Abstract: The application of a simple microcontroller to deal
with a three variable input and a single output fuzzy logic controller,
with Proportional – Integral – Derivative (PID) response control
built-in has been tested for an automatic voltage regulator. The
fuzzifiers are based on fixed range of the variables of output voltage.
The control output is used to control the wiper motor of the auto
transformer to adjust the voltage, using fuzzy logic principles, so that
the voltage is stabilized. In this report, the author will demonstrate
how fuzzy logic might provide elegant and efficient solutions in the
design of multivariable control based on experimental results rather
than on mathematical models.
Abstract: The sensitivity of orifice plate metering to disturbed
flow (either asymmetric or swirling) is a subject of great concern to
flow meter users and manufacturers. The distortions caused by pipe
fittings and pipe installations upstream of the orifice plate are major
sources of this type of non-standard flows. These distortions can alter
the accuracy of metering to an unacceptable degree. In this work, a
multi-scale object known as metal foam has been used to generate a
predetermined turbulent flow upstream of the orifice plate. The
experimental results showed that the combination of an orifice plate
and metal foam flow conditioner is broadly insensitive to upstream
disturbances. This metal foam demonstrated a good performance in
terms of removing swirl and producing a repeatable flow profile
within a short distance downstream of the device. The results of using
a combination of a metal foam flow conditioner and orifice plate for
non-standard flow conditions including swirling flow and asymmetric
flow show this package can preserve the accuracy of metering up to
the level required in the standards.
Abstract: Image enhancement is the most important challenging preprocessing for almost all applications of Image Processing. By now, various methods such as Median filter, α-trimmed mean filter, etc. have been suggested. It was proved that the α-trimmed mean filter is the modification of median and mean filters. On the other hand, ε-filters have shown excellent performance in suppressing noise. In spite of their simplicity, they achieve good results. However, conventional ε-filter is based on moving average. In this paper, we suggested a new ε-filter which utilizes α-trimmed mean. We argue that this new method gives better outcomes compared to previous ones and the experimental results confirmed this claim.
Abstract: An envelope echo signal measurement is proposed in
this paper using echo signal observation from the 200 kHz echo
sounder receiver. The envelope signal without any object is compared
with the envelope signal of the sphere. Two diameter size steel ball
(3.1 cm & 2.2 cm) and two diameter size air filled stainless steel ball
(4.8 cm & 7.4 cm) used in this experiment. The target was positioned
about 0.5 m and 1.0 meter from the transducer face using nylon rope.
From the echo observation in time domain, it is obviously shown that
echo signal structure is different between the size, distance and type
of metal sphere. The amplitude envelope voltage for the bigger
sphere is higher compare to the small sphere and it confirm that the
bigger sphere have higher target strength compare to the small
sphere. Although the structure signal without any object are different
compare to the signal from the sphere, the reflected signal from the
tank floor increase linearly with the sphere size. We considered this
event happened because of the object position approximately to the
tank floor.
Abstract: A computer model of Quantum Theory (QT) has been
developed by the author. Major goal of the computer model was
support and demonstration of an as large as possible scope of QT.
This includes simulations for the major QT (Gedanken-) experiments
such as, for example, the famous double-slit experiment.
Besides the anticipated difficulties with (1) transforming exacting
mathematics into a computer program, two further types of problems
showed up, namely (2) areas where QT provides a complete mathematical
formalism, but when it comes to concrete applications the
equations are not solvable at all, or only with extremely high effort;
(3) QT rules which are formulated in natural language and which do
not seem to be translatable to precise mathematical expressions, nor
to a computer program.
The paper lists problems in all three categories and describes also
the possible solutions or circumventions developed for the computer
model.
Abstract: In this work, bending fatigue life of notched
specimens with various notch geometries and dimensions is
investigated by experiment and Manson-Caffin theoretical method. In
this theoretical method, fatigue life of notched specimens is
calculated using the fatigue life obtained from the experiments for
plain specimens (without notch). Three notch geometries including
∪-shape, ∨-shape and C -shape notches are considered in this
investigation. The experiments are conducted on a rotary bending
Moore machine. The specimens are made of a low carbon steel alloy,
which has wide application in industry. The stress- life curves are
captured for all notched specimen by experiment. The results indicate
that Manson-Caffin analytical method cannot adequately predict
the fatigue life of notched specimen. However, it seems that the
difference between the experiments and Manson-Caffin predictions
can be compensated by a proportional factor.
Abstract: The paper is intended to declare and apply ethics, i. e.
moral principles, rules in marketing environment. Ethical behavior of
selected pharmaceutical companies in the Slovak Republic is the
object of our research. The aim of our research is to determine
perception of ethical behavior of the pharmaceutical industry in
Slovakia by the medicine representatives in comparison with the
assessment of doctors and patients. The experimental sample
included 90 participants who were divided into three groups:
medicine representatives of the pharmaceutical companies (N=30),
doctors (N=30) and patients (N=30). The research method was a
Questionnaire of ethical behavior, created by us, that describes
individual areas included in the Code of ethics of the pharmaceutical
industry in Slovakia. The results showed influence of professional
status on ethical behavior perception, not gender. Higher perception
was indicated at patients rather than doctors and medicine
representatives.
Abstract: PARIS (Personal Archiving and Retrieving Image
System) is an experiment personal photograph library, which includes
more than 80,000 of consumer photographs accumulated within a
duration of approximately five years, metadata based on our proposed
MPEG-7 annotation architecture, Dozen Dimensional Digital Content
(DDDC), and a relational database structure. The DDDC architecture
is specially designed for facilitating the managing, browsing and
retrieving of personal digital photograph collections. In annotating
process, we also utilize a proposed Spatial and Temporal Ontology
(STO) designed based on the general characteristic of personal
photograph collections. This paper explains PRAIS system.
Abstract: Sandwich panels are widely used in the construction
industry for their ease of assembly, light weight and efficient thermal
performance. They are composed of two RC thin outer layers
separated by an insulating inner layer. In this research the inner
insulating layer is made of lightweight Autoclaved Aerated Concrete
(AAC) blocks which has good thermal insulation properties and yet
possess reasonable mechanical strength. The shear strength of the
AAC infill is relied upon to replace the traditionally used insulating
foam and to provide the shear capacity of the panel. A
comprehensive experimental program was conducted on full scale
sandwich panels subjected to bending. In this paper, detailed
numerical modeling of the tested sandwich panels is reported. Nonlinear
3-D finite element modeling of the composite action of the
sandwich panel is developed using ANSYS. Solid elements with
different crashing and cracking capabilities and different constitutive
laws were selected for the concrete and the AAC. Contact interface
elements are used in this research to adequately model the shear
transfer at the interface between the different layers. The numerical
results showed good correlation with the experimental ones
indicating the adequacy of the model in estimating the loading
capacity of panels.
Abstract: Experiments were conducted to characterize fire
properties of wood exposed to the certain external heat flux and
under variety of wood moisture content. Six kinds of Indonesian
wood: keruing, sono, cemara, kamper, pinus, and mahoni were
exposed to radiant heat from a conical heater, result in appearance of
a stable flame on the wood surface caused by spontaneous ignition. A
thermocouple K-type was used to measure the wood surface
temperature. Temperature histories were recorded throughout each
experiment at 1 s intervals using a TC-08. Data of first ignition time
and temperature, end ignition time and temperature, and charring rate
have been successfully collected. It was found that the ignition
temperature and charring rate depend on moisture content of wood.
Abstract: Intelligent traffic surveillance technology is an issue in
the field of traffic data analysis. Therefore, we need the technology to
detect moving objects in real-time while there are variations in background and natural light. In this paper, we proposed a Weighted-Center Surround Difference
method for object detection in outdoor environments. The proposed system detects objects using the saliency map that is obtained by
analyzing the weight of each layers of Gaussian pyramid. In order to validate the effectiveness of our system, we implemented the proposed
method using a digital signal processor, TMS320DM6437.
Experimental results show that blurred noisy around objects was effectively eliminated and the object detection accuracy is improved.
Abstract: Cognitive models allow predicting some aspects of utility
and usability of human machine interfaces (HMI), and simulating
the interaction with these interfaces. The action of predicting is based
on a task analysis, which investigates what a user is required to do
in terms of actions and cognitive processes to achieve a task. Task
analysis facilitates the understanding of the system-s functionalities.
Cognitive models are part of the analytical approaches, that do not
associate the users during the development process of the interface.
This article presents a study about the evaluation of a human
machine interaction with a contextual assistant-s interface using ACTR
and GOMS cognitive models. The present work shows how these
techniques may be applied in the evaluation of HMI, design and
research by emphasizing firstly the task analysis and secondly the
time execution of the task. In order to validate and support our
results, an experimental study of user performance is conducted at
the DOMUS laboratory, during the interaction with the contextual
assistant-s interface. The results of our models show that the GOMS
and ACT-R models give good and excellent predictions respectively
of users performance at the task level, as well as the object level.
Therefore, the simulated results are very close to the results obtained
in the experimental study.
Abstract: This paper presents the findings of an
experimental investigation to study the effect of alkali content
in geopolymer mortar specimens exposed to sulphuric acid.
Geopolymer mortar specimens were manufactured from Class F fly
ash by activation with a mixture of sodium hydroxide and sodium
silicate solution containing 5% to 8% Na2O. Durability of specimens
were assessed by immersing them in 10% sulphuric acid solution and
periodically monitoring surface deterioration and depth of
dealkalization, changes in weight and residual compressive strength
over a period of 24 weeks. Microstructural changes in the specimens
were studied with Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and EDAX.
Alkali content in the activator solution significantly affects the
durability of fly ash based geopolymer mortars in sulphuric acid.
Specimens manufactured with higher alkali content performed better
than those manufactured with lower alkali content. After 24 weeks in
sulphuric acid, specimen with 8% alkali still recorded a residual
strength as high as 55%.
Abstract: Neighborhood Rough Sets (NRS) has been proven to
be an efficient tool for heterogeneous attribute reduction. However,
most of researches are focused on dealing with complete and noiseless
data. Factually, most of the information systems are noisy, namely,
filled with incomplete data and inconsistent data. In this paper, we
introduce a generalized neighborhood rough sets model, called
VPTNRS, to deal with the problem of heterogeneous attribute
reduction in noisy system. We generalize classical NRS model with
tolerance neighborhood relation and the probabilistic theory.
Furthermore, we use the neighborhood dependency to evaluate the
significance of a subset of heterogeneous attributes and construct a
forward greedy algorithm for attribute reduction based on it.
Experimental results show that the model is efficient to deal with noisy
data.
Abstract: Lighting upgrades involve relatively lower costs which
allow the benefits to be spread more widely than is possible with any
other energy efficiency measure. In order to popularize the adoption of
CFL in Taiwan, the authority proposes to implement a new energy efficient lamp comparative label system. The current study was
accordingly undertaken to investigate the factors affecting the performance and the deviation of actual and labeled performance of
commercially available integrated CFLs. In this paper, standard test
methods to determine the electrical and photometric performances of
CFL were developed based on CIE 84-1989 and CIE 60901-1987,
then 55 selected CFLs from market were tested. The results show that
with higher color temperature of CFLs lower efficacy are achieved. It
was noticed that the most packaging of CFL often lack the information of Color Rendering Index. Also, there was no correlation between
price and performance of the CFLs was indicated in this work. The results of this paper might help consumers to make more informed
CFL-purchasing decisions.
Abstract: The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of
texturizers on the rheological properties of the apple mass and
desserts made from various raw materials. The apple varieties -
‘Antonovka’, ‘Baltais Dzidrais’, and ‘Zarja Alatau’ harvested in
Latvia, were used for the experiment. The apples were processed in a
blender unpeeled for obtaining a homogenous mass. The apple mass
was analyzed fresh and after storage at –18ºC. Both fresh and thawed
apple mass samples with added gelatin, xantan gum, and sodium
carboxymethylcellulose were whisked obtaining dessert. Pectin, pH
and soluble dry matter of the product were determined. Apparent
viscosity was measured using a rotational viscometer DV–III Ultra.
Pectin content in frozen apple mass decreased significantly (p
Abstract: Querying a data source and routing data towards sink
becomes a serious challenge in static wireless sensor networks if sink
and/or data source are mobile. Many a times the event to be observed
either moves or spreads across wide area making maintenance of
continuous path between source and sink a challenge. Also, sink can
move while query is being issued or data is on its way towards sink.
In this paper, we extend our already proposed Grid Based Data
Dissemination (GBDD) scheme which is a virtual grid based
topology management scheme restricting impact of movement of
sink(s) and event(s) to some specific cells of a grid. This obviates the
need for frequent path modifications and hence maintains continuous
flow of data while minimizing the network energy consumptions.
Simulation experiments show significant improvements in network
energy savings and average packet delay for a packet to reach at sink.
Abstract: With the fast evolution of digital data exchange, security information becomes much important in data storage and transmission. Due to the increasing use of images in industrial process, it is essential to protect the confidential image data from unauthorized access. In this paper, we analyze the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), and we add a key stream generator (A5/1, W7) to AES to ensure improving the encryption performance; mainly for images characterised by reduced entropy. The implementation of both techniques has been realized for experimental purposes. Detailed results in terms of security analysis and implementation are given. Comparative study with traditional encryption algorithms is shown the superiority of the modified algorithm.
Abstract: Vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) process can be
used for water purification or the desalination of salt water. The
process simply consists of a flat sheet hydrophobic micro porous
PTFE membrane and diaphragm vacuum pump without a condenser
for the water recovery or trap. The feed was used aqueous NaCl
solution. The VMD experiments were performed to evaluate the heat
and mass transfer coefficient of the boundary layer in a membrane
module. The only operating parameters are feed inlet temperature,
and feed flow rate were investigated. The permeate flux was strongly
affected by the feed inlet temperature, feed flow rate, and boundary
layer heat transfer coefficient. Since lowering the temperature
polarization coefficient is essential enhance the process performance
considerable and maximizing the heat transfer coefficient for
maximizes the mass flux of distillate water. In this paper, the results
of VMD experiments are used to measure the boundary layer heat
transfer coefficient, and the experimental results are used to reevaluate
the empirical constants in the Dittus- Boelter equation.
Abstract: The value of overall oxygen transfer Coefficient
(KLa), which is the best measure of oxygen transfer in water through
aeration, is obtained by a simple approach, which sufficiently
explains the utility of the method to eliminate the discrepancies due
to inaccurate assumption of saturation dissolved oxygen
concentration. The rate of oxygen transfer depends on number of
factors like intensity of turbulence, which in turns depends on the
speed of rotation, size, and number of blades, diameter and
immersion depth of the rotor, and size and shape of aeration tank, as
well as on physical, chemical, and biological characteristic of water.
An attempt is made in this paper to correlate the overall oxygen
transfer Coefficient (KLa), as an independent parameter with other
influencing parameters mentioned above. It has been estimated that
the simulation equation developed predicts the values of KLa and
power with an average standard error of estimation of 0.0164 and
7.66 respectively and with R2 values of 0.979 and 0.989 respectively,
when compared with experimentally determined values. The
comparison of this model is done with the model generated using
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and both the models were
found to be in good agreement with each other.