Abstract: Recently, analysis and designing of the structures
based on the Reliability theory have been the center of attention.
Reason of this attention is the existence of the natural and random
structural parameters such as the material specification, external
loads, geometric dimensions etc. By means of the Reliability theory,
uncertainties resulted from the statistical nature of the structural
parameters can be changed into the mathematical equations and the
safety and operational considerations can be considered in the
designing process. According to this theory, it is possible to study the
destruction probability of not only a specific element but also the
entire system. Therefore, after being assured of safety of every
element, their reciprocal effects on the safety of the entire system can
be investigated.
Abstract: Linear induction motors are used in various industries
but they have some specific phenomena which are the causes for
some problems. The most important phenomenon is called end effect.
End effect decreases efficiency, power factor and output force and
unbalances the phase currents. This phenomenon is more important
in medium and high speeds machines. In this paper a factor, EEF , is
obtained by an accurate equivalent circuit model, to determine the
end effect intensity. In this way, all of effective design parameters on
end effect is described. Accuracy of this equivalent circuit model is
evaluated by two dimensional finite-element analysis using ANSYS.
The results show the accuracy of the equivalent circuit model.
Abstract: The typical coupled-tanks process that is TITO
plant has the difficulty in controller design because changing
of system dynamics and interacting of process. This paper
presents design methodology of auto-adjustable PI controller
using MRAC technique. The proposed method can adjust the
controller parameters in response to changes in plant and
disturbance real time by referring to the reference model that
specifies properties of the desired control system.
Abstract: The possible therapeutic effect of cannabidiol, the major non-psychotropic Cannabis constituent, was investigated against acute hepatotoxicity induced by a single oral dose of acetaminophen (500mg/kg) in mice. Cannabidiol (two intraperitoneal injections, 5mg/kg, each) was given 1 hour and 12 hours following acetaminophen administration. Acetaminophen administration caused significant elevations of serum alanine aminotransferase, and hepatic malondialdehyde, and nitric oxide levels, and a significant decrease in hepatic reduced glutathione. Cannabidiol significantly attenuated the deterioration in the measured biochemical parameters resulted from acetaminophen administration. Also, histopathological examination showed that cannabidiol markedly attenuated ameliorated acetaminophen-induced liver tissue damage. These results emphasize that cannabidiol represents a potential therapeutic option to protect against acetaminophen hepartotoxicity which is a common clinical problem.
Abstract: In this paper, we deal with finite projective Klingenberg plane M (A) coordinatized by local ring A := Zq+Zq E (where prime power q = p', e0 Z q and 62 = 0). So, we get some combinatorical results on 6-figures. For example, we show that there exist p — 1 6-figure classes in M(A).
Abstract: A generic and extendible Multi-Agent Data Mining
(MADM) framework, MADMF (the Multi-Agent Data Mining
Framework) is described. The central feature of the framework is that
it avoids the use of agreed meta-language formats by supporting a
framework of wrappers.
The advantage offered is that the framework is easily extendible,
so that further data agents and mining agents can simply be added to
the framework. A demonstration MADMF framework is currently
available. The paper includes details of the MADMF architecture and
the wrapper principle incorporated into it. A full description and
evaluation of the framework-s operation is provided by considering
two MADM scenarios.
Abstract: Desert regions around the Nile valley in Upper Egypt
contain great extent of swelling soil. Many different comment
procedures of treatment of the swelling soils for construction such as
pre-swelling, load balance OR soil replacement. One of the measure
factors which affect the level of the aggressiveness of the swelling
soil is the direction of the infiltration water directions within the
swelling soils. In this paper a physical model was installed to
measure the effect of water on the swelling soil with replacement
using fatty acid distillation residuals (FADR) mixed with sand as
thick sand-FADR mixture to prevent the water pathway arrive to the
swelling soil. Testing program have been conducted on different
artificial samples with different sand to FADR contents ratios (4%,
6%, and 9%) to get the optimum value fulfilling the impermeable
replacement. The tests show that a FADR content of 9% is sufficient
to produce impermeable replacement.
Abstract: Asphalt surfaces are exposed to various weather
conditions and dynamic loading caused by passing trucks and
vehicles. In such situations, asphalt cement shows so different
rheological-mechanical behavior. If asphalt cement isn-t compatible
enough, asphalt layer will be damaged immediately and expensive
repairing procedures should be performed then. To overcome this
problem, researchers study on mechanical improved asphalt cement.
In this study, bentonite was used in order to modify bitumen
characteristics and the modified bitumen's characteristics were
investigated by asphalt cement tests. Then, the optimal bitumen
content in various compounds was determined and asphalt samples
with different contents of additives were prepared and tested. Results
show using this kind of additive not only has caused improvement in
bitumen mechanical properties, but also improvement in Marshall
Parameters was achieved.
Abstract: The roll center is one of the key parameters for designing a suspension. Several driving characteristics are affected significantly by the migration of the roll center during the suspension-s motion. The strut/SLA (strut/short-long-arm) suspension, which is widely used in production cars, combines the space-saving characteristics of a MacPherson strut suspension with some of the preferred handling characteristics of an SLA suspension. In this study, a front strut/SLA suspension is modeled by ADAMS/Car software. Kinematic roll analysis is then employed to investigate how the rolling characteristics change under the wheel travel and steering input. The related parameters, including the roll center height, roll camber gain, toe change, scrub radius and wheel track width change, are analyzed and discussed. It is found that the strut/SLA suspension clearly has a higher roll center than strut and SLA suspensions do. The variations in the roll center height under roll analysis are very different as the wheel travel displacement and steering angle are added. The results of the roll camber gain, scrub radius and wheel track width change are considered satisfactory. However, the toe change is too large and needs fine-tuning through a sensitivity analysis.
Abstract: Classification of electroencephalogram (EEG) signals
extracted during mental tasks is a technique that is actively pursued
for Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI) designs. In this paper, we
compared the classification performances of univariateautoregressive
(AR) and multivariate autoregressive (MAR) models
for representing EEG signals that were extracted during different
mental tasks. Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) neural network (NN)
trained by the backpropagation (BP) algorithm was used to classify
these features into the different categories representing the mental
tasks. Classification performances were also compared across
different mental task combinations and 2 sets of hidden units (HU): 2
to 10 HU in steps of 2 and 20 to 100 HU in steps of 20. Five different
mental tasks from 4 subjects were used in the experimental study and
combinations of 2 different mental tasks were studied for each
subject. Three different feature extraction methods with 6th order
were used to extract features from these EEG signals: AR
coefficients computed with Burg-s algorithm (ARBG), AR
coefficients computed with stepwise least square algorithm (ARLS)
and MAR coefficients computed with stepwise least square
algorithm. The best results were obtained with 20 to 100 HU using
ARBG. It is concluded that i) it is important to choose the suitable
mental tasks for different individuals for a successful BCI design, ii)
higher HU are more suitable and iii) ARBG is the most suitable
feature extraction method.
Abstract: In this paper, we propose a new method to distinguish
between arousal and relaxation states by using multiple features
acquired from a photoplethysmogram (PPG) and support vector
machine (SVM). To induce arousal and relaxation states in subjects, 2
kinds of sound stimuli are used, and their corresponding biosignals are
obtained using the PPG sensor. Two features–pulse to pulse interval
(PPI) and pulse amplitude (PA)–are extracted from acquired PPG
data, and a nonlinear classification between arousal and relaxation is
performed using SVM.
This methodology has several advantages when compared with
previous similar studies. Firstly, we extracted 2 separate features from
PPG, i.e., PPI and PA. Secondly, in order to improve the classification
accuracy, SVM-based nonlinear classification was performed.
Thirdly, to solve classification problems caused by generalized
features of whole subjects, we defined each threshold according to
individual features.
Experimental results showed that the average classification
accuracy was 74.67%. Also, the proposed method showed the better
identification performance than the single feature based methods.
From this result, we confirmed that arousal and relaxation can be
classified using SVM and PPG features.
Abstract: The urban transformation processes in its framework
and its general significance became a fundamental and vital subject
of consideration for both the developed and the developing societies.
It has become important to regulate the architectural systems adopted
by the city, to sustain the present development on one hand, and on
the other hand, to facilitate its future growth.
Thus, the study dealt with the phenomenon of urban
transformation of the Mediterranean cities, and the city of Alexandria
in particular, because of its significant historical and cultural legacy,
its historical architecture and its contemporary urbanization.
This article investigates the entirety of cities in the Mediterranean
region through the analysis of the relationship between inflation and
growth of these cities and the extent of the complexity of the city
barriers. We hope to analyze not only the internal transformations,
but the external relationships (both imperial and post-colonial) that
have shaped Alexandria city growth from the nineteenth century until
today.
Abstract: Internet application in China has maintained a constant
development tendency in the past decade. China is now one of the
most populous countries in terms of internet user population. While
offering enormous opportunities, the dramatic digitalization also
brings about a series of challenges that demand urgent attention.
Digital divide is one of the challenges that affect China as well as other
countries in the world. This paper examines digital divide in the
Chinese context from the perspective of development communication.
Through a case study of a rural township under the backdrop of the
rapid internet development in China, the paper discusses the
economic, psychological and cultural roots of digital divide; and
explores development communication strategies addressing the roots
of digital divide. It is argued that development communication must be
responsive to the potentialities and preferences of the specific society
and serve the purposes of participation and sustainability.
Abstract: Power System Security is a major concern in real time
operation. Conventional method of security evaluation consists of
performing continuous load flow and transient stability studies by
simulation program. This is highly time consuming and infeasible
for on-line application. Pattern Recognition (PR) is a promising
tool for on-line security evaluation. This paper proposes a Support
Vector Machine (SVM) based binary classification for static and
transient security evaluation. The proposed SVM based PR approach
is implemented on New England 39 Bus and IEEE 57 Bus systems.
The simulation results of SVM classifier is compared with the other
classifier algorithms like Method of Least Squares (MLS), Multi-
Layer Perceptron (MLP) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA)
classifiers.
Abstract: In order to be able to automatically differentiate
between two modes of permanent flow of a liquid simulating blood,
it was imperative to put together a data bank. Thus, the acquisition of
the various amplitude spectra of the Doppler signal of this liquid in
laminar flow and other spectra in turbulent flow enabled us to
establish an automatic difference between the two modes. According
to the number of parameters and their nature, a comparative study
allowed us to choose the best classifier.
Abstract: Concurrency and synchronization are becoming big
issues as every new PC comes with multi-core processors. A major
reason for Object-Oriented Programming originally was to enable
easier reuse: encode your algorithm into a class and thoroughly
debug it, then you can reuse the class again and again. However,
when we get to concurrency and synchronization, this is often not
possible. Thread-safety issues means that synchronization constructs
need to be entangled into every class involved. We contributed a
detailed literature review of issues and challenges in concurrent
programming and present a methodology that uses the Aspect-
Oriented paradigm to address this problem. Aspects will allow us to
extract the synchronization concerns as schemes to be “weaved in"
later into the main code. This allows the aspects to be separately
tested and verified. Hence, the functional components can be weaved
with reusable synchronization schemes that are robust and scalable.
Abstract: Due to rapid economic growth, Indonesia's energy needs is rapidly increasing. Indonesia-s primary energy consumption has doubled in 2007 compared to 2003. Indonesia's status change from oil net-exporter to oil net-importer country recently has increased Indonesia's concern over energy security. Due to this, oil import becomes center of attention in the dynamics of Indonesia's energy security. Conventional studies addressing Indonesia's energy security have focused on energy production sector. This study explores Indonesia-s energy security considering energy import sector by modeling and simulating Indonesia-s energy-related policies using system dynamics. Simulation result of Indonesia's energy security in 2020 in Business-As-Usual scenario shows that in term of supply demand ratio, energy security will be very high, but also it poses high dependence on energy import. The Alternative scenario result shows lower energy security in term of supply demand ratio and much lower dependence on energy import. It is also found that the Alternative scenario produce lower GDP growth.
Abstract: The aim of the paper work is to investigate and predict
the static performance of journal bearing in turbulent flow condition
considering micropolar lubrication. The Reynolds equation has been
modified considering turbulent micropolar lubrication and is solved
for steady state operations. The Constantinescu-s turbulence model is
adopted using the coefficients. The analysis has been done for a
parallel and inertia less flow. Load capacity and friction factor have
been evaluated for various operating parameters.
Abstract: In this paper, a direct torque control - space vector
modulation (DTC-SVM) scheme is presented for a six-phase speed
and voltage sensorless induction motor (IM) drive. The decoupled
torque and stator flux control is achieved based on IM stator flux field orientation. The rotor speed is detected by on-line estimating of
the rotor angular slip speed and stator vector flux speed. In addition, a simple method is introduced to estimate the stator resistance.
Moreover in this control scheme the voltage sensors are eliminated
and actual motor phase voltages are approximated by using PWM
inverter switching times and the dc link voltage. Finally, some simulation and experimental results are presented to verify the
effectiveness and capability of the proposed control scheme.
Abstract: Utilization of waste material in asphalt pavement
would be beneficial in order to find an alternative solution to increase
service life of asphalt pavement and reduce environmental pollution
as well. One of these waste materials is Polyethylene Terephthalate
(PET) which is a type of polyester material and is produced in a large
extent. This research program is investigating the effects of adding
waste PET particles into the asphalt mixture with a maximum size of
2.36 mm. Different percentages of PET were added into the mixture
during dry process. Gap-graded mixture (SMA 14) and PG 80-100
asphalt binder have been used for this study. To evaluate PET
reinforced asphalt mixture different laboratory investigations have
been conducted on specimens. Marshall Stability test was carried
out. Besides, stiffness modulus test and indirect tensile fatigue test
were conducted on specimens at optimum asphalt content. It was
observed that in many cases PET reinforced SMA mixture had better
mechanical properties in comparison with control mixture.