Search results for: Anti-Monotone Property

Authors: K. Okubo, Y. Kurihara, T. Kaburagi, K. Watanabe

Abstract:

Many of the ever-growing elderly population require exercise, such as running, for health management. One important element of a runner’s training is the choice of shoes for exercise; shoes are important because they provide the interface between the feet and road. When we purchase shoes, we may instinctively choose a pair after trying on many different pairs of shoes. Selecting the shoes instinctively may work, but it does not guarantee a suitable fit for running activities. Therefore, if we could select suitable shoes for each runner from the viewpoint of brain activities, it would be helpful for validating shoe selection. In this paper, we describe how brain activities show different characteristics during particular task, corresponding to different properties of shoes. Using five subjects, we performed a verification experiment, applying weight, softness, and flexibility as shoe properties. In order to affect the shoe property’s differences to the brain, subjects run for 10 min. Before and after running, subjects conducted a paced auditory serial addition task (PASAT) as the particular task; and the subjects’ brain activities during the PASAT are evaluated based on oxyhemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin relative concentration changes, measured by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). When the brain works actively, oxihemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin concentration drastically changes; therefore, we calculate the maximum values of concentration changes. In order to normalize relative concentration changes after running, the maximum value are divided by before running maximum value as evaluation parameters. The classification of the groups of shoes is expressed on a self-organizing map (SOM). As a result, deoxyhemoglobin can make clusters for two of the three types of shoes.

Keywords: Brain activities, NIRS, PASAT, running shoes.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2254

Authors: Chun-Ying Lee, Kun-Hsien Lee, Bor-Wei Wang

Abstract:

The process of post-supercritical CO₂ electroplating uses the electrolyte solution after being mixed with supercritical CO₂ and released to atmospheric pressure. It utilizes the microbubbles that form when oversaturated CO₂ in the electrolyte returns to gaseous state, which gives the similar effect of pulsed electroplating. Under atmospheric pressure, the CO₂ bubbles gradually diffuse. Therefore, the introduction of ultrasound and/or other agitation can potentially excite the CO₂ microbubbles to achieve an electroplated surface of even higher quality. In this study, during the electroplating process, three different modes of agitation: magnetic stirrer agitation, ultrasonic agitation and a combined mode (magnetic + ultrasonic) were applied, respectively, in order to obtain an optimal surface morphology and mechanical properties for the electroplated Ni coating. It is found that the combined agitation mode at a current density of 40 A/dm² achieved the smallest grain size, lower surface roughness, and produced an electroplated Ni layer that achieved hardness of 320 HV, much higher when compared with conventional method, which were usually in the range of 160 to 300 HV. However, at the same time, the electroplating with combined agitation developed a higher internal stress of 320 MPa due to the lower current efficiency of the process and finer grain in the coating. Moreover, a new control methodology for tailoring the coating’s mechanical property through its thickness was demonstrated by the timely introduction of ultrasonic agitation during the electroplating process with post supercritical CO₂ mixed electrolyte.

Keywords: Nickel electroplating, micro-bubbles, supercritical carbon dioxide, ultrasonic agitation, magnetic stirring.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 814

Authors: S. A. Moeini, M. T.Ahmadian

Abstract:

Structural behavior of ring stiffened thick walled cylinders made of functionally graded materials (FGMs) is investigated in this paper. Functionally graded materials are inhomogeneous composites which are usually made from a mixture of metal and ceramic. The gradient compositional variation of the constituents from one surface to the other provides an elegant solution to the problem of high transverse shear stresses that are induced when two dissimilar materials with large differences in material properties are bonded. FGM formation of the cylinder is modeled by power-law exponent and the variation of characteristics is supposed to be in radial direction. A finite element formulation is derived for the analysis. According to the property variation of the constituent materials in the radial direction of the wall, it is not convenient to use conventional elements to model and analyze the structure of the stiffened FGM cylinders. In this paper a new cylindrical super-element is used to model the finite element formulation and analyze the static and modal behavior of stiffened FGM thick walled cylinders. By using this super-element the number of elements, which are needed for modeling, will reduce significantly and the process time is less in comparison with conventional finite element formulations. Results for static and modal analysis are evaluated and verified by comparison to finite element formulation with conventional elements. Comparison indicates a good conformity between results.

Keywords: FGMs, Modal analysis, Static analysis, Stiffened cylinders.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2255

Authors: Arash Esmaeili, Zhibang Liu, Yang Xiang, Jimmy Yun, Lei Shao

Abstract:

High pressure carbon dioxide (CO2) absorption from a specific off-gas in a conventional column has been evaluated for the environmental concerns by the Aspen HYSYS simulator using a wide range of single absorbents and piperazine (PZ) blended solutions to estimate the outlet CO2 concentration, CO2 loading, reboiler power supply and regeneration heat duty to choose the most efficient solution in terms of CO2 removal and required heat duty. The property package, which is compatible with all applied solutions for the simulation in this study, estimates the properties based on electrolyte non-random two-liquid (E-NRTL) model for electrolyte thermodynamics and Peng-Robinson equation of state for vapor phase and liquid hydrocarbon phase properties. The results of the simulation indicate that PZ in addition to the mixture of PZ and monoethanolamine (MEA) demand the highest regeneration heat duty compared with other studied single and blended amine solutions respectively. The blended amine solutions with the lowest PZ concentrations (5wt% and 10wt%) were considered and compared to reduce the cost of process, among which the blended solution of 10wt%PZ+35wt%MDEA (methyldiethanolamine) was found as the most appropriate solution in terms of CO2 content in the outlet gas, rich-CO2 loading and regeneration heat duty.

Keywords: Absorption, amine solutions, Aspen HYSYS, CO2 loading, piperazine, regeneration heat duty.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 522

Authors: L. Yu, W. K. Li, S. K. Ong, A. Y. C. Nee

Abstract:

In this paper, a scalable augmented reality framework for handheld devices is presented. The presented framework is enabled by using a server-client data communication structure, in which the search for tracking targets among a database of images is performed on the server-side while pixel-wise 3D tracking is performed on the client-side, which, in this case, is a handheld mobile device. Image search on the server-side adopts a residual-enhanced image descriptors representation that gives the framework a scalability property. The tracking algorithm on the client-side is based on a gravity-aligned feature descriptor which takes the advantage of a sensor-equipped mobile device and an optimized intensity-based image alignment approach that ensures the accuracy of 3D tracking. Automatic content streaming is achieved by using a key-frame selection algorithm, client working phase monitoring and standardized rules for content communication between the server and client. The recognition accuracy test performed on a standard dataset shows that the method adopted in the presented framework outperforms the Bag-of-Words (BoW) method that has been used in some of the previous systems. Experimental test conducted on a set of video sequences indicated the real-time performance of the tracking system with a frame rate at 15-30 frames per second. The presented framework is exposed to be functional in practical situations with a demonstration application on a campus walk-around.

Keywords: Augmented reality framework, server-client model, vision-based tracking, image search.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1077

Authors: A. Nait Salah, M. Kaddami

Abstract:

This work describes an investigation on the effect of filler metals diameter to weld joint, and low alloy carbon steel A516 Grade 70 is the base metal. Commercially SA516 Grade70 is frequently used for the manufacturing of pressure vessels, boilers and storage tank, etc. In fabrication industry, the hardness of the weld joint is between the important parameters to check, after heat treatment of the weld. Submerged arc welding (SAW) is used with two filler metal diameters, and this solid wire electrode is used for SAW non-alloy and for fine grain steels (SFA 5.17). The different diameters were selected (Ø = 2.4 mm and Ø = 4 mm) to weld two specimens. Both specimens were subjected to the same preparation conditions, heat treatment, macrograph, metallurgy micrograph, and micro-hardness test. Samples show almost similar structure with highest hardness. It is important to indicate that the thickness used in the base metal is 22 mm, and all specifications, preparation and controls were according to the ASME section IX. It was observed that two different filler metal diameters performed on two similar specimens demonstrated that the mechanical property (hardness) increases with decreasing diameter. It means that even the heat treatment has the same effect with the same conditions, the filler metal diameter insures a depth weld penetration and better homogenization. Hence, the SAW welding technique mentioned in the present study is favorable to implicate for the industry using the small filler metal diameter.

Keywords: ASME, base metal, filler metal, micro-hardness test, submerged arc welding.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 795

Authors: Satyasen Panda, Urmila Bhanja

Abstract:

This paper presents a SAC-OCDMA code with zero cross correlation property to minimize the Multiple Access Interface (MAI) as New Zero Cross Correlation code (NZCC), which is found to be more scalable compared to the other existing SAC-OCDMA codes. This NZCC code is constructed using address segment and data segment. In this work, the proposed NZCC code is implemented in an optical system using the Opti-System software for the spectral amplitude coded optical code-division multiple-access (SAC-OCDMA) scheme. The main contribution of the proposed NZCC code is the zero cross correlation, which reduces both the MAI and PIIN noises. The proposed NZCC code reveals properties of minimum cross-correlation, flexibility in selecting the code parameters and supports a large number of users, combined with high data rate and longer fiber length. Simulation results reveal that the optical code division multiple access system based on the proposed NZCC code accommodates maximum number of simultaneous users with higher data rate transmission, lower Bit Error Rates (BER) and longer travelling distance without any signal quality degradation, as compared to the former existing SAC-OCDMA codes.

Keywords: Cross Correlation, Optical Code Division Multiple Access, Spectral Amplitude Coding Optical Code Division Multiple Access, Multiple Access Interference, Phase Induced Intensity Noise, New Zero Cross Correlation code.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2190

Authors: Afef Badri

Abstract:

Metaphorical creativity does not constitute a static property of discourse. It is an interactive dynamic process created online. There has been a lack of research concerning online produced metaphorical creativity. This paper intends to account for metaphorical creativity in online talk-in-interaction as a dynamic process that emerges as discourse unfolds. It brings together insights from the emergentist approach to the study of metaphor in verbal interactions and insights from conceptual blending approach as a model for analysing online metaphorical constructions to propose a model for studying metaphorical creativity in interactive talk. The model is based on three focal points. First, metaphorical creativity is a dynamic emergent and open-to-change process that evolves in real time as interlocutors constantly blend and re-blend previous metaphorical contributions. Second, it is not a product of isolated individual minds but a joint achievement that is co-constructed and co-elaborated by interlocutors. The third and most important point is that the emergent process of metaphorical creativity is tightly shaped by contextual variables surrounding talk-in-interaction. It is grounded in the framework of interpretation of interlocutors. It is constrained by preceding contributions in a way that creates textual cohesion of the verbal exchange and it is also a goal-oriented process predefined by the communicative intention of each participant in a way that reveals the ideological coherence/incoherence of the entire conversation.

Keywords: Communicative intention, conceptual blending, contextual variables, the emergentist approach, ideological coherence, metaphorical creativity, textual cohesion

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 990

Authors: J. Subbalakshmi, G. Dhruvasamhith, S. M. Hussain

Abstract:

Polyaniline (PANI) is one of the most extensively studied material among the conducting polymers due to its simple synthesis by chemical and electrochemical routes. PANIs have advantages of chemical stability and high conductivity making their commercial applications quite attractive. However, to our knowledge, very little work has been reported on the tensile strength properties of templated PANIs processed with polyvinyl alcohol and also, detailed study has not been carried out. We have investigated the effect of small molecule and polymers as templates on PANI. Stable aqueous colloidal suspensions of trisodium citrate (TSC), poly(ethylenedioxythiophene)-polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT-PSS), and polyethylene glycol (PEG) templated PANIs were prepared through chemical synthesis, processed with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and were fabricated into films by solution casting. Absorption and infra-red spectra were studied to gain insight into the possible molecular interactions. Surface morphology was studied through scanning electron microscope and optical microscope. Interestingly, tensile testing studies revealed least strain for pure PVA when compared to the blends of templated PANI. Furthermore, among the blends, TSC templated PANI possessed maximum elasticity. The ultimate tensile strength for PVA processed, PEG-templated PANI was found to be five times more than other blends considered in this study. We establish structure–property correlation with morphology, spectral characterization and tensile testing studies.

Keywords: Processed films, polyvinyl alcohol, spectroscopy, surface morphology, templated polyanilines, tensile test.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1117

Authors: Shahryar Aftabi, Saeed Fathi, Mohammad H. Aminfar

Abstract:

It is well known that cemented sand is one of the best approaches for soil stabilization. In some cases, a blend of sand, cement and other pozzolan materials such as zeolite, nano-particles and fiber can be widely (commercially) available and be effectively used in soil stabilization, especially in road construction. In this research, we investigate the effects of CaO which is based on the geotechnical characteristics of zeolite composition with sandy silt soil. Zeolites have low amount of CaO in their structures, that is, varying from 3% to 10%, and by removing the cement paste, we want to investigate the effect of zeolite pozzolan without any activator on soil samples strength. In this research, experiments are concentrated on various weight percentages of zeolite in the soil to examine the effect of the zeolite on drainage shear strength and California Bearing Ratio (CBR) both with and without curing. The study also investigates their liquid limit and plastic limit behavior and makes a comparative result by using Feng's and Wroth-Wood's methods in fall cone (cone penetrometer) device; in the final the SEM images have been presented. The results show that by increasing the percentage of zeolite in without-curing samples, the fine zeolite particles increase some soil's strength, but in the curing-state we can see a relatively higher strength toward without-curing state, since the zeolites have no plastic behavior, the pozzolanic property of zeolites plays a much higher role than cementing properties. Indeed, it is better to combine zeolite particle with activator material such as cement or lime to gain better results.

Keywords: CBR, direct shear, fall-cone, sandy-silt, SEM, zeolite.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 523

Authors: N. H. Othman, N. Udin, M. Ishak, L. H. Shah

Abstract:

This study focuses on the effect of pin taper tool ratio on friction stir welding of magnesium alloy AZ31. Two pieces of AZ31 alloy with thickness of 6 mm were friction stir welded by using the conventional milling machine. The shoulder diameter used in this experiment is fixed at 18 mm. The taper pin ratio used are varied at 6:6, 6:5, 6:4, 6:3, 6:2 and 6:1. The rotational speeds that were used in this study were 500 rpm, 1000 rpm and 1500 rpm, respectively. The welding speeds used are 150 mm/min, 200 mm/min and 250 mm/min. Microstructure observation of welded area was studied by using optical microscope. Equiaxed grains were observed at the TMAZ and stir zone indicating fully plastic deformation. Tool pin diameter ratio 6/1 causes low heat input to the material because of small contact surface between tool surface and stirred materials compared to other tool pin diameter ratio. The grain size of stir zone increased with increasing of ratio of rotational speed to transverse speed due to higher heat input. It is observed that worm hole is produced when excessive heat input is applied. To evaluate the mechanical properties of this specimen, tensile test was used in this study. Welded specimens using taper pin ratio 6:1 shows higher tensile strength compared to other taper pin ratio up to 204 MPa. Moreover, specimens using taper pin ratio 6:1 showed better tensile strength with 500 rpm of rotational speed and 150mm/min welding speed.

Keywords: Friction stir welding, magnesium AZ31, cylindrical taper tool, taper pin ratio.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1561

Authors: Sunitha. S.L., V. Udayashankara

Abstract:

Background noise is particularly damaging to speech intelligibility for people with hearing loss especially for sensorineural loss patients. Several investigations on speech intelligibility have demonstrated sensorineural loss patients need 5-15 dB higher SNR than the normal hearing subjects. This paper describes Discrete Cosine Transform Power Normalized Least Mean Square algorithm to improve the SNR and to reduce the convergence rate of the LMS for Sensory neural loss patients. Since it requires only real arithmetic, it establishes the faster convergence rate as compare to time domain LMS and also this transformation improves the eigenvalue distribution of the input autocorrelation matrix of the LMS filter. The DCT has good ortho-normal, separable, and energy compaction property. Although the DCT does not separate frequencies, it is a powerful signal decorrelator. It is a real valued function and thus can be effectively used in real-time operation. The advantages of DCT-LMS as compared to standard LMS algorithm are shown via SNR and eigenvalue ratio computations. . Exploiting the symmetry of the basis functions, the DCT transform matrix [AN] can be factored into a series of ±1 butterflies and rotation angles. This factorization results in one of the fastest DCT implementation. There are different ways to obtain factorizations. This work uses the fast factored DCT algorithm developed by Chen and company. The computer simulations results show superior convergence characteristics of the proposed algorithm by improving the SNR at least 10 dB for input SNR less than and equal to 0 dB, faster convergence speed and better time and frequency characteristics.

Keywords: Hearing Impairment, DCT Adaptive filter, Sensorineural loss patients, Convergence rate.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2125

Authors: Lingzhi Li, Jiankun Zhang, Tiantian Gu

Abstract:

Hazard management that can prevent fatal accidents and property losses is a fundamental process during the buildings’ construction stage. However, due to lack of safety supervision resources and operational pressures, the conduction of hazard management is poor and ineffective in China. In order to improve the quality of construction safety management, it is critical to explore the use of information technologies to ensure that the process of hazard management is efficient and effective. After exploring the existing problems of construction hazard management in China, this paper develops the griddization management model for construction hazard management. First, following the knowledge grid infrastructure, the griddization computing infrastructure for construction hazards management is designed which includes five layers: resource entity layer, information management layer, task management layer, knowledge transformation layer and application layer. This infrastructure will be as the technical support for realizing grid management. Second, this study divides the construction hazards into grids through city level, district level and construction site level according to grid principles. Last, a griddization management process including hazard identification, assessment and control is developed. Meanwhile, all stakeholders of construction safety management, such as owners, contractors, supervision organizations and government departments, should take the corresponding responsibilities in this process. Finally, a case study based on actual construction hazard identification, assessment and control is used to validate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed griddization management model. The advantage of this designed model is to realize information sharing and cooperative management between various safety management departments.

Keywords: Construction hazard, grid management, griddization computing, process.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1516

Authors: S. Pirrello

Abstract:

Sydney’s booming real estate market has pushed property developers to invest in historically “no-go” areas, which were previously too expensive to develop. These areas are usually near rivers where the sites are underlain by deep alluvial and estuarine sediments. In these ground conditions, conventional bored pile techniques are often not competitive. Contiguous Flight Auger (CFA) and Drilled Displacement (DD) Piles techniques are on the other hand suitable for these ground conditions. This paper deals with the design and construction challenges encountered with these piling techniques for a series of high-rise towers in Sydney’s West. The advantages of DD over CFA piles such as reduced overall spoil with substantial cost savings and achievable rock sockets in medium strength bedrock are discussed. Design performances were assessed with PIGLET. Pile performances are validated in two stages, during constructions with the interpretation of real-time data from the piling rigs’ on-board computer data, and after construction with analyses of results from high strain pile dynamic testing (PDA). Results are then presented and discussed. High Strain testing data are presented as Case Pile Wave Analysis Program (CAPWAP) analyses.

Keywords: Contiguous flight auger, case pile wave analysis, high strain pile, drilled displacement, pile performance.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 922

Authors: Mehrnaz Aminitabar, Moghan Amirhosseinian, Morteza Elsa

Abstract:

Bioactive glasses (BGs) are a group of surface-reactive biomaterials used in clinical applications as implants or filler materials in the human body to repair and replace diseased or damaged bone. Sol-gel technique was employed to prepare a SiO₂-CaO-P₂O₅ glass with nominal composition of 58S BG with the addition of Sr and Li modifiers which imparts special properties to the BG. The effect of simultaneous addition of Sr and Li on bioactivity and biocompatibility, proliferation, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity of osteoblast cell line MC3T3-E1 and antibacterial property against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria were examined. BGs were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy before and after soaking the samples in the simulated body fluid (SBF) for different time intervals to characterize the formation of hydroxyapatite (HA) formed on the surface of BGs. Structural characterization indicated that the simultaneous presence of 5% Sr and 5% Li in 58S-BG composition not only did not retard HA formation because of opposite effect of Sr and Li of the dissolution of BG in the SBF but also, stimulated the differentiation and proliferation of MC3T3-E1s. Moreover, the presence of Sr and Li on dissolution of the ions resulted in an increase in the mean number of DAPI-labeled nuclei which was in good agreement with live/dead assay. The result of antibacterial tests revealed that Sr and Li-substituted 58S BG exhibited a potential antibacterial effect against MRSA bacteria. Because of optimal proliferation and ALP activity of MC3T3-E1cells, proper bioactivity and high antibacterial potential against MRSA, BG-5/5 is suggested as a multifunctional candidate for bone tissue engineering.

Keywords: Antibacterial activity, bioactive glass, sol-gel, strontium.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 769

Authors: Talal S. Abdullah, Shahin Mehraban, Geraint Lodwig, Nicholas P. Lavery

Abstract:

The defining property of Interstitial Free (IF) steels is formability, comprehensively measured using the Lankford coefficient (r-value) on uniaxial tensile test data. The contributing factors supporting this feature are grain size, orientation, and elemental additions. The processes that effectively modulate these factors are the casting procedure, hot rolling, and heat treatment. An existing methodology is well-practised in the steel industry; however, large-scale production and experimentation consume significant proportions of time, money, and material. Introducing small-scale rapid alloy prototyping (RAP) as an alternative process would considerably reduce the drawbacks relative to standard practices. The aim is to finetune the existing fundamental procedures implemented in the industrial plant to adapt to the RAP route. IF material is remelted in the 80-gram coil induction melting (CIM) glovebox. To birth small grains, maximum deformation must be induced onto the cast material during the hot rolling process. The rolled strip must then satisfy the polycrystalline behaviour of the bulk material by displaying a resemblance in microstructure, hardness, and formability to that of the literature and actual plant steel. A successful outcome of this work is that small-scale RAP can achieve target compositions with similar microstructures and statistically consistent mechanical properties which complements and accelerates the development of novel steel grades.

Keywords: Interstitial free, miniaturized tensile specimen, plastic anisotropy, rapid alloy prototyping.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 40

Authors: Eduardo P. Wiechmann, Jorge A. Henríquez, Pablo E. Aqueveque, Luis G. Muñoz

Abstract:

PV energy prices are declining rapidly. To take advantage of the benefits of those prices and lower the carbon footprint, operational practices must be modified. Undoubtedly, it challenges the electrowinning practice to operate at constant current throughout the day. This work presents a technology that contributes in providing modulation capacity to the electrode current distribution system. This is to raise the day time dc current and lower it at night. The system is a triple intercell bar that operates in current-source mode. The design is a capping board free dogbone type of bar that ensures an operation free of short circuits, hot swapability repairs and improved current balance. This current-source system eliminates the resetting currents circulating in equipotential bars. Twin auxiliary connectors are added to the main connectors providing secure current paths to bypass faulty or impaired contacts. All system conductive elements are positioned over a baseboard offering a large heat sink area to the ventilation of a facility. The system works with lower temperature than a conventional busbar. Of these attributes, the cathode current balance property stands out and is paramount for day/night modulation and the use of photovoltaic energy. A design based on a 3D finite element method model predicting electric and thermal performance under various industrial scenarios is presented. Preliminary results obtained in an electrowinning facility with industrial prototypes are included.

Keywords: Electrowinning, intercell bars, PV energy, current modulation.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 560

Authors: S. Rao Rayapudi

Abstract:

Economic Load Dispatch (ELD) is a method of determining the most efficient, low-cost and reliable operation of a power system by dispatching available electricity generation resources to supply load on the system. The primary objective of economic dispatch is to minimize total cost of generation while honoring operational constraints of available generation resources. In this paper an intelligent water drop (IWD) algorithm has been proposed to solve ELD problem with an objective of minimizing the total cost of generation. Intelligent water drop algorithm is a swarm-based natureinspired optimization algorithm, which has been inspired from natural rivers. A natural river often finds good paths among lots of possible paths in its ways from source to destination and finally find almost optimal path to their destination. These ideas are embedded into the proposed algorithm for solving economic load dispatch problem. The main advantage of the proposed technique is easy is implement and capable of finding feasible near global optimal solution with less computational effort. In order to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, it has been tested on 6-unit and 20-unit test systems with incremental fuel cost functions taking into account the valve point-point loading effects. Numerical results shows that the proposed method has good convergence property and better in quality of solution than other algorithms reported in recent literature.

Keywords: Economic load dispatch, Transmission loss, Optimization, Valve point loading, Intelligent Water Drop Algorithm.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3573

Authors: Satyanadh Gundimada, Vijayan K Asari

Abstract:

A novel feature selection strategy to improve the recognition accuracy on the faces that are affected due to nonuniform illumination, partial occlusions and varying expressions is proposed in this paper. This technique is applicable especially in scenarios where the possibility of obtaining a reliable intra-class probability distribution is minimal due to fewer numbers of training samples. Phase congruency features in an image are defined as the points where the Fourier components of that image are maximally inphase. These features are invariant to brightness and contrast of the image under consideration. This property allows to achieve the goal of lighting invariant face recognition. Phase congruency maps of the training samples are generated and a novel modular feature selection strategy is implemented. Smaller sub regions from a predefined neighborhood within the phase congruency images of the training samples are merged to obtain a large set of features. These features are arranged in the order of increasing distance between the sub regions involved in merging. The assumption behind the proposed implementation of the region merging and arrangement strategy is that, local dependencies among the pixels are more important than global dependencies. The obtained feature sets are then arranged in the decreasing order of discriminating capability using a criterion function, which is the ratio of the between class variance to the within class variance of the sample set, in the PCA domain. The results indicate high improvement in the classification performance compared to baseline algorithms.

Keywords: Discriminant analysis, intra-class probability distribution, principal component analysis, phase congruency.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1805

Authors: Yesubai Rubavathi Charles, Ravi Ramraj

Abstract:

In order to retrieve images efficiently from a large database, a unique method integrating color and texture features using genetic programming has been proposed. Opponent color histogram which gives shadow, shade, and light intensity invariant property is employed in the proposed framework for extracting color features. For texture feature extraction, fast discrete curvelet transform which captures more orientation information at different scales is incorporated to represent curved like edges. The recent scenario in the issues of image retrieval is to reduce the semantic gap between user’s preference and low level features. To address this concern, genetic algorithm combined with relevance feedback is embedded to reduce semantic gap and retrieve user’s preference images. Extensive and comparative experiments have been conducted to evaluate proposed framework for content based image retrieval on two databases, i.e., COIL-100 and Corel-1000. Experimental results clearly show that the proposed system surpassed other existing systems in terms of precision and recall. The proposed work achieves highest performance with average precision of 88.2% on COIL-100 and 76.3% on Corel, the average recall of 69.9% on COIL and 76.3% on Corel. Thus, the experimental results confirm that the proposed content based image retrieval system architecture attains better solution for image retrieval.

Keywords: Content based image retrieval, Curvelet transform, Genetic algorithm, Opponent color histogram, Relevance feedback.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1776

Authors: Nachawit Tikul

Abstract:

This study aimed to determine low-income housing adaptations for flooding, which causes living problems and housing damage, and the results from improvement. Three low-income settlements in Chiang Mai which experienced different flood types, i.e. flash floods in Samukeepattana, drainage floods in Bansanku, and river floods in Kampangam, were chosen for the study. Almost all of the residents improved their houses to protect the property from flood damage by changing building materials to flood damage resistant materials for walls, floors, and other parts of the structure that were below the base of annual flood elevation. They could only build some parts of their own homes, so hiring skilled workers or contractors was still important. Building materials which have no need for any special tools and are easy to access and use for construction, as well as low cost, are selected for construction. The residents in the three slums faced living problems for only a short time and were able to cope with them. This may be due to the location of the three slums near the city where assistance is readily available. But the housing and the existence in the slums can endure only the regular floods and residence still have problems in unusual floods, which have been experienced 1-2 times during the past 10 years. The residents accept the need for evacuations and prepare for them. When faced with extreme floods, residence have evacuated to the nearest safe place such as schools and public building, and come back to repair the houses after the flood. These are the distinguishing characteristics of low-income living which can withstand serious situations due to the simple lifestyle. Therefore, preparation of living areas for use during severe floods and encouraging production of affordable flood resistant materials should be areas of concern when formulating disaster assistance policies for low income people.

Keywords: Flooding, low-income settlement, housing, adaptation.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1066

Authors: J. Prakash, K. Rajesh

Abstract:

In this paper, we introduce a new method for elliptical object identification. The proposed method adopts a hybrid scheme which consists of Eigen values of covariance matrices, Circular Hough transform and Bresenham-s raster scan algorithms. In this approach we use the fact that the large Eigen values and small Eigen values of covariance matrices are associated with the major and minor axial lengths of the ellipse. The centre location of the ellipse can be identified using circular Hough transform (CHT). Sparse matrix technique is used to perform CHT. Since sparse matrices squeeze zero elements and contain a small number of nonzero elements they provide an advantage of matrix storage space and computational time. Neighborhood suppression scheme is used to find the valid Hough peaks. The accurate position of circumference pixels is identified using raster scan algorithm which uses the geometrical symmetry property. This method does not require the evaluation of tangents or curvature of edge contours, which are generally very sensitive to noise working conditions. The proposed method has the advantages of small storage, high speed and accuracy in identifying the feature. The new method has been tested on both synthetic and real images. Several experiments have been conducted on various images with considerable background noise to reveal the efficacy and robustness. Experimental results about the accuracy of the proposed method, comparisons with Hough transform and its variants and other tangential based methods are reported.

Keywords: Circular Hough transform, covariance matrix, Eigen values, ellipse detection, raster scan algorithm.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2595

Authors: Gen Sakoda, Hideki Takayasu, Misako Takayasu

Abstract:

Waste reduction is a fundamental problem for sustainability. Methods for waste reduction with point-of-sales (POS) data are proposed, utilizing the knowledge of a recent econophysics study on a statistical property of POS data. Concretely, the non-stationary time series analysis method based on the Particle Filter is developed, which considers abnormal fluctuation scaling known as Taylor's law. This method is extended for handling incomplete sales data because of stock-outs by introducing maximum likelihood estimation for censored data. The way for optimal stock determination with pricing the cost of waste reduction is also proposed. This study focuses on the examination of the methods for large sales numbers where Taylor's law is obvious. Numerical analysis using aggregated POS data shows the effectiveness of the methods to reduce food waste maintaining a high profit for large sales numbers. Moreover, the way of pricing the cost of waste reduction reveals that a small profit loss realizes substantial waste reduction, especially in the case that the proportionality constant  of Taylor’s law is small. Specifically, around 1% profit loss realizes half disposal at =0.12, which is the actual  value of processed food items used in this research. The methods provide practical and effective solutions for waste reduction keeping a high profit, especially with large sales numbers.

Keywords: Food waste reduction, particle filter, point of sales, sustainable development goals, Taylor's Law, time series analysis.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 799

Authors: Muzaffer Ali Yaygın, Mehmet Topçu

Abstract:

This research aims to investigate morphological changes in urban patterns in urban renewal areas by using geographic information systems and to reveal pattern differences that occur before and after urban renewal processes by applying a morphological analysis. The concept of urban morphology is not involved in urban renewal and urban planning practices in Turkey. This situation destroys the structural characteristic of urban space which appears as a consequence of changes at city, street or plot level. Different approaches and renewal interventions to urban settlements, which are formed as a reflection of cultural issues, may have positive and negative results. A morphological analysis has been applied to an urban renewal area that covers 325 ha. in Konya, in which city urban renewal projects have gained speed with the increasing of economic investments in this study. The study mentions urban renewal and urban morphology relationship, varied academic approach on the urban morphology issue, urban morphology components, changes in lots pattern and numerical differences that occur on road, construction and green space ratios that are before and after the renewal project, and the results of the morphological analysis. It is seen that the built-up area has significant differences when compared to the previous situation. The amount of green areas decreased significantly in quantitative terms; the transportation systems has been changed completely; and the property ownership has been reconstructed without taking the previous situation into account. Findings show that urban renewal projects in Turkey are put into practice with a rent-oriented approach without making an in-depth analysis. The paper discusses the morphological dimension of urban renewal projects in Turkey through a case study from Konya city.

Keywords: Konya, pattern, urban morphology, urban renewal.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1138

Authors: Faraidoon Rahmanzai, Mizuki Takigawa, Yu Bomura, Shigeyuki Date

Abstract:

To obtain the high quality and essential workability of mortar, different types of superplasticizers are used. The superplasticizers are the chemical admixture used in the mix to improve the fluidity of mortar. Many factors influenced the superplasticizer to disperse the cement particle in the mortar. Nature and amount of replaced cement by slag, mixing procedure, delayed addition time, and heat stimulation technique of superplasticizer cause the varied effect on the fluidity of the cementitious material. In this experiment, the superplasticizers were heated for 1 hour under 60 °C in a thermostatic chamber. Furthermore, the effect of delayed addition time of heat stimulated superplasticizers (SP) was also analyzed. This method was applied to two types of polycarboxylic acid based ether SP (precast type superplasticizer (SP2) and ready-mix type superplasticizer (SP1)) in combination with a partial replacement of normal Portland cement with blast furnace slag (BFS) with 30% w/c ratio. On the other hands, the fluidity, air content, fresh density, and compressive strength for 7 and 28 days were studied. The results indicate that the addition time and heat stimulation technique improved the flow and air content, decreased the density, and slightly decreased the compressive strength of mortar. Moreover, the slag improved the flow of mortar by increasing the amount of slag, and the effect of external temperature of SP on the flow of mortar was decreased. In comparison, the flow of mortar was improved on 5-minute delay for both kinds of SP, but SP1 has improved the flow in all conditions. Most importantly, the transition points in both types of SP appear to be the same, at about 5±1 min.  In addition, the optimum addition time of SP to mortar should be in this period.

Keywords: Combined effect, delayed addition, heat stimulation, flow of mortar.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 791

Authors: Mukul Shukla, Rasheedat M. Mahamood, Esther T. Akinlabi, Sisa. Pityana

Abstract:

Laser Metal Deposition (LMD) is an additive manufacturing process with capabilities that include: producing new part directly from 3 Dimensional Computer Aided Design (3D CAD) model, building new part on the existing old component and repairing an existing high valued component parts that would have been discarded in the past. With all these capabilities and its advantages over other additive manufacturing techniques, the underlying physics of the LMD process is yet to be fully understood probably because of high interaction between the processing parameters and studying many parameters at the same time makes it further complex to understand. In this study, the effect of laser power and powder flow rate on physical properties (deposition height and deposition width), metallurgical property (microstructure) and mechanical (microhardness) properties on laser deposited most widely used aerospace alloy are studied. Also, because the Ti6Al4V is very expensive, and LMD is capable of reducing buy-to-fly ratio of aerospace parts, the material utilization efficiency is also studied. Four sets of experiments were performed and repeated to establish repeatability using laser power of 1.8 kW and 3.0 kW, powder flow rate of 2.88 g/min and 5.67 g/min, and keeping the gas flow rate and scanning speed constant at 2 l/min and 0.005 m/s respectively. The deposition height / width are found to increase with increase in laser power and increase in powder flow rate. The material utilization is favoured by higher power while higher powder flow rate reduces material utilization. The results are presented and fully discussed.

Keywords: Laser Metal Deposition, Material Efficiency, Microstructure, Ti6Al4V.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3562

Authors: Akram Mahdaviparsa, Tamera McCuen, Vahideh Karimimansoob

Abstract:

Fire service is responsible for protecting life, assets, and natural resources from fire and other hazardous incidents. Search and rescue in unfamiliar buildings is a vital part of firefighters’ responsibilities. Providing firefighters with precise building information in an easy-to-understand format is a potential solution for mitigating the negative consequences of fire hazards. The negative effect of insufficient knowledge about a building’s indoor environment impedes firefighters’ capabilities and leads to lost property. A data rich building information modeling (BIM) is a potentially useful source in three-dimensional (3D) visualization and data/information storage for fire emergency response. Therefore, this research’s purpose is prioritizing the required information for firefighters from the most important information to the least important. A survey was carried out with firefighters working in the Norman Fire Department to obtain the importance of each building information item. The results show that “the location of exit doors, windows, corridors, elevators, and stairs”, “material of building elements”, and “building data” are the three most important information specified by firefighters. The results also implied that the 2D model of architectural, structural and way finding is more understandable in comparison with the 3D model, while the 3D model of MEP system could convey more information than the 2D model. Furthermore, color in visualization can help firefighters to understand the building information easier and quicker. Sufficient internal consistency of all responses was proven through developing the Pearson Correlation Matrix and obtaining Cronbach’s alpha of 0.916. Therefore, the results of this study are reliable and could be applied to the population.

Keywords: BIM, building fire response, ranking, visualization.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 464

Authors: U K Chakrabarti, Jigisha Parikh

Abstract:

Hazardous Material transportation by road is coupled with inherent risk of accidents causing loss of lives, grievous injuries, property losses and environmental damages. The most common type of hazmat road accident happens to be the releases (78%) of hazardous substances, followed by fires (28%), explosions (14%) and vapour/ gas clouds (6 %.). The paper is discussing initially the probable 'Impact Zones' likely to be caused by one flammable (LPG) and one toxic (ethylene oxide) chemicals being transported through a sizable segment of a State Highway connecting three notified Industrial zones in Surat district in Western India housing 26 MAH industrial units. Three 'hotspots' were identified along the highway segment depending on the particular chemical traffic and the population distribution within 500 meters on either sides. The thermal radiation and explosion overpressure have been calculated for LPG / Ethylene Oxide BLEVE scenarios along with toxic release scenario for ethylene oxide. Besides, the dispersion calculations for ethylene oxide toxic release have been made for each 'hotspot' location and the impact zones have been mapped for the LOC concentrations. Subsequently, the maximum Initial Isolation and the protective zones were calculated based on ERPG-3 and ERPG-2 values of ethylene oxide respectively which are estimated taking the worst case scenario under worst weather conditions. The data analysis will be helpful to the local administration in capacity building with respect to rescue / evacuation and medical preparedness and quantitative inputs to augment the District Offsite Emergency Plan document.

Keywords: Hotspot, Ethylene Oxide, LPG, MAH (MajorAccident Hazard).

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1760

Authors: B. Nassar, W. Hussein, M. Mokhtar

Abstract:

The critical concern of satellite operations is to ensure the health and safety of satellites. The worst case in this perspective is probably the loss of a mission, but the more common interruption of satellite functionality can result in compromised mission objectives. All the data acquiring from the spacecraft are known as Telemetry (TM), which contains the wealth information related to the health of all its subsystems. Each single item of information is contained in a telemetry parameter, which represents a time-variant property (i.e. a status or a measurement) to be checked. As a consequence, there is a continuous improvement of TM monitoring systems to reduce the time required to respond to changes in a satellite's state of health. A fast conception of the current state of the satellite is thus very important to respond to occurring failures. Statistical multivariate latent techniques are one of the vital learning tools that are used to tackle the problem above coherently. Information extraction from such rich data sources using advanced statistical methodologies is a challenging task due to the massive volume of data. To solve this problem, in this paper, we present a proposed unsupervised learning algorithm based on Principle Component Analysis (PCA) technique. The algorithm is particularly applied on an actual remote sensing spacecraft. Data from the Attitude Determination and Control System (ADCS) was acquired under two operation conditions: normal and faulty states. The models were built and tested under these conditions, and the results show that the algorithm could successfully differentiate between these operations conditions. Furthermore, the algorithm provides competent information in prediction as well as adding more insight and physical interpretation to the ADCS operation.

Keywords: Space telemetry monitoring, multivariate analysis, PCA algorithm, space operations.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2009

Authors: Y. Harold Robinson, M. Rajaram

Abstract:

Wireless mesh networking is rapidly gaining in popularity with a variety of users: from municipalities to enterprises, from telecom service providers to public safety and military organizations. This increasing popularity is based on two basic facts: ease of deployment and increase in network capacity expressed in bandwidth per footage; WMNs do not rely on any fixed infrastructure. Many efforts have been used to maximizing throughput of the network in a multi-channel multi-radio wireless mesh network. Current approaches are purely based on either static or dynamic channel allocation approaches. In this paper, we use a hybrid multichannel multi radio wireless mesh networking architecture, where static and dynamic interfaces are built in the nodes. Dynamic Adaptive Channel Allocation protocol (DACA), it considers optimization for both throughput and delay in the channel allocation. The assignment of the channel has been allocated to be codependent with the routing problem in the wireless mesh network and that should be based on passage flow on every link. Temporal and spatial relationship rises to re compute the channel assignment every time when the pattern changes in mesh network, channel assignment algorithms assign channels in network. In this paper a computing path which captures the available path bandwidth is the proposed information and the proficient routing protocol based on the new path which provides both static and dynamic links. The consistency property guarantees that each node makes an appropriate packet forwarding decision and balancing the control usage of the network, so that a data packet will traverse through the right path.

Keywords: Wireless mesh network, spatial time division multiple access, hybrid topology, timeslot allocation.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1794