Abstract: The objective of this work is to investigate the
turbulent reacting flow in a three dimensional combustor with
emphasis on the effect of inlet swirl flow through a numerical
simulation. Flow field is analyzed using the SIMPLE method which is
known as stable as well as accurate in the combustion modeling, and
the finite volume method is adopted in solving the radiative transfer
equation. In this work, the thermal and flow characteristics in a three
dimensional combustor by changing parameters such as equivalence
ratio and inlet swirl angle have investigated. As the equivalence ratio
increases, which means that more fuel is supplied due to a larger inlet
fuel velocity, the flame temperature increases and the location of
maximum temperature has moved towards downstream. In the mean
while, the existence of inlet swirl velocity makes the fuel and
combustion air more completely mixed and burnt in short distance.
Therefore, the locations of the maximum reaction rate and temperature
were shifted to forward direction compared with the case of no swirl.
Abstract: This is a survey research using quantitative and qualitative methodology. There were three objectives: 1) To study participatory level of community in water and waste environment management. 2) To study the affecting factors for community participation in water and waste environment management in Ampawa District, Samut Songkram Province. 3) To search for the participatory patterns in water and waste management. The population sample for the quantitative research was 1,364 people living in Ampawa District. The methodology was simple random sampling. Research instrument was a questionnaire and the qualitative research used purposive sampling in 6 Sub Districts which are Ta Ka, Suanluang, Bangkae, Muangmai, Kwae-om, and Bangnanglee Sub District Administration Organization. Total population is 63. For data analysis, the study used content analysis from quantitative research to synthesize and build question frame from the content for interview and conducting focus group interview. The study found that the community participatory in the issue of level in water and waste management are moderate of planning, operation, and evaluation. The issue of being beneficial is at low level. Therefore, the overall participatory level of community in water and waste environment management is at a medium level. The factors affecting the participatory of community in water and waste management are age, the period dwelling in the community and membership in which the mean difference is statistic significant at 0.05 in area of operation, being beneficial, and evaluation. For patterns of community participation, there is the correlation with water and waste management in 4 concerns which are 1) Participation in planning 2) Participation in operation 3) Participation in being beneficial both directly and indirectly benefited 4) Participation in evaluation and monitoring. The recommendation from this study is the need to create conscious awareness in order to increase participation level of people by organizing activities that promote participation with volunteer spirit. Government should open opportunities for people to participate in sharing ideas and create the culture of living together with equality which would build more concrete participation.
Abstract: The aim of this study is to compare the effect of the ultrasonic pre treatment on the removal of heavy metals (Iron, Zinc and Copper) from Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) by Denver Cell flotation. Synthetic AMD and individual metal solutions are used in the initial experiments to optimise the process conditions for real AMD. Three different process methods, ultrasound treatment followed by Denver flotation cell, Denver flotation cell alone and ultrasonic treatments run simultaneously with the Denver flotation cell were tested for every sample. Precipitation of the metal solutions by using sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and application of the optimum frother dosage followed by flotation significantly reduced the metal content of the AMD.
Abstract: An electrocardiogram (ECG) feature extraction system
based on the calculation of the complex resonance frequency
employing Prony-s method is developed. Prony-s method is applied
on five different classes of ECG signals- arrhythmia as a finite sum
of exponentials depending on the signal-s poles and the resonant
complex frequencies. Those poles and resonance frequencies of the
ECG signals- arrhythmia are evaluated for a large number of each
arrhythmia. The ECG signals of lead II (ML II) were taken from
MIT-BIH database for five different types. These are the ventricular
couplet (VC), ventricular tachycardia (VT), ventricular bigeminy
(VB), and ventricular fibrillation (VF) and the normal (NR). This
novel method can be extended to any number of arrhythmias.
Different classification techniques were tried using neural networks
(NN), K nearest neighbor (KNN), linear discriminant analysis (LDA)
and multi-class support vector machine (MC-SVM).
Abstract: A new robust nonlinear control scheme of a manipulator is proposed in this paper which is robust against modeling errors and unknown disturbances. It is based on the principle of variable structure control, with sliding mode control (SMC) method. The variable structure control method is a robust method that appears to be well suited for robotic manipulators because it requers only bounds on the robotic arm parameters. But there is no single systematic procedure that is guaranteed to produce a suitable control law. Also, to reduce chattring of the control signal, we replaced the sgn function in the control law by a continuous approximation such as tangant function. We can compute the maximum load with regard to applied torque into joints. The effectivness of the proposed approach has been evaluated analitically demonstrated through computer simulations for the cases of variable load and robot arm parameters.
Abstract: The dramatic increasing of sea-freight container
transportations and the developing trends for using containers in the
multimodal handling systems through the sea, rail, road and land in
nowadays market cause general managers of container terminals to
face challenges such as increasing demand, competitive situation,
new investments and expansion of new activities and need to use new
methods to fulfil effective operations both along quayside and within
the yard. Among these issues, minimizing the turnaround time of
vessels is considered to be the first aim of every container port
system. Regarding the complex structure of container ports, this
paper presents a simulation model that calculates the number of
trucks needed in the Iranian Shahid Rajaee Container Port for
handling containers between the berth and the yard. In this research,
some important criteria such as vessel turnaround time, gantry crane
utilization and truck utilization have been considered. By analyzing
the results of the model, it has been shown that increasing the number
of trucks to 66 units has a significant effect on the performance
indices of the port and can increase the capacity of loading and
unloading up to 10.8%.
Abstract: The Multi-Layered Perceptron (MLP) Neural
networks have been very successful in a number of signal processing
applications. In this work we have studied the possibilities and the
met difficulties in the application of the MLP neural networks for the
prediction of daily solar radiation data. We have used the Polack-Ribière algorithm for training the neural networks. A comparison, in
term of the statistical indicators, with a linear model most used in
literature, is also performed, and the obtained results show that the
neural networks are more efficient and gave the best results.
Abstract: Condition monitoring of electrical power equipment
has attracted considerable attention for many years. The aim of this
paper is to use Labview with Fuzzy Logic controller to build a
simulation system to diagnose transformer faults and monitor its
condition. The front panel of the system was designed using
LabVIEW to enable computer to act as customer-designed
instrument. The dissolved gas-in-oil analysis (DGA) method was
used as technique for oil type transformer diagnosis; meanwhile
terminal voltages and currents analysis method was used for dry type
transformer. Fuzzy Logic was used as expert system that assesses all
information keyed in at the front panel to diagnose and predict the
condition of the transformer. The outcome of the Fuzzy Logic
interpretation will be displayed at front panel of LabVIEW to show
the user the conditions of the transformer at any time.
Abstract: Permanent rivers are the main sources of renewable
water supply for the croplands under the irrigation and drainage
schemes. They are also the major source of sediment loads transport
into the storage reservoirs of the hydro-electrical dams, diversion
weirs and regulating dams. Sedimentation process results from soil
erosion which is related to poor watershed management and human
intervention ion in the hydraulic regime of the rivers. These could
change the hydraulic behavior and as such, leads to riverbed and river
bank scouring, the consequences of which would be sediment load
transport into the dams and therefore reducing the flow discharge in
water intakes. The present paper investigate sedimentation process
by varying the Manning coefficient "n" by using the SHARC
software along the watercourse in the Dez River. Results indicated
that the optimum "n" within that river range is 0.0315 at which
quantity minimum sediment loads are transported into the Eastern
intake. Comparison of the model results with those obtained by those
from the SSIIM software within the same river reach showed a very
close proximity between them. This suggests a relative accuracy with
which the model can simulate the hydraulic flow characteristics and
therefore its suitability as a powerful analytical tool for project
feasibility studies and project implementation.
Abstract: Breast motion and discomfort has been studied in
Australia, Britain and the United States, while little information was
known about the breast motion conditions of Chinese women. The aim
of this paper was to study the breast motion and discomfort of Chinese
women in no bra condition, daily bra condition and sports bra
condition. Breast motion and discomfort of 8 participants was assessed
during walking at 5km h-1 and running at 10km h-1. Statistical methods
were used to analyze the difference and relationship between breast
displacement, perceived breast motion and breast discomfort. Three
indexes were developed to evaluate the functions of bras on reducing
objective breast motion, subjective breast motion and breast
discomfort. The result showed that breast motion of Chinese women
was smaller than previous research, which may be resulted from
smaller breast size in Asian women.
Abstract: In this paper multivariable predictive PID controller has
been implemented on a multi-inputs multi-outputs control problem
i.e., quadruple tank system, in comparison with a simple multiloop
PI controller. One of the salient feature of this system is an
adjustable transmission zero which can be adjust to operate in both
minimum and non-minimum phase configuration, through the flow
distribution to upper and lower tanks in quadruple tank system.
Stability and performance analysis has also been carried out for this
highly interactive two input two output system, both in minimum
and non-minimum phases. Simulations of control system revealed
that better performance are obtained in predictive PID design.
Abstract: This paper presents the study of parameters affecting
the environment protection in the printing industry. The paper has
also compared LCA studies performed within the printing industry in
order to identify common practices, limitations, areas for
improvement, and opportunities for standardization. This comparison
is focused on the data sources and methodologies used in the printing
pollutants register. The presented concepts, methodology and results
represent the contribution to the sustainable development
management. Furthermore, the paper analyzes the result of the
quantitative identification of hazardous substances emitted in printing
industry of Novi Sad.
Abstract: In current common research reports, salient regions
are usually defined as those regions that could present the main
meaningful or semantic contents. However, there are no uniform
saliency metrics that could describe the saliency of implicit image
regions. Most common metrics take those regions as salient regions,
which have many abrupt changes or some unpredictable
characteristics. But, this metric will fail to detect those salient useful
regions with flat textures. In fact, according to human semantic
perceptions, color and texture distinctions are the main characteristics
that could distinct different regions. Thus, we present a novel saliency
metric coupled with color and texture features, and its corresponding
salient region extraction methods. In order to evaluate the
corresponding saliency values of implicit regions in one image, three
main colors and multi-resolution Gabor features are respectively used
for color and texture features. For each region, its saliency value is
actually to evaluate the total sum of its Euclidean distances for other
regions in the color and texture spaces. A special synthesized image
and several practical images with main salient regions are used to
evaluate the performance of the proposed saliency metric and other
several common metrics, i.e., scale saliency, wavelet transform
modulus maxima point density, and important index based metrics.
Experiment results verified that the proposed saliency metric could
achieve more robust performance than those common saliency
metrics.
Abstract: The present paper presents a finite element model and
analysis for the interaction between a piezoresistive tactile sensor and
biological tissues. The tactile sensor is proposed for use in minimally
invasive surgery to deliver tactile information of biological tissues to
surgeons. The proposed sensor measures the relative hardness of soft
contact objects as well as the contact force. Silicone rubbers were
used as the phantom of biological tissues. Finite element analysis of
the silicone rubbers and the mechanical structure of the sensor were
performed using COMSOL Multiphysics (v3.4) environment. The
simulation results verify the capability of the sensor to be used to
differentiate between different kinds of silicone rubber materials.
Abstract: In this paper, creep constitutive equations of base
(Parent) and weld materials of the weldment for cold-drawn 304L
stainless steel have been obtained experimentally. For this purpose,
test samples have been generated from cold drawn bars and weld
material according to the ASTM standard. The creep behavior and
properties have been examined for these materials by conducting uniaxial
creep tests. Constant temperatures and constant load uni-axial
creep tests have been carried out at two high temperatures, 680 and
720 oC, subjected to constant loads, which produce initial stresses
ranging from 240 to 360 MPa. The experimental data have been used
to obtain the creep constitutive parameters using numerical
optimization techniques.
Abstract: The paper considers a single-server queue with fixedsize
batch Poisson arrivals and exponential service times, a model
that is useful for a buffer that accepts messages arriving as fixed size
batches of packets and releases them one packet at time. Transient
performance measures for queues have long been recognized as
being complementary to the steady-state analysis. The focus of the
paper is on the use of the functions that arise in the analysis of the
transient behaviour of the queuing system. The paper exploits
practical modelling to obtain a solution to the integral equation
encountered in the analysis. Results obtained indicate that under
heavy load conditions, there is significant disparity in the statistics
between the transient and steady state values.
Abstract: Complexity, as a theoretical background has made it
easier to understand and explain the features and dynamic behavior
of various complex systems. As the common theoretical background
has confirmed, borrowing the terminology for design from the
natural sciences has helped to control and understand urban
complexity. Phenomena like self-organization, evolution and
adaptation are appropriate to describe the formerly inaccessible
characteristics of the complex environment in unpredictable bottomup
systems. Increased computing capacity has been a key element in
capturing the chaotic nature of these systems.
A paradigm shift in urban planning and architectural design has
forced us to give up the illusion of total control in urban
environment, and consequently to seek for novel methods for
steering the development. New methods using dynamic modeling
have offered a real option for more thorough understanding of
complexity and urban processes. At best new approaches may renew
the design processes so that we get a better grip on the complex
world via more flexible processes, support urban environmental
diversity and respond to our needs beyond basic welfare by liberating
ourselves from the standardized minimalism.
A complex system and its features are as such beyond human
ethics. Self-organization or evolution is either good or bad. Their
mechanisms are by nature devoid of reason. They are common in
urban dynamics in both natural processes and gas. They are features
of a complex system, and they cannot be prevented. Yet their
dynamics can be studied and supported.
The paradigm of complexity and new design approaches has been
criticized for a lack of humanity and morality, but the ethical
implications of scientific or computational design processes have not
been much discussed. It is important to distinguish the (unexciting)
ethics of the theory and tools from the ethics of computer aided
processes based on ethical decisions. Urban planning and architecture
cannot be based on the survival of the fittest; however, the natural
dynamics of the system cannot be impeded on grounds of being
“non-human".
In this paper the ethical challenges of using the dynamic models
are contemplated in light of a few examples of new architecture and
dynamic urban models and literature. It is suggested that ethical
challenges in computational design processes could be reframed
under the concepts of responsibility and transparency.
Abstract: The segmentation of endovascular tools in fluoroscopy images can be accurately performed automatically or by minimum user intervention, using known modern techniques. It has been proven in literature, but no clinical implementation exists so far because the computational time requirements of such technology have not yet been met. A classical segmentation scheme is composed of edge enhancement filtering, line detection, and segmentation. A new method is presented that consists of a vector that propagates in the image to track an edge as it advances. The filtering is performed progressively in the projected path of the vector, whose orientation allows for oriented edge detection, and a minimal image area is globally filtered. Such an algorithm is rapidly computed and can be implemented in real-time applications. It was tested on medical fluoroscopy images from an endovascular cerebral intervention. Ex- periments showed that the 2D tracking was limited to guidewires without intersection crosspoints, while the 3D implementation was able to cope with such planar difficulties.
Abstract: Applicability of tuning the controller gains for Stewart manipulator using genetic algorithm as an efficient search technique is investigated. Kinematics and dynamics models were introduced in detail for simulation purpose. A PD task space control scheme was used. For demonstrating technique feasibility, a Stewart manipulator numerical-model was built. A genetic algorithm was then employed to search for optimal controller gains. The controller was tested onsite a generic circular mission. The simulation results show that the technique is highly convergent with superior performance operating for different payloads.
Abstract: The use of the oncologic index ISTER allows for a more effective planning of the radiotherapic facilities in the hospitals. Any change in the radiotherapy treatment, due to unexpected stops, may be adapted by recalculating the doses to the new treatment duration while keeping the optimal prognosis. The results obtained in a simulation model on millions of patients allow the definition of optimal success probability algorithms.