Abstract: Polymeric micro-cantilevers (Cs) are rapidly
becoming popular for MEMS applications such as chemo- and biosensing
as well as purely electromechanical applications such as
microrelays. Polymer materials present suitable physical and
chemical properties combined with low-cost mass production. Hence,
micro-cantilevers made of polymers indicate much more
biocompatibility and adaptability of rapid prototyping along with
mechanical properties. This research studies the effects of three
process and one size factors on the filling behaviour in micro cavity,
and the role of each in the replication of micro parts using different
polymer materials i.e. polypropylene (PP) SABIC 56M10 and
acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) Magnum 8434 . In particular,
the following factors are considered: barrel temperature, mould
temperature, injection speed and the thickness of micro features. The
study revealed that the barrel temperature and the injection speed are
the key factors affecting the flow length of micro features replicated
in PP and ABS. For both materials, an increase of feature sizes
improves the melt flow. However, the melt fill of micro features does
not increase linearly with the increase of their thickness.
Abstract: In some applications, such as image recognition or
compression, segmentation refers to the process of partitioning a
digital image into multiple segments. Image segmentation is typically
used to locate objects and boundaries (lines, curves, etc.) in images.
Image segmentation is to classify or cluster an image into several
parts (regions) according to the feature of image, for example, the
pixel value or the frequency response. More precisely, image
segmentation is the process of assigning a label to every pixel in an
image such that pixels with the same label share certain visual
characteristics. The result of image segmentation is a set of segments
that collectively cover the entire image, or a set of contours extracted
from the image. Several image segmentation algorithms were
proposed to segment an image before recognition or compression. Up
to now, many image segmentation algorithms exist and be
extensively applied in science and daily life. According to their
segmentation method, we can approximately categorize them into
region-based segmentation, data clustering, and edge-base
segmentation. In this paper, we give a study of several popular image
segmentation algorithms that are available.
Abstract: This paper investigates the thermal issue of permanent
magnet synchronous generator which is frequently used in direct
drive gearless small-scale wind turbine applications. Permanent
Magnet Synchronous Generator (PMSG) is designed with 2.5 kW
continuous and 6 kW peak power. Then considering generator
geometry, mechanical design of wind turbine is performed. Thermal
analysis and optimization is carried out considering all wind turbine
components to reach realistic results. This issue is extremely
important in research and development (R&D) process for wind
turbine applications.
Abstract: This study was to explore and utilize the fresh rind of
mangosteen Index Colour 5 as an upcoming raw material for the
production of natural dyes. Rind from the fresh mangosteen Index
Colour 5 was utilized to extract the dyes. The established extracts
were experimented on silk fabrics via three types of mordanting and
dyeing procedures; pre-mordanting, simultaneous mordanting and
post-mordanting. As a result, the applications of the freeze-drying
methodology and mechanizable equipment have helped to produce
excellent range of natural colours. Silk fabric treated simultaneously
with mordanting and dyeing with extract dye Index Colour 5
produced a brilliant shade of the red colour and the colour from this
index is also discovered sensitive to light and washing during the
fastness tests. The preliminary evaluation and instrumentation
analysis allowed us to examine whether the application of different
mordanting and dyeing procedures with the same extract samples and
concentrations affected the colours and shades of the fabric samples.
Abstract: The web services applications for digital reference
service (WSDRS) of LIS model is an informal model that claims to
reduce the problems of digital reference services in libraries. It uses
web services technology to provide efficient way of satisfying users’
needs in the reference section of libraries. The formal WSDRS model
consists of the Z specifications of all the informal specifications of
the model. This paper discusses the formal validation of the Z
specifications of WSDRS model. The authors formally verify and
thus validate the properties of the model using Z/EVES theorem
prover.
Abstract: Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) is a composite material with exceptional properties that are capable to replace conventional steel reinforcement in reinforced and pre-stressed concrete structures. However, the main obstacle for their wide use in pre-stressed concrete application is the anchorage system. Due to the weakness of FRP in the transverse direction, the pre-stressing capacity of FRP bars are limited. This paper investigates the modification of the conventional wedge anchorage system to be used for stressing of FRP bars in pre-stressed applications. Epoxy adhesive material with glass FRP (GFRP) bars and conventional steel wedge were used in this paper. The GFRP bars are encased with epoxy at the anchor zone and the wedge system was used in pull-out test. The results showed a loading capacity of 47.6 kN which is 69% of the bar ultimate capacity. Additionally, nylon wedge was made with the same dimensions of the steel wedge and tested for GFRP bars without epoxy layer. The nylon wedge showed a loading capacity of 19.7 kN which is only 28.5% of the ultimate bar capacity.
Abstract: Laban Movement Analysis (LMA), developed in the
dance community over the past seventy years, is an effective method
for observing, describing, notating, and interpreting human
movement to enhance communication and expression in everyday
and professional life. Many applications that use motion capture data
might be significantly leveraged if the Laban qualities will be
recognized automatically. This paper presents an automated
recognition method of Laban qualities from motion capture skeletal
recordings and it is demonstrated on the output of Microsoft’s Kinect
V2 sensor.
Abstract: This paper introduces a method to optimal design of a
hybrid Wind/Photovoltaic/Fuel cell generation system for a typical
domestic load that is not located near the electricity grid. In this
configuration the combination of a battery, an electrolyser, and a
hydrogen storage tank are used as the energy storage system. The aim
of this design is minimization of overall cost of generation scheme
over 20 years of operation. The Matlab/Simulink is applied for
choosing the appropriate structure and the optimization of system
sizing. A teaching learning based optimization is used to optimize the
cost function. An overall power management strategy is designed for
the proposed system to manage power flows among the different
energy sources and the storage unit in the system. The results have
been analyzed in terms of technical and economic. The simulation
results indicate that the proposed hybrid system would be a feasible
solution for stand-alone applications at remote locations.
Abstract: Graphene was dispersed using a tip sonicator and the
effect of surfactants were analysed. Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate (SDS)
and Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) were compared to observe whether or
not they had any effect on any de-wrinkling, and secondly whether
they aided to achieve better dispersions. There is a huge demand for
wrinkle free graphene as this will greatly increase its usefulness in
various engineering applications. A comprehensive literature on dewrinkling
graphene has been discussed. Low magnification Scanning
Electronic Microscopy (SEM) was conducted to assess the quality of
graphene de-wrinkling. The utilization of the PVA has significant
effect on de-wrinkling whereas SDS had minimal effect on the dewrinkling
of graphene.
Abstract: The access to relevant information that is adapted to
user’s needs, preferences and environment is a challenge in many
applications running. That causes an appearance of context-aware
systems. To facilitate the development of this class of applications, it
is necessary that these applications share a common context
metamodel. In this article, we will present our context metamodel
that is defined using the OMG Meta Object facility (MOF).This
metamodel is based on the analysis and synthesis of context concepts
proposed in literature.
Abstract: This survey paper shows the recent state of model
comparison as it’s applies to Model Driven engineering. In Model
Driven Engineering to calculate the difference between the models is
a very important and challenging task. There are number of tasks
involved in model differencing that firstly starts with identifying and
matching the elements of the model. In this paper, we discuss how
model matching is accomplished, the strategies, techniques and the
types of the model. We also discuss the future direction. We found
out that many of the latest model comparison strategies are geared
near enabling Meta model and similarity based matching. Therefore
model versioning is the most dominant application of the model
comparison. Recently to work on comparison for versioning has
begun to deteriorate, giving way to different applications. Ultimately
there is wide change among the tools in the measure of client exertion
needed to perform model comparisons, as some require more push to
encourage more sweeping statement and expressive force.
Abstract: Electrohydraulic servo system have been used in
industry in a wide number of applications. Its dynamics are highly
nonlinear and also have large extent of model uncertainties and
external disturbances. In this paper, a robust back-stepping control
(RBSC) scheme is proposed to overcome the problem of disturbances
and system uncertainties effectively and to improve the tracking
performance of EHS systems. In order to implement the proposed
control scheme, the system uncertainties in EHS systems are
considered as total leakage coefficient and effective oil volume. In
addition, in order to obtain the virtual controls for stabilizing system,
the update rule for the system uncertainty term is induced by
the Lyapunov control function (LCF). To verify the performance and
robustness of the proposed control system, computer simulation of
the proposed control system using Matlab/Simulink Software
is executed. From the computer simulation, it was found that the
RBSC system produces the desired tracking performance and has
robustness to the disturbances and system uncertainties of EHS
systems.
Abstract: Twin steel plates-concrete composite shear walls are
composed of a pair of steel plate layers and a concrete layer
sandwiched between them, which have the characteristics of both
reinforced concrete shear walls and steel plate shear walls. Twin steel
plates-composite shear walls contain very high ultimsate bearing
capacity and ductility, which have great potential to be applied in the
super high-rise buildings and special structures. In this paper, we
analyzed the basic characteristics and stress mechanism of the twin
steel plates-composite shear walls. Specifically, we analyzed the
effects of the steel plate thickness, wall thickness and concrete
strength on the bearing capacity of the twin steel plates-composite
shear walls. The analysis results indicate that: (1) the initial shear
stiffness and ultimate shear-carrying capacity is not significantly
affected by the thickness of concrete wall but by the class of concrete,
(2) both factors significantly impact the shear distribution of the
shear walls in ultimate shear-carrying capacity. The technique of twin
steel plates-composite shear walls has been successfully applied in
the construction of an 88-meter Huge Statue of Buddha located in
Hunan Province, China. The analysis results and engineering
experiences showed that the twin steel plates-composite shear walls
have great potential for future research and applications.
Abstract: Facility location is a complex real-world problem
which needs a strategic management decision. This paper provides a
general review on studies, efforts and developments in Facility
Location Problems which are classical optimization problems having
a wide-spread applications in various areas such as transportation,
distribution, production, supply chain decisions and
telecommunication. Our goal is not to review all variants of different
studies in FLPs or to describe very detailed computational techniques
and solution approaches, but rather to provide a broad overview of
major location problems that have been studied, indicating how they
are formulated and what are proposed by researchers to tackle the
problem. A brief, elucidative table based on a grouping according to
“General Problem Type” and “Methods Proposed” used in the studies
is also presented at the end of the work.
Abstract: Below-knee amputees commonly experience
asymmetrical gait patterns. It is generally believed that ischemia is
related to the formation of pressure sores due to uneven distribution
of forces. Micro-vascular responses can reveal local malnutrition.
Changes in local skin blood supply under various external loading
conditions have been studied for a number of years. Radionuclide
clearance, photo-plethysmography, trans-cutaneous oxygen tension
along with other studies showed that the blood supply would be
influenced by the epidermal forces, and the rate and the amount of
blood supply would decrease with increased epidermal loads being
shear forces or normal forces. Several cases of socket designs were
investigated using Finite Element Model (FEM) and Design of
Experiment (DOE) to increase flexibility and minimize the pressure
at the limb/socket interface using ultra high molecular weight
polyethylene (UHMWPE) and polyamide 6 (PA6) or Duraform. The
pressure reliefs at designated areas where reducing thickness is
involved are seen to be critical in determination of amputees’ comfort
and are very important to clinical applications. Implementing a hole
between the Patellar Tendon (PT) and Distal Tibia (DT) would
decrease stiffness and increase prosthesis range of motion where
flexibility is needed. In addition, displacement and prosthetic energy
storage increased without compromising mechanical efficiency and
prosthetic design integrity.
Abstract: As smartphones are equipped with various sensors,
there have been many studies focused on using these sensors to create
valuable applications. Human activity recognition is one such
application motivated by various welfare applications, such as the
support for the elderly, measurement of calorie consumption, lifestyle
and exercise patterns analyses, and so on. One of the challenges one
faces when using smartphone sensors for activity recognition is that
the number of sensors should be minimized to save battery power. In
this paper, we show that a fairly accurate classifier can be built that
can distinguish ten different activities by using only a single sensor
data, i.e., the smartphone accelerometer data. The approach that we
adopt to deal with this twelve-class problem uses various methods.
The features used for classifying these activities include not only the
magnitude of acceleration vector at each time point, but also the
maximum, the minimum, and the standard deviation of vector
magnitude within a time window. The experiments compared the
performance of four kinds of basic multi-class classifiers and the
performance of four kinds of ensemble learning methods based on
three kinds of basic multi-class classifiers. The results show that
while the method with the highest accuracy is ECOC based on
Random forest.
Abstract: A compact Ultra Wide Band (UWB) antenna with coplanar
waveguide feed has been designed and results are verified in
this paper. The antenna has been designed on FR4 substrate with
dielectric constant (εr) of 4.4 and dimensions of 32mm x 26mm x
0.8mm. The presented antenna shows return loss characteristics in the
band of 3.1 to 10.6 GHz as prescribed by FCC, USA. Parametric
studies have been done and results thus obtained have been
presented. Simulated results have been verified on Rohde & Swartz
VNA. The measured results are in good agreement with simulated
results which make the presented antenna suitable to be used for
wearable applications. Performance analysis of antenna has also been
shown in the presence of three layered Human Arm model. Results
obtained in presence of Human Arm model has been compared with
that in free space.
Abstract: Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) enable new
applications and need non-conventional paradigms for the protocol
because of energy and bandwidth constraints, In WSN, sensor node’s
life is a critical parameter. Research on life extension is based on
Low-Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH) scheme,
which rotates Cluster Head (CH) among sensor nodes to distribute
energy consumption over all network nodes. CH selection in WSN
affects network energy efficiency greatly. This study proposes an
improved CH selection for efficient data aggregation in sensor
networks. This new algorithm is based on Bacterial Foraging
Optimization (BFO) incorporated in LEACH.
Abstract: In this communication, a low-cost circularly
polarized wire antenna exhibiting improved gain performance for
Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle
(V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications is
presented. The proposed antenna comprises a Y-shaped quarterwavelength
monopole antenna surrounded by two iterations of eight
conductive arched walls acting as parasitic elements to enhance the
overall antenna gain and to shape the radiation pattern in the H-plane.
A hemispherical radome shell is added to protect the antenna
structure and its effect on the antenna performance is discussed. The
designed antenna demonstrates antenna gain of 8.2 dB with
omnidirectional far-field radiation pattern in the H-plane. The gain of
the proposed antenna is also compared with the characteristic of the
stand-alone Y-shaped monopole to highlight the advantages of the
proposed approach.
Abstract: As the Silicon oxide scaled down in MOSFET
technology to few nanometers, gate Direct Tunneling (DT) in
Floating gate (FGMOSFET) devices has become a major concern for
analog designers. FGMOSFET has been used in many low-voltage
and low-power applications, however, there is no accurate model that
account for DT gate leakage in nano-scale. This paper studied and
analyzed different simulation models for FGMOSFET using TSMC
90-nm technology. The simulation results for FGMOSFET cascade
current mirror shows the impact of DT on circuit performance in
terms of current and voltage without the need for fabrication. This
works shows the significance of using an accurate model for
FGMOSFET in nan-scale technologies.