Ultra-Light Overhead Conveyor Systems for Logistics Applications

Overhead conveyor systems satisfy by their simple construction, wide application range and their full compatibility with other manufacturing systems, which are designed according to international standards. Ultra-light overhead conveyor systems are rope-based conveying systems with individually driven vehicles. The vehicles can move automatically on the rope and this can be realized by energy and signals. Crossings are realized by switches. Overhead conveyor systems are particularly used in the automotive industry but also at post offices. Overhead conveyor systems always must be integrated with a logistical process by finding the best way for a cheaper material flow and in order to guarantee precise and fast workflows. With their help, any transport can take place without wasting ground and space, without excessive company capacity, lost or damaged products, erroneous delivery, endless travels and without wasting time. Ultra-light overhead conveyor systems provide optimal material flow, which produces profit and saves time. This article illustrates the advantages of the structure of the ultra-light overhead conveyor systems in logistics applications and explains the steps of their system design. After an illustration of the steps, currently available systems on the market will be shown by means of their technical characteristics. Due to their simple construction, demands to an ultra-light overhead conveyor system will be illustrated.

An Organizational Strategic Analysis for Dynamics of Generating Firms- Alliance Networks

This paper proposes an analytical method for the dynamics of generating firms- alliance networks along with business phases. Dynamics in network developments have previously been discussed in the research areas of organizational strategy rather than in the areas of regional cluster, where the static properties of the networks are often discussed. The analytical method introduces the concept of business phases into innovation processes and uses relationships called prior experiences; this idea was developed in organizational strategy to investigate the state of networks from the viewpoints of tradeoffs between link stabilization and node exploration. This paper also discusses the results of the analytical method using five cases of the network developments of firms. The idea of Embeddedness helps interpret the backgrounds of the analytical results. The analytical method is useful for policymakers of regional clusters to establish concrete evaluation targets and a viewpoint for comparisons of policy programs.

Some Issues on Integrating Telepresence Technology into Industrial Robotic Assembly

Since the 1940s, many promising telepresence research results have been obtained. However, telepresence technology still has not reached industrial usage. As human intelligence is necessary for successful execution of most manual assembly tasks, the ability of the human is hindered in some cases, such as the assembly of heavy parts of small/medium lots or prototypes. In such a case of manual assembly, the help of industrial robots is mandatory. The telepresence technology can be considered as a solution for performing assembly tasks, where the human intelligence and haptic sense are needed to identify and minimize the errors during an assembly process and a robot is needed to carry heavy parts. In this paper, preliminary steps to integrate the telepresence technology into industrial robot systems are introduced. The system described here combines both, the human haptic sense and the industrial robot capability to perform a manual assembly task remotely using a force feedback joystick. Mapping between the joystick-s Degrees of Freedom (DOF) and the robot-s ones are introduced. Simulation and experimental results are shown and future work is discussed.

Dimethyl Ether as an Ignition Improver for Hydrous Methanol Fuelled Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) Engine

Homogeneous Charge Compression (HCCI) Ignition technology has been around for a long time, but has recently received renewed attention and enthusiasm. This paper deals with experimental investigations of HCCI engine using hydrous methanol as a primary fuel and Dimethyl Ether (DME) as an ignition improver. A regular diesel engine has been modified to work as HCCI engine for this investigation. The hydrous methanol is inducted and DME is injected into a single cylinder engine. Hence, hydrous methanol is used with 15% water content in HCCI engine and its performance and emission behavior is documented. The auto-ignition of Methanol is enabled by DME. The quantity of DME varies with respect to the load. In this study, the experiments are conducted independently and the effect of the hydrous methanol on the engine operating limit, heat release rate and exhaust emissions at different load conditions are investigated. The investigation also proves that the Hydrous Methanol with DME operation reduces the oxides of Nitrogen and smoke to an extreme low level which is not possible by the direct injection CI engine. Therefore, it is beneficial to use hydrous methanol-DME HCCI mode while using hydrous methanol in internal Combustion Engines.

Bandwidth Allocation in Mobile ATM Cellular Networks

Bandwidth allocation in wired network is less complex and to allocate bandwidth in wireless networks is complex and challenging, due to the mobility of source end system.This paper proposes a new approach to bandwidth allocation to higher and lower priority mobile nodes.In our proposal bandwidth allocation to new mobile node is based on bandwidth utilization of existing mobile nodes.The first section of the paper focuses on introduction to bandwidth allocation in wireless networks and presents the existing solutions available for allocation of bandwidth. The second section proposes the new solution for the bandwidth allocation to higher and lower priority nodes. Finally this paper ends with the analytical evaluation of the proposed solution.

Changes of in vitro Cytokine Production induced by δ-Lactams

The aim of this work was to study the in vitro effects of δ-lactam 1 and its 4-chlorophenyl derivative 2, on the proliferative responses of human lymphocytes and Th1 and Th2 cytokine secretion. The possible protective role of vitamin E on intracellular stress oxidative induced by these compounds was also investigated. Peripheral blood lymphocytes were isolated using differential centrifugation on a density gradient of Histopaque. They were cultured with mitogen concanavalin A, vitamin E (10 μM) and with different concentrations of the compounds 1 and 2 (0.1 to 10 μM). Proliferation (MTT assay), IL-2, INFγ and IL-4 (Elisa kits), intracellular superoxide anion were determined. 1 and 2 were immunostimulant and increased cytokine secretion with a shift away from Th1 response to Th2. These properties were however accompanied by an increase in intracellular oxidative stress. The presence of vitamin E exhibited protective effects by reducing δ- lactam-induced superoxide anion generation in lymphocytes.

Networks with Unreliable Nodes and Edges: Monte Carlo Lifetime Estimation

Estimating the lifetime distribution of computer networks in which nodes and links exist in time and are bound for failure is very useful in various applications. This problem is known to be NP-hard. In this paper we present efficient combinatorial approaches to Monte Carlo estimation of network lifetime distribution. We also present some simulation results.

Numerical Simulation of Inviscid Transient Flows in Shock Tube and its Validations

The aim of this paper is to develop a new two dimensional time accurate Euler solver for shock tube applications. The solver was developed to study the performance of a newly built short-duration hypersonic test facility at Universiti Tenaga Nasional “UNITEN" in Malaysia. The facility has been designed, built, and commissioned for different values of diaphragm pressure ratios in order to get wide range of Mach number. The developed solver uses second order accurate cell-vertex finite volume spatial discretization and forth order accurate Runge-Kutta temporal integration and it is designed to simulate the flow process for similar driver/driven gases (e.g. air-air as working fluids). The solver is validated against analytical solution and experimental measurements in the high speed flow test facility. Further investigations were made on the flow process inside the shock tube by using the solver. The shock wave motion, reflection and interaction were investigated and their influence on the performance of the shock tube was determined. The results provide very good estimates for both shock speed and shock pressure obtained after diaphragm rupture. Also detailed information on the gasdynamic processes over the full length of the facility is available. The agreements obtained have been reasonable.

Detection of Power Quality Disturbances using Wavelet Transform

This paper presents features that characterize power quality disturbances from recorded voltage waveforms using wavelet transform. The discrete wavelet transform has been used to detect and analyze power quality disturbances. The disturbances of interest include sag, swell, outage and transient. A power system network has been simulated by Electromagnetic Transients Program. Voltage waveforms at strategic points have been obtained for analysis, which includes different power quality disturbances. Then wavelet has been chosen to perform feature extraction. The outputs of the feature extraction are the wavelet coefficients representing the power quality disturbance signal. Wavelet coefficients at different levels reveal the time localizing information about the variation of the signal.

Power Minimization in Decode-and-XOR-Forward Two-Way Relay Networks

We consider a two-way relay network where two sources exchange information. A relay helps the two sources exchange information using the decode-and-XOR-forward protocol. We investigate the power minimization problem with minimum rate constraints. The system needs two time slots and in each time slot the required rate pair should be achievable. The power consumption is minimized in each time slot and we obtained the closed form solution. The simulation results confirm that the proposed power allocation scheme consumes lower total power than the conventional schemes.

MATLAB-based System for Centralized Monitoring and Self Restoration against Fiber Fault in FTTH

This paper presented a MATLAB-based system named Smart Access Network Testing, Analyzing and Database (SANTAD), purposely for in-service transmission surveillance and self restoration against fiber fault in fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) access network. The developed program will be installed with optical line terminal (OLT) at central office (CO) to monitor the status and detect any fiber fault that occurs in FTTH downwardly from CO towards residential customer locations. SANTAD is interfaced with optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR) to accumulate every network testing result to be displayed on a single computer screen for further analysis. This program will identify and present the parameters of each optical fiber line such as the line's status either in working or nonworking condition, magnitude of decreasing at each point, failure location, and other details as shown in the OTDR's screen. The failure status will be delivered to field engineers for promptly actions, meanwhile the failure line will be diverted to protection line to ensure the traffic flow continuously. This approach has a bright prospect to improve the survivability and reliability as well as increase the efficiency and monitoring capabilities in FTTH.

Semi-Automatic Trend Detection in Scholarly Repository Using Semantic Approach

Currently WWW is the first solution for scholars in finding information. But, analyzing and interpreting this volume of information will lead to researchers overload in pursuing their research. Trend detection in scientific publication retrieval systems helps scholars to find relevant, new and popular special areas by visualizing the trend of input topic. However, there are few researches on trend detection in scientific corpora while their proposed models do not appear to be suitable. Previous works lack of an appropriate representation scheme for research topics. This paper describes a method that combines Semantic Web and ontology to support advance search functions such as trend detection in the context of scholarly Semantic Web system (SSWeb).

Experimental Inspection of Damage and Performance Evaluation after Repair and Strengthening of Jiamusi Highway Prestressed Concrete Bridge in China

The main objectives of this study are to inspect and identify any damage of jaimusi highway prestressed concrete bridge after repair and strengthening of damaged structural members and to evaluate the performance of the bridge structural members by adopting static load test. Inspection program after repair and strengthening includes identifying and evaluating the structural members of bridge such as T-shape cantilever structure, hanging beams, corbels, external tendons, anchor beams, sticking steel plate, and piers. The results of inspection show that the overall state of the bridge structural member after repair and strengthening is good. The results of rebound test of concrete strength show that the average strength of concrete is 46.31Mpa. Whereas, the average value of concrete strength of anchor beam is 49.82Mpa. According to the results of static load test, the experimental values are less than theoretical values of internal forces, deflection, and strain, indicating that the stiffness of the experimental structure, overall deformation and integrity satisfy the designed standard and the working performance is good, and the undertaking capacity has a certain surplus. There is not visible change in the length and width of cracks and there are not new cracks under experimental load.

Application of the Neural Network to the Synthesis of Vertical Dipole Antenna over Imperfect Ground

In this paper, we propose to study the synthesis of the vertical dipole antenna over imperfect ground. The synthesis implementation-s method for this type of antenna permits to approach the appropriated radiance-s diagram. The used approach is based on neural network. Our main contribution in this paper is the extension of a synthesis model of this vertical dipole antenna over imperfect ground.

Fuzzy Modeling Tool for Creating a Component Model of Information System

This paper focuses on creating a component model of information system under uncertainty. The paper identifies problem in current approach of component modeling and proposes fuzzy tool, which will work with vague customer requirements and propose components of the resulting component model. The proposed tool is verified on specific information system and results are shown in paper. After finding suitable sub-components of the resulting component model, the component model is visualised by tool.

Explorative Data Mining of Constructivist Learning Experiences and Activities with Multiple Dimensions

This paper discusses the use of explorative data mining tools that allow the educator to explore new relationships between reported learning experiences and actual activities, even if there are multiple dimensions with a large number of measured items. The underlying technology is based on the so-called Compendium Platform for Reproducible Computing (http://www.freestatistics.org) which was built on top the computational R Framework (http://www.wessa.net).

A Microcontroller Implementation of Constrained Model Predictive Control

Model Predictive Control (MPC) is an established control technique in a wide range of process industries. The reason for this success is its ability to handle multivariable systems and systems having input, output or state constraints. Neverthless comparing to PID controller, the implementation of the MPC in miniaturized devices like Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) and microcontrollers has historically been very small scale due to its complexity in implementation and its computation time requirement. At the same time, such embedded technologies have become an enabler for future manufacturing enterprisers as well as a transformer of organizations and markets. In this work, we take advantage of these recent advances in this area in the deployment of one of the most studied and applied control technique in the industrial engineering. In this paper, we propose an efficient firmware for the implementation of constrained MPC in the performed STM32 microcontroller using interior point method. Indeed, performances study shows good execution speed and low computational burden. These results encourage to develop predictive control algorithms to be programmed in industrial standard processes. The PID anti windup controller was also implemented in the STM32 in order to make a performance comparison with the MPC. The main features of the proposed constrained MPC framework are illustrated through two examples.

Information Support for Emergency Staff Processes and Effective Decisions

Managing the emergency situations at the Emergency Staff requires a high co-operation between its members and their fast decision making. For these purpose it is necessary to prepare Emergency Staff members adequately. The aim of this paper is to describe the development of information support that focuses to emergency staff processes and effective decisions. The information support is based on the principles of process management, and Process Framework for Emergency Management was used during the development. The output is the information system that allows users to simulate an emergency situation, including effective decision making. The system also evaluates the progress of the emergency processes solving by quantitative and qualitative indicators. By using the simulator, a higher quality education of specialists can be achieved. Therefore, negative impacts resulting from arising emergency situations can be directly reduced.

Financial Regulations in the Process of Global Financial Crisis and Macroeconomics Impact of Basel III

Basel III (or the Third Basel Accord) is a global regulatory standard on bank capital adequacy, stress testing and market liquidity risk agreed upon by the members of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision in 2010-2011, and scheduled to be introduced from 2013 until 2018. Basel III is a comprehensive set of reform measures. These measures aim to; (1) improve the banking sector-s ability to absorb shocks arising from financial and economic stress, whatever the source, (2) improve risk management and governance, (3) strengthen banks- transparency and disclosures. Similarly the reform target; (1) bank level or micro-prudential, regulation, which will help raise the resilience of individual banking institutions to periods of stress. (2) Macro-prudential regulations, system wide risk that can build up across the banking sector as well as the pro-cyclical implication of these risks over time. These two approaches to supervision are complementary as greater resilience at the individual bank level reduces the risk system wide shocks. Macroeconomic impact of Basel III; OECD estimates that the medium-term impact of Basel III implementation on GDP growth is in the range -0,05 percent to -0,15 percent per year. On the other hand economic output is mainly affected by an increase in bank lending spreads as banks pass a rise in banking funding costs, due to higher capital requirements, to their customers. Consequently the estimated effects on GDP growth assume no active response from monetary policy. Basel III impact on economic output could be offset by a reduction (or delayed increase) in monetary policy rates by about 30 to 80 basis points. The aim of this paper is to create a framework based on the recent regulations in order to prevent financial crises. Thus the need to overcome the global financial crisis will contribute to financial crises that may occur in the future periods. In the first part of the paper, the effects of the global crisis on the banking system examine the concept of financial regulations. In the second part; especially in the financial regulations and Basel III are analyzed. The last section in this paper explored the possible consequences of the macroeconomic impacts of Basel III.

Turkic - Indian Lexical Parallels in the Framework of the Nostratic Language's Macrofamily

From ancient times Turkic languages have been in contact with numerous representatives of different language families. The article discusses the Turkic - Indian language contact and were shown promise and necessity of this trend for the Turkic linguistics, were given Turkic - Indian lexical parallels in the framework of the nostratic language's macro family. The research work has done on the base of lexical parallels (LP) -of Turkic (which belong to the Altaic family of languages) and Indian (including Dravidian and Indo-Aryan languages).