction accuracy in pasture-based dairy systems. New precision technologies are available and are being developed to improve the sustainability of the dairy industry. Some of these technologies focus on welfare of individual animals on dairy farms. These technologies allow the automatic identification of animal behaviour and health events, greatly increasing overall herd health and yield while reducing animal health inspection demands and long-term animal healthcare costs. The data set consisted of records from 489 dairy cows at two dairy farms and temperature measured from the nearest meteorological weather station in 2018. The effects of temperature on milk production and behaviour of animals were analyzed. The statistical results indicate different effects of temperature on milk yield and behaviour. The “comfort zone” for animals is in the range 10 °C to 20 °C. Dairy cows out of this zone had to decrease or increase their metabolic heat production, and it affected their milk production and behaviour.

Keywords: Behaviour, milk yield, temperature, precision technologies.

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4031 Comparative Study of Evolutionary Model and Clustering Methods in Circuit Partitioning Pertaining to VLSI Design

Authors: K. A. Sumitra Devi, N. P. Banashree, Annamma Abraham

Abstract:

Partitioning is a critical area of VLSI CAD. In order to build complex digital logic circuits its often essential to sub-divide multi -million transistor design into manageable Pieces. This paper looks at the various partitioning techniques aspects of VLSI CAD, targeted at various applications. We proposed an evolutionary time-series model and a statistical glitch prediction system using a neural network with selection of global feature by making use of clustering method model, for partitioning a circuit. For evolutionary time-series model, we made use of genetic, memetic & neuro-memetic techniques. Our work focused in use of clustering methods - K-means & EM methodology. A comparative study is provided for all techniques to solve the problem of circuit partitioning pertaining to VLSI design. The performance of all approaches is compared using benchmark data provided by MCNC standard cell placement benchmark net lists. Analysis of the investigational results proved that the Neuro-memetic model achieves greater performance then other model in recognizing sub-circuits with minimum amount of interconnections between them.

Keywords: VLSI, circuit partitioning, memetic algorithm, genetic algorithm.

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4030 Applying 5S Lean Technology: An Infrastructure for Continuous Process Improvement

Authors: Raid A. Al-Aomar

Abstract:

This paper presents an application of 5S lean technology to a production facility. Due to increased demand, high product variety, and a push production system, the plant has suffered from excessive wastes, unorganized workstations, and unhealthy work environment. This has translated into increased production cost, frequent delays, and low workers morale. Under such conditions, it has become difficult, if not impossible, to implement effective continuous improvement studies. Hence, the lean project is aimed at diagnosing the production process, streamlining the workflow, removing/reducing process waste, cleaning the production environment, improving plant layout, and organizing workstations. 5S lean technology is utilized for achieving project objectives. The work was a combination of both culture changes and tangible/physical changes on the shop floor. The project has drastically changed the plant and developed the infrastructure for a successful implementation of continuous improvement as well as other best practices and quality initiatives.

Keywords: 5S Technique, Continuous Improvement, Kaizen, Lean Technology, Work Methods, Work Standards

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